Partner with the Enemy; Didn't Wake Hitler; Hide a Dagger; Time for Quarterly Theme

"...keeping you great"

HEADLINES:

Strategy! -- Rosetta Stone was one of the top IPOs last year by "moving early to a next battleground"; AFLAC has a "hidden" advantage most in the U.S. don't realize; Vista Print partnered with its enemies. These and several other strategic stories highlight the top five "Strategic Narratives" Kaihan Krippendorf is teaching leading firms around the world, including 1200 Microsoft executives.

One-Hour Strategy Session -- Author of Hide a Dagger Behind a Smile, Krippendorf is our latest one-hour monthly online seminar. As you reconsider your strategy moving forward, gather your management team together and take an hour and learn from one of the top strategic thinkers in the world (like having Kaihan in the room with you). Then discuss how you might apply these key strategies to your own market situation. Here's a link to learn more and sign-up to watch. And we always have a money-back guarantee, so no risk or worries if you don't find it valuable -- just let us know.

Quarterly Theme Time -- today is the start of a new quarter for most companies (and a new fiscal year in places like Australia). If you haven't done so already, pick a single measurable goal for the next three months and get everyone in the organization focused on it. Then choose a handful of priorities that will help you accomplish this measurable goal and ask everyone in the company to decide what they can do to help with one or all of these priorities.

Driver vs. Outcome -- and it's important to focus on a driver vs. outcome for the single measurable goal (what we call a "Critical Number", a term borrowed from Jack Stack's Great Game of Business). For instance, you might be tempted to pick a revenue goal for the next three months, however, it's better to decide "what is the most important activity our team needs to focus on in order to drive revenue" and make that your critical number for the quarter i.e. we need to land 20 new contracts from a list of 200 companies we've compiled (this is our actual focus this quarter).

Priorities and Meeting Rhythm -- here's a really short 27-second video Australia-based BluewireMedia produced of me noting the importance of setting three priorities and then executing through an effective daily and weekly meeting rhythm.

Daily Huddle Impact -- and this note from Dr. Ilan Lieberman, Director of UK-based Angel and Bowden Ltd, a medical legal firm, "daily huddles have become part of the team's life (since attending your Feb 23 workshop). Big improvement in communication and improvements in efficiency at every level, much of it small but all incremental like a coral reef." He goes on to note that all these small changes make a big difference over time. And the team was unsure about it to begin with. They do it standing up, no more than 5 minutes, and now won't give it up. "Very positive impact on moral and locus of control," concludes Lieberman.

Didn't Wake Hitler -- this insight is short since I'm on my "boys-only" trip with my sons this week. We're touring the WWII sights surrounding the famous invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. Guided by a British general, we've been retracing the strategic moves made by the Americans, British, Canadians, and Germans during this crucial battle that helped turn the war against Germany. One fact that had eluded us in our earlier study of this invasion was the fact that Hitler's staff did not want to wake him during the night to get permission to move their tank battalions to the front line when the British gliders first landed to secure a couple critical bridges that would keep the Allied forces connected with their supplies. It was this and several other "small" moves that determined much of the outcome of the invasion. It's ALWAYS the small moves that make the big difference.