Monthly Archives: November 2013

The Executive and the Elephant

This entry is part 1 of 3 in the series The Executive and the Elephant

It is disturbing when a system works too slowly or provides inaccurate results. Worse, it can be hard to diagnose and fix the root cause. When that system is a person it is even more frustrating. When that person is yourself it can be embarrassing!

I was working with a GBS senior partner and a team of IBMers to put together a quick proposal that would be put in front of the CEO of a leading bank the same day. I was “driving” and the team was telling me what to type or draw. It was clear that my PowerPoint authoring was slower than usual. When I sent out the results to the team it was clear that, in the rush, I had forgotten to proof-read it. Then, when I reflected on my performance and faulty results my inner critic got a bit carried away until I realized what was happening inside my head and squelched it.

 

Just a bad day? What about the times when I interrupted someone, over-optimized things until they were more complex than they needed to be, or used business-speak or techno-babble when I knew I was the only one in the room to comprehend it? What about the times I completed an urgent task at the expense of something more important? All this when consciously trying to avoid it?

Can anyone provide leadership when they have a comedy of errors going on inside their own head?

I was fed up and determined to do something about it. Where I ended up is with my nose in another book–this time “The Executive and the Elephant“.

The notion of people getting distracted by thoughts and doing something other than what they were trying to do is nothing new. This book provides proven ways to actually stop it, presented in an innovative way for leaders.

The author calls the subconscious mind your elephant and your conscious mind your executive. You can imagine the executive trying to ride the elephant and keep it on track.

It reminded me of my wife getting thrown off her horse when the horse’s craving for a mouthful while galloping through the weeds was stronger than my wife’s ability to keep his head up.

So I kept reading. I am still reading. I recommend the book to anyone who wants to become a better leader by learning to lead their own mind.

 

Contact info!

Hello!  Feel free to contact me.  Comment on my blog posts, email me at alan@alanstreet.net, or find me on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/alanstreet/.  I am @agstreet on Twitter.  I look forward to hearing your ideas, collaborating, or whatever comes of it.

I am a Master Certified Architect specializing in enterprise architecture and technology strategy around channels for large banks.  I have about 30 years of experience building software of all sorts and about 25 years of experience in the banking industry.   I work in the IBM Global Services Banking Center of Competence and am currently on assignment in Malaysia.  In the past I have been an IT manager at Bank of America, lived on the edge as an independent consultant, and co-founded a tech start-up company.

 

 

Category: Me

CRM Software

I remember when the CRM guys were selling customer databases to call centers.  Then, when I wasn’t looking they took over the business world.  Or at least the “front office”.  I woke up one day and there were dozens of applications that fall under “CRM”.

For more detail about the “Marketing” column see my post on Marketing Software.

I created the above table to help me understand The Gartner CRM Vendor Guide, 2013, Published: 4 December 2012.  You probably need the report to understand my table!

Marketing Software

A CMO once asked me what kinds of marketing software are available.  I asked him if he wanted it combo or à la carte.  He said “I don’t know.  Show me the menu!”

I created the following platter of options for him.  Small plates sitting on top of larger plates means that the portion is available à la carte or in a combo.

The recipe for this platter was pulled from IBM Software Group Web sites as well as the Gartner CRM Vendor Guide, 2013, Published: 4 December 2012.  The Gartner report is a must-read if you are interested in CRM.

“CRM”?  You ask?  Yes.  See my CRM Software post for context.

McKinsey: The strategic yardstick you can’t afford to ignore

If you are interested in the subject of Business Strategy then it makes sense to subscribe to the McKinsey news letter. I really appreciate their work and this article (The strategic yardstick you can’t afford to ignore), in particular, is a must-read.

The author offers good evidence that 40% of profit variations are simply due to being in an attractive industry. With 60% due to other factors, the best companies in a bad industry perform similarly to the worst companies in the best industries.

As can be expected from McKinsey, there are a lot of charts worth seeing.

promo art

 

What is a Business Unit Strategy?

This entry is part 5 of 31 in the series Defining words

A Business Unit Strategy is a Business Strategy for a single business unit.

Business units sometimes operate in a particular industry and serve a particular market.  Other times they are product-focused.

Business unit strategists must decide which products to market to which segments and how to expand the business within the constraints of the Corporate Strategy.  New products for existing customers or new customers for existing products?

This is usually the level at which strategists look at various competencies and decide which ones are “differentiating” and which ones should be outsourced, given boxes for their paper files, or otherwise neglected.

Business unit strategists also govern product managers or whoever is creating Product-Market Strategy.

Business Unit Strategy is of key importance to IT Strategy.  For example, when the business decides that a particular competency is “differentiating” it is an indication that they will need technology to be applied in that area.

What is a Product-Market Strategy?

This entry is part 4 of 31 in the series Defining words

A Product-Market Strategy is a Business Strategy that focuses on defining target markets for specific products, branding, and product positioning. This is called the marketing mix, or the 4 P's:

  • Product
  • Price
  • Place
  • Promotion.

I was once a software product manager and I created a Product-Market Strategy.

Now, as an Enterprise Architect I help drive Business Strategy and I consume it, but I do not create it. So the driving/consuming part is what I will focus on in future posts.

 

 

What is a Corporate Strategy?

This entry is part 3 of 31 in the series Defining words

A Corporate Strategy  is a Business Strategy that covers all of the business units in a corporation.  It involves decisions like which industries to be in, how diversified or specialized to be, whether/how to acquire or divest parts of the supply chain, how to fund it all, etc.  It also involves how to set and report on business unit objectives at the group level, which depends upon how they spread investment across the business units, which depends upon how attractive their industries are projected to be.

Corporate strategists are looking for ways to share resources across business units to create synergy or economies of scale.

A corporate level strategist might decide to reorganize the business units to focus each on a market segment instead of a product.

I am not a corporate strategist and I am guessing that you aren’t either.  So why am I taking your time with it?  I care about corporate strategy because it is part of the business strategy, which is a required input for strategizing about technology.