Management

Market Strategy

Questions 8

Andrew Penny, February 21 2023

While the Bridge Keeper in the movie The Holy Grail only asked ‘questions three’, I will ask you ‘questions eight’. Eight questions that as a business owner you can ask yourself, and the answers to which could help you cross the bridge to greater success. We talk a lot about being ‘Best in World’ - executing on the above is the path to get...

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Leadership & Management

How About Them There Apples

Graham Birkenhead, January 31 2023

Our client was experiencing significant turnover amongst the new hires they needed to expand their production. They told us, ‘No one wants to work anymore’. Digging deeper it became evident that a small number of senior employees had created an environment that worked well for them but made it difficult for any new-comers to fit in. And worse, it...

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Market Strategy

Your business is definitely not Average

Andrew Penny, January 10 2023

I am reminded of the truism that the average person has less than one leg. Looming recessions, stock markets down, bond values up, interest rates up, inflation up, market contractions, etc. It would seem that there will be lots of turmoil. These changes will impact you to some extent if you are highly leveraged. But when you think about the...

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Market Strategy

The World is Going to VUCA

Graham Birkenhead, August 2 2022

Anyone remember VUCA?  It’s an acronym that stands for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. I’ve used VUCA as a strategic planning tool when trying to understand what was going on around me and so increase the chances of coming to an optimal course of action. As a concept, it was first described by the leadership guru Warren Bennis in...

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Leadership & Management

I don't have a Toxic Culture – Do I?

Graham Birkenhead, May 31 2022

A recent UK employee study paints a rather troubling picture of company life. It found that: The study went on to identify that roughly half the people would leave a negative on-line review about their company, and that nearly 50% wouldn't even apply to a company that had negative online reviews.   At a time when so many companies are struggling to...

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Leadership & Management

When does a Square Peg fit perfectly into  a Round Hole?

Graham Birkenhead, May 10 2022

We often use the term 'a square peg in a round hole' to describe someone that in some way just doesn't fit either in the role, the office, or just the culture.  That interpretation comes from an early 19th-century philosophical treatise* that considered people and their situations as a wide range of shapes - including triangles and oblongs, and...

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Leadership & Management

Tips for Hiring Manufacturing Jobs

Jelena Franco, May 3 2022

So many manufacturers are hiring these days – or at least trying to. Our manufacturing clients are bouncing back after Covid with lots of new business, and their pipelines are full. Some are struggling to find components and materials, and many are wondering where they are going to find the people they need to keep up with the production.

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Leadership & Management

"Spring is nature's way of saying, 'Let's Party!' "

Andrew Penny, March 22 2022

In the northern hemisphere spring has sprung. In my part of the world, spring seems to last but a week as we quickly move from snow-covered fields and bare trees to warm summer sun. Leaves burst forth and flowers bloom and, very quickly, we are into summer and the world has found a new equilibrium.

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Market Strategy

What are the 3 Stages of Company Growth?

Andrew Penny, February 15 2022

Eventually, every successful company becomes a customer service company. As a company grows it goes through a number of step changes which require its CEO to think very differently. Take for example a manufacturing company. The first stage of growth is getting to product/market fit. And, often the term ‘minimum viable product’ is used to describe t...

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Leadership & Management

Accentuate the Positive

Andrew Penny, November 4 2021

Each year I mentor a student in the Telfer School of Business at the University of Ottawa. This year the woman I am mentoring has been asked to participate in their Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee.  A truly noble cause. But… I am reminded of the great experiment underway at the moment to encourage the vaccine hesitant to rethink their opp...

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