July 3, 2013

Blessed are the Cheesemakers; Well, Certified at Least

The American Cheese Society, a trade group, recently jumped on the certification bandwagon. They’re giving cheesemakers the chance to get certified. The organization is offering a professional exam this year for about 150 artisan and specialty cheesemakers .

Of course, Europe is the leader in the perfecting of the cheese-making process and the evaluation of it. But no one’s exactly sure—as far as we know–who invented certification as a practice or where in the world it first emerged.

What we do know that certification in a given profession can make a significant difference. Who wants an accountant when you can have a Certified Public Accountant or Chartered Accountant?

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July 3, 2013

Paging Dr. Interim: U.S. Healthcare Fix in the Boardroom

Everyone knows the U.S. healthcare delivery system is sick, and cost increases unsustainable. Difficult reforms are underway, piecemeal and painful.

Many experts have taken a swing at the U.S. healthcare behemoth. Who is powerful enough to take the problem on? Probably not government, probably not hospital groups, and probably not insurance companies, according to Ron Hammerle, an interim executive specializing in the healthcare field.

The solution to healthcare, Hammerle argues, involves large U.S. retailers, including those who might run the local supermarket. Still a minority viewpoint at this point, but Hammerle said it is rapidly catching on.

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June 26, 2013

Introducing the TNP Diagnostic for Workforce Engagement and Motivation (DWEM)

Scott Philips | CEO, CSO, COO, CMO, Turnaround

TNP: Why look at employee motivation and engagement?
Scott: The purpose of business is to make money, right? To make money you need customers, products or services, a strong value proposition, and an ability to deliver on that value proposition. Productivity and profitability rarely (if ever) occur without an engaged and motivated workforce. Success is dependent on it.

TNP: How do you define employee motivation and engagement?
Scott: Employee motivation is what draws an individual to their work and workplace or what personally stimulates them to high levels of performance. This is unique for virtually every person, and is much more internally driven. Leaders who know how to motivate their employees know how to sync with those employees’ internal drive. Engagement is essentially external elements that connect or involve individuals with outside stimulus. Engaged employees are attentive, they contribute, they are stimulated, and they show care for what’s happening. The outcome of both strong engagement and motivation is higher productivity and profitably. These things should matter to every company.

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June 19, 2013

Four Steps to Transforming Your Business

Dominic Luzi | CTO, CIO, COO

In today’s business environment, it is not enough to stay on a level playing field with your competition: it is an essential ingredient in the formula for success to lead out your markets. Turbulence is a great place to be as long as you are the one creating that turbulence and defining the market. That leader’s position is the one that commands top margin performance and value to shareholders. Having lead a number of successful global transformations, I think it is time to net this process out to the four steps that will get you there, quickly.

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June 18, 2013

WEBINAR: Avoiding Fraud and Corruption

Experts like interims are in demand, and not always by clients who are acting with integrity. How do you spot corruption before taking the gig?

And once inside the company, how do you make sure everyone’s playing with integrity, and that partners and vendors are likewise? Poor leaders ignore corruption at their peril, and the toll corruption takes is incalculable. There are the obvious effects: theft of resources, injury to a company’s reputation, and, in a worst case scenario, even federal indictments. Maribeth Vander Weele, president of the Vander Weele Group, a corporate investigations firm that specializes in preventing and investigating complex fraud schemes, says less obvious is the toll that internal corruption takes on a company’s effectiveness. “Time and time again, when our team looks beneath the covers of bad decision-making, we see some form of corruption as the source.” In the webinar, Vander Weele presented red flags that must catch the eye of the interim executive. Vander Weele also spelled out ways to avoid corruption, and actions that must be taken once it is identified.

June 13, 2013

Write Yourself Into The Script

As the summer movie season begins, last summer’s romantic comedy, Celeste and Jesse Forever, is worth remembering. While it has absolutely nothing to do with interim executives, the story behind the movie’s creation spotlights a practice that is critical for interims.

First, a quick look at the movie’s backstory:

The Plot

Last August, a New York Times article, Breaking the Mold by Writing a Part for Herself, spelled out how actress Rashida Jones wrote herself into Celeste and Jesse Forever.

Also one of the movie’s two screenwriters, Jones knew that directors tended to see her in roles where she was the pleasant counterpart (girlfriend/wife/friend). But the character of Celeste isn’t that person, and Jones wanted that role for herself.

One studio that considered purchasing the script wanted to reserve the right to cast someone else if finances dictated. She said no. Ultimately, the film was made in 23 days for less than $1 million.

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June 12, 2013

A Simple Truth, that Isn’t So Simple

Scott Philips | CEO, CSO, COO, CMO, Turnaround

A simple truth in business is this: It’s easy to set a goal. It’s hard to then break it down into specific action steps, and even harder to execute it to a successful conclusion.

In thinking about the process of planning, what came to my mind was a mountain climbing trip I took on Mt. Hood, an 11,000 foot mountain in the Oregon cascades, with three of my buddies in the summer of 1981.

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June 8, 2013

Fifteen Solutions Interims Provide

Interim executives come in many flavors, according to functional specialties and industry specializations. They bring experience from companies of different sizes and in various stages.

Their ultimate mission, however, is often much the same: to leave a company in significantly better shape than it was upon entry.

Here are 15 solutions interims provide:

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June 1, 2013

Time to Think, Act, and Engage Differently: Courageous Leadership

Scott Philips | CEO, CSO, COO, CMO, Turnaround

I’m often asked what makes a great leader; it’s one of the foundational elements of my practice. There are a myriad of agreed-upon traits in the business world that we use to define leadership “greatness” — things like vision, decisiveness, persuasion, communication, and charisma. These are doubtless important and relevant attributes, but as I’ve walked alongside several leaders in pursuit of organizational excellence over the years, I have come to believe that the foremost characteristic in any leader’s arsenal is courage.

Courage is defined as ‘the ability to confront fear, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation.’

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May 23, 2013

WEBINAR: How To Create Your Own Tagline

If a business had a soul, the tagline could be its expression in words. And every business needs to consider what adding a tagline might accomplish. That’s the philosophy of tagline guru Eric Swartz, a branding strategist who’s created thousands of brand expressions for clients across the globe, including American Express, Apple and Wells Fargo.

Here’s Swartz’s tagline definition: a succinct phrase, situated under or alongside a company’s logo, that communicates a single but powerful brand message designed to resonate strongly with an intended audience.

“Taglines are the easiest and most effective way to communicate a new or revised brand message. They can enhance the value and relevance of your brand, extend its reach, and give it renewed vigor,” according to Swartz.

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