What strategies are you pursuing deliberately? Is your business model built for volume (scale) or niche (premium customers)? You must be specific about your business focus to win in your chosen markets. The starting point is to answer key questions: what is your playing field? Who are your target customers? What products and services will you sell to them and what delivery channels will you use to reach them? And what is your geographical coverage? If your target customer is the mass market, you must be configured to have scalability at the core. It means your infrastructure and technology setup,…
To win, always go the extra mile
There is nothing that beats always going the extra mile. That should be your mindset in everything you get involved in. A Board Chairman called me saying: “Mustapha, I read your 7 Tools of an effective board member book”, and I found it practical and very relevant. Thanks to that book, I was appointed a Board Chairman. But I need hands-on support. The previous Chairman had organized an induction training. Unfortunately, the consultant is unable to make it. The bad news is the training is due tomorrow. Is it possible to be with us just to share experiences about board dynamics…
How to transform the company or person instantly
During a strategic retreat, the Chairman of the board was so impressed by my non-conventional approach to strategic planning that he labeled me Mr. Strategy. Here is what he said verbatim: “Mr. Strategy told us to focus on identifying our distinctive competence and developing capabilities to leverage it. I agree. He has also told us about focusing on a few things, by emphasizing that strategy is about making choices about how to win with customers and the stakeholders against the competition. And he is right. We have been trying to do so many things, which has made us lose our…
The 10 common errors in many strategic plans
Many companies have strategic plan documents merely for showoffs. Some companies write strategic plans for compliance purposes. Others use the documents to get loans or equity. For example, a business seeking loan financing may hire any advisor to write a strategy and business plan for purposes of obtaining a loan. Once the loan is got, the document is usually parked or put in the drawer. In many companies, however, the strategic document is left to rot in the drawers because few people understand it. Many “strategic documents are written like research papers.” The documents are like literature reviews of business…
Planning vs acting on the plans made
The year was 2007. I left my juicy job to swim in the deep waters of entrepreneurship. While at a big four audit firm, it was so easy to meet the managing directors and other C-level executives. All you needed was a display of your work identity card. “I am here to see the CEO.” To which, usually the Lady receptionist would ask, “are you on appointment?” Yes? “Where do you work?” With a big smile, you would look at the lady and say the name of the big four audit firm in which you work. Suddenly, you would receive…
What is your company’s vision? Or Aspiration? Or Ambition?
Vision, aspiration, or ambition – they all mean the same thing: where do you want to be? For the first time in my entire consulting career, a prospect asked me a question no one has ever asked me during initial prospecting. From nowhere, the CEO asked: what is the vision of Summit Consulting Ltd? As Mr. Strategy, understanding and owning our company vision is top of my agenda. One of the reasons companies craft good strategy documents but fail at implementation is the poor communication of the same, where many of the team members lack an understanding of what the…