It holds you in a place like little chains

It holds you in a place like little chains A lot of people like to plant, but not many like weeding. When I was a child, I used to go with my grandmother to the dacha. Dacha was a little piece of land that was allocated to former Soviet Union families by the government to grow their own produce. Our dacha was about 2 hours from the edge of Samara city, by bus. The bus was full, often with no available place to seat. So we would be very tired by the time we arrive at our stop point. Once we would get off the bus at our bus stop, which was next to the field of sunflowers, my grandmother and I would walk for about 40 minutes, passing many other dachas to get to ours. We would carry with us boiled eggs, bread, cucumber, and water, which was our food for the day. One of my tasks at the dacha was picking up “koloratskii zhuk”, a little bug on potatoes. In English, it is called the Colorado potato beetle. There were many of them. I was very scared of them, but I soldiered on. I would put on big…

Are you focusing on the essence or wasting time on the fringes?

Are you focusing on the essence or wasting time on the fringes? There is a lot to be said for clarity. And there is something about FIRMSconsulting.com and StrategyTraining.com that is not clear, and I would like to take every opportunity to rectify this. Guess what is the number one reason why FC community members, for a long time, don’t take advantage of training that gives them an extremely powerful competitive advantage? They could have been much further ahead by now if this was clear, but it is not. They think that Insider and Legacy membership programs are just for consultants. It is not. Most of our clients are in corporate roles. It takes them time to figure out that most of our clients and members are actually not even in consulting. And, in fact, using the skills we teach outside of consulting is even more powerful because those skills are so rare outside of consulting. It is even rare in consulting. Want to test this? Just hire an ex-consultant from a major firm and see for yourself. Most people leave consulting (or were asked to leave a firm they worked for) way before they have an opportunity to develop a strong…

Literally, everything is on the line

Literally, everything is on the line The world is going through enormous changes. Wealth can be made and lost in a few years. We're starting to recover from a period of inflation (it peaked at 9.1% in June 2022) that anyone (living in the US) below the age of 40 has never experienced before. Critical decisions on infrastructure, legislation, and technology determine which countries will win or lose. Giants like GE and IBM fade away. Technology players like Netflix can experience a 40% erosion in their share price in one day. The rise of AI requires almost all companies to respond in some way if they want to survive. In just a few years, technology, legislative or demographic changes can render an entire sector built around, for example, combustion engines irrelevant. Each and every sector is facing wrenching changes, where wrong decisions can lead to billions in lost shareholder value, mass retrenchments, and obsolescence. For example, if we look at the energy sector, we know it ripples across to all companies, into households, into everything. Climate change and the risk of wildfires are bankrupting utilities and forcing many to take on the costly task of moving electricity lines underground. And those costs…

A project many others will find in·sur·mount·a·ble

A project many others will find in·sur·mount·a·ble It's very valuable to have a book you can be proud to share with colleagues, prospective and current clients, and potential partners. The kind of book that immediately meaningfully increases your credibility. The kind of book that allows your reputation to precede you. But to have a book like that, you need to: Have enough quality content for an entire book. Pitch your book to professional publishers and deal with a lot of rejection. Maybe decide to self-publish your book instead after seeing that none of the publishers are interested, and most likely, they are not going to promote it anyway, so you might as well publish it yourself. Write the whole book, draft after draft, potentially hiring a ghostwriter or writing coach to help or do it for you. Edit your book. Figure out the right dimensions, type of paper, margins, type of cover, etc. for your book. Develop a professional design for your book. Professionally lay out your book. Design a professional cover for your book. Get all administrative things set up, such as getting ISBNs, bar codes, etc. Create your book in all necessary formats. Review final files and fix…

The problem with following role models

People say, “Success leaves clues.” The advice you often hear is find someone who achieved something you want to achieve, watch them carefully, repeat their steps, and you will achieve success too. It is useful, but to a point. There is one big problem with this approach. Each of us has a unique set of assets (talents, experiences, family, connections, personality, etc.). The person you are watching from afar and emulating as closely as possible will have a very different set of assets. Plus, they will have a different value system. What they will value in life will differ from what you value. The missing ingredient in this advice is to carefully study (if such information is accessible): WHY someone does something, not only WHAT they do. You also need good visibility on HOW they do it. This is something that most people will not be willing to openly share with you. Alternatively, they may give you some of the steps but leave out a few details that make the process they shared with you ineffective. Noteworthy This program aimed to drive improvements through Abhi, a mid-level executive with developing skills. We chose a strategy that required minimal new skills. The program shows…

[NEW EPISODES] Season II, The Bill Matassoni Show

The Bill Matassoni Show Season II (Not To Be Confused With Season III, Which Is Also Being Released) We just released new episodes of The Bill Matassoni Show, Season II (31 episodes overall). Below is an excerpt from one of the episodes. Because it is taken from a video episode, it may not be as polished as our usual edited text in emails. I think it is more beneficial for you to see Bill's actual words versus the edited version. To see Bill's entire conversation, please refer to the training program on StrategyTraining.com. "The first two years of my career at McKinsey were crucial... When I was hired, they mentioned that if things went well, I'd be a partner in two years. Well..., it takes eight years to make partner at McKinsey if you're a consultant, a regular consultant. So two years went by, and all of a sudden, I got a phone call Saturday morning saying, "Bill, we just elected you to be a partner at McKinsey." I was surprised, but a lot of good things had happened. One of them was Ron Daniel, the managing partner. Ron pretty much left me alone... When I joined McKinsey, I asked, "Is there a job description?"…

New [246 SLIDES] – Corporate Strategy Refresh for Large Industrial Group (Executive Update 4)

We have just released the fourth executive update for the Corporate Strategy Refresh for Large Industrial Group in the Strategy Control Room, Advanced Level, for a total of 246 SLIDES. *** The Corporate Strategy Refresh for Large Industrial Group consists of 4 Executive Steering group presentations. For the fourth and final presentation, we will focus on three major topics: Additions to EU 3 analysis Finished business case Proposed way forward Some of the topics we covered in the Corporate Strategy Refresh for Large Industrial Group included: - Three major topics that are the focus of the final presentation - What will enhance sales performance and boost sales motivation - Leverage areas - Quick wins activities - Key findings of the supplier survey - A systematic process to implement the material strategy - Supply chain and quick wins charger - Engagement management charter - Sales and channel strategy charter - Product strategy and pricing stream charter - Benefits tracking - Business improvement initiative plan - Executive team engagement charter - Percentage of inventory with 3 months or greater stock cover - Bringing stock levels in line with world-class standards - The identified benefits in the value chain and associated dollar value - Progression of analyses from understanding…

Fear as a competitive advantage

Fear as a competitive advantage I was thinking about how I and many people in the FIRMSconsulting community broke out of our orbits partially driven by fear. And I thought: Can fear be a sustainable competitive advantage? After considering my journey and the price you have to pay when driven in some considerable way by fear, I concluded that fear can be a competitive advantage, but it's not a sustainable competitive advantage. Most humans cannot be motivated into action by fear for sustained periods of time. Usually, you use fear to drive forward in a sustained burst to create some foundation, and then you rest. For example, you can use fear to force everyone to fix a company’s failing business model. That may work. And then they can rest a little once the business is not failing. Noteworthy Highlight The actual proposal we referred to in the recent Legacy program High-Value Letter of Proposal. "Why," and "Why now?" Those are the two most important questions you have to ask yourself when you view the proposal of a competitor and prepare your own proposals. Most do not do this. When they view the proposal of a competitor, all they try to do is try to…

Drowning in mediocrity

Drowning in mediocrity One important point to consider when building your career or business is the consistency of your brand. One company that inspires me when it comes to brand consistency is Disney. Simple things like painting fence posts at Disney World are considered marketing by Disney and approached accordingly. They understand that every detail contributes to the overall perception people have about the Disney brand. When I was in banking, I had a colleague who went from Toronto, Canada, to Orlando, Florida, every chance he got. He spent his honeymoon there, and his every vacation was spent there. How many businesses have this kind of customer loyalty? Another example is McDonald’s. I haven’t been to one in a while, but when I was a teenager, it was the only restaurant I could sometimes afford to visit. I was always impressed by how clean their bathrooms were. And it is by design. They saw their clean restrooms as a critical part of marketing. They focused on creating an environment where customers would feel well taken care of and valued. They wanted to be a place to which customers would want to return. Many of us have businesses that are primarily, if…