369 words.

Reading time:  2 minutes.

Exorcising Financial Demons

from Your Strategy.

by Dov Gordon

Today we share a very brief, edited excerpt of our newest white paper, “Spitting In the Wind: A Single Obvious Insight to Sharpen and Focus Your Strategy.”  The full paper will available on or before Sunday, May 18th, 2008.

 

Following the excerpt are some of the enthusiastic comments we’ve received from people who have previewed the paper.  If you would like a preview copy as well, just ask.

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What follows will sound like heresy to many, so please give it thought before rejecting it.

Financial guidelines are a very important part of setting strategy.  We need to know what is considered minimum acceptable performance and ensure that we exceed it.

The danger, however, is when financial targets usurp the strategy; which happens more often than not. 

Like a demon that has taken up residence in your compass, the financials must be exorcised.

The key insight here is to recognize that you never wake up in the morning and “make money” or “meet your targets.”  Strong revenue and profits are the results of doing other things well.  Which other things?  All those activities that create the right perception in the minds of your target markets.

No one has trouble with this when times are good.  In good times, it is easy to focus on sticking to our strategic decisions about products, markets, competitive advantage and key capabilities.  It’s the tough times that challenge us.

When times are tough we are tempted to offer products we have previously shunned to markets who can be better served by others.  We justify such activities by insisting that “we need to meet our numbers!”  “The board is expecting it.”  “Wall Street will punish us severely!”  And so on.

Notice what is really happening:  We are straying.  We are becoming opportunists; out to make a quick profit instead of strategists out to build an enduring enterprise.

The warning sign is this:  People advocate actions that fall outside the framework of your previously defined strategy.  They use rational sounding justifications like those above, usually together with a claim that “We have no choice!”

Beware.  Strategy is not a prison.  It MUST change over time.  However, that change must be grounded in the kind of careful thought and analysis we’ve advocated throughout this paper and not sparked by external pressures and internal fears.

When our decisions are guided by pressure to reach numbers, they are not guided by our values and the values of the people we want to serve, both out there in the market, and inside our own offices, stores and factories.

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If you are a subscriber to our "CEO Thought-Provoker" newsletter, a link to the full white paper should come crashing through your inbox in about a week.  If you find it as insightful as did our friends below, please share it with your friends and colleagues and via your favorite social media tools.

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What others are saying about Dov Gordon’s newest white paper

“Spitting In the Wind:

A Single Obvious Insight to Sharpen and Focus Your Strategy.”

"Take five minutes to read Spitting in the Wind  and you'll get some incredibly valuable and straightforward advice that you can put to work right away. Dov does a great job at focusing on the few  issues that make a big difference to business success -- and presenting them in an easy-to-understand way."

-- Lois Kelly, partner in in Beeline Labs and author of Beyond Buzz, Winner of the Gold Medal in the 2007 Axiom Business Awards.

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“Dov Gordon’s strategy guidance blends theory and practice to provide the busy executive with immediate value.  I have been surprised at how often the case studies he presents are relevant to daily business challenges.”  

-- Jules Polonetsky, Senior Vice President, AOL LLC  www.aol.com

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“Dov - Great white paper.  Thank you for sending.  I found your framing and Socratic approach to strategy both engaging and helpful. 

“Your timing was superb, as we are facing a myriad of like issues here in China.  Please keep me involved in your future works.  I'm impressed with your clarity and effectiveness in creating desired outcomes.

“I'm going to use your article as a basis for discussions when my partners from wall street arrive in China week after next.  Thanks again.”
-- Matt Brandt, Director – China, Trenwith Group, LLC.  www.trenwith.com

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“Dov, your white paper Spitting In the Wind: A Single Obvious Insight to Focus and Sharpen Your Strategy is really impressive.  You question the traditional understanding of the WHAT and the HOW of strategy development in order to focus companies on the real issues.   Too often we get lost in formalities that don’t contribute to a successful strategy and merely satisfy the intellectual or ego needs of management.”

-- Dr. Guido Quelle, Managing Partner, Mandat Managementberatung GmbH and member of the Million Dollar Consultant™ Hall of Fame.   http://www.mandat.de

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“Dov Gordon cuts through the nonsense that often pervades strategic planning, and focuses on what’s really important.”
 

--Lawrence Kutner, Ph.D., co-founder and co-director of the Harvard Medical School Center for Mental Health and Media.  Author of six books, most recently “Grand Theft Childhood.”   www.academicentrepreneur.com

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“Dov, thank you for sending me your white paper,  Spitting in the Wind. It was refreshing to see your clear insights on strategy. It came as I was working on a plan for a new Integrated  Holistic Health Center and Spa I am planning in Jerusalem. It helped me in re-looking at my basic vision and mission for the project and gave me some excellent tools to use in clarifying my objectives for this new venture. I was especially pleased with the Four Seasons case study as what they have based their business on is exactly the type of model I am trying to create. This information is extremely valuable.

-- Walter Drimer, President and founder of Genesis Group International  www.g-g-i.com

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Hi Dov,  I am working with Walter at GGI and he passed along your Spitting in the Wind white paper for me to look at and use in re-working a business plan we are developing. I just wanted to let you know that I think it is an excellent document, and it really helped me out. I will definitely be keeping this as a reference piece!

-- All the best, Mika Sullivan, www.g-g-i.com

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“Dov, thanks for sharing this with me.  I really enjoyed reading it since your ideas are simple and easy to implement without being simplistic.”
 

--  Avi Fine, Director of Strategic Planning, Fine Group PLC.  www.finegroup.co.uk

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“In his latest whitepaper, Spitting In the Wind: A Single Obvious Insight to Focus and Sharpen Your Strategy, Dov Gordon provides a simple, highly practical and definitive answer to the age old C-suite dilemma: What exactly is strategy? Eminently readable and immensely valuable, I gained an entirely new perspective on formulating and implementing strategy, all within a fifteen minute read.”

-- Patrick Gray, president of Prevoyance Group and author of Breakthrough IT: Supercharging Organizational Value through Technology

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“I have nothing but positive things to say about this white paper and I love how you used the first page to position yourself.  As I was reading the
first few paragraphs I found myself thinking ‘These CEO guys and gals are smart cookies.  What can Dov teach them about strategy?’  Then all of a sudden
you brought to the surface exactly why even the brightest people struggle with strategy, followed by your approach for quickly achieving strategic results.  Brilliant!”

-- Wayne McKinnon, president of the McKinnon Group of Companies.  www.waynemckinnon.com

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DOV GORDON helps senior executives make better, wiser decisions and quickly get things done.  He is sought after for his perspective and advice on formulating and implementing strategy, developing an innovation culture and cultivating superior team work.  Dov can be reached via his websites www.GordonGroupEC.com and www.Superior-Strategy.com or via email at dovgordon@gmail.com.

Archives of The CEO Thought-Provoker™ are here:  http://www.gordongroupec.com/articles.html

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Dov Gordon helps senior executives at small and mid-sized companies around the world to earn the respect and admiration of their marketplace.  Clients benefit from clarifying their strategies, sharpening their focus, better decision making, improved teamwork and growing into great leaders.

Management and Strategy Consulting.

Executive Coaching.

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Please email me your thoughts and feedback.

See our recommended reading list at:   www.GordonGroupEC.com/books.html         

Copyright 2008 © by Dov Gordon.  All rights reserved.