Growth River

 
Our White Papers demonstrate key management concepts in both for profit and nonprofit sectors.
 
Please feel free to share them with your colleagues. We also appreciate feedback. Write us at engage@growthriver.com.
 
 7/21/2010
Strategy Is a Mindset (pdf 298kb)
As a business leader, if on the occasion when you bring together the entire leadership team for a strategic summit you find yourself engaged with discussing important tactical issues but not strategic ones, what’s going on? Why are highly capable professional management teams often unable to come together and craft cohesive strategies for taking businesses to the next level? Why are even the best seemingly spot-on strategies taking much more energy and greater resources than necessary to execute on? And why do they frequently end up with only mediocre results?
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6/27/2010
Strategic Planning is Dead! (pdf 366 kb)
In a vaulted tower somewhere far away, an impassioned Chief Executive hunches over a thick wooden table, quill in hand. Dipping and writing, pondering, anguishing, he considers and writes the much anticipated company strategy. In the course of hours and days, his team holding vigil, he consults the eager wise men, visionaries, and gurus who come to posit their strategy wisdom.
 
After much travail, the CEO emerges, masterpiece in hand. Following the ritual Board meeting and blessing, the document is printed, bound, and embossed. Suddenly, a sunbeam splits the clouds and lights upon the tome. Let us all bow down! It’s the birth of the COMPANY STRATEGY!
 
But lo, given time, the strategy is neither implemented nor executed. In fact it’s never directly referred to again.
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6/14/2010
Reviewing Strategic Performance: examining the differences between an operational and a strategic perspective
(pdf 504 kb)
Although most enterprise leaders and their teams think it is important to regularly review their performance from a strategic perspective, in my experience many don’t really know how. This article is about Growth River’s approach to quarterly enterprise performance reviews.
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5/19/2010
The Four Arguments--Finding the Shortest Path to Business Growth (pdf 443kb)
How do you know which changes are most likely to make your business grow? This is an important question for business leaders because it goes to the heart of how to figure out where to focus time, attention and resources. For example, imagine a competition for resources among members of the top team at “Amazing Pen, Inc.” The head of product development wants to acquire a new technology, while the head of operations wants to hire a new procurement manager. Do you know which of these investments will most likely contribute to growth?  This article will demonstrate a way to sort this question, called The Four Arguments. 
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4/17/2010
The Missing Question (pdf 293kb)
It’s common knowledge: ask better questions, and you will get a better answers. And for leaders, better answers inform tough choices, especially in times like these. But what about questions that are missing altogether? When it comes to organizational growth and development, this could be deadly.
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3/12/2010
Repairing Broken Business (pdf 330kb)
Perhaps you know a business leader who has made the mistake of trying to develop “accountable” leaders and teams without first clearly defining roles – defining who should do what - in a way that makes sense in a business context.
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3/15/2010
Escape Flatland Hell...to a Connect and Collaborate World (pdf 557kb)
Many of us have done sentences under micromanagers, overbearing bosses, and leaders willing to get results at any cost. It’s Glengarry Glen Ross meets The Devil’s Advocate.
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3/15/2010
Survival of the Fittest: Creating Corporate Dream Teams (pdf 390kb)
Do you remember the shot? It was taken at the anticipated entrance of some of the hottest, young stars in basketball—LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan.
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3/1/2010
You Are in Transition (pdf 214kb)
Transition is the natural and necessary break in the flow of our lives for course correction. It’s the only serious time we take for reflection, and systematic assessment of our strengths, relationships, and purpose in life. When it comes to career development, this time is especially critical.
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