Tag Archives: strategy

Finance Matters, Get Clear, Manage to Lead, People Matters

Know the definition of strategy to help everyone stay on the same page.

The following are definitions of phrases that use the word strategy. They provide a useful way to think about the term and matters directly related to it:

  • Strategy is what people in an organization plan to do in order to “win” whatever game they are playing.
  • Strategic thinking is how decisions and actions are made in the immediate-term in a manner that is mindful of long-term implications and consistent with a strategy.
  • Strategic planning is the structured process that management uses to periodically engage leaders in advancing their strategy.
  • Strategic plan is a description of an organization as it presently exists and where it is to be in the future along with how it will go from where it is today to where it will be next on the way to achieve a long-term vision.
  • Strategic initiatives are projects identified as part of strategic planning and documented in the strategic plan that are to address what is most important to change next in order to increase the odds of winning.
  • Strategic management is what is done to deliberately operate and develop the organization in a manner that is entirely consistent with its strategy.
People Matters

UMass Commonwealth Honors College Awards Presentation Dinner Speaker

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UMass Commonwealth Honors College Awards Presentation

Whether on campus or in the workplace, effective leadership involves seven disarmingly simple truths, says alumnus Peter F. DiGiammarino ’75. As the Eleanor Bateman Alumni Scholar in Residence for spring 2012, DiGiammarino led two events during which he offered advice on becoming an effective leader.

Peter DiGiammarino makes keynote dinner speech
Peter DiGiammarino makes keynote dinner speech at awards function for Commonwealth College Honors students.

Leaders, he explained, “get loose.” Top leaders break through conventional boundaries to find new solutions to everyday problems. They also follow a set of powerful guidelines, which DiGiammarino breaks into actions driven by seven simple truths that he says can help facilitate change at any level.

These truths are:

1. An organization exists to solve a problem for people.

2. It takes a team. Continue reading UMass Commonwealth Honors College Awards Presentation Dinner Speaker →

People Matters, Presentations

University of Massachusetts 2012 Bateman Scholar in Residence Public Lecture

At University of Massachusetts 2012 Bateman Scholar Public Lecture, IntelliVen founder and CEO PeterD presented a 45 minute lecture that summarizes 35 years of insight gleaned from successfully helping dozens of organizations get on track to long-term growth and performance, generally in the role of leader or an adviser to the founder, owner, investor, and/or the CEO of ventures with between 2 and 20 people positioning to grow to 200 to 2000.

These insights have been honed while teaching at a number of universities, most recently at American University where he serves as an adjunct professor teaching Master’s Students in Organization Development about leadership and organization analysis and strategy and at the UMass Commonwealth Honors College where he has served as guest lecturer on Leadership.

Now, in the hope of helping you Manage to Lead, please see him present about 50, from a  library of more than 400, slides that summarize ever-evolving insights and lessons learned by clicking on the image below:

Click above to see and hear the 45 minute lecture: Manage to Lead: Seven Truths to Help You Change the World

Slides for Manage to Lead Seven Truths to Help You Change the World
Get Clear, Manage to Lead

Five Questions to Outline Organization Strategy

WHAT IS STRATEGY?

There are many ways to use the word strategy and it conjures up different things for different people in different contexts. What for example is the difference between strategic thinking and a strategic initiative and strategic planning? (For an answer see this taxonomy of strategic terms.)

Leaders who are asked: “What is your strategy?” might want to reply: “my strategy for what?” The reason is that every organization necessarily has many strategies.  

There is a strategy for selling, a strategy for doing what the organization does, a strategy for managing and developing offerings, a strategy for recruiting, a strategy for developing people, a strategy for raising funds, and so on. Each strategy addresses how things are done now, and what must be done so as to achieve an envisioned future.

Answering the following five questions is a good way to start laying out an organization’s strategy:

Continue reading Five Questions to Outline Organization Strategy →

Grow, Manage to Lead

How to build a “pizza-making” business.

Chief executive officers, managing directors, executive directors, and chief administrators subscribe to intelliven.com for content, cases, and tools to help organizations they lead perform and grow to their full potential. Leaders of any organization, no matter how large or small, those who aspire to be leaders, and those who help and support leaders all find the site full of valuable content, examples, and templates to help in extraordinary, as well as every day, situations. Continue reading How to build a “pizza-making” business. →