Lessons on CEO burnout, how to spot it, how to resolve it

Part of being an effective leader is to constantly evaluate yourself. It can be difficult to objectively determine how you’re doing– to see yourself as others see you. The problem of leadership burnout is that no one is going to tell you. No one is going to come into your office and tell you that you’re…

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CEOs’ top role: Get the most out of your employees

When talking strategic direction, we often talk in terms of the role of the CEO and what he or she must do to encourage greater productivity and alignment. We don’t focus as much on the role of the employees, although we all know we’d be nowhere without them. We understand leadership starts at the top and an effective leader encourages employees to act…

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Strategic Execution– What 4 things must you do to “make it so”?

what 4 things do you do to make it so

The planning process is essential to establishing broad goals, but it doesn’t just start or stop there. Next, you must execute consistently on clearly identified steps that build to the ultimate goals identified in your strategic plan. In the case study below, you’ll see innovative actions that ultimately led to the firm’s success. They include: hiring…

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For best results don’t just learn, learn right

As a staff engineer on the cusp of securing my professional license, my employer gave me opportunities to support new business pursuits. While I happened to be successful on the first few, I don’t give myself the credit. I give the credit to the owners and senior managers of the firm who gave me the…

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To broaden sales participation, the CEO must remove barriers

As a principal in charge of the largest division of a 130 person firm, a first step in implementing a highly efficient sales program was to make sure everyone knew the latest sales methods and spoke a common sales language. Since operations and finance managers were a potential barrier to broaden sales, all senior managers went…

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I am 95% billable and I generate business for my company

Many professional service firms’ CEOs and managers are convinced that time spent on overhead activities detracts from the revenue of the company by lowering billability. This is one of the largest misconceptions I have seen. In both my corporate experience and with clients I applied a technique that maintained high billability and generated sales, even…

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In a successful organization, sales is part of everybody’s job

In a successful organization, sales is part of everybody’s job. Most firms have only a few persons who are actively engaged in generating revenue. There is often tension over being billable and helping to secure the next project. This is not limited to management. Staff at all levels feels this tension, so the action of…

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Technical staff has what it takes to win clients

This is a quick note with thanks for the fortune of a valuable lesson that impacted my career. The following is my story. This may remind you of a similar experience.  Now is a good time to thank those who helped shape your career and to think about how you might help someone by challenging…

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