We offer Leadership Development Seminars on the following topics:

Globalism: Pivotal Realities and Disruptive Forces*
The competitive challenges have become global and there are dozens of disruptive forces impinging on enterprises today. New, innovative businesses and products are being developed that have the potential to make existing products obsolete. Increases in productivity, technology breakthroughs, and global markets are commoditizing many products and services, putting price pressure where once there were wide profit margins. Information is more readily accessible and consumers are more educated making it harder for businesses to manipulate customers. Customers are demanding more. Where once it was possible to compete on price alone, now customers may demand price, speed, attractiveness, friendliness, and higher levels of customer care—a fuller value profile—all at once. These are some of the pivotal realities that are putting extreme pressures on businesses and requiring more complex leadership and management skills in order to compete and win. Companies that don’t address these pivotal realities can quickly find themselves in trouble.

Commit to Capitalism: How to Become a Capitalist Running Dog*
The environment in which you work and conduct business is harsher, more demanding, and less forgiving than ever before. The rate at which companies are born and die continues to accelerate. It seems that everything in the political, social, and economic environment is in a constant state of flux. New threats and dangers arrive from the most unexpected places. The world is less predictable. The challenge to remain competitive is more imposing, and past success is yesterday’s story. At the same time, there are more opportunities and there is more economic dynamism than ever before.

Creative destruction, where the old and inefficient is replaced by the new and more productive, gains momentum everyday. There are more players competing who are stronger, more creative, and more aggressive. Business is being redefined by innovations in technology, by leaner and more productive work methods, and by global competitors. The pace is staggering. These new threats, challenges, and opportunities demand constant creativity and better strategies. People and companies must be fast, innovative, and capable of shifting rapidly. More than ever, companies need people who understand the forces of capitalism—employees who understand that their primary focus should be on making the company and their jobs more valuable by competing and winning within the capitalist game.

Wrestling the Octopus vs. True Transformation*
When faced with the compelling need to change, companies and people have four fundamental choices, we call them: rearrange the deck chairs on the sinking Titanic (or DBAU – deadly-business-as-usual), tinker around the edges, wrestle the octopus or truly transform. The first three choices lead inevitably to loss and perhaps death of the company.

The phrase “wrestling the octopus” conjures up an interesting visual image. Fighting with the eight-armed beast—getting one arm momentarily under control, only to be quickly entangled by others. It can seem like we’re fighting and winning, when what’s really happening is our energy is being sapped and we’re burning time and resources. Too often we feel like this in organizational life. We keep fighting the same issues, over and over again—never able to completely resolve them by truly getting at the heart of the matter.

True transformation requires that we think and act differently about the challenges we are facing and the problems we are trying to solve. Transformation happens when we make the obvious visible in a new way, go right at the heart of the matter, set and achieve seemingly impossible goals, and perhaps even create a strategic advantage going forward. True transformation begins with recognition, refusal, and resolve: recognizing when we’re engaged in DBAU, tinkering, or wrestling; refusing to waste time and resources doing so; and resolving to settle for nothing less than a real and durable solution. Then magic can happen.

Character Counts: Essential Qualities of Leadership*
With the daily demands of corporate life it’s easy to lose sight of the personally transformative opportunities offered by managerial and leadership positions. It’s especially easy to lose sight of “the kind of person, the kind of leader, I want to be.” In The Essential Qualities of Leadership we explore character, qualities of mind, leadership dilemmas, and how the role of the leader can offer the opportunity for personal transformation.

The best business leaders demonstrate unusual qualities. They know how to think like owners, capitalists, and entrepreneurs—how to recognize the changes in and demands of the business environment, and then adapt as needed in order to protect assets and create growth and profit. They have a deep sense of responsibility, and tend to avoid being victims, cynics, or bystanders. They have qualities of both the monk and the warrior—a quiet, thoughtful mind and a bias for deciding and acting. They are realists and strategists, they care about people, and they embrace accountability. They thrive on challenges, and welcome the metrics that define success and failure. All in all, character and human qualities count, and leadership positions in business offer grand opportunities for developing character and qualities of mind.

Right Exit
Downsizing, restructuring and right sizing have become common events in today’s workplace. While downsized employees often view the experience negatively, many discover new opportunities and appreciate their previously unimagined futures.

During the downsizing and restructuring process, employees often feel bitter, resentful and angry toward the company. These negative attitudes, while natural, make it difficult for outplaced employees to productively focus on the future. The spread of their negativity can also decrease productivity within the company, damage customer relationships and tarnish company reputation. Our Right Exit program focuses on reframing the mindsets of downsized or outsourced employees so that they leave the company with positive attitudes and a sense of control of their futures.

Cruxpoint Thinking for Leaders
There is more information available today than ever before. Every day you find new ideas and concepts to explore, problems to solve and decisions to make. Finding the best answer for you often requires sorting through conflicting sets of data and opinions to filter out what is really going on. As a leader, getting to the heart of the matter and finding the true crux issue, allows you to focus your energy and work towards quickly solving the problem or making the decision at hand.


* These programs are also available as Keynotes and Executive Briefings.