Drumroll please…

I am very pleased to be able to introduce you to the very fine men in Living Group 10.  I am so lucky to be sharing this experience with these wonderful blokes – each of whom has given me permission to publish their picture.  This was us on our fancy night out last Saturday. 

From the back (Left to Right) Oton Efebo from Nigeria.  Oton is the CEO of AA Rescue Limited.  Next to Oton is Stephane Fima, Managing Director at Société Générale S.A in Paris. Then Dr Gerd Walz, Professor and Deputy CEO of University Freiburg Medical Center in Germany and Doug Evasiuk, Canadian through and through – but working in Texas as Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Precision Drilling Corporation.  In the front row on my left is Jamal Omar, General Manager at Marafiq Utilities in Saudi Arabia – and on my right is Ken Romaniszyn, President and Owner of Lady M Confections Co., Ltd in New York.   Just look at the cakes on Ken’s website.  Have you EVER seen anything like them?  Gorgeous.  http://www.ladymconfections.com/

So as you can see – I am in great company and am learning huge amounts from each and every one of them.

Lessons for today:

• Advertising – and any communication for that matter, internal or external – needs to reflect and reinforce your strategy.  Do you know (or just hope!) that to be true?
• Who is your target market – and who is NOT your target market?  Know both.
• Embrace problem-solving – it will improve your business.  To do this, you have to have a culture that encourages and celebrates bringing problems to the table.
• When businesses fail – culture tends to sit at the heart of the issue.  Do you focus on improving products and processes at the expense of improving culture?
• Is the sustainability of your strategy threatened by imitation, substitution or regulatory ‘hold ups’?  Or is the biggest threat of all inertia and complacency within your business?
• What is your organisation REALLY good at?  Stay true to your core competencies.
• Stefan Thomke (http://drfd.hbs.edu/fit/public/facultyInfo.do?facInfo=bio&facEmId=sthomke) is wasted as a Harvard faculty member.  The magic he can perform with water and three cups is unbelievable…

I have decided to spend the next few days checking in with the Professors and my peers for some feedback on ‘how I’m going’.  As part of an early Living Group ‘getting to know you’ exercise, we had to outline what specific feedback we were looking for.  I asked my LG to consider the following for me:

• What would stop me becoming a CEO?  (Gaps)
• Would YOU hire me?  To do what? (Perception)
• How have I made a difference to you? (Value-add)

With the professors – I am keeping it simple.  How effective has my contribution been to date?  One response I had today was that he liked my outspokeness – and would like me to speak more often (didn’t expect THAT!)  He also said that although he didn’t see me as someone who ‘prattled on’ – succinctness is always worth working on (DID expect that!!)

The challenge now is to make time to reflect on all the learnings so far – and draw useful and actionable conclusions along the way.  I am asking myself…

• What will I do differently when I get home?
• How will I avoid looking like an insufferable Harvard ‘evangelist’ who has returned thinking I have the answer to life, death and everything in general?
• What will success look like for me, and for the company?

I’ll let you know when I have it all sussed.  Give me a day or two… 🙂