Focus Area / CEO
Running the whole thing
This focus area is unusual for two reasons. One, the CEO is a role but I use it to refer to the person at the top of the organization regardless of their title. Two, many of these skills and tools are also useful for people in other roles. Here we cover topics such as
- CEO Mindset There are ways to think about your role and the company that aren’t always obvious.
- Company View You can see things from where you sit that others can’t.
- Productivity How to use CEO Time as well as other productivity hacks.
- Delegation All managers need this skill – it’s not hard but not intuitive.
- Setting KPIs Setting the right KPIs keeps people productive and helps avoid Goodhart’s law
CEO Mindset
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Think Like a CEO
Here's a short post to let you know about this video I did called How to Think Like a CEO. . It's a webinar hosted by a couple of my clients - Jo Ann Koontz & Marina Parkin who run…
The Stockdale Paradox – When to be Positive and Negative at the Same Time
The paradox is named after James Stockdale who was a POW in Vietnam for over seven years – much of it in solitary. What he found was that his fellow prisoners who broke mentally and ultimately died in prison were…
Output Thinking
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What Is An Output?
It's why you hire people. PLUS a Big Announcement. My book, Output Thinking is now available for Pre-order Special. If you pre-order before Dec 5 and email a copy of the receipt to John@CEOBootCamp.com I'll send you a PDF copy…
Buying Time
When you hire a accountant or a lawyer or someone who charges by the hour, do you really want those hours? Does it make sense that if you ask a question they don't know, and need to research you should…
Company View
View all in Company ViewWhat Is An Output?
It's why you hire people. PLUS a Big Announcement. My book, Output Thinking is now available for Pre-order Special. If you pre-order before Dec 5 and email a copy of the receipt to John@CEOBootCamp.com I'll send you a PDF copy…
What Is A Company?
Here is the lens through which I view companies. A company is an organization of people that performs a number of different functions designed to create and satisfy customers in a profitable way. Let's take that apart. A company is…
Business Model
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A Business Model is How You Make Money
In the 1950s Xerox invented a way to make dry copies without wet, smelly chemicals. But that’s not what made them successful. They became one of the largest, most profitable companies on the planet because of another innovation. The copier…
Better Pricing for Higher Profits
Pricing is a hard topic to deal with systematically. Especially for small companies without a lot of data to crunch. I'm preparing for a pricing session with a client, and thought I'd share a little with you here. We're using…
Assumptions that won’t ASS-U-ME
I'm sure you've heard that when you ASSUME it makes an ASS out of U and ME. Here's a way to make assumptions that work. Investors all know that business plans are fiction, or rather fairy tales (fiction sometimes has…
Productivity
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Time Blocking
Time Blocking is a useful technique when you find the urgent is overwhelming the important. It’s based on the concept that you give every hour of your work day a specific task. Here’s how to do it. Make a list…
Everything Search Engine
File under: Software I Can NOT Live Without. How much time have you wasted looking for files on your PC? If it’s more than a minute, stop what you’re doing and go to http://www.voidtools.com/ and get a copy of the…
Use a Change Map to make Change Easier
A change map is a way to understand the ramifications of a change in your organization (or your life). It could be a change you’ve already adopted, or one you’re considering. It’s a great tool to bring together the smart…
Setting KPIs
View all in Setting KPIsWhat you Measure gets Done – Doesn’t it?
You've heard that before right? Well, it's not always so easy. I think one thing that sets big companies apart from small companies are how they use measurement in their decisions. Big companies get it wrong because: A) they measure…
Strategy
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Why You Can't Work ON Your Business
Even though you think you can. I know it’s not a great idea to tell your audience that they’re wrong. But in my experience of working with hundreds of SMB owners it’s true. We aren’t really working on our companies…
It's a Jungle Out There
Why war is a bad metaphor for business. Business has often been described as war, but I think that's a poor metaphor. For one thing the point is not to win, as I said in a recent twitter post. Photo…
Vision is Useless, Unless …
Your vision is tied to outputs. Here's how. Your vision is literally what you see. Your vision for your company is what you see that's possible. What your company can do or become that it hasn't yet. How your company…