Do these sound like two conflicting goals? "Be strategic and do it in 90 days"
In our ever-increasingly competitive global business environment, this is every CEOs reality.
No matter whether you are a publicly traded company sublject to the psychology of stock market trends or a privately held company managing cashflows in a tight credit market, we are all in one business today - the business of speed!
It's speed to market - speed to delivery of what customers want - speed to revenue recognition.. ..
A colleague of mine had recently stepped down as CEO of her third sucecssful entrepreneurial company to be the "VP of Strategy" instead.
When did we start separating "Strategy" from what a CEO does?
Is customer demand for "stuff" so voracious that companies are just giving them what they want and worrying about whether it is the right move for the companies long-term succes or not?
As the very first Sales Director dedicated to the Carrier market (ok, Guinea Pig) for Netscreen back in 2000, I was strategic sales. But I still had a quota every 90 days and had I ever missed it, I wouldn't have been around for more than 2 quarters. Yet those Carrier purchase orders were pretty big - albeit the revenue "hockey stick" every quarter aged us all.
So in 2004 when Juniper paid $4Billion to buy Netscreen, on revenues that were a fraction of that number, Bob Darabant who led our small team of 5 Carrier salesmen, looked like a genius. (Not surprisingly he's CEO of Montego Networks now) http://www.montegonetworks.com/ . Juniper looked to acquire a strategic entry point into that half of the Carrier market that their competition did not already own.
In today's fragmented market CEOs not only can be strategic and do it in 90 days, they have to.
With the "right" strategy, the rewards are exponential in both the near and long term.
So yes, you CAN be strategic......and do it in 90 days!
So share your own succes stories. Where else has a CEO been successful at being strategic in 90 days?
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