Sustainability Of The Fitest

I have been talking sustainability to my clients for a long time. I believe that to be a successful brand and business you must be differentiated from your competitors while being relevant to your customers so they will continue to buy what you are selling. If you stay relevant you will be sustainable. You stay relevant by understanding what drives the hearts of your customers and deliver on their wants and needs.

So I love a great sustainable story and I have one to share with you. The link below to McKinsey Quarterly I think will provide you with a fresh, albeit not new look, at sustainability. It goes well beyond the current hype around being green and involves the former green leader from the Sierra club turned marketing sustainability leader, Adam Werbach.

Enjoy the read and remember to watch the video as it is I think required viewing for anyone who has been confusing sustainability with being green.



http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/When_sustainabillity_means_more_than_green_2404

Smooth Sailing

As many business leaders try to grapple with the harsh reality of today's market, I believe that many leaders do not really understand what their businesses are actually doing (or as I ask my clients..."what business are you really in") and have become so focused on their end results.

A recent piece in the McKinsey Quarterly talks about this and refers to it as the "Smooth Sailing" phenomenon, where if all appears to be going well then it is, and they are really not prepared for the underlying realities that all markets eventually bring up. The following is a great quote from the piece. I will post the link to the entire McKinsey article after the quote.


"I think that what has been the big wake-up call for people—and why they feel disquieted—is because they know in their gut that they don’t know where they’re going. They can’t see the future. And they haven’t got a business model and a strategy designed for an uncertain, unpredictable environment. They've got a strategy and business model for smooth sailing."

http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Management_lessons_from_the_financial_crisis_A_conversation_with_Lowell_Bryan_and_Richard_Rumelt_236

China Crawls Out Of Recession

A great link from McKinsey to a good conversation between some thinkers on China from the China point of view.


http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Economic_Studies/Country_Reports/Is_China_recession_proof_2366

China By The Numbers

Last week I and a peer held a seminar in Edmonton on the opportunities for growth that exist by doing business with China. As often happens, when I finish talking about China, people's minds are blown by the veracity the numbers discussed.

It has been my experience that until you begin to understand the vast potential that exists by going way west to China, you are doing your business a great disservice and missing what could be your greatest growth opportunity...ever!

So start to engage your mind on China and begin to make the numbers work for you.

Are You Referable?

I spoke at an executive workshop in Edmonton yesterday. It was built around helping leaders step back and rethink about tools and strategies they could possibly employ to gain growth going forward.

One reminder I wanted to share was ensuring you and your business are acting in a manner that will encourage other businesses to refer your goods and services. Are you being trustworthy and responsible? Are you living up to what you promise? As Jared Smith from Insight Solutions pointed out, think of the traits you look for in the firms and people you refer and then ask yourself do you practice these same habits.

All in all the mood from the executive's was that business is soft in some areas but growing in others. The key was to be flexible and be aggressive towards uncovering business. As I have said many times in this blog, it is time to rethink your marketing strategy and ensure you are talking to the right people and offering them something that is relevant to their current needs (if you know them).

Time To End The Hostage Crisis

"The world economy has effectively lost its sugar daddy." this is how Douglas Porter from BMO views the economic malaise that is underway in the United States. See the link below for the full article in the Edmonton Journal.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Business/sugar+daddy+save+banker/1497637/story.html


Past growth for most Canadian businesses were in some way tied to the United States. Today these traditional growth models lay in ruin. It was all to easy to just look south for our growth. In fact we were blinded by this ease and now we are miles behind other nations when it comes to building growth models from other markets. Today China represents the best growth opportunity for many Canadian organizations. Just read the front page of the latest Edmonton Chamber of Commerce news letter titled “Sino-Canadian Trade Potential” for the latest opinion on the matter.

So, does your business have its China strategy yet?

Required Viewing about China and India

As we sit in Western Canada with our traditional options for growth in Canada and the United States under pressure, we must continue to look to Asia for the outstanding growth opportunities.

The link below is to an excellent September 2008 interview with Tarun Khanna from the Harvard Business School on the entrepreneurship and opportunities being developed in India and China. Do yourself a favour and take 16 minutes to widen your mind.



http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/China_and_India_the_power_of_complementary_cultures_2290?pagenum=1#khanna