The future is volatile, dynamic and unpredictable. It is not really posible to fully plan or concretely prepare for anything. How could you possibly know what’s coming? You might lose the security of your job and become obsolete very quickly; particularly for those that spent many years performing in the same environment and for whom…
Imagine a business transformation as a falcon getting “Yarak” – hungry, but not weak, ready to hunt its way to success. This analogy paints a vivid picture of what it takes to turn a company around with a hunger for growth, resilience, and strategic finesse. Think of that falcon’s hunger as the driving force of…
…and stay there, is the lack of understanding of resource (people and capital) allocation. Understanding talent and assigning the right people to the right opportunities seems to be straight forward (I know it isn’t) but capital allocation, as a mindset, seems to be more difficult to grasp. Interestingly, the investment community is quite strong on…
Releyendo a Borges me he encontrado una vez más con esa maravilla que es “Funes el memorioso”, aquel uruguayo de Fray Bentos que tenía memoria perfecta y era capaz de recordar absolutamente todo. A la vez, era incapaz de reflexionar y desarrollar ideas coherentes haciéndolo ineficaz en la interacción social y en la toma de…
CEO’s, Strategists, Executives, and basically all of us know better what “we don’t want” than what we want. This not only applies to strategy but also to life in general. Think about it at a personal level. When you were 15 years’ old and were asked to choose what you wanted to be and therefore…
Transforming companies is never easy and the skills required often difficult to find within the company. There is always strong leadership required and great interpersonal skills to build relationships and bridges across, but there are also four different perspectives, or different “animals”, that I believe are important to get the job done: the Academics, the…
In my coaching sessions, I’ve come across many Senior Executives at the crossroads of deciding what to do next after many years growing through the corporate ladder in the same company but reaching that point when it becomes clear the cycle is over. You can feel it. You can sense it. You just need to…
A few days ago, I was having breakfast with the owner of a very successful family-owned global Pharmaceutical company. We were exchanging views as to how the Biopharmaceutical business environment is changing and the challenges ahead and he said something, in my opinion, very true: “large Pharmaceutical companies typically have far too many people and there…
Most Executives (probably all) claim and complain that they are as busy as never before and these days, with remote work as part of the new normal, it’s even worse with most of them at the brink of burnout as I read through many posts and articles…maybe. I do believe, though, many Executives are having…
In the last few months, many people have asked me and been curious about my experience on the transition from many years working in blue-chip companies to launching myself into a freelance, independent career as a Consultant & Executive Coach. Questions typically go around the development of business and coping with peaks and valleys of…
I am, of course, a supporter of the 70/20/10 model for learning, in which 70% of your development comes from challenging assignments, 20% from developmental relationships and 10% from course books and training. However, not everybody has the opportunity to work for great leaders in great companies and great assignments at the early stages of…
Last week, I was lucky enough to spend a couple of hours with Bob Margolin, legendary guitarist from the Muddy Waters Band back in the late 70`s. He shared with me a few amazing anecdotes from those days on the road, together with Muddy, and I couldn’t help myself to think of Muddy as a great…
This summer break I have managed to go through a few inspiring books and among them three highlights: – “Sapiens” from Yuval Noah Harrari – “Unboss” from Lars Kolind and Jacob Botter – “Start with Why” from Simon Sinek The three are great books to reflect upon how we behave in our organisations. There is one commonality across all of them:…
Commercial Excellence is still seen by many people as point solutions you implement here and there, with the hope to drive the business forwards. At times, the focus is on fixing the size of the sales force or the call plan or the digital approach to take, while in fact this is a process with…
From local to regional to global it is always fair to ask yourself if you are scoring the goals or you are just watching the score as it seems to happen far too often in big corporations. In fact, the bigger the corporation the easier it is to have a full calendar and effectively achieve…
It is amazing how time flies when you are enjoying what you do. It has been 20 years from the release of “The Matrix” (Keanu Reeves) and I have felt compelled to watch the trilogy again in search for insights. As with all great books and songs, there is always this something else to extract…
How many times have we heard executives pushing back on corporate targets to achieve more-than-balanced growth increasing both revenues and profits, while also reducing DSO’s? This is not possible, they claim, you can grow the top line but at the expense of the bottom line or you could improve DSO´s but at the expense of…
Many Country General Managers aren’t clear as to what their role should be. I believe it’s not about replicating the corporation with “presidential” approaches but to get the job done in the country focusing on opportunities for future success. Great local management teams make the difference in the performance of global Corporations. They could be…