The Six Disciplines blog has moved!

You will be automatically redirected to our new home. If that does not occur, please visit:

Thursday, July 30, 2009

What Are CEOs and Managers Talking About Now?

A Harvard Business article recently showcased a the results of a CEO-peer group survey, indicating that the nature of CEO top concerns is changing as we move toward economic recovery.

While many of the CEOs had previously focused on topics of layoffs, profitability, and cash management, new concerns are beginning to emerge:

  • Strategy to invest in web 2.0/social marketing to capture consumer market share
  • Sales channel strategy to ramp sales of new products while driving down long-term costs
  • New service positioning pitch to capture an emerging market in the telecom space
  • Opportunity analysis--which projects to accelerate, which to cut?
  • New "Software as a Service" product roadmap
  • Investments in Marketing--where to experiment, how to allocate funds?
  • Taking advantage of a "fire sale" acquisition and plan to leverage it
  • Financing strategy--which term sheet, if any, to take?

BOTTOMLINE: HBR's summary: "Even the words contained in that list--strategy, ramp, opportunity, roadmap, experiment--are promising. The challenge isn't in believing that a bad economy is a time of opportunity, but rather in executing on the opportunities while staying prudent with day-to-day operations."

No comments: