atkinson advisor

Creating Competitive Advantage by Jaynie L. Smith

Smith’s thesis is just as relevant today as when Creating Competitive Advantage was published in 2006. In fact, it may be even more critical in today’s increasingly competitive environment.

One of Smith’s most important points is that companies often confuse strengths for competitive advantages. They focus on strengths such as integrity and client trust, which are great and essential to business.  However, these strengths are not competitive advantages.  Some of your competitors likely have these strengths.

Her definition of competitive advantage is the “reason people do business with you.”  It’s what your competition doesn’t have, what allows you to close the sale.

A competitive advantage must be quantifiable, i.e. it must have supporting proof points. 

The following statement is not a competitive advantage:  “Our people are the best in the industry.”  However, it become a competitive advantage when you add:  “Our engineers have a minimum experience of 15 years in the business, twice that of our nearest competitor.” It gets even better when you can add the customer into the mix: “Our clients realize a 4x return on investment because our engineers average twice the experience of our nearest competitor.”

Smith cautions the reader, “Remember that competitive advantages are always moving targets.  You have to review your own, and your competitors’, at least quarterly.  Business is a chess game.  You need to think two or three moves ahead if you expect to win.”

YOUR TURN: What book helped you get a competitive edge in business?

It’s vacation time. Good books are a staple of any trip to the beach, lake, or mountains. Here are a few books we’re planning to read this summer.

• The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki — Entrepreneur. Advisor. Investor. Kawasaki has done it all. The Art of the Start is his take on creating an entrepreneurial environment inside any company. 
• Personality Not Included by Rohit Bhargava — Bhargava argues that brands must become dynamic personalities to connect fully and meaningfully with their customers. 
• Mastering the Hype Cycle by Jackie Fenn and Mark Raskino — Gartner invented its hype cycle several years ago to explain the rise, fall, and ultimately sustainability of innovation. Fenn and Raskino explain how companies can avoid the typical problems and return more from their investment in innovative products and services.
• The Big Short by Michael Lewis — Lewis has a stellar track record of fascinating stories, from Moneyball to The Blind Side to Liar’s Poker. In his latest book, he takes on the financial crisis in 2007-08 that led to the current recession.

What’s on your summer reading list?

The title is no lie. Author Clark Campbell has devised a method for capturing a project’s salient points into a one-page project manager (OPPM) that can communicate its status and the performance of those in charge.

Campbell has used his approach to plan a $30 million software project for SAP, a large event, and a $10 million distribution center.

The information captured in the page includes:

• Key objectives
• Major tasks to be accomplished
• Status of those tasks
• Who is in charge of the task and other team members
• Costs

Campbell provides a step-by-step plan for completing the OPPM, how to use the OPPM to compile reports for senior management, and how to use the OPPM as a meeting agenda.

Download the OPPM template.

The Elements of Influence by Allen Kelly

Ever meet that person who always seems to be a step ahead of the competition regardless of the circumstances? He or she always seems to read the tea leaves the right way and say the right thing to the right person at the right time.

Allen Kelly calls that person a playmaker. In The Elements of Influence, he details how playmakers operate and explains how to run more than 25 different plays designed to create influence.

Some of the plays are well known, such as the Red Herring and Trial Balloon. Others, like the Crazy Ivan and Peacock, are more entertaining. Details about all 25 plays are online at http://www.plays2run.com/table.

Kelly explains (without preaching) how each play works, its potential benefits, and its pitfalls. He also explains how to decode when someone is running a play on you and what plays you can run as a counter.

The Elements of Influence contains examples of each play and how sequences of plays can impact a desired outcome.

Fearless Leadership by Dr. Loretta Malandro

In October, we wrote about leadership expert Dr. Loretta Malandro and her belief every business leader has blindspots. We decided to delve further with Malandro’s book Fearless Leadership.

Malandro defines a blindspot as an unproductive behavior that undermines success and business relationships.

Fearless Leadership explores the top 10 blindspots that Malandro and her team have identified through extensive research. They are:

1. Going it alone
2. Being insensitive to your impact on others
3. Having an “I know” attitude
4. Avoiding difficult conversations
5. Blaming others or circumstances
6. Treating commitments casually
7. Conspiring against others
8. Withholding emotional commitment
9. Not taking a stand
10. Tolerating “good enough”

Malandro believes that solving blindspots are critical to organizational success. She provides convincing evidence from her work with professionals around the world that organization change does not happen until leadership changes. The book provides detail on each blindspot, excellent examples from Malandro’s practice, and strategies that leaders can use to diagnose and overcome their own blindspots.

Six Disciplines for Excellence by Gary Harpst

Author Gary Harpst found that less than 5 percent of businesses are high-impact companies, those that produce significant revenue growth and expanded employment. Likewise, he found companies that do become high impact rarely sustain their momentum more than three or four years.

Six Disciplines for Excellence is a collection of Harpst’s lessons from building several companies in his career. At the same time, Harpst takes the extra step beyond stories about those businesses and key decisions to a complete blueprint that executives can use to build organizations that achieve and sustain success over time.

The six disciplines are a set of interconnected practices that ensure employees in the organization know what they have to accomplish today to make the organizations successful. The disciplines are:

1. Decide What’s Important
2. Set Goals That Lead
3. Align Systems
4. Work The Plan
5. Innovate Purposefully
6. Step Back

For each discipline, Harpst provides step-by-step recommendations and insights that any company can use to implement a new strategic direction.