Archives for January 2016 | Dave Stark Collective

Purpose drives business

January 23, 2016

When the Business Journal indicates that the top five companies of the year have something in common, it is important to take notice. This past year, the top five Minnesota companies had this in common – they have defined why they exist. Defining a purpose for a business is not just happy talk anymore – it is critical for many reasons. First, it is how we are wired as humans. In his bestselling book, Leaders Eat Last, Simon Sinek uses the latest in brain research that inspiration, purpose, and meaning actually trigger a multitude of chemicals in our brains that motivate us to want to work. If you are not tapping into that part of your employees as leaders, or you are working for a company that has not defined its purpose, you are missing out on a lot of energy that can be brought to work. But most companies have not taken the time to do this, or are […]

Leaders ask Great Questions

January 13, 2016

In my leadership consulting practice over the past couple of decades I have found that helping leaders ask the right question gives them more powerful insight, direction, and clarity than providing what I think is the appropriate solution for their issues. Why is this so? Asking a great question, many times, focuses leaders on the right information, right analysis, or the needed decision-making framework to move their organization forward, or bring clarity to a lot of what seem to be random or disconnected issues they face at any one moment in time. When I wrote my book, Christ-Based Leadership, I found that the organizing structure of some of the best business thinkers of our day centered on great, revealing questions. Here are a few examples: What is the truth of your ambition? Jim Collins asks this in Good To Great to separate level 4 leaders from level 5 leaders in organizations that want to be great, and not just good. […]

Strategy in a Connected World

January 2, 2016

There was a day, a long time ago (and still in a few industries) where strategic planning was run by a standard process, would have accurate forecasts for 5+ years, followed by simply executing the plan. Many forces began to change the landscape of the market, not the least of which is the interconnectedness of all parts of our business lives. The speed of change has completely changed the way organizations operate. No longer can the person at the top set the vision and goals, and cascade the actions plans down the hierarchy. In fact hierarchy has given way to flatter organizations, where input is coming from many parts of the organization constantly feeding a group of people who are not only strategizing for today, but experimenting with what will satisfy future customers as well. One of our favorite thinkers in strategy, Rita Gunther McGraith, now trains executives to constantly create and update what she calls an opportunity portfolio. This […]