Do more with less in 2023! | Issue #223
How to do more with less to grow your business beyond 2023
Inflation has gripped the UK economy. You’re looking at the New Year and thinking, ‘We’ve got to put our prices up.’ It’s a decision no business takes lightly. Your next thought is about your existing team. Are there tough decisions to make? How do you ensure that when the current recession ends, you’ve increased the metabolic rate of your business?
In times of recession, a typical reaction is to stop hiring. I disagree with this. More useful would be to look at upgrading the heart of your business. Hire better people.
Don’t just look at replacing the bottom 10% of performers. Replace the bottom 30%. You’re not going to be recruiting 100 additional people in 2023. But swap out 100 instead and get obsessive about increasing the percentage of ‘A-Players’ in your business (the top 10% of talent for a given salary, role and location). When the upturn comes, your salary bill might not have dropped, but productivity will be through the roof. Just think of the massive springboard for success this could create.
[Rebroadcast] What it Takes to Become a Great CEO with Scott Keller
Having travelled to every country in the world, Scott Keller, Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, New York Times best selling author of Beyond performance 2.0 and CEO Excellence, was looking for a new challenge. And he found it during lockdown.
Along with his fellow authors, he sought to uncover what makes the best CEOs of this century the best. They combined extensive quantitative analysis with in-depth interviews with today’s top CEOs to understand what sets exceptional leaders apart. And they found the best CEOs have to master six core things to become great.
In this episode of The Melting Pot, Scott shares the methodology they used to narrow down their list of CEOs from 7,800 to the 67 they interviewed, before discussing the six things they found were the core of every great CEO.
Recommended Podcasts
No BS Agency Podcast with Pia Silva
Ignore the crap that’s holding you back and discover what it really takes to be the boss.
Recommended Articles
In a Downturn, Focus on Existing Customers — Not Potential Ones
Mitigating panic churn during a downturn can minimize the disruption of economic uncertainty. Key to doing this is by focusing on at-risk customer cohorts. Not only is retention less vulnerable than acquisition to the short-term swings of a bad economy, but the rule of thumb that it costs five times more to win a new customer than to keep a current one becomes even more extreme in a downturn.
Raising the resilience of your organization
Repeatedly rebounding from disruption is tough, but some companies have a recipe for success: a systems mindset emphasizing agility, psychological safety, adaptable leadership, and cohesive culture.
How to develop a high-impact team
“The best leaders don’t just stumble upon such teams; they know how to build a dream team, even under challenging circumstances. And they do this not by focusing on one or two impact players but by carefully curating team members with the right mindset; developing them as individuals and as a team; and nurturing a robust, healthy culture.”
Recommended Reads
In our world of incessant change, we are all threatened by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity—at the individual and organizational levels. Undisruptable will give you a new lens through which to consider change as an opportunity rather than an obstacle. You’ll be inspired to consider the big questions of today: What does the future hold? What does the exponential growth of technology mean for the world of work? What does a changing job market mean for future generations? What do waves of disruption mean for business leaders? Society is evolving at breakneck speed. What does this mean for all of us? Read Undisruptable to bridge the chaos and build the resilience you need to move forward.
Quote of the week
“Leaders set high standards. Refuse to tolerate mediocrity or poor performance.”
Brian Tracy
Dominic Monkhouse
Dominic offers business coaching and management development, strategy planning and organisational change, using tried and tested methods to launch your organisation onto an unparalleled growth trajectory. His programme is a function of his broad experience, his deep expertise and a proven process used by over 2,700 firms worldwide.