Monday, February 22, 2010

The Profile of a Successful Company – Part I: Introduction

The Profile of a Successful Company – Part I: Introduction
 
Just about everybody recognizes, at least at an intuitive level, that every company is a unique, living entity, capable of growth or contraction, development or decay - no matter its size or current performance.
 
As such, it has a unique Operating Dynamic, perhaps even a unique soul, certainly a unique "personality", that:
 
·         Is not the sum of the human personalities – it can be greater or less or different.
·         Determines the company's way of working, its expectations, its performance and finally its results. 
·         Is the root cause and origin of all corporate performance.
 
Most believe that this operating dynamic is intangible, difficult to describe, impossible to measure.  And as such not amenable to purposeful change or development by ordinary mortals. 
 
However, since 1980, these beliefs are no longer correct - and heroic leadership is not necessary. 
 
Just as the human psyche is described and measured in psychological terms, and a profile (such as the Myers Briggs) developed, so also a corporate psyche can be described and measured and profiled.  The difference being that the corporate attributes addressed are business characteristics, not human.  (These can also be thought of as organizational forces.)  And greater complexity and detail are possible.
 
It should be noted that these forces are so important to the performance of a company, that changing just three of them by 20% changes the bottom line by 40%.
 
These characteristics are identified and discussed in a number of our papers published in the last few months.  One such is titled The Will to Compete; this was published by Corporate Finance Review in its September/October edition.  Others appeared in The Business Ledger, CEO Refresher, and Strategic Finance.  Still others will appear in the coming months.  Some of these are to be found in our book, Fire in the Corporate Belly, now in its second, digital, edition.
 
Over the next few weeks we will be describing the impact of the various attributes on the performance of companies.  We shall address them in the order our readers prefer; so do let us know.  Just email us at dianen@managementconsultants.com and simply name your choices. 
 
If you would like to know more about our business transformation service that begins with and triggers changes in these attributes, please email us or call 847-599-9960.

Tom FitzGerald (Author: Fire in the Corporate Belly)
FitzGerald Associates, Est. 1976    www.ManagementConsultants.com     
Blog    
http://fitzgeraldassociates.blogspot.com
Lake Forest, Illinois - Phone  847-599-9960