Wholesale Sources for MenWomenKids Urban Wear Clothing - Wholesale - The Howl - Issue #7

This is CEO Strategist?s publication of ?The Howl,? a monthly newsletter that will discuss relevant issues in wholesale distribution. It will include reader input, questions, comments and guest articles. It will also have tips on best practices in wholesale distribution, sales management, leadership and even some everyday stuff like improving your golf game.

If you missed Issues #1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6-- e-mail: rick@ceostrategist.com for copies of these issues.

I just returned from a trip to Charleston and Savannah. Tracy and I took five days off to travel with my brother and his wife who is from England. She had never been to either city and they were anxious to get a glimpse of the ?Real South?. Florida is a hodge podge mixture of all the states in the union and I can?t recall meeting anyone that was actually born in Florida since I moved here. My brother and his wife are retired and on a fixed pension so Tracy tried to use her self proclaimed talent for being frugal to minimize the expense of the trip. After all, she is a die hard Wal-Mart girl. In fact, if she ever became ill the Walton family would probably send her a get well card.

Anyway, hotels in downtown Charleston ranged from $250 per night to $500. These were out of the question so Tracy booked us at a ?Motel? on the outskirts fifteen minutes from the town center. She was proud of the fact that it only cost $59 per night. She was even more excited as she exclaimed ? ?I got them to reduce it by another $10 making it $49 a night since I told them we did not need a room facing the pool.?

I was nervous about the whole thing from the start since I can?t remember ever staying in a hotel for only $49 a night. But, she assured me that she checked it out on the internet and it even had wireless access for my lap top. I was still leery about it so I called a friend that happened to be in Charleston on a bank project and had them check it out. They actually went to the motel and they said it looked decent considering it was only $49. Of course, they could only see the lobby.

To make a long story short, we arrived and the lobby didn?t look bad. They had a restaurant and for 99 cents we could include breakfast for two on our room package. Whoa --- $49 dollars a night and 99 cents for breakfast. Tracy was proud of her feat and grinning from ear to ear. Needless to say, everything isn?t always as it seems. We got to our rooms and there were no pictures on the walls. They claimed they were remodeling. Our rooms did not face the pool as Tracy had claimed but they didn?t face the parking lot either. They faced a brick wall down a long corridor that was next to the maintenance room and directly above their laundry. Additionally, the ice machine which played tunes all night long was right outside our door. The clock didn?t work, the telephone mouth piece kept coming apart, we went through three TV remotes and never did get it to work and the floor of the bath tub had waves in it that moved as if you were riding a surf board. But, I could have handled that except for the fact that I found French Fries under the bed and the bath room just didn?t look or feel clean.

We did change rooms and got a remote that worked and the second room was clean but the wireless internet didn?t start working until the morning when we left.

My Sister In Law being a proper English Lady was actually appalled by it all but her room wasn?t all that bad. I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying that she was the reason we were in that hotel to begin with. But, that sounds a little snobbish so I just kept my mouth shut. Besides, she scares me a little.

It just goes to prove that you really do get what you pay for. In spite of that, (fortunately we were only in that room two nights as we spent the rest of the time in Savannah ), we had a marvelous time and we enjoyed the trip down history lane immensely. We even toured some of the haunted mansions in Savannah and met numerous local people. I just love their southern drawl.

Oh, by the way, ironically on the day we arrived we went to the Charleston Inn downtown for a drink after we had checked into our motel. Four mixed drinks totaled $52 without a tip. That was more than we paid for our rooms. We should have skipped the umbrella drinks and purchased better rooms.

There isn?t much doubt that most effective high impact leaders are driven by a model. This is true even when that effective leader doesn?t take the time to define his personal unique model. A model is a tool that leaders use to predict future outcomes of current decisions; a tool that not only enhances personal creativity but encourages creativity in the minds of their employees. An executive?s model is built from the sum of their experiences, knowledge, deeds and, in fact, many of their mistakes. Best practice alone will not get the job done. Effective model driven leadership utilizing best practice is a combination that is an absolute must. Different leaders create their models through different approaches. Each model is unique to the individual but the following three examples explain the platform that models are built on.

Some leaders strongly shape their model by working in every aspect of the business and also from learning the business from the ground up. They always carry a strong desire to compete and win. The Leaders competitive instincts are generally tempered by personal humility and respect for the individual managers on his team. Listening skills and genuine interest in what is right for the business are key tools in building a consensus. Belief in the employees is a guiding principle in leadership style. This same approach is used with both suppliers and customers to find the innovative win-win solution. Make no mistake; this approach is very different than typical negotiation approaches used in many wholesale-distributors.

It becomes a discipline. This discipline circumvents growth mistakes so common in the industry. The other implication of this model is providing significant autonomy to the executive team. The leader makes sure the executive team has a detailed and shared vision of the business objectives and goals. He believes his role as chief executive is to provide the shared vision and make sure that it is clear and also current.

Another variation of the servant style of leadership is the elegant, powerful, and simple approach. This approach starts with an open and clear balance between the various stakeholders whether they are customer/owners, employees, or suppliers. It is a true win-win model without the destructive negotiations experienced by many other distributors. Using this foundation and a long established set of core corporate values and best practice the leader consistently reminds each stakeholder group of the key messages while continually focusing the organization on innovation and creativity. Innovation becomes a key strategic initiative for growth. It is exciting to see the accumulated economic power that can be developed by a constantly evolving innovative business model and effective leadership combined with best practice utilization.

A third example of leadership modeling is about managing a strategic shift from being a traditional box-moving wholesaler with limited growth prospects to a logistics powerhouse that provides significant value in the supply chain.

Strategy is said to be obvious once you?ve had it explained. It is also said that customers don?t see strategy, they only see execution. This model like the other examples platform a strong sense of curiosity about other companies and how to apply lessons learned in their own organizations. The answers needed for major change and organizational renewal lie outside the enterprise and effective leaders using this model are able to take prior ?lessons learned? and on-going bench marking to generate success.

Over ninety percent of the reasons companies fail can be traced to ineffective leadership. It?s not because of the economy and it is not because of the competition. It is a failure to learn. Effective leadership will overcome these obstacles, and they?ll be looking down the road at what needs to be done to grow with the current model or change it once the model is no longer ?grow-able. Attention is paid to the lessons learned.

High impact leaders, regardless of their personal model demonstrate a curiosity that can not be satisfied without personal examination of what exactly were the causes of any failure to meet expectations. Non-performance is just not acceptable. Leadership is a key in every instance to creating an attitude, structuring an environment and developing employees as the very essence of success. Although individual leadership models differ in some specific approaches the common thread that links every model together is respect for the individual employee and the willingness and ability to listen with an understanding that embellishes their own leadership contribution to the organization. Best practices are a part of every successful leadership model but best practice alone will not create the level of success demonstrated by the high impact upper quartile performers. Effective leaders create a culture where employees can express themselves and fight for what is right; employees become responsibly fanatical about aligning their resources to add value to the customer and the company. That?s what high impact leadership is all about. (e-mail rick@ceostrategist.com for a fre*e Business Acumen scorecard).

A mistake many leaders make is the self imposed responsibility to have all the answers. This is just not true. It is okay to admit to not having all the answers. Good leaders are willing to show their imperfections. Surround yourself with a solid executive team and you don?t need all the answers. No one expects perfection, just leadership. Being President doesn?t grant you supreme knowledge.

Stagnant growth, lost market share and panic response management are more likely to occur if strategic growth objectives are Ego driven vs. Profit driven which often leads to putting personal needs ahead of business needs. This is a common symptom of the lack of leadership in the organization. Leadership is quite different then management. Steve Kaufman in his DREF interview, NAW?s leadership series (2003), stated that he did not invent the phrase ?Servant Leadership? but he leans heavily toward that methodology.

The academics tell us a leaders role is to serve those people that report to him. He or She is not a dictator but their ultimate role is to serve, to allow those people to achieve their goals. It?s a style that starts by asking; What do you want to accomplish rather than telling them what you want to accomplish.? I would say that the servant leadership model is the one that I like to talk about. I like to talk about the most effective leaders being those that have volunteer followers not those?that have draftees. And if your team could vote for a leader rather than be assigned a leader, would they still vote for you. Steve Kaufman, CEO Arrow Electronics

Servant-leadership encourages collaboration, trust, foresight, listening, and the ethical use of power and empowerment. Warren Bennis, leadership scholar believes American corporations are over managed and underled. Great leaders get exceptional efforts from their employees simply because they recognize that they don?t have to have all the answers. Knowing this they make a concerted effort to leverage the intelligence, the creativity and the innovation of their employees. For this process to be successful, effective leaders must have vision and they must communicate that vision with crystal clarity. A visionary leader has a clear sense for the future with the ability to turn their vision into results. This could not be accomplished if they let their ego get in the way. Communication is critical to the process used to inspire others to act.

A servant leader makes a conscious choice to lead by being a servant first. He or she is sharply different from the person who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions. The leader-first and the servant-first are the two extreme boundaries. Between these two extremes is where you find the most effective leaders. Your style is determined by you, your environment and the specific situation you face. But, if you stay in the grid between these two extremes but closer to the servant-first boundary, your effectiveness as a leader will be obvious. (e-mail rick@ceostrategist.com for the fre*e Leadership Thought Provoker Checklist or visit www.ceostrategist.com ) Good managers get employees to respect them, effective leaders get employees to not only respect them but more importantly they get them to respect themselves.

A cohesive management team is the most important ingredient to your company?s success. The management team needs to function as a team to maximize their accomplishments. To quote an over used phrase, teamwork is really key to an effective management team. This sounds like a simple concept but it is more complicated than you might think. It just isn?t a natural act for people to come together and immediately become effective by addressing common objectives, common issues and common problems.

A management team can often become overwhelmed by day to day events which effectively prohibits strategic thinking. Thinking outside the box becomes difficult because they are too busy trying to control what?s going on inside the box. The sharing of common visions and long term goals becomes extremely difficult. Individual personalities, values and personal goals often become roadblocks to functioning well as a team. Getting your management team to focus on common strategic goals is not easy but it is absolutely essential if you are going to maintain competitive advantage and get things done.

1. Take complex plans and strategies and assign accountability and ownership. This creates more efficiency and leverages creativity. Assign responsibility according to individual passions.

2. Brainstorming must be encouraged to release team innovation. Bouncing ideas off one another stimulates creative thinking which leads to creative solutions. This in itself bonds individuals into a common purpose.

3. Ask for solutions assigning both responsibility and empowerment. Ownership of ideas and initiatives builds commitment. Involving the team in creating direction and solutions through empowerment generates commitment to the tasks necessary to meet objectives.

4. Challenge your management team. Reliance on team effectiveness minimizes risk by being more flexible and adaptive than relying on a single individual. No one individual alone can jeopardize success. The loss of one team member can be overcome without losing sight of the objectives.

? The ?Night of the Long Knives? is a terminology used when the Elephant is too big to eat and you have to chop it up into pieces.
? It is the coming together of a competent team to address common issues & challenges that need to be resolved in the best interest of the entire group

Document current and future challenges, projects, initiatives and issues. Ask your management team to review them, add their thoughts and comment on any issues that may have been overlooked. Lastly, ask them to prioritize the list based on the impact to the success of the organization over the next twelve to eighteen months. Arrange for a two day ?Night of the Long Knives? workshop utilizing the following agenda.

A Sales Managers Responsibility Does Not Focus on Selling but it Does Focus on the Promotion of Sales

http://www.ceostrategist.com Dr. Rick Johnson (rick@ceostrategist.com) is the founder of CEO Strategist LLC. an experienced based firm specializing in leadership and the creation of competitive advantage in wholesale distribution. CEO Strategist LLC. works in an advisory capacity with distributor executives in board representation, executive coaching, team coaching and education and training to make the changes necessary to create or maintain competitive advantage. You can contact them by calling 352-750-0868, or visit http://www.ceostrategist.com for more information. CEO Strategist ? experts in Strategic Leadership in Wholesale Distribution. Sign up for Rick?s monthly news letter ? "The Howl" email rick@ceostrategist.com.

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The Howl - Issue #7 - April 2006