In today’s note
- Stop toxic positivity (a useful book)
- Priorities, OKR and the perennial lack of time
- A bold question they ask in Netflix
- 5 lessons I learned the hard way about LTV
- How is Bayer’s strategy going?
No more toxic positivity
I found it walking through the airport and thought that finally someone has written about this issue.
TOXIC POSITIVITY is a book by Whitney Goodman, a Miami-based psychotherapist, and talks about why it is important to stop being fake positive.
The author explains that always being positive at work and in life does not allow us to grow. In many organizations there is this fake niceness and desire to always feel positive that is not productive at all. The pressure to be constantly happy makes us suffer and makes it difficult to face reality.
Recognizing and processing negative emotions helps us grow. If we always see the world in a positive way, we stop doing so. It is important to accept emotions, even negative ones, and learn to recognize and manage them.
I really liked the theme of authenticity, which also means experiencing and sharing feelings such as fatigue, pain, fear, and not pretending that everything is okay.
Superficiality leads to toxic relationships, especially for those who have a healthy relationship with negative emotions instead (and do not know it).
The book helps to take emotions as they come, find the right time to talk about them, and express discomfort effectively.
Highly recommended. Here is the link to get it now.
Priorities, OKR and the perennial lack of time
The main excuse for not adopting OKRs is : “We don’t have time for OKRs.”
What I really think is that it is not a question of time, but a question of priorities.
If OKRs indicate priority, then they are a priority themselves.
OKRs are not just another tool; they are a way of working that requires focus and prioritization.
They enable better organization of resources, especially at a time when many leaders are struggling to decide what is really important. If everything is important, nothing is important.
Leadership is not about controlling every detail but about setting clear priorities that allow teams to express their capabilities to the fullest. Consequently, prioritizing OKRs is not about managing time, but managing resources for maximum impact.
Here are five steps you can apply immediately:
1. Ask yourself what is essential to achieve in the next four to 12 months.
2. Use SFO to map your strategy into a single sheet that can be shared and understood by your team.
3. Distill priorities into numerical and measurable objectives (OKRs).
4. Clearly communicate this information to your team so that they can make aligned, autonomous decisions.
5. Distribute resources based on your priorities, not on last year’s budget (or what you are getting ready to do).
If you would like to learn more about these topics, we can train your team for free.
We are offering a free one-hour training for teams interested in discovering these strategic management techniques. Apply for it by going through this link.
A bold question they ask in Netflix
We all know that summer is a busy time, even for Hiring. Many faced selections and reported resignations before the summer, ready to start new roles in September. This leads HR teams to manage new onboarding and replacements for missing roles.
I would like to tell you about a performance management tool introduced by Reed Husting, co-founder of Netflix, that can offer you a different perspective than the roller coaster of emotions you face in these cases.
It is called The Keeper Test. It works like this: cyclically managers are asked, “If X wanted to quit, would I do everything to keep him/her in the company?” Or, “Knowing all I know today, would I hire X again?” If the answer is no, the relationship is quickly terminated.
Throughout the year, managers are encouraged to have conversations about the state of their team’s talent. An approach that rewards role effectiveness over the amount of work produced and requires courage and honesty from managers and vulnerability from employees.
Beware, this approach may not work in your company, but know that building high-performing organizations requires making tough decisions.
The Keeper Test is a tool for maintaining excellence in the team. Netflix is famous for coining the concept of “talent density.” And when you put together a group of talent what happens is that no one tolerates ballast and unnecessary wasted time. This test is a way to protect the culture from the inside.
I also discussed this in my book MAKE PROGRESS with OKRs. The most advanced management systems enable organizations to self-repair from within through people’s autonomy and agility.
I’ll leave you the link to the official Netflix poster and I’m curious what you think.
5 lessons I learned the hard way about LTV
1. I learned that small customers can become big spenders.
Tending to ignore the little ones, I thought they would never represent much. But guess what? Some of our biggest customers started by buying small. Every customer is worth gold even if they spend €9.
2. Quick wins in marketing do not always mean long-term success.
I was so focused on short-term profits that I lost sight of the big picture. Sure, you can make money quickly, but it becomes more difficult to create lasting relationships. It is in long-term relationships that the real money is found.
3. Customer feedback is a gold mine.
I thought I knew why customers bought my products, however, I was wrong. By not listening to them, I lost valuable insights that could have improved them. Customers are the best consultants you can hire.
4. Keeping existing customers happy costs much less and leads to more profit, but…
But the beauty is that you can’t stop acquiring new ones. Balancing retention with smart acquisition strategies is everything.
5. Building a brand takes a long time.
It is a slow process that requires constant and expensive effort. I have found that the fastest way to do branding is to sell. Don’t separate the two unless you have an infinite budget.
Do you measure Lifetime Value? What is your experience?
Track your most important metrics with our KPI Book
How is Bayer’s strategy going?
In late April of this year, Bayer CEO Bill Anderson talked about how the large pharmaceutical company is launching a new organizational model called DSO, or Dynamic Shared Ownership. In a YouTube presentation, he explained how this model can dismantle bureaucracy, support innovation, and make people more entrepreneurial.
Find the detailed original note here: Bayer’s New Strategy is Getting Rid of Bureaucracy: Here’s How They’ll Do It.
The DSO model is among the most advanced available today and is based on ideas learned from other models such as Hier’s Rendanay and Humanocracy. Gary Hamel appears as a guest in the video to explain the principles of the model and how bureaucracy is holding back innovation and progress in companies around the world.
Ninety days later, Bill Anderson is back on YouTube with a 90-second video to report his second quarter results. It is interesting to see how a large company uses platforms like YouTube and LinkedIn to engage its stakeholders in strategic management. Information is carefully shared, but communicating the strategy is part of the strategy itself.
Find the YouTube video here: Bayer CEO Bill Anderson on Q2 2024 | 90 days in 90 seconds
In brief:
- The company’s new operating model is well underway and showing excellent results.
- Bayer confirms 2024 forecast with revenues up in the first half of the year.
- All divisions showed improvement in the second quarter.
- In pharma, Bayer achieved positive results for a new drug for heart failure.
- New trials have begun for a gene therapy for Parkinson’s disease.
- Bayer is launching new innovations on the market, including:
- A supplement for cellular health.
- A biotechnology to combat the corn root pest.
These communications influence many parts of the business ecosystem. Competitors hear this information, as well as new talent who may want to work in a company that promotes enterprise. The scientific, agricultural, industrial, and financial communities are also impacted by the company’s products.
I wonder why in many organizations the strategy is kept hidden by a few people and is not clear or distributed.
It is not necessary to have a YouTube channel and broadcast business results, but it is important to return strategic clarity to those affected.
Often, the cost of strategic inconsistency is a hidden cost in budgets that I call strategic debt. If you need new tools to bridge this invisible and heavy debt, I invite you to discover MAKE PROGRESS® and the case studies of those who are already adopting it.
