Hit the Ground Running

Hit the Ground Running by Jason Jennings

No secret strategies – make sure everyone knows the strategy and knows their role

(Know what is expected of them.)

Gain people’s belief. Surround yourselves with others who can also be trusted.

Ask for help.

- Ask bosses for help (learn from their experiences).

- Ask Co-workers for help.

- Retain staff; they have tribal knowledge, and they have expertise.

Have a list on what you will do, if you are the boss.

HR practices

- Get the right people; promote from within.

- Give people challenges and move them around.

- Have program to identify rising stars.

- Communicate with people. Let them know what is going on.

Strategic thinking

- What is happing in your markets? What trends are becoming obvious and are likely to be long rather than short term?

- What are the capabilities of the company that will allow you to service these developing trends/needs?

- Do you have the team and knowledge to service these developing trends or needs?

- [Elsewhere] Place the best people in the opportunities area and not the problem areas.

- Do you have the financial resources to service these developing trends or needs?

- Figure out who controls your customers; stay close to them.

- Figure out what you can do to make customers’ lives easier

- Ask dumb questions

EQ

- Do not be a jerk. Sty humble.

- Just do what needs to be done.

- Be honest.

- Verify that people know what they are talking about

- Resolve issues in the open and quickly

- Own the decisions that you make. No waffle.

- Figure out the right details and pay attention to them.

- Let people know something positive is happening.

- Make people proud and let them take ownership.

Operations

- Incremental approach to change.

- Figure out what you can do to make customers’ lives easier

- Ruthlessly wring out waste, complexity and inefficiencies.

- Figure out where you want to go, but take the journey in small steps, pausing frequently to reassess.

- Speed up trends

-Let best ideas win

- Make everything as simple as possible.

- Leverage assets to cover cost and expand what you sell.

- Set the overall direction and let people tell you how to get there.