Transforming organisations

Leadership and Web 2.0

A funny thing about leaders is that they tend to run their business from either a finance perspective or from a marketing perspective.

The former really don’t want to spend money at all if they can possibly avoid it. When under pressure they can usually be found juggling with the cash flow on Excel or fiddling with a profit forecast somewhere. They quite like purchasing and if they get bored they have a look at the administration process.

The latter love to spend money, irrespective of it’s impact on either cash or profit. They tend see the world and their business from the outside in, from the customers perspective. When under pressure they will buy something. They get really aroused by the words ‘marketing’ or ‘research and development’ and they love doing deals.

So which way is best? Well of course the answer is “neither”. You would expect a consultant to say that, but it’s the debate between the two approaches and taking each decision on it’s merits that usually produces the best answer for the organisation.

The only problem to this bland approach to business life is the sheer speed and power of the internet. There is so much is happening outside the business, for example:
· customers want and expect more for less
· competitors can emerge from anywhere on the globe
· market places are evolving as we speak
· technology can revolutionise business models at 186k miles per second

I wonder if this means that as leaders today we have to shift that even handed approach more in favour of the marketing angle. Perhaps if we choose not to, we could get left behind.

posted by Tim @ 11:51 PM