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Archives for March 2021

Building Great Brands in a Digital World

2:16 am By Dave Anderson

It’s Business Drive Time® in this new age, ever changing digital world.

So, who in the marketplace is doing the finest job in the business race? Who are the winners? What industries, what companies, what products, which people are leading the pack?

We are speaking with leaders across the country and throughout the most innovative industries as we attempt to answer these questions. It’s part of Alpha Board’s National Business Leadership Tour. The tour includes companies and leaders from a number of the hottest markets in the U.S. and ultimately beyond.

One of the subjects we will be discussing is the challenges and opportunities of building great brands in today’s dynamic technology world. We are speaking leaders inside well branded companies. In addition, we’re speaking with the marketing agencies and advisers that are helping promising companies manage and develop their brands in the marketplace.

We’re not looking for leaders in the cliché companies. We’ll leave Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and their peers for someone else’s tour. We’re looking for the hidden gems, the fast companies, the smaller companies, the private companies and the emerging leaders who are mastering the art of new.

We have the same philosophy as we select the cities in the tour. While New York, LA, San Francisco and Seattle may not be entirely yesterday’s news, we’re visiting the cities that are truly winning in the 21st Century.

Technology is hot, but even technology is not just for California anymore. If you are in a city like Minneapolis, Kansas City, Denver, Austin, Phoenix-Scottsdale, Dallas, Nashville or Raleigh-Durham you may find yourself on our list of experts for the tour.

One of the topics we will be discussing with leaders is the art and science of growing great brands and achieving marketplace attention in our new, always spinning, digital age.

We’re looking for the experts that can tell us how the great brands roll.

  • What are the most powerful methods and trends driving today’s new age brand growth?
  • What companies are doing it right?
  • Are they product driven or market driving?
  • Are their brands about loyalty, clicks or both?
  • What is the blend of traditional marketing, product innovation, social media, the web and personal sales?
  • Is there a secret formula? Is there one strategy or many?
  • How are marketers finding the delicate balance between innovation, hard work? Traditional versus non-traditional tools?
  • Who are market suppliers and media companies with the leading-edge approaches?
  • Who are the agencies, digital leaders and market advisers that are doing the best work?

If you are an engaged and engaging leader in today’s branding and marketing race, we’d love to hear what you have to say. We can be reached at 913 685-4850, or via email at dave@alphaboard.com.

What’s Your Growth Superpower?

10:13 am By Dave Anderson

How are strategic planning and growth even related?  Everyone loves growth, yet “strategic planning” are two of the most dreaded words in business.  Don’t make it that way!

A strategic plan is your future.  It documents where you are, where you are going, and how you will get there.  It forces your thought processes to get organized beyond the day-to-day tasks of running your business and places you in the mindset of the future growth of your company.

PrintMany, if not most organizations that even do a strategic plan are just going through the motions.  Someone from above told them they have to put together the notebook and the slide deck.  Once it’s reviewed and blessed, it typically goes back on the shelf for next year.

And, if you are not one of the lucky ones that have a demand on you, from a banker, and investor, a board, or from someone… to do an annual plan, you may not have one.  For most persons, that can be a bureaucratic relief.

Don’t be one those people!

Let’s take a minute to see it from the other side.  There are logical reasons that you need a plan, even if it seems difficult.

  • Strategic direction is real and it is how you achieve growth! It’s not just the sum of short-term tactics.  It requires thought and documented market knowledge.
  • The data portion of a plan should be factual. That forces learning, discussions and information gathering.  It also forces a specific discipline within your business.   It is NOT easy to turn directional market opinions into verifiable facts.
  • It is a time allocation thing. Putting together a plan, and identifying a person who is the ongoing keeper of the plan, requires you to identify resources to be your strategic and/or informational eyes and ears.   Most organizations don’t have time for a plan. Which means, most organizations either don’t have time or don’t take the time to really look forward strategically.
  • A plan can serve as the impetus for you to find the “thinkers” within your organization. You may also need to reach out to outside resources to help with the process.

Find the big idea.  It’s not (just) an academic process.  Don’t stop at the numbers and format.

  • One of the best leadership skills in the world is intuition.
  • For intuition to be accurate, you must base your thoughts on a mutually accepted set of facts and market dynamics.
  • For you to have the skills and bandwidth to really create a vision for your company, you have to start with the mojo-moment-intro-photofoundation. The basic set of facts. Then you must remove yourself from the clutter and truly find a strategic direction. The two (facts and vision) are often separate tasks, but you cannot consistently rely on one without the other.

The market moves. Don’t forget!

  • The biggest danger of fact gathering is to forget that everything is moving.
  • Your big ideas need to be based on where the market is going, not just where it is.

Your goal is marketplace leverage.

  • What is the one big thing that makes you better than your competitors?
  • What is the element of your business that distinguishes you in the eyes of your customers?
  • Will that one thing be enough going forward to continue to lead you where you’d like to go, or do you need to find another leverage point?
  • The numbers and planning in the life of your company will not replace the need to prioritize, synthesize and identify the strategic leverage points for you to grow.
  • Most organizations can identify 10-12 major tasks or elements within your business.
    • Two to three of those elements can be critically important for growth.
    • Two to three of them can be buzz killers, which, if not managed properly, can kill your momentum entirely.
    • The remainder of the items on the list are qualifiers. You must have them to be in business, and you must perform at a decent level.  But they are also not strategic leverage points.

“Lead, follow or get out of the way.”life-cycle-chart

  • Pick a direction that is realistic, and fit within your financial and organizational means.
  • The plan literally should tell you where you are going, and how to get there.
  • Businesses have a natural ebb and flow. One highly effective measure of future growth potential is market maturity.
  • New, undefined and/or rapidly growing markets offer opportunities for rapid growth.
  • Mature markets and companies can be opportunities, roadblocks and/or an impetus to go in an entirely new direction. Make sure your plans are aligned with market reality.
  • Be creative, strategic, committed but also pragmatic.
  • Companies should understand where they are with their current business, what their chances are to achieve renewed growth and at what cost.

Commit Your Plan to a Financial Forecast

  • Everyone has their own terminology. My definition of a forward financial projection is a “forecast.”  Many view that as “budgeting” although it goes deeper than a budget.  Regardless of the terminology, you need tracked, verified and continuously monitored financial projections.
  • A forecast makes your plans real. There is NOTHING better to force the tough conversations and commitments than to translate your plans into financials.
  • It must start with a forecast of sales, overall, and by product or service.
  • The forecast then goes to costs of goods, overhead, investments, profits and cash flow.

Conclusions

  • Gather, organize and maintain a set of relevant facts. You need ongoing knowledge and an analytics about your company, customers, competitors, and marketplace.
  • Center your initial thinking around a traditional set of planning documents, but don’t stop there!
  • Step back from the plan and think. The numbers are not the plan. The numbers help you with the comfort, process, and facts to discover the real plan.
  • Great plans are about creativity, vision, and intuition. Step away from the spreadsheets and day to day in order to really think.
  • Allocate the necessary time and proper human resources. Don’t be afraid to ask for outside help.  Planning is a specialized task.
  • Create strategic leverage. You must have leaders dedicated to managing all aspects of your company.  But, you must also understand where the true leverage points are that will create our opportunities to win over the less wise and the less organized.
  • Create and maintain a detailed forecast. Without financials, the plan is hollow.
  • Be realistic with your growth goals. Grow where you can, and don’t overplay your hand.  It’s a competitive world out there, and few are invincible.
  • Make your plan a living breathing document. Review regularly, not just annually.  Task a “keeper of the plan” with the ongoing responsibility to keep the document current, relevant, and fresh within the minds of your teams and company.template

It’s Business Drive Time® in Kansas City

2:26 am By Dave Anderson

Kansas City is jumping. We’ve been through alot in this past year, but things are on the mend. Companies are expanding. New organizations are finding their beginnings in the city. Employers hiring. They are looking for great people, and they are finding them in Kansas City! With all the changes in the market, and turmoil on the coasts, people and companies are looking from better markets. Better places to live.  Better places to locate companies and employees. And, there are opportunities, especially in tech, for remote positions.  As a result of this, and Kansas City’s overall reputation, KC is developing a notable spot on the national map.

The Spirit (and vibrancy) of Kansas City.

A recent study by the Hoover Institute ranked Johnson County, Kan., the key suburban county of the Kansas City metro, as one of the most prosperous counties in the nation. https://bit.ly/2EmCBmq Kansas City is feeding off that vibrancy, and the city’s future is as bright.

Kansas City is on the Move!Fresh Octane

What is Kansas City’s secret sauce? What makes Kansas City a great place to live and work? Why is it an attractive metro to own and run a company? Kansas City has become a hotbed for innovative new companies, new technologies and new business growth. We will discuss why!

Alpha Board Leaders: We are addressing these topics and more in the Kansas City segment of our Alpha Board National Business Leadership Tour. We are featuring a select group of area professionals as a part of the national tour. Join us as we showcase Kansas City leaders and newfound Kansas City growth! www.AlphaBoardTour.com

The national Alpha Board Tour is featuring some of the hottest markets across the nation. We’re reviewing the cities where business leaders, families and companies truly want to live. Fresh Octane® cities like, Kansas City, Denver, Minneapolis, Phoenix-Scottsdale, Nashville, Dallas, Austin and Raleigh-Durham all have a number of things in common. They are vibrant and growing. They are great places to locate businesses. Technology companies are thriving, plentiful and welcome in each city. And their livability indices far exceed the livability and affordability ratings of their coastal peer cities.

Alpha Driven GrowthAlpha® Driven Growth: As a part of our tour, we’re looking for the finest drivers to help us tell the best business stories! If you are distinguished business owner, CEO advisor, a noted business development professional or a recognized leader in the Kansas City region (or another Fresh Octane City,) we’d love to include your story in our national tour!  To learn more, call Dave Anderson at 612 810-4000; email Dave@AlphaBoard.com.

 

About Alpha® Board

Word Cloud Banner for Alpha Board TourAlpha Board is CEO power hub and National Business Leadership Exchange™ for leaders of high growth companies.

Alpha Board is designed to enhance the reputation, learning and market reach of CEO’s, Alpha Grade™ executives and the companies they lead. The Alpha Board Tour includes a series of regional industry visits throughout the U.S. This will involve news interviews, company visits and a market study on the topics of leadership, tech development, business growth and new product innovation. Other Alpha Board programs feature national speakers, executive exchanges, corporate profiles, leader roundtable discussions and open-house events at leading companies. Alpha Board works in collaboration with NeuVision Group, a 20-year-old new business development firm, as well as local,regional and national participants throughout the U.S.Past efforts have benefited owners across the U.S., Alpha Boardand gained the attention of noted business media outlets throughout two continents. More information about Alpha® Board, NeuVision® Group and the Fresh Octane® Tour can be found at www.AlphaBoard.com.

Fresh Octane

Time to Hit The Road

Who are the leaders that are moving American business forward? It’s Business Drive Time®, and we are looking for some of the greatest business drivers regionally and nationally to feature in our 2022-2023 Alpha Board Leadership and Innovation Tour.    Who are the innovators?  Who are the leaders?  What (and where) are the opportunities?  Which companies, […]

Word Cloud Banner for Alpha Board Tour

It’s Business Drive Time® in Kansas City

Kansas City is jumping. We’ve been through alot in this past year, but things are on the mend. Companies are expanding. New organizations are finding their beginnings in the city. Employers hiring. They are looking for great people, and they are finding them in Kansas City! With all the changes in the market, and turmoil […]

Events

Time to Hit The Road

Who are the leaders that are moving American business forward? It’s Business Drive Time®, and we are looking for some of the greatest business drivers regionally and nationally to feature in our

Alpha Board

The Building of a City – Business Drive Time® in KC

It’s Business Drive Time in Kansas City. What does that mean?  Kansas City is growing!  Embrace it! About 100,000 companies, including ours, are sitting at the national epicenter of business

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