Alpha Board

Alpha Board is an information site for growing companies

Growing up KC™

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We are currently a key player in a national leadership tour, market study and business leadership exchange.  The program is a showcase platform to highlight the best business drivers across a number of major metros throughout the United States.

We are showcasing distinguished companies, business leaders and cities that are poised for major business growth over the next five years.  The tour will include at least eight across the country, as well as some hidden gems in key rural and small town regions.

kcskyline-crop

We have some special plans for Kansas City area leaders.  The Kansas City metro is our home, and we want to take this opportunity to showcase the city and it’s leaders on the tour.  While our organization is national in scope, the Kansas City area has been headquarters for the past 15 years.  We have lifelong ties to the region and a strong affinity to the people, the communities, the businesses and the lifestyle of the greater Kansas City metro.

Because of our commitment to the Kansas City region, we’re developing a special platform to promote Kansas City based businesses, industries and leaders in conjunction with our U.S. Alpha Board tour.  Our “Growing up KC” program is a special series to promote KC area leaders, companies, lifestyles and growth opportunities on a local, regional and national scale.

roundtableSo, what does that mean?  Quite simply, “leaders wanted.”  We are putting together a list of some of the standout leaders who represent not only the legacy of the region, but the future.  We are seeking business owners, CEOs, senior executives, business advisors, and also “Kansas City lifestyle” experts to helps us tell the story of Kansas City to the world.

It’s an opportunity for leaders to interact with each other, meet other leaders in other cities, highlight their businesses, and frankly get placed in the news.  We cannot promise the cover of Rolling Stone magazine but our past efforts have been well received.  Our work has been recognized by BusinessWeek, Forbes, CNBC, Reuters, Bloomberg, MSNBC, EuroInvestor, and dozens more.  One lucky chap that went through this process subsequently became the featured cover story for Fortune Small Business. Through Alpha Board, we will host speeches, CEO interviews, panel discussions, a series of leader roundtables, and also work with leaders to develop news profiles about their respective companies.  There will be some significant opportunities beyond this, but one thing at a time.  If you are an Alpha Grade leader, and spend at least a portion of your personal and professional life associated with a Kansas City area business, we’d love to have you join us.

One quick word of note.  We’ll be working with key industry leaders and innovators in other cities, states, companies and industries across the country.  A major goal of the program is a national leadership exchange, providing national visibility and opportunities to develop new relationships with business leaders throughout the U.S.  Our Alpha Board Leadership Exchange will bring national leaders and experts to Kansas City and Kansas City leaders to other markets across the nation.   We believe your reputation is like rainfall.  You need to spread it around a bit even to grow anything at home.

CEOs and business leaders from other parts of the country are visiting Kansas City as a part of our tour.  Kansas City leaders who participate early in the “Growing up KC” program and/or the national Alpha Board activities will have the opportunity to meet them, hear them speak, and participate exclusively in KC area Alpha Board Leadership Exchanges.  There will be reciprocal trips as well, as we bring Kansas City leaders to other peer cities. As a result, there is some urgency and advantage to getting your name in the hat, and getting involved in the process.

For more information on Alpha® Board, and/or to include your company in our publicity efforts, you can call me at 913 685-4850 or 612 810-4000, or reach me via email at dave@neuvision.com.  You can also speak by phone with Dan Vasey in Denver at 303 809-9058, or via email at dan@neuvision.com.

Alpha Board and NeuVision Group are founding hosts of the 2021-2022 Fresh Octane® Tour.  In addition, we’ll be including sponsors and co- hosts throughout America’s Heartland.  More market partners will be announced as the tour rolls on.

What’s Your Growth Superpower?

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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