Special Holiday Edition -- I'm Lucky to Be Here
The Digital Leader Newsletter — Strategies and Techniques for Change Agents, Strategists, and Innovators.
“My successor will need one other particular strength: the ability to fight off the ABCs of business decay, which are arrogance, bureaucracy, and complacency," Buffett said. "When these corporate cancers metastasize, even the strongest of companies can falter."1 — Warren Buffett
I started The Digital Leader Newsletter in late May of this year. It has far exceeded my expectations. There are >2500 subscribers and an average open rate of 30%. The newsletter gives me a canvas to explore topics on strategy, innovation, customer-centricity, and “the future.” It prompts me to publish every week and forces me to research, codify, connect and reflect (and try to be halfway interesting!)
The first edition of The Digital Leader was titled The Value Proposition for The Digital Leader. It states
You are a business professional acting as a strategist, a project leader, a technology, marketing, or operations leader, consultant — you are a change agent and innovator. The Digital Leader Newsletter is a weekly coaching session with practical theory, examples, tools, and techniques to help you build better strategies, better plans, better solutions — but most of all to think and communicate better.
I reflect on this value proposition every time I write. Am I living up to “the customer promise??” I strive to deliver this value proposition every week — except this week.
This week I’m just saying thanks.
The Hardest Situations to Effect Change
I was a partner for twelve years at the consulting firm Alvarez and Marsal (A&M). It was a great platform. I got to work with dozens of companies on interesting and unique problem statements and to team with talented professionals dedicated to improving the performance of their clients.
This insight struck me late in my tenure at A&M — the clients and executive teams that are the easiest to make lasting change are the most humble (or humbled). Often, but not always, these are companies in crisis and have substantial structural performance and financial issues. The market has humbled them.
The hardest companies and leadership teams to create real and impactful change, to do my job of improving performance, are successful companies. These leaders typically SAY that they want to compete in the digital era, improve customer experiences, innovate and “disrupt themselves.” But …they either didn’t mean it or couldn’t do it. They are not humble. They suffer from the aforementioned “ABCs.”
Avoid the ABCs of business decay. We are all lucky to be in the situations we are in. Just recognizing how fortunate we are, saying out loud “I’m lucky to be here” assists in avoiding the ABCs.
I’m Lucky to Be Here
In every sense, I’m lucky to be here. I’m lucky to live in an exciting era of business reinvention driven by disruptive technologies and capital. I’m lucky to have pieced together a set of experiences that have accidentally added up to an interesting career and some insights to pass on. I’m lucky to have learned from so many others. And I’m lucky to have you read The Digital Leader.
Thank you and happy holidays.
As always — Onward!
John
About The Digital Leader Newsletter
This is a newsletter for change agents, strategists, and innovators. The Digital Leader Newsletter is a weekly coaching session focusing on customer-centricity, innovation, and strategy. We deliver practical theory, examples, tools, and techniques to help you build better strategies, better plans, better solutions — but most of all, to think and communicate better.
https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/warren-buffett-bill-melinda-gates-foundation-ceo-abcs-philanthropy-dangers-2021-7