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Recent Articles from Todd Ordal
Watch out for the killer asteroid!
This was my fourth conversation with this CEO. A mutual acquaintance, someone with lots of experience and a bird’s-eye view into this business, suggested he needed help developing a clear strategy. He can’t identify why his customers buy from him versus competitors and isn’t sure if he should try...
Don’t Dodd-Frank your business
The best business environments are self-regulating or as close to self-regulating as you can get them. Ten-to-one reporting relationships are manageable and profitable when the rules are few and common sense prevails. Well-designed organizations take into account the weaknesses of humans, and they...
Feeling powerful?
The anecdotes to feeling powerful all involve some pain. (Please note, those of you who suffer from lack of self-esteem or confidence need another course of action!) You have to get your butt kicked occasionally (though utter humiliation has very negative impact). You need some people on your team...
Top 10 habits of effective executives
I’ve yet to meet a senior executive or business owner who just puts in his or her eight hours. At that level, the question should be, “How much value can I add in the shortest amount of time?” (Frankly, in a well-run organization, that’s the question people at all levels should ask!) That questio...
The definition of business insanity
There are several things businesspeople (and spouses and parents) do that aren’t quite as ridiculous as handling snakes and force-feeding kids but are nevertheless pretty dumb. We just don’t see it. What behavior or practices do you condone or reward in your business that don’t work? Here are som...
Beyond selling widgets in Widgetville
I have no hard evidence that a sequential strategy shift is anywhere near universal, but I can tell you that I have helped several mature organizations move from a product-driven strategy to a market-driven strategy to find more growth. I also noticed, recently, that there were several good exampl...
CEOs: Check under the hood
When you’re insulated from day-to-day transactions — whether they’re with the external world (for example, clients and suppliers) or with your co-workers — it’s extremely easy to believe that because your heart and head are in the right place, it’ll all work out. It doesn’t, of course, and you mus...
Leaders who run toward trouble
I recently had lunch with a CEO who, at significant risk to himself, was taking the high road — which also happened to be the roughest road — to make sure his people were taken care of in the company’s sale. Not to the point of ruining the deal, but making sure that the rewards weren’t concentrate...
Too much hay
A client recently sent a financial plan to several of us for feedback. It was a beautiful piece of work with many tabs. Data from numerous sources were rolled up to an extremely detailed forecast. Though not hand-drawn by monks in Ireland, it was as detailed as The Book of Kells. The management te...
The certainty trap
Those who were confident but not always certain were more successful, more fun to be around and more respected by their teams. Those who were always certain (think Donald Rumsfeld) were constantly one step away from a catastrophic error. And if it came, they had little support from those around th...
Clearing out the crud
Anyway, my gutter didn’t drain itself, my wife didn’t see it (or perhaps she secretly has the same strategy I do!) and I didn’t pass away peacefully in the night. So I figured I should do something. I climbed the ladder, found a slimy ball of accumulated crud in the drain, pulled it out and voilà!...
Sticking with stacking?
Do you ever watch The Voice or Dancing With the Stars? They’d be pretty bland if everyone got a 10 and they never declared a winner. Likewise, if your house were on fire, wouldn’t you like to know that the fire department weeded out those who didn’t have the physical ability to perform? Do you wat...
