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Quotes from Christos Kartalis
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- There are two types of vision. Most companies have a vision that is passive, generic, and not close to the company’s strategy and everyday life. A smaller number of companies have visions that are executionary. These truly visionary companies are the ones to watch. - There are managers who breathe strategy while other managers breath survival. Then there is the third kind who breathe strategy or survival according to which way the wind is blowing! Watch the third kind. - The problem in today’s leadership world is that we have too many soldiers and too few rebels. It is an unproductive balance. - Make change routine, not a strategic choice. When change is an option, there are alternatives. But change is not an alternative for organizations that want to survive and dominate. - “Decision-averse and process–dominated”: these are the companies that are sitting ducks when change is required and environments are highly competitive. - To worry is ok as long as the amount of worry is commensurate with the effect you can have on the area you worry about. ON MANAGEMENT - There are bad problems and good problems. Good ones are easy to manage, and you should treat them as opportunities. Bad problems drain energy and resources and should be dealt with on the spot. - If you believe in the strategy of "management at 20,000 feet,” be careful. The higher you believe you are managing from, the harder the impact when you fall. - Management is a balancing/juggling act with many balls. Choose which ball to drop and drop it fast! You often try to balance too many things, and you know some of them will drop. By proactively choosing which ones to drop and dropping them sooner, you we keep the focus on the more valued ones. Otherwise you tend to drop some big ones as well. ON MARKETING - “Niche-ing” is a good marketing strategy. Single-niched and overniched companies, however, can quickly find themselves badly cornered, either because a big company is coming into the game or because other small players are moving into the same niche. - Companies make a classical marketing mistake when they focus on the inside – on their products, their positioning, or their expectations. The game is not there anymore. Nowadays, successful marketing is defined more by how you place yourself in the competitive environment, not by what your internal thoughts are. - Other things being equal, when things don’t go well, be soft on people and hard on issues. When things go well, do the opposite. - Be careful when you ride the power trip and believe you are unbeatable. Remember that sometimes the bull wins ... - Make people believe that even though their contribution to the total company is a drop in the ocean, you treasure this drop like the ocean. More
Human Resources Quotes - People confuse the concept of innovation, which is a value-added concept, with re-invention, which involves a major mentality switch towards value recreation and repositioning. - When you feel like you are in the highway and everybody is coming toward you, you need to slow down, take it easy, keep quiet, and either stop the car, change direction or, at minimum, slow down before you go down. - Moving from “Powerpoint” to”Excel”: Moving from theory to execution. - "Exercizing": ongoing reviews, analyses, discussion with no beginning and no end. Exercising is not decision making. - Productivity = output / input x speed - “Jungle Street Smart”: Keep your eyes and ears open at all times and in all situations. |
