1+1=3 The New Math of Business Strategy: How to Unlock Exponential Growth through Competitive Collaboration

By Lisa Renner

Take your company's growth to the next level through the power of competitive collaboration!



Lisa shares the secrets to making this trending growth strategy work for your organization. Drawn from 10 years as a CEO building and running competitive collaborations, Lisa gives you a step-by-step framework to show you how to assess your organization's readiness and identify the specific opportunities and partners that will maximize your success!

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: May 8, 2013
• ISBN: 9780988827615

Book preview

PRAISE FOR 1 + 1 = 3 THE NEW

MATH OF BUSINESS STRATEGY

"1+1=3 is nothing short of a blueprint for business success. The thorough explanation of what collaboration is and is not sets the stage for a realistic approach to working successfully with partners, competitors, and stakeholders.

If you are a business person not yet convinced of the power of collaboration, this book will change your mind. The author provides invaluable and compelling real world examples of how collaboration is helping businesses achieve the impossible—or rather, what was impossible on their own. If you already know the value of collaboration, this book provides key considerations and ideas that will take your efforts to a more productive level. This book should be required reading for any team embarking on a collaborative effort.

After reading 1+1=3, I am convinced every company could benefit by including a 'collaboration' option in its Strategic Planning process. Imagine a world where working together is accepted and celebrated in the boardroom, not because it feels good, but because it works. For those of us who believe that winning at all costs is really a failure, 1+1=3 provides the proof."

–Sarah Canepa Bang, President/Chief Strategy Officer,

CO-OP Shared Branching

Lisa challenges organizations everywhere to supersede Darwinian, competition-phobic business practices with an ethos of collaboration that is tactical, practical, and game-changing.

–Jed Davis, Director of Sustainability,

Cabot Creamery Cooperative

Lisa shows you how to work with competitors and arch-rivals in ways you never thought possible. This book will change how you look at your market and your competition. Her insightful, simple, and easy-to-follow steps will put you and your company on the path to success.

–Erik Muther, Executive Director,

The Pennsylvania Health Care Quality Alliance

"1+1=3 The New Math of Business Strategy will forever change how you view your supply chain as well as your competition. This book could very well turn today's competitor into tomorrow's collaborator."

–Lance Rantala, CEO, BLUE HAWK Distribution

Copyright © 2013 Lisa Renner. All rights reserved.

Published by Telemark Publishing, USA.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

ISBN 978-0-9888276-0-8

eISBN: 9780988827615

Printed in the United States of America.

To my best friend, the love of my life, my husband,

Bob, for believing in me and encouraging

me to reach beyond the familiar.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

The Impetus for Change

Should You Really Embrace the Competition?

My Story

The Hundredth Monkey

Together, Create a Bigger Picture

PART 1

THE RISE OF A NEW GROWTH STRATEGY

CHAPTER 1

REDEFINING BUSINESS STRATEGY

The Social Media Shift

The CEO's New Perspective

The Key Changes

What Collaboration Is...And What it Isn't

Collaboration Versus Outsourcing

CHAPTER 2

THE COLLABORATION GROWTH INDEX

Mindset

Assets

Organization

So Why Bother?

PART 2

THE 3 PILLARS OF COLLABORATION

CHAPTER 3

THE FIRST PILLAR: MINDSET

The Mindset Shift: A Case Study

Meeting your competition

You can both win

We do similar things for similar people, only differently

A wonderful change in the relationship

Sports versus business

Benefits of Shifting Your Mindset

Assess Yourself

Know Your Motivation

Most Common Business Problems Collaboration is Solving

Decrease operating expense

Improve asset efficiency

Minimize regulatory compliance burden

Increase access to new markets

Increase sales revenue

Create disruptive innovation

Increase social responsibility

Know Where You Are Going and What Success

Will Look Like When You Get There

Now What's Your Mindset?

Action Plan for the Mindset Pillar

CHAPTER 4

THE SECOND PILLAR: ASSETS

Know Your Assets

The Two C's of Assets

Hey, you got your Context in my Capability!

No, you got your Capability in my Context!

Create Your List of Assets

Think: Cross-Functional Application

Think: Pre-Competitive Processes

Think: New Uses for Idle Assets

Think: Characteristics of Your Staff

(Capacity, Skill, Specialization, or Location)

Think: Creative Ways to Leverage Your Balance Sheet Assets

Think: Where You Incur High Risk

Your Assets are Powerful

Action Plan for the Assets Pillar

CHAPTER 5

THE THIRD PILLAR: ORGANIZATION

Gaining Buy-in at All Levels

Creating Awareness

Demonstrating Collaboration

Building a Team-Based Culture

Encouraging Collaborative Ideas

Evolving Your Technical Infrastructure to Support Collaboration

Moving Past the Protect Our Turf Organizational Mentality

Ridding the Organization of Apathy

Maintaining Control of the Strategic Direction

Stock swap

Joint venture

Getting the Ego Out of the Way

Thinking Beyond Tomorrow

Working Together for the Common Good

Creating More...Together

Action Plan for the Organization Pillar

PART 2

MAKING THE MATH WORK

CHAPTER 6

FINDING YOUR PERFECT MATCH

Building Trust with Potential Partners

Finding Collaborative Partners

Clustering Your Organization with Others

Ask the Right Questions to Find Trusted Partners

CHAPTER 7

IMPLEMENTATION AND LONG-TERM SUCCESS

State Simple Goals

The Leaders' Responsibilities

Focus on the Goal

Celebrate Success

Track, Measure, Adjust

CHAPTER 8

IT'S YOUR MOVE

CHAPTER 9

WORDS OF WISDOM FROM THE PROS

Success is defined not by

what you do last, but by

what you do next.

INTRODUCTION

Think back for a moment and envision where you were in the early 1990s. I was working for a national training company that was a leader in their industry and enjoying peak profitability.

It was right around this time that the Internet was beginning to take shape as a new delivery channel for business. Competitors were rushing to embrace this new medium, but my company resisted and kept holding on to the old ways, hoping the glory days would come back. Of course, competition continued to close in, technological advancement offered new alternatives, and consumer demand began to shift toward products delivered electronically. Soon, margins began to shrink and it became clear that the old business model simply could not keep up with rising costs. It was only a couple of years later that this successful, large organization was forced to shut its doors.

This experience taught me a valuable business lesson. When the economic and competitive environment changes, leaders must be responsive, adjusting their operations and growth strategies to adopt new ways of doing business. Simply stated, success is defined not by what you do last, but by what you do next. And a leader's success is determined by how he or she responds to change. My company was facing a rapidly changing business landscape, and their unwillingness to change and adopt new methods and strategies was their ultimate downfall.

The Impetus for Change

Fast forward two decades and we're in an even more challenging situation. Starting in 2008 we began seeing massive bank failures, the economy plunge into the worst recession since the great depression, and unemployment rise to an all-time high.

In 2011 alone, 68,932 U.S. businesses failed and another 46,025 declared bankruptcy, according to Dunn & Bradstreet's Economic Update. By this time, the unprecedented economic turmoil was punctuated with the downgrading of the U.S. credit rating by Standard and Poors, pronouncing the world's faltering confidence in the ability of the United States to repay its debts.

Washington responded with the bailout plan. While historians and pundits will continue to debate the merits of the bailouts for generations, many industries, such as financial services or healthcare, have been burdened with increased internal costs and operational challenges driven by regulatory reforms. For better or worse, the challenges of responding to these new mandates in the midst of a financial downturn has caused even the strongest of companies to feel the strain.

Today, business leaders are facing the reality that they must radically change their business strategy to survive. They're realizing they can no longer go it alone. Survival in this new environment depends on their ability to forge and leverage external relationships that can both accelerate entry into new markets and create new operational efficiencies. In other words, they need to start collaborating with other companies, even their competitors, if they want to realize long-term growth, innovation, and profitability.

Should You Really Embrace the Competition?

While the concept of creating strategic alliances and collaborations with business friends is not new, the idea of collaborating with competitors is counter-intuitive for most leaders. In fact, throughout our business up-bringing we're taught that we should do everything possible to guard against our competitors—and certainly to never collaborate with them. But whether a spillover from the new openness of social media, or just an evolution in leadership perspective, increasing numbers of today's leaders are realizing that their best collaborative partners may in fact be their competitors.

This is a radical concept to many, and some will quickly denounce it as unrealistic. But visionary leaders are demonstrating every day that the potential gains far outweigh the risks.

Think about it. Who knows your business better than your competitors? Who is striving to solve the same problems and challenges on a day-to-day basis? If you can get beyond the psychological barriers of collaborating with competitors, enormous opportunities await to increase capacity, create new products and services, share expertise, increase revenue, and reduce operating expenses beyond your wildest expectations.

My Story

After learning some important lessons in the 1990s, I went on to build great success for the companies I worked for by collaborating with competitor organizations of all sizes. But my mindset shift to work with, rather than against, my competition didn't happen overnight.

In 2002 I was working as a vice president for a medium-sized financial institution. At the time, the financial industry was strong and we were enjoying the robust economy. One particular day stands out. It was a Monday morning, May 6. I was just getting settled into my office when I received an email from the new CEO. It read: Lisa, how fast can you get to my office? I have some new ideas I want to share with you.

This is not the best way to start a Monday morning, I thought. In my experience, having the new CEO say he has some new ideas, typically translated into new work for me.

I grabbed my pen and note pad and headed over to his office. As soon as I sat down he handed me a stack of papers. I quickly recognized that these were the current financial statements.

He said, Lisa, what do you see there?

I was already familiar with the financials, but I took a few moments to peruse and replied, Looks about the same as always. Our financial condition is average for the industry.

He leaned up on his desk with a slight grin and said, "Exactly. Average. We are average. How do we take the business to the next level?

Reflecting on my 10 years of business experience, I recognized this was one of those times when I should take a long, strategic pause. The next words out of my mouth were going to commit me to a new project!

Fortunately, the CEO did not wait for me to respond. He walked over to a side table, dug to the bottom of his brief case, and pulled out a small, 80-page, paperback book about the collaborative business model. He tossed it on the table in front of me and said, I don't know much about collaborative models, but all the leaders in our industry think these are the next big thing—the future of our industry. We need to understand what these are about.

That was it—the entire conversation. That was all the direction I received.

I picked up the 80-page paperback and went on my way. The book piqued my curiosity and triggered more research. I interviewed top leaders of the collaborative movement, researched a mountain of