Nimble Leader Volume V: Tools for Profit

By Andrew Ortyn

Throughout Nimble Leader (six volume series), we explore key concepts that have proven to be practical, useful, and applicable to achieving sustained improvement in business performance over the long term. In Volume V: Tools for Profit, you will explore axioms for improving business results. Collectively – Market Position, Price, Volume, Mix, Cost, and Operating Working Capital represent what we call the Tools for Profit. They are all interrelated. Together, they represent a powerful framework for how you think, analyze, discuss, and act upon your business in ways that result in improved business performance, improved Operating Profit and improved Cash-flow . . . the lifeblood of every business. The greater the level of 'common' understanding of the Tools for Profit by employees within and across your business's functional areas, the greater the speed, flexibility, and depth of response your organization has relative to how you respond to fast-changing market pressures in a dynamic world. In reading Volume V of Nimble Leader, you will focus on making money! You will learn to relate Market Position – what you stand for in the minds of your customers – to the Price you charge; the Volume of products and services you sell; the Mix of your offering; the Cost you incur to grow your business; and the amount of Operating Working Capital – short term investment – required to support the ongoing operation of your business. At a very fundamental level, you will also learn the 'relative' financial impact of deploying the different Tools for Profit in pursuit of profitable business. You will even explore the impact and power of the dreaded price increase – the most powerful Tool for Profit!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Independent Publishers Group
• Release date: May 26, 2015
• ISBN: 9781633192799

Book preview

Tools for Profit

Axioms for Improving Business Results

Results matter! They matter to your credibility. They matter to your ability to establish and maintain trust with others … They give you clout. They classify you as a producer, as a performer. Without results, you simply don’t have the same clout.

—Stephen M. R. Covey

Volume V

Table of Contents

Introduction – Nimble Leader

Mini Recap – Nimble Leader

So What and What’s Next?

Tools for Profit

A Roof Full of Holes, Leaking Profit and Cash

The Importance of Tracking and Comparing

Translating Market Position into Tactics

The Dreaded Price Increase!

Volume Growth

A Common Reality in Tough Economic Times

Mix Shift

Cost – The CASH Leaving Your Bank Account

Operating Working Capital

A Moment to Reflect

Timing is Critical

Difficulty of Implementation

Summing It Up

Nimble Leader – Next Steps

Notes

Introduction – Nimble Leader

Why This Series?

Strategy. Leadership behavior. Results. The three need to mesh for good things to happen in any business.

As a leader, have you ever felt vulnerable because your background, experience, and title suggest you should know more than you do? Join the club!

As a leader, you are…

• Paid to get it right … the first time

• Paid to see the micro and macro trends before they occur

• Paid to have real-time strategies that address multiple market scenarios

• Paid to have contingency plans for eventualities that may or may not happen

• Paid to be the ‘great leader’ in tune with your colleagues, subordinates, superiors, key stakeholders, alliance partners, and of course your customers!

The above depicts a level of leadership perfection, a sense of omnipotent capability. This orientation also breeds a mindset that leaders cannot show vulnerability in any way – that an inability to understand the whole picture, all of the time, somehow implies that you are not on top of your game.

Yet – it is in acknowledging and acting on our ‘gaps’ that self-aware leaders are able to set the stage for dramatic growth, both on a personal level and with their business.

Much has been written about business strategy, leadership behavior, and delivering results. However, little has been written about bringing these three elements together in a workable format that will help leaders lead and equip them to better negotiate a