NO STRATEGIC THINKING IS TAKING PLACE

Over the past several years, it has become apparent that the leaders of MAJOR comportations and government are either BRAIN DEAD or lack the ability to think beyond the next quarter. We continue to witness the focus on GO BIG/ GO GLOBAL, MAKE MONEY NOW AND NOT WORRY about THE FUTURE.

In June 2008, I published an article in CHIEF EXECUTIVE MAGAZINE, entitled: "Who is going the wrong way?" The article described how Korean, Japanese and Tawainese companies have moved their manufacturing to the United States while there American counterparts were still investing in China.
I described why CHINA fowas a poor long term investment. The reasons includled:

RISING COSTS (accelerating inflationary rates, Taxes, stricter enforcement of environmental standards and product standards,Unique expensive benefits, SCARCITY OF TALENT, Infrastructure costs.)
LACK OF SECURITY ("NO protection of copyrights, patents, industrial espoionage, China FORCES foeign companies to train Chinese who then become competitors, major cost of protecting senior executives who go to China)
DECLINING FLEXIBILITY (New labor laws, UNIONS)
CONTINUING COMPLEXITY ( Different languages and dialects, cultures and accounting systems)

I concluded that US companies would be better off to invest in US and not in CHINA and only participate in CHINA if they had a suatainable competitive advantage that was protectable.

NOW REALITY.. in many recent articles and books the reality is coming home. Companies, like GE, Siemens, NCR and others have complained that the CHINESE COMMUNISTIC GOVERNMENT is favoring CHINESE COMPANIES and not helping the FOREIGN companies to win.

SURPRISE, SURPRISE, SURPISE...it is amazing that these MBA trained leaders are now recognizing that the CHINESE GOVERNMENT has only one mission to make CHINA the winner. They have NO INTEREST in making the foreign companies winners and only want to steal their technologies, know how and give them the the CHINESE COMPANIES.

I have spend over 40 years as a STRATEGIST and am amazed that the leaders today, though they have attended the BEST BUSINESS SCHOOLS, and EXECUTIVE PROGRAMS have no common sense and a willingness to learn from history. CHINA should be viewed as an OPPORTUNISTIC OPPORTUNITY and not as a LONG TERM MARKET. Companies PROTECT and DEFEND their home markets and recognize that these are the UNDERPINNING OF THEIR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE.

PLEASE WAKE UP and FOLLOW THE PRINCIPLES OF SOUND STRATEGIC THINKING AND DECISION MAKING.

Bill Rothschild..WWW.STRATGEGYLEADER.COM

Defending Jack Welch in 1980 for his SELECTIVITY and Willingness to make tough decisions. (View of a NY TIMES Editorial" )

In the 1980's Jack Welch was being criticized for his exiting and divesting some businesses and focusing on the areas that he believed were the most attractive for GE. He received the nickname: "Neutron Jack" since he kept the buildings but destroyed the people. I defended Jack and this is the NEW YORK TIMES editorial and my response.

ON G.E. AND EATING OUR SEED CORN

An article May 13 (''Are We Eating Our Seed Corn?'') discussed the extent to which many large American corporations, and the General Electric Company in particular, are buying back their stock and thus spending less on research and development and missing opportunities to develop innovative products. Business executives, members of Congress, academics and other experts on American industrial policy said in the article that such financial engineering often reflects short-term thinking and is sapping American competitiveness. G.E. officials defended the plan to buy back $10 billion of its stock over the next five years, pointing out that the company is a world leader in those fields in which it has chosen to compete and that its research and development is adequately funded.

Some of the letters received in response to the article follow.
A Sharp Focus is No Fault
To the Editor:
General Electric's John F. Welch Jr. should be complimented and not criticized. G.E. has learned over the past two decades that it could not be all things to all people. Since the 1970's, G.E. has objectively evaluated its entire business portfolio and determined in which markets it could be the profitable market leader. It has learned to evaluate its global competition and to focus its research, people and funding on those markets. The market and profit results have been very positive. Unfortunately, this means that it has been forced to de-emphasize and even leave businesses and technologies at which it could not be a profitable leader. The company has recognized that its resources are limited and rather than ''sub-optimizing,'' it has focused for maximum yield. In short, G.E. and Jack Welch have applied successfully the principles of ''strategic thinking and management.''

I believe that the Sony Corporation and other globally successful companies have done many of the same things. Sony's president, Akio Morita has a track record of being selective. Sony demonstrated the ability to be the quality and niche leader in consumer electronics, a model that has been duplicated by the Honda Motor Company and other leaders. These companies invest in research and product development in related markets and are not trying to do everything. I would like to see an American equivalent of Morita in consumer electronics, but there is no evidence that this must be at G.E.

I wish that more companies (and the Federal Government) would learn to be strategic leaders, be selective and make the tough decisions. This means putting resources where they will yield the best results, even if some things are not done. If this happened, I am confident that American companies (and the United States in total) will regain their global leadership position.
WILLIAM E. ROTHSCHILD
Norwalk, Conn., May 13
The writer is a management consultant.

PS...I still believe that having a strategic portfolio and focusing on the most attractive pieces is the essence of success and I WISH THAT OBAMA and his team would recognize this reality.

"CANDIDATES (everyone else) DESERVE BETTER

The article in The Conference Board Review (Winter 2010 edition) is worth reading and can even go beyond what Laurie Ruettimann was saying. Laurie describes how JOB CANDIDATES are being treated and how it is not only WRONG, but will impact negatively on many companies, large and small, future.

She describes how job candidates are being mistreated, since companies today believe that they are in command and can do whatever they want to candidates, since jobs are scarce and they are not in any hurry to hire. She says that things will change and that this reputation of "candidate abuse" will be remembered when the tables turn and there is a shortage of candidates.

I totally agree and have heard of many situations where candidates are invited to interview, forced to have many visits and then not even given the "common courteous" having a " THANK YOU for coming"..but this attitude is not just with hiring...it PREVADES all of America today.

During my forty plus years as a Senior Executive in a primier company and as a personal consultant to many major companies, I have never seen such a lack of COMMON COURTESY and COMMON SENSE about dealing with all of the key stakeholders. When I was in recruiting I always sent an immediate response to all candidates, even if they were college students on an entry program, I always sent a response to letters and especially to anyone interested in the company or may consulting services... this is not the case today... You write a personal letter to a CEO and nothing happens, you make a proposal, which involves many hours of preparation and nothing happens, even with MAJOR COMPANIES.

The executives and professionals of today have been taught in the MAJOR Universities to be SENSITIVE but it has had a NEGATIVE impact... today's leaders are NOT SENSITIVE and the illustration of TREATING candidates badly is just ONE ILLUSTRATION of BAD MANNERS, LACK OF COURTESY and those who practice it will suffer the same response and suffer the long term consequences..

BE COURTESEOUS.. TREAT OTHERS LIKE YOU WANT BE TREATED...

Bill ROTHSCHILD...CEO ROTHSCHILD STRATEGIES UNLIMITED, LLD, where we treat our stakeholders with COMMON COURTESY.

NO SUCH THING AS PRE-DESTINATION

In my FRESHMAN YEAR at FORDHAM, I took a course led by LT Hickman, as a member of the AIR FORCE ROTC, entitle GEO POLITICS.

This course focused on the GeoPolitical forces over hundreds of years. it plotted the CENTER of POLITICAL and ECONOMIC power and it demonstrated how this power had moved from CHINA to the MIDDLE EAST, to EUROPE and then the UNITED STATES.

Lt. Hickman predicted that his CENTER of POWER would move from the US to CHINA in 50 years.

Of all the courses, I took since this year, I remember this predictation AND is amazed that it happening as LT Hickman and the GeoPolitical course designers predicted, namely..the balance of political, economic and military power is moving from the U.S. to China.

This reinforced by REALITY and confirmed by this weeks ECONOMIST.. and its headline and featured article about CHINA/ US relationships and how they can impact the world and that OBAMA and his Administration must stand up and FIGHT!

I believe that history goes through cycles and the reality is that when nations believe they are the leaders and no one will displace them, it is when the world experiences unpleasent and negative events. The only thing that can change this and its negative results is that REAL leaders appear and change the PREDESTINED course.
I hope that OBAMA and his team, change their desire to CHANGE THE WORLD and focus on the real issues... like GOOD PAYING, REAL JOBS and allow the U.S. to MAKE THINGS and not pretend it can win by "IMAGINATION and THINKING OUT OF THE BOX", since 98% of us work on REAL THINGS and not IMAGINATION or DREAMING"

Bill Rothschild..author of the only objective assessment of what has made, GE, a 127 year success, THE SECRET to GE's SUCCESS.. all based on LATIN..but the book and learn what LATIN is..

Bill Rothschild..author of THE SECRET TO GE's SUCCESS..the illustration of strategic leadership that may be a model for both US and China success.

Steve JOBS -risktaking innovative strategic leader of our time.

Steve Jobs is one of the best examples of a strategic leader who is willing to invest in new innovative products and services, that are built on the concept of using existing technologies to create "customer and market" based businesses. The interesting thing is that even when he fails he admits his mistakes and tries again.

He is clearly the Thomas Edison of our time, since Edison always built on existing technologies and has his share of failures, along with major successes.

We need more innovative executives who practice the art and science of market based strategic leadership.

Bill Rothschild, author of RISKTAKER, CARETAKER, SURGEON, UNDERTAKER..the four faces of strategic leadership, which highlighted Jobs as an example of an innovative risktaker in 1993.

"No One Leader for all seasons" Part I

In 1993, John Wiley, published my book: "Risktaker, Caretaker, Surgeon, Undertaker- four faces of Strategic Leadership" to highlight that there is no leader for all situations and organizations. It has sold well and though there are still some copies that can be purchased from my site, for all practical purposes it is out of print. Rather that re-publish the book, I plan to highlight some of the major points and illustrations on this blog. It will be presented in a series. If you wish to purchase the book visit http://www.strategyleader.com/ to order it. If you wish a collection of these highlights let us know and we can print them on demand for you.

Let's begin with the "Introduction":
"There is a leadership crisis in the world today (1992)." " Many would like to have a perfect leader, who can deal with all situations". "Unfortunately, no one person can do it all. There is no leader for all seasons who can do it everything and do it all equally well."
This book, which is about the reality of leadership, has two fundamental premises:

• First, the type of leader must change to reflect the maturity of the business or organizations;
• Second, the leader's abilities and talents will be the key to how the institution differentiates itself from its competitors.

In simple terms, some leaders excel at invention, others at selling, still others at problem solving, and some in just being able to make things better than anyone else. The key is to understand what the situation demands and then match those requirements to the strategic leader possessing the necessary unique talents."

Next issue: Chapter One highlights.."managing by slogan is not leadership".

Bill Rothschild.

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What it takes to be a STRATEGIC LEADER.

A strategic leader has seven vital characteristics:

1. Consistency, Credibility and Predictability.
2. They are believers in their organization and have the missionary zeal to succeed.
3. They have unique talents and use them to implement differentiated strategies that permit them to gain and maintain a competitive advantage.
4. They have a blend of insight, intuition and analysis and don't lose sight of reality and what is viable.
5. They are able to attract, motivate, retain the right team players that complement and don't compete against each others.
6. They have the ability to select viable situations and take the time to get there, even it takes years to succeed.
7. Finally they know when it is time to move on, get out and stay out of their successors.

Bill Rothschild, author of RISKTAKER, CARETAKER, SURGEON, UNDERTAKER.

Strategic Leadership

This site is dedicated to integrating strategy and leadership and highlighting both the successes and failures of leaders, past and present. It is built on my over 40 years as a practitioner, consultant, author and teacher both in major global companies, small businesses, new ventures, non-profit, government and educational organizations.

My other sites deal with other aspects of strategic leadership. GEWatcher focuses on General Electric and its 128 years of successes and failures. Strategy Review focuses exclusively on strategies, their development and what works and doesn't work.

For more information visit our site: www.strategyleader.com

Bill Rothschild, author of THE SECRET TO GE's SUCCESS; RISKTAKER,CARETAKER, SURGEON AND UNDERTAKER and a new edition of the classic PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER.