If you’re in the PEI neck of the woods after May 3rd, check out this great diner: Route 3 Eatery! The Route 3 Eatery is owned and operated by my sister, Jocelyne Martin, and her partner Lori Thomas.
All of their ingredients and meals are prepared from scratch. You can’t beat that, and the testimonials on their website attest to the quality of their product.
Richard gave a speech on 31 October 2012 at Rotman School of Management (University of Toronto) on How to Use Military Wisdom to Win Business Battles. The speech was based on Richard’s book, Brilliant Manoeuvres: How to Use Military Wisdom to Win Business Battles. In the speech, Richard gives his most detailed explanation yet of the timeless military principle of “following the path of least resistance” and how that applies in competitive strategy, motivation and influence, and organizational leadership.
View the video of the entire speech here.
Join me for a SPECIAL FREE webinar on Jan 18, 2013 at 12:00 PM EST.
Join me at noon eastern on January 18th 2013 for a FREE 1-hour webinar based in part on my book, Brilliant Manoeuvres: How to Use Military Wisdom to Win Business Battles.
I’m doing this as a one-time opportunity so you can get more military wisdom to win your business battles in the new year. Look at it as a special New Year’s gift from me. Once again it’s free, but you have to sign up quickly as we only have limited ‘seating.’ I’ll also be giving away free copies of my book, Brilliant Manoeuvres, so if you haven’t gotten your copy yet, this could be your lucky day.
We’ll be discussing the most powerful offensive strategies you need to outmanoeuvre the competition and stake out a strong position in your chosen markets. These are all based on the time-tested strategies used by brilliant military commanders throughout history to seize the initiative from the enemy and conquer them. I’ll explain the concepts and, using examples from business, cover how to:
-Seize and maintain the initiative
-Reinforce success and create dilemmas for competitors
-Find weaknesses in competitors’ positions and gaps in market needs
-Create and exploit your own path of least resistance – the key to all offensive manoeuvres
-Give the knockout blow by exploiting breakthroughs
Even if you’ve read my book, I’ll be introducing new intellectual property that amplifies some of the offensive strategies covered in Brilliant Manoeuvres and covers new ground.
You can ask about your issues beforehand and I’ll incorporate them into the presentation or ask questions during the presentation for impromptu discussion.
This is a great opportunity to start the year by (re)gaining and keeping the all-important initiative. Don’t wait till you’re half way through the year.
And once again, this is FREE for you as members of my communities. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Join me for a SPECIAL FREE webinar on Jan 18, 2013 at 12:00 PM EST.
Join me at noon eastern on January 18th 2013 for a FREE 1-hour webinar based in part on my book, Brilliant Manoeuvres: How to Use Military Wisdom to Win Business Battles.
I’m doing this as a one-time opportunity so you can get more military wisdom to win your business battles in the new year. Look at it as a special New Year’s gift from me. Once again it’s free, but you have to sign up quickly as we only have limited ‘seating.’ I’ll also be giving away free copies of my book, Brilliant Manoeuvres, so if you haven’t gotten your copy yet, this could be your lucky day.
We’ll be discussing the most powerful offensive strategies you need to outmanoeuvre the competition and stake out a strong position in your chosen markets. These are all based on the time-tested strategies used by brilliant military commanders throughout history to seize the initiative from the enemy and conquer them. I’ll explain the concepts and, using examples from business, cover how to:
-Seize and maintain the initiative
-Reinforce success and create dilemmas for competitors
-Find weaknesses in competitors’ positions and gaps in market needs
-Create and exploit your own path of least resistance – the key to all offensive manoeuvres
-Give the knockout blow by exploiting breakthroughs
Even if you’ve read my book, I’ll be introducing new intellectual property that amplifies some of the offensive strategies covered in Brilliant Manoeuvres and covers new ground.
You can ask about your issues beforehand and I’ll incorporate them into the presentation or ask questions during the presentation for impromptu discussion.
This is a great opportunity to start the year by (re)gaining and keeping the all-important initiative. Don’t wait till you’re half way through the year.
And once again, this is FREE for you as members of my communities. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Join us for a webinar on Jan 18, 2013 at 12:00 PM EST.
Join me at noon eastern on January 18th 2013 for a FREE 1-hour webinar based in part on my book, Brilliant Manoeuvres: How to Use Military Wisdom to Win Business Battles.
I’m doing this as a one-time opportunity so you can get more military wisdom to win your business battles in the new year. Look at it as a special New Year’s gift from me. Once again it’s free, but you have to sign up quickly as we only have limited ‘seating.’ I’ll also be giving away free copies of my book, Brilliant Manoeuvres, so if you haven’t gotten your copy yet, this could be your lucky day.
We’ll be discussing the most powerful offensive strategies you need to outmanoeuvre the competition and stake out a strong position in your chosen markets. These are all based on the time-tested strategies used by brilliant military commanders throughout history to seize the initiative from the enemy and conquer them. I’ll explain the concepts and, using examples from business, cover how to:
-Seize and maintain the initiative
-Reinforce success and create dilemmas for competitors
-Find weaknesses in competitors’ positions and gaps in market needs
-Create and exploit your own path of least resistance – the key to all offensive manoeuvres
-Give the knockout blow by exploiting breakthroughs
Even if you’ve read my book, I’ll be introducing new intellectual property that amplifies some of the offensive strategies covered in Brilliant Manoeuvres and covers new ground.
You can ask about your issues beforehand and I’ll incorporate them into the presentation or ask questions during the presentation for impromptu discussion.
This is a great opportunity to start the year by (re)gaining and keeping the all-important initiative. Don’t wait till you’re half way through the year.
And once again, this is FREE for you as members of my communities. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Last Thursday I spoke in front of a group of security and intelligence executives from government and the private sector gathered under the auspices of the National Capital Security Partners Forum, a chapter of the Canadian Security Partners Forum. Grant Lecky, founder and president of the CSPF, as well as Bonnie Butlin, the group’s executive director, invited me to speak, and it was an excellent opportunity to spread the message of my new book, Brilliant Manoeuvres: How to Use Military Wisdom to Win Business Battles.
The focus of my presentation was on ‘mission command’ and how it should be applied in business and other organizational settings outside the military. This is the approach the military uses to ensure that all levels of leadership in a unit are fully appraised of the situation and know the superior commanders’ intent, missions, and plans. The essence of mission command is to leverage the initiative of everyone in the unit to achieve its mission and vision. The key is to tell people what they need to achieve and why they need to achieve it, and to let them figure out the best way to get results, while staying within certain parameters. (I have a video which explains this concept in greater depth.)
The discussion was lively and reinforced two key points for me. The first is that mission command as practised in the military and in the most adaptable and robust organizations is definitely the best way to gain full alignment to the organization’s mission, vision, and objectives. On the other hand—and this is the second key takeaway for me—an organization or business that wants to create a culture of empowerment under the auspices of military style mission command must develop the proper skills, competencies, and organizational processes and decision-making structures. That organization also requires incentives that reward initiative and that allow a certain level of prudent, calculated risk-taking.
Another issue we discussed is how mission command is also highly applicable in a matrix management and/or project management framework. In such a system, managers who are responsible for organizational initiatives and projects have the mandate to achieve their aims, but don’t necessarily have the hierarchical control of the people and resources to carry out their missions and achieve their aims. This requires a mindset where everyone has to understand the mission and vision of the business or organization, and be an excellent team player. If everyone knows what is needed and why it is needed, that makes it much easier for project managers and initiative leaders to get the cooperation and collaboration they need to get their mandates done.
Executives and managers at all levels must not only be excellent managers, but they must also be transformational leaders. This requires a level of commitment from the organization’s senior leadership to develop and select for these skill sets over the long term. You can have all the best intentions in the world, but if your ‘chain of command’ isn’t fully committed to mission command and the leadership it entails, then pronouncements of empowerment and bottom-up initiative are just that, empty words. Every one has to walk the walk, not just talk the talk.
© 2012 Richard Martin. Reproduction and quotes permitted with full and proper attribution.
I will be speaking about How to Use Military Wisdom to Win Business Battles over the coming weeks. These speeches are based on my new book, Brilliant Manoeuvres: How to Use Military Wisdom to Win Business Battles (http://www.amazon.com/Brilliant-Manoeuvres-Military-Business-Battles/dp/1906403856/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1353335270&sr=8-1&keywords=brilliant+manoeuvres).
Here are the events:
Please feel free to contact me about my speaking, training and facilitation services on my website: http://www.alcera.ca/en/speaking-facilitation.php.
I just read that Shoppers Drugmart, the leading drugstore chain in Canada, has yanked its Christmas music after complaints from customers that it was way to soon to be hearing that in stores.
I wish to buck that trend by asking you to imagine Christmas music as of today when you visit my blog. Naturally, this will last only until January 2nd, after which I will be playing Valentine’s Day music. Wait…that doesn’t exist. Okay, well, I’ll put out the red hearts and roses on January 3rd 2013. So you can then imagine those adorning my blog at that time.
In the meantime, enjoy the Holiday cheer.
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells…
I spoke on 30 October 2012 at the Rotman School of Management at U of T. The topic was How to Use Military Wisdom to Win Business Battles. Rotman is the premier business school in Canada and has a worldwide reputation for excellence and innovation. I was particularly honoured to present my first speech there in support of my new book, Brilliant Manoeuvres: How to Use Military Wisdom to Win Business Battles.
You can find more information about my book here and Rotman has posted an excerpt of the speech on their You Tube channel, here. I invite you to read and listen more about this topic. It’s fascinating and highly applicable to business strategy, leadership, and organizational management in general.
© 2012 Richard Martin. Reproduction and quotes permitted with full and proper attribution.
