Recharge on Air with Alan Hargreaves: Recent Episodes
Alan Hargreaves
Take 5 minutes with Alan Hargreaves to step outside your business model, your career or your startup idea and check that you've got all bases covered. Are you optimising what you've got? Growth, in both business and life, is about momentum. This podcast will help you maintain it.
Common sense and scientific research make it clear people are more productive when they feel good. What can leaders do to make people feel better?
Managers often encounter challenging times when it all seems too complicated. Try taking an imaginary helicopter ride. Climb out of the crowded view inside your head and take in the entire landscape. It can be calming and insightful.
The hybrid business model can appear confronting, yet it opens the door to a more agile operating style. Rather than a hindrance, see it as an opportunity to build flexibility, boost productivity and cope with a rapidly changing landscape.
Difficult as it has been, the pandemic introduced a level of urgency that accelerated change. It has reminded us of the importance of taking action. Try keeping your foot on the gas. There is still plenty to do.
Strategies which embrace stakeholder interests have often been seen as an enemy of shareholders value. That might be changing as the pandemic forces faster innovation in work practices and business tactics.
The share prices of stocks like FB, Apple, Amazon, Netflix or Google trade at prices way above traditional values. Even if this is not a sustainable phenomenon, their performance dramatically emphasises the power of focusing on long term value versus short term profitability.
The surge in online connection and virtual workspaces will not go away when Covid does. What's good about that? What are the problems? What can we do about them?
The Covid crisis has supercharged changes that were already underway. The pandemic may end, but things will be different on the other side. What are you going to do about it?
Recessions present challenges and opportunities. Use the urgency to create change; take advantage of the uneven impact; return financial management to front and centre.
Few leaders have stepped up as ideal role models in the coronavirus crisis. What can we learn from their failures?
Commercial principles don’t change with time, place or technology. Business is still about supply, demand and customer connection.
When dealing with difficult individuals, stick to the commercial facts. If you want to find a solution, focus less on the person and more on your management responsibilities.
Worried about maintaining business momentum? To keep moving, start by asking yourself three simple questions.
For real progress, building on a strength beats fixing a weakness. Find out what you are good at and do more of it.
No recession does not mean no tough times. Regardless of the economic outlook, carry out a regular health check if you want to maintain resilience and growth.
The life cycle of any business means means different strategies for incumbents and start-ups. Although there's an array of tactical options, there is no guarantee that any will be successful.
Outsourcing is often the best way to manage parts of your business. Sometimes it's the best way to manage most of it.
Confidence is a great strength but it works best when it embraces uncertainty. Rather than deny risk, the most effective advice — to colleagues or customers — accommodates the chance of error and manages it.
Simple rules underwrite a successful business. Drill down into basic commercial principles to find solutions.
Want to lift your performance, boost teamwork, lower stress and get better business results? Try using ‘We’ instead of ‘I’.
In times of rapid change, don’t rely on established beliefs. You may think your strategy will work, but look for reasons why it won’t.
Accountability mobilises the constructive use of some positive anxiety. People are more likely to meet deadlines when they know someone is watching.
Business expansion into new markets means doing what you do well somewhere other than where you are doing it now. Success depends on unique advantages. The specific strengths of your own business model will guide you to where the best opportunities lie.
Basking in success can come at a cost. Top performers think less about how good they are and more about how much better than can be.
To keep your strategy agile, unload a range of alternative futures. You may not need them, but you'll be ready if you do.
Developing a loyal customer base means helping your customers use your product or service. Make them easy to access and easy to use.
Two questions can help you cope with disruption. If you wanted to disrupt yourself, how would you do it? If you wanted to do something different with what you've got, what could you do?
Uncertain times may well favour the brave, but the keys to survival and growth are agile and pragmatic responses to changing circumstances. To maintain momentum, you need to constantly review all aspects of your business or career.
Responses to disruption vary from fearful avoidance to an unhealthy over-indulgence. To convert our anxieties about invasive innovation, we need to work with it rather than be driven by it.
We often make big plans about things to do over the next year. Maybe we should try to do less.
Big financial words often describe business concepts you already intuitively apply. You can become more literate by applying some simple arithmetic to your thinking.
Intense focus can yield great returns, but to move forward in business or life we need to take our attention beyond our immediate tasks. You can't expect much inspiration to enter your brain if you don't make any room for it to enter.
Sometimes some of our best thinking comes about when we are not thinking at all. Alan suggests a few effortless ways to help new ideas arrive over the holidays.
Your business or your career can tick along quiet nicely, but are you optimising them? Exploiting untapped business opportunities and building fulfilling careers often means taking a risk. Your challenge is to take some and not take too many.
Leadership is crucial in critical situations. It doesn’t mean you should charge head on into troubled waters. Real leaders don’t shy away from the situation. But they assess it rationally, clarify it for their team and get everyone working on the best possible solution. It may not work, but it will give you the best chance of survival.
In this age of entrepreneurial mania, it seems everyone wants to start their own business. There are plenty of arguments why you should. Here's six reasons why you shouldn't.
The test of any new idea is not how clever it is. It's whether it makes something easier to do.
Great leaders don't do everything. They get the best people they can find to do all the things that they aren't good at.
We can waste a lot of time stressing about things we can't control. What if we focus that energy on the things we can control.
We know that feedback loops can generate a lot of momentum, both good and bad. The good ones for your business are often just simple adjustments to the way you already do things
We have this idea that somewhere out there is a place where everything is balanced. There isn't. Managing life and coping with change requires us to be fluid, not static.
Many statements about leadership are just cliches that often lead to management dysfunction. Effective leaders have humility. They look at how they can serve their people. They know that great leaders donât just solve problems. They grow great people and they do so by focusing on how they themselves can serve others.
Research shows that most forecasts or predictions are wrong. That makes it hard to get your strategy exactly right. What can you do to hedge against uncertainty?
A start up needs money to get traction, but is your great idea 'investment ready'? You will be a shareholder too. Before your commit a couple of years of your life and most of your cash, check that this makes business sense. Are you ready to invest in yourself?
A successful business can often end up with too much cash on the balance sheet. What should you do with it?
We often get stuck thinking the best product has to be the most sophisticated one. Instead, look to the ordinary strengths of you and your business. Great successes often come from simply optimising what you've already got.
Is there an issue you have been avoiding? Try addressing it. Your leadership style will always be a work in progress. Don't miss the chance to work on it.
There are simple ways to make your 'to do' list more manageable. One of the best is working through it with a friend.
Micromanaging is the opposite of effective delegation. To achieve the latter, you need to let people get on with it. To make it work, apply some simple rules.
The best way to get the most value out of selling your business is to leave a lot of value behind.
Startups often fail when their idea doesn't get market traction. But the main reason good ideas don't make it is lack of cash. How cheaply can you get your startup off the ground?
There are many reasons why teams should collaborate. You get more diverse input, you generate more innovative ideas and productivity is usually higher. But it's not just good for teams. It's also good for you.
It’s easy to overlook basic cash flow management. Yet simple processes that help you improve your cash position have a disproportionate impact on the value of your business. Every dollar you save is worth more than a dollar.
Total avoidance of risk can lead to total business stagnation. Firms that stay at the leading edge make a conscious decision to maintain a sensible level of risk.
Ever get that feeling you can’t do it all? You’re right. You can’t. What can you do to make your to do list more ‘doable’?
Ever felt short of management confidence? You are in the job because you are good at some thing. What are they?
It's hard to shift from 'command and control'. To get people working together, start by delegating tasks to two people rather than one, and preferably different ones too.
What’s going to be special about 2016? You’ll be taking yourself with you, so it’ll be much the same as last year unless you make it different.
Anyone starting a new business could learn a lot from surfing. It's not just about how you perform on the wave, it's also about how you get on the wave in the first place. Alan recalls his teenage years.
We tend to think of innovation is somehow new and revolutionary. Yet most successful firms grow at and evolutionary pace. How can you keep at the leading edge of innovation?
Firms regularly look beyond their industry to grow their business. Yet the best growth prospects are often sitting on their own doorstep.
The wisdom of the crowd is worth tapping, but groupthink is another thing altogether. How to get the best out of one and avoid the other.
A good idea is most successful when people other than you also think it's a good idea. What can we do to improve our chances of picking a winner?
Good levels of customer satisfaction set a benchmark for business survival. But if you want to break out of the pack, you'll need to do better than just making sure they're satisfied.
Google 'leadership' and you'll get a million tips on how to get "it". The problem is, there isn't just one "it". There's lots of them. What's yours?
Sometimes, we put so much effort into our top relationships that we don't give any others the chance to become our best customers.
Starting a business is exciting, but it can also turn out to be harder work than you expected. Before you write up your business plan, make sure it is something you really want to do.
All of us can sometimes struggle with inertia. Here are some simple ideas that can help you, your team or your business start leading from the front.
Acquisition is a common strategy for growing a business. Does it work? The evidence suggests its often more efficient to build your existing business than buy another one.
A business review doesn't have to be a complicated process. Often the simplest review can yield the best ideas. Here's some easy guidelines for taking a second look at what you are doing.
Got a great idea? It's likely someone else is already doing something similar. Don't be put off. Use their experience to improve your chances of success.
We often think we are driving change when all we achieve is a small cosmetic shift. How can you stimulate change that can make a difference to the way you do business? Alan talks about the need for a shift in attitude and gives simple examples of things you can do to bring it about.
We often think it is an aberration when things go wrong. We tend to think the downside is unusual. Yet, In business and investment, getting it overly right can be just as extraordinary. Are successful people right, or just lucky?
In business, just as in sport, peak performance depends on your ability to focus only on the things you can control. The key to optimising results is work on the things you can actually do something about.
Ever heard of "death by one thousand initiatives"? Often fewer ideas lead to better strategies. Even Apple's revival can be sheeted back to a change in tactics of not doing everything. Alan explains simple ways to look at your own business from different perspectives.
Business plans are a necessary ingredient in creating or maintaining a successful business, but they come with serious health warnings. Expect forecasts to be wrong; build in flexibility that helps you reverse bad decisions; and keep your focus on the planning process, not on the outcome.
Sponsorship can be a effective business strategy which helps both the sponsor and the sponsored, but too often it is an ad hoc decision. What are the key elements in getting it right?
Business faces a high level of uncertainty, particularly in current times. The challenge for management is to find ways of maintaining momentum without risking everything. Inertia, however, is the enemy. Sometimes you just have to make a decision.
Slashing prices may not get you through the hard times. Focus your product range on what you can sell at a reasonable margin rather than what you can sell at the lowest price. Customers want solutions. Look to add value that they will pay for.
Value statements and corporate governance may be the cliches du jour, but do they have any relevance in the workplace. Real values are outcomes, not starting points. They come from how you behave rather from lofty statements in annual reports.
You don't need massive numbers of relationships to have an effective network. It's about quality, not quantity. For an effective network, keep it small, keep it diverse and put in as much as you take out.
Creating shareholder value has very little to do with the stock market. Management is responsible for the former, but they have no control over the latter. The manager's job is to grow value regardless of the state of the stock market.
There is much to be said for introducing green initiatives into your business — but only if they can be integrated into your business model. Successful sustainability means making your business sustainable as well.
To boost airline safety, flight crews are trained to avoid ideology, cynicism and arrogance. The same strategy works for managers.
Ever tried to manage a problem by not offering a solution? A lot of us automatically give advice.
Sticking to the simplicity of your key message will help you cut through complexity and manage rapid change.
Developing a new idea is a lot similar to building any relationship. The three stages of love can give you some direction.
The Instagram deal shows that the business landscape is changing, but some things remain the same.
The case for more diversity in management is well-researched. Teams that encourage minority opinions regularly make better decisions than those with a narrow view. It's not just about race and gender. Mixing smart people with dumb people also helps.
Rapid change requires new skills. Rather than becoming extinct, the jobs of middle managers are being up-skilled and redefined. Middle management is often where great leaders are born.
It's natural to question your ability to lead. Here's five simple things that are essential to great management.
Has the leadership thing lost its way? This week Alan touches on all that talk about engagement and empowerment.
The essence of branding is consistency. People buy your product or use your service if they know you deliver what they want. A dependable brand is what builds business value.
Management theories make good reading. They can be inspirational and enlightening but we need to remember that no one size fits all. Base your strategy on the strengths that make you are your business unique.
It is easy for a great idea to get traction but that doesn't mean you should ignore the negatives. Your idea will be far more robust if you ask people why it mightn't work.
Management fads are not always new ideas. Many fashionable buzz-words simply remind us to get back to the basic principles of running your business or your life.
The real driver behind the diversity debate is not social justice for women or minorities; it’s the need for better decision-making.
There's a difference between 'strong' opinions and 'sound' opinions. How can we curb the destructive effects of the former and boost our exposure to the latter?
Customer service is a great mantra for many businesses. To complete the circle we need to think about how we can serve our colleagues as well.
Stakeholders in any business range from suppliers to the community. They are like spokes in a wheel. When they are out of balance, the business will wobble.
How hard is it to keep that sunny outlook going when you are surrounded by negative people? This week Alan talks about how to handle negative situations.
There are four simple steps that will turbocharge any innovation project. CASA stands for collaborate, adapt, simplify, act. It's a simple way to generate successful change.
Working capital and cash flow management can sound challenging. Listen to a simple way to think to think of a complicated topic.
Performance appraisals can have mixed results. Too often they focus on what’s going wrong rather than what’s going right. For real results, start a proper dialogue around people’s strengths. Look at what they do well. How can they apply those skills to lift their performance in other areas?
Growth by acquisition has a patchy history. Before you decide to buy some growth, examine your own business as an acquisition target. What do you need to do to make it irresistible.
We often try to make things better by adding detail but there are good reasons why making it more complicated doesn't help. Simplicity will often generate the superior result.
Everything is constantly cycling: the economy, your industry, products and people. Alan looks at ways of using what you already have to keep up.
Want clarity, focus and productivity. Here's a simple process to get you organised and in control.
Better balance doesn't mean less work. It's about enjoying the entire spectrum of your being, including what you do at the office.
The most important thing about buying a franchise is knowing that you'll be able to sell it.
Strategy is useless unless it leads to actionable tactics. Don't just think up great ideas; focus on how you can implement them.
Now backed by swathes of neuroscientific research, mindfulness is the latest business fad. What is it and why are they doing it.
Budget forecasts are always wrong. They are not meant to be right.
The budgeting process can never forecast the unexpected. That's especially so in a startup or a new project, when there are too many unknowns. Their value lies in identifying the key elements that will make or break the idea.
There is a lot going on in any business. Position yourself so you can see the whole environment. And don't worry about being distracted by it. You need to be alert to the critical things that are happening when they happen, not later.
Mobile technology presents a challenge for many businesses, yet underlying commercial principles haven't changed. It's still about margins and volume. Alan applies simple business concepts to technological complexity.
Focus in more important than quantity. Doing a few things extremely well yields better results than doing it all.
In business, just as in sport, peak performance depends on your ability to focus only on the things you can control. The key to optimising results is work on the things you can actually do something about.
It's hard making good decisions when times are tough. Behavioural economics tells us there are good reasons for that. We need to find ways of seeing the situation from outside our own head.
App upgrades are a metaphor for the speed of product innovation. There are a lot of them and they are a feature of any business where change is a constant. What can you do to keep 'Up'?
Often the luck of the draw seems to determine the outcome. But good fortune can also be encouraged. Research suggests your attitude and your actions can increase your exposure to good luck.
It's easy in business to get stuck in the small stuff. Looking at the bigger picture can be both calming and inspiring. Try stepping back and observing you environment rather than being overwhelmed by it.
Do you have trouble keeping track of all your best thoughts, or all those things you are supposed to remember? Someone gave me a great solution. It's been working like a charm for seventeen years.
Management commentary is full of cute slogans. But do they make any sense? Often their opposite meaning is the way to go.
Find out more at http://alanhargreaves.com
Strategic planning is a creative process; slavishly following the plan is not. For your strategy to work, its needs to be flexible and open to change.
The main mission for any business it to create value. Alan walks you through a simple process to start focussing on building value. Fully supported by free downloads and apps, this process leads to fast actions that get immediate traction.
There are several common element to the worst decisions I've made. A central one is not asking for help when I don't really know what I'm doing. You can avoid a lot of disasters just by accepting that some people do some things better than you. The art of management and the art of delegation are closely related.
It's easy to get stuck in the office, yet that's often the last place where good ideas turn up. To stay at the leading edge, the best managers make a point of getting out more, catching up with customers, suppliers, even competitors.
Strategy is the big picture we are trying to achieve, but it's tactics that keep us in the now and make it happen.
Perfect competition is great in theory but it never actually exists. That's because a business can't thrive in perfect conditions. A successful strategy is often based on creating inefficient markets.
Anyone starting a new business could learn a lot from surfing. It's not just about how you perform on the wave, it's also about how you get on the wave in the first place. Alan recalls his teenage years.
You can't change your DNA but you can change which parts of it you use or don't use. Instead of doing what you've always done, try looking outside the square.
It's is often exhilarating to get promoted. Being handed a challenge is uplifting and motivating. But it can also be scary. Alan talks about the common fears that managers face and what you can do about them.
Incentive payments often boost the quantity of output but they don't necessarily do much for its quality. In fact research indicates incentives are counterproductive in a lot of situations. What sort of incentives actually work?
Masses of books are written about leadership. What core principles are common to the best of them?
There is a lot of talk about "charisma" and it's role in management. But too often we confuse charisma with celebrity. Truly charismatic leaders base their power on their character rather than their personality.
It is getting harder and harder to get money from the government for any project, even really sensible ones. To get a hearing, you need to be able to offer some help with public finances. Alan looks at an innovative financing project in which disadvantaged families save the government money by improving their own lives.
A lot of the big issues that affect our lives are way beyond our control. Attempts to forecast the outcome of global events is futile. Rather than worry about them, you need to get on with your job in front of you.
Find out more at http://alanhargreaves.com
Rapid change is now a constant in the business environment and you need to be highly flexible to cope. What can you do to stay agile?
Find out more at http://alanhargreaves.com
Do all entrepreneurs have psychological disorders. One common view of startup entrepreneurs is that they are somehow weird. Why is that? We need to look beyond the negative view of the word 'disorder'.
Rapid growth is a great goal but overreaching can be counter productive. If you want to grow a sound, sustainable business, set goals that are a stretch but not impossible.
Business success often seems random. How can you increase your exposure to lucky breaks?
There are several common element to the worst decisions I've made. A central one is not asking for help when I don't really know what I'm doing. You can avoid a lot of disasters just by accepting that some people do some things better than you. The art of management and the art of delegation are closely related.
Just how bankable is intuition? Often it's the way to go, often it's not. Alan looks at ways to assess whether or not you should back your hunches.
Too much information can take our eye off the main game. Whether it's investing in stocks, managing a business or running your life, stepping back and looking at the big picture can be more rewarding than diving too deeply into the detail.
Negotiations never go exactly to plan. Often they are scary and confronting. But just as often their outcomes are pleasantly surprising.
There is nothing new about the term "disruption". Business have been coming and going for hundreds of years. What is it that makes some new startups so disruptive that even major corporations are destabilised by them.
The ability to maintain a good sales record isn't confined to extroverted people. Often they are more erratic. The strengths of more introverted styles often form the backbone of a solid sales team.
We get a barrage of forecasts and predictions from commentators and advisers. But if we actually bother to check, most of them are wrong. How should we cope the distraction of these people who seem to know everything?