No Dumbing Down: Recent Episodes
Karen Walker
"No Dumbing Down" is a podcast for senior leaders on how to do a job only they can do: namely, aligning the organization’s internal and external strategies for growth.
https://www.blogtalkradio.com/karen-rands/2019/05/21/ccr-karen-walker-a-no-nonsense-talk-on-what-it-takes-to-scale-get-funding
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The Biggest Helping: Today’s Most Important Takeaway
“Find a way to connect to something. Find it as early as you can in your career. Connect to something outside yourself – something bigger than your small self. That will lead you to what I think is most important: thinking bigger: thinking bigger about the impact you can have, and thinking bigger about what’s possible for you and your organization. In order to do that, you have to really work on getting rid of your blind spots, understanding your strengths, and really connecting with what’s outside yourself.”
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No Dumbing Down and On-Demand MotivationGuest: Karen Walker
Karen Walker is a consultant, author, and advisor to CEOs and senior leaders. She helps her clients grow their companies with successful outcomes that include IPOs, acquisitions, market share increases, and significant leadership development. Her clients include Inc. 500 start-ups and Fortune 500 firms. Her work helps senior leaders create internal strategies that support their organizations’ external growth; and she is the author of the recently published book, No Dumbing Down – A No-nonsense Guide for CEOs on Organization Growth.
Prior to launching her consultancy, Karen was employee #104 at Compaq Computer – then the fastest growing company in American and fastest to $1billion in revenue. In her 14 years as VP/Operating Services, she helped spur the creation of more than $15 billion in value. She resides in Jupiter, Florida, although she can most often be found aloft in seat 2C.
Www.Karenwalker.us
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Karen discusses the gap between our intentions and our behaviors. How to set smart goals for your company.
Where do you intend to go as a corporation? What are your realistic long term goals? How do you make your market segment broad enough for your exit strategy?
LAYING THE TRACKS: Move in a direction that following the tracks. If the tracks are strong, we can build and reduce the possibility of not jumping the tracks. Make sure your moving along the lines that are Directionally correct.
Fearful or Flourishing? Choose your method of accountability wisely – it will impact the outcome.
Which option is your organization capable of doing?
Have insights that you implement. Put things on your calendar that will implement that action. One thing that you will do differently after listening to this podcast.
Don’t miss the value from the growth gap. Hold yourself accountable for closing the growth gap.
Holding your feet to the Fire
- No discipline of accountability in an organization. Create a disciple for follow thru
- Clear success criteria: line of sight
- Measure and Reward
Master the Art of Leverage: highest and best use of your time
- Ask questions about process
- Tell me one thing that makes this meeting effective and one that doesn’t
- ROI on the development of others
- Create time to do your most important things
- Time and energy are finite resources
- Do less, accomplish more
Archimedes quotes with awareness and action; you can close your growth gap and change the world.
Avoid the Abundance Trap: Framework for saying NO What not to do
Clarity: avoid the shiny new things. Resolve your conflicts. Prioritize your opportunities
Align your stars: Get your hands rowing in sync and in one direction.
M+A: avoid the M+D merge and destroy
How to make the deal work.
Clear goals, prioritization and rewarding the behaviors you want.
Creating Time to Think: Archimedes 200 BC / Eureka
Away from the urgent and into the important
- If you don’t create time to think, nobody else will
- No new input: synthesize
- What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?
- Drop constraints
- Allowing yourself to think big has not downside and a lot of upside
History of Compaq
Lead into your potential. Vibrancy.
WHERE ARE YOUR GAPS TODAY?
The actions that you take and the result for the company. Operating efficiently.
What is the Growth Gap: Space between where you are today and your potential. Sustaining growth creates gaps. Work differently, not harder.
Growth Gap Framework / reach your potential for yourself and your organization.
- Create Time to Think
- Avoid the Abundance Trap
- Align your Stars
- Hold your Feet to the Fire
- Mastering the Art of Leverage
Creating internal strategies to drive and support your external growth.
Karen discusses the fine line between too much change and stagnation. We must have change!
Creating internal strategies to drive and support your external growth.
Karen discusses the reasons smart CEOs need support in order to decrease the likelihood of blind spots in their business.
Creating internal strategies to drive and support your external growth.
Karen discusses the meaning of the name of her company. What is it that makes a really strong team and productive relationships?
Creating internal strategies to drive and support your external growth.
Karen discusses the formulation of strategy that works for your specific needs.
Creating internal strategies to drive and support your external growth.
Karen discusses the value and necessity of creating time to think.
Creating internal strategies to drive and support your external growth.
Karen discusses the comparison of playing Whack a Mole: going from mole to mole, problem to problem, issue to issue, and how this relates to your ordinary day?
Karen notes the differences between successful M&A efforts, and those that destroy the value that you have acquired.
Karen shares work she’s done with senior leaders to expand their personal capacity – by developing the next generation of leadership.
Are you a single point of failure in your organization? Karen discusses the implications, and how to mitigate the risks.
Karen explains seven different decision making methods and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Karen discusses the importance of setting up the system for success so that differences can be accepted.
Karen explains why conflict is healthy for your organization and the importance of all voices being heard.
Karen shares five primary strategies to achieve optimized growth and profitability in your organization.
· No Dumbing Down
· Double Back
· Be a Utility
· Play Bumper Cars
· Learn to Levitate
Karen shares an example of a growth company that failed due to the mistakes they made, deviating from the behaviors that made them great.
Karen discusses the essential questions that must be answered to ensure that everyone is consistently aligned.