May 2023

New Book, New Look

The Growth Leader shows ways to improve and add value to the customer experience through aligning strategy between leadership and sales. I’ve used the occasion of publishing this new book to improve the visitor’s experience at ScottEdinger.com, modernizing my website along with a new look and feel to my brand.

This redesign is to provide a better experience for you while still hosting the valuable resources, articles, and videos I’ve been sharing for more than a decade. I hope you’ll take a moment to visit and let me know what you think. And if you already like what you see, please understand that I’m just getting started.

2023 will be a big year, and I’m so excited for what’s ahead. Thank you for coming on this journey with me.

Individual Leadership: The Importance of the Right Level of Detail

Executives lose people when talking at too high a level, when the message isn’t specific enough. The same is true when you are in the weeds and include too much detail. Delivering the right level of detail for your audience is a critical factor in your communication success.

Start by presenting the main idea—the one thing you want the person or group to understand. Then decide how and when to make connections to the bigger strategy, or to more granular and pragmatic details. And remember to connect the dots in between.

As an editor once shared with me: “You can’t share every facet of your ideas in chapter one. You need to let it unfold.”

Organization Leadership: Predictable Failures in Strategy Execution

Even successful companies have moments where they stumble. These moments of failure typically arrive as a surprise, but they are actually predictable, using what engineers call “predictive failure analysis.” I dig into this topic in my forthcoming book, but until that's released, scan your business for some of most common failures in the execution of your strategy:

• People don’t know what the strategy is
• People do not understand their role in its execution
• People don’t have the skills to execute effectively
• The organization doesn’t have the capabilities to execute
• People are not accountable for their role in strategy execution
• Systems or processes don’t support the strategy

When you can predict a failure, you can prevent it. As an executive, identify potential weaknesses and address concerns before the failure occurs.

Perspective: No One is Right 100% of the Time 

Nobody is right all the time. But in the moment, don’t you always feel like you are correct in your view, your thinking, or your idea? It can be difficult to question your own thinking, but there is immense value in considering the perspective of others. The more you disagree, the more useful this exercise may be. A few years ago, I stumbled on this notion: 

Think of an idea you very strongly disagree with. What’s a perspective that idea holds that you must admit has a point? 

You can apply this practice to an issue in your business, a personal relationship, or even politics or religion (for the daring among you). It’s a reminder to hold your convictions lightly and to recognize the merit in other views. Understanding others’ perspectives is truly a superpower.

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