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New Strategies You Need to Embrace

by Ian Smith | Feb 25, 2011 | Compelling Stories, Operational Tips, Repositioning, Strategy

As a leader within an SMB or a large public group, reading the latest WSJ or books  from Seth, Bill Taylor, Hugh MacLeod, Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson, you might believe the world has changed forever. Add crazy valuations like $60Bn for a social network...

Private Companies – Shareholder v Company Objectives

by Ian Smith | Oct 15, 2010 | Exiting your business, Management Help, Maximize exit proceeds, Mentoring, Operational Tips, Strategy

As my friend Jane Johnson wrote on her blog last year – the majority of boomer wealth in the US today is held in 12 million privately owned businesses and 70% are expected to change hands [or try to change hands] in the next 10 to 15 years! With the economy...

Managing a business in 2010 – What’s changed? – Part 3

by Ian Smith | Apr 13, 2010 | Communication, Compelling Stories, Management Help, Mentoring, Performance Profiles. Execution, Recruitment, Strategy

In the final part of this three part review of what has changed from 2006 and 2010, I’ve noted some thoughts on Staff Motivation and Engagement. This post was motivated by a great little book, Top Talent by Sylvia Ann Hewlett (one of the founders of The Hidden Brain...

Managing a business in 2010 – What’s changed? – Part 2

by Ian Smith | Mar 7, 2010 | Management Help, Strategy

In the second part of this series I examine, the Digital Content explosion and access to credit. Digital Content 2006: We were probably aware of the digital content haystack we were building and we knew we couldn’t find that old PowerPoint presentation or spreadsheet...

Managing a business in 2010 – What’s Changed?

by Ian Smith | Feb 19, 2010 | Management Help, Social Media, Strategy

So what is so different about 2010 compared with say 2006. In this low growth economy, what new tactics are getting traction? In the next few blog postings I’ll explore some differences I’ve observed and some possible solutions that might work for you....

How Private Equity Creates Remarkable Businesses

by Ian Smith | Dec 29, 2009 | Buy-outs, Strategy, VC industry

Let’s face it the Private Equity (PE) Industry has had an atrocious run of bad PR over the last few years. Of course some players have been rightly “called out” for excessive leverage, over generous fees, weak commercial judgement including some pretty huge losses...
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