Competitive Advantage

At Boardroom Metrics we've embraced social media. We use it to profile our people, find people, find work.

It works and it's free / really cheap.

So it's always refreshing to still hear lots of people - and organizations - say that social media is a waste of time.

That point of view used to bother us. We used to try to fix it.

Now, our advice is 'go with it'. Ignore social media, don't learn about it, don't put any effort into trying it.

Leave the competitive advantage to others. Abandon that particular opportunity to differentiate. Make it one more easy tactic for your competitors (they could be people, or companies) to win the hearts and minds of your target audience.

Social media doesn't work. It can't be measured. There is no ROI.

Yes, go with that thought.

Please!

What's Your Snow?

I was talking to Andrew yesterday about the demise of RIM. I was telling him how it makes me angry because it was so obvious that it was coming. But everyone covered it up.

Andrew was telling one of his dad's great sayings - "that when the snow melts, all the shit rises to the surface".

It's a great line. In RIM's case there was lots of snow. Like covering up declining North American market share with 'overall smart phone growth', or 'growth in other parts of the world', or 'but they will never lose the enterprise space'.

Frigging DUH!!??

How smart do you have to be to understand that if you're getting killed in your home market - and your enterprise customers are 'testing' iPhones, hanging success on 'undeveloped' markets and business customers  is downright stupid??


Yet that snow covered that shit for the last 2 years.

Surprise!!!

So what's your snow? Where's the white, fluffy stuff straight out of a Warren Miller ski movie in your business? Where's your Waterloo(!)?

At the end of our conversation I told Andrew his COO role has a new accountability - snow removal. He is officially in charge of spotting - and melting - all of the white, fluffy, killer snow that's covering the crap in our business.

The future depends on it.

Confused blogging and what's your risk?

I haven't blogged here for a while. And the truth is I haven't done a lot of blogging. But I am still blogging. Here at Boardroom Metrics....and occasionally here at First Time CEO.

Over at Boardroom Metrics the guys at Dreiden have done a fantastic job mashing together personal home pages for our team. Each of our Accomplished Executives gets their own unique personal URL (eg, /jimcrocker)and the functionality to post personal content from anywhere (YouTube, Twitter, etc), including a WordPress blog built into the site. So I've been blogging (a bit) from this blog link.

Over at First Time CEO - I've discovered there's interest from CEO's...and first time CEO's. However, while the content is unique, my real goal is to get readers over to Boardroom Metrics (because who has time for 3 blogs?).

John my SEO guy isn't a fan of me blogging here because it really doesn't do anything to freshen content over on our Boardroom Metrics site. But that aside, this blog still sends a decent amount of traffic over to BM.

 What's Your Company Doing?
Which reminds me - I'm hardly a search marketing, social media guru - but wow - I'm still amazed at the lack of web, search and social media knowledge in the businesses we deal with. I would say it still approaches 100%!!!

Ignorance may be bliss but it's not smart. If you can't be found on the web or don't do business on the web - in 2011 - you are risking your business. If you're the CEO - you should care!

We've got some great resources if you need any help.

See you over on Boardroom Metrics - and here occasionally.

Boardroom Metrics Accomplished Executives

I've been gone for a while as Boardroom Metrics continues to grow rapidly.

We now have 14 Accomplished Executives and Advisors. They are located in Toronto, Waterloo, Guelph and Ottawa.  There are several more currently in the selection process including two in Montreal.

The mission of Boardroom Metrics is to help others make money.

We provide a unique outlet for individual talent – by maintaining a strong, respected brand umbrella; proactively driving business opportunities; and, providing the platform to team up with other, like-minded, accomplished achievers.

For organizations, we provide a ready source of select leaders, subject matter experts, business tools and processes.

“Measure, plan, do” is our credo and we have assembled the people, tools and processes that client owners and leaders can tap instantly to build value in their enterprises.

Each of our Accomplished Executives is screened and chosen based on achievement, attitude and contribution.

They come from diverse backgrounds – retail, broadcasting, engineering, technology, healthcare, manufacturing, pharma, not-for-profit and others.

Their expertise includes corporate and non-profit governance, leadership, marketing, sales, social media, communications, facilitation, coaching international business and more.

Over time, our pool of exclusive talent keeps growing – providing unique opportunities for select individuals and outstanding resources for successful organizations.

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On a regular basis we feature blog posts written by one of our Accomplished Executives. The posts can be found on the Boardroom Metrics news page, here. 

When Web Advertising Doesn't Work

Microsoft Sharepoint being advertised (I had to look twice) under the header "How Brilliant Ideas Destroy Companies". That's ironic. And kind of humorous!

Role of the Owner vs. Role of the CEO

Value = Profit that is Sustainable and Transferable.

Ask any private business owner what they want from their business and almost every one of them will tell you: "I want to maximize value.".  Then watch what they do on a day to day business.

Fight fires. Run the day to day.

In the model above, the business owner is the one responsible for the V - Value side of the equation. The CEO is responsible for the Pst side - profits that are sustainable and transferable.

The first is a strategic role. The second is a tactical, operating role.

So what happens when the owner and the CEO is the same person - something that is very common in private businesses?

What I see almost every time is that the value side gets forgotten over and over and over. Firefighting is envigorating, challenging, important. It overwhelms everything else.

When times are good, being the CEO is being the hero.

When times are bad being the CEO means being too busy manning the liferafts and avoding ice bergs.

"Value?"

"Naw. That's something to think about when times get better."

To create sustainable, transferable value the Owner/CEO must be an owner first - and a CEO second.

Being an owner first means having a clear picture of what drives sustainable, transferable value and getting a plan in place to build it, maintain it, and ultimately monetize it.

Being an owner first means being held accountable as the CEO to execute the value building plan - or to get out of the way and let someone better suited do the job.

 The Boardroom Metrics Chairman's View system makes it simpler for owners to be owners. First, it provides a snapshot on a company's value. Second, it highlights the gaps/opportunities - in a dashboard fashion - where value creating work is required. Third, it introduces a professional chairman - someone who spends a few hours a month holding the owner, and the CEO accountable for doing their roles properly.

Most owners want to maximize the value of their business. Too many are spending their time as CEO's.  The Boardroom Metrics Chairman's View System can help turn that around.

Boardroom Metrics Announces New Services, Web Site

Every business has to evolve with the times and the opportunities that are put in front of it. Boardroom Metrics is doing that.


First, we have expanded our geographic service offering beyond Toronto to include Ottawa and Montreal.

Second, we are providing new advisory expertise in employee health and well-being, and corporate learning and training.


Employee health and well-being is rapidly becoming a top priority for all forward thinking organizations. Linking employee health and well-being with corporate performance – not just benefits cost containment - is an important competitive advantage we believe our clients are going to be increasingly interested in.

Corporate learning is another rapidly evolving field. The days of standing up in front of 200 people and ‘teaching’ them are gone – thanks to much better insight on how people learn and rapidly advancing technology – whether it be in the classroom or on a Blackberry. Again, our intent is to help our clients more clearly make the connection between learning, training strategy, training execution and significant improvements in corporate performance.

Third, we have expanded our tools offering to include the Chairman’s View System.

Chairman’s View enables private business owners who are committed to transferring their businesses in some fashion down the road, to measure, visualize and increase the sustainable and transferable value in their businesses.

Most private businesses owners in the US and Canada intend to transfer their businesses to new ownership in some fashion over the next ten years. Unfortunately, a large majority won’t come close to receiving the value they anticipate unless their focus changes from day to day management to sustainable value creation.

Fourth, we have significantly upgraded our interim management capabilities. The goal of our ‘Accomplished Executives’ program is two-fold:

• First – to provide a comprehensive marketing umbrella so that senior, experienced management talent can be promoted and become known and findable to the broad, business market place.

• Second – to seamlessly provide outstanding talent in conjunction with our advisory and tools practices to clients requiring short or long term executive support – whether it be for advisory, professional Chairman, senior executive or specialist roles.

Fifth, we have launched a new website that describes our services in more detail and encourages prospective clients and accomplished executive talent to start a dialogue with us.

All of us at Boardroom Metrics are passionate about business and in that regard we hold some simple but clear beliefs.

• EVERY business has the potential to be a spectacular success.

• NO business succeeds without strong leadership.

• PEOPLE are the only competitive advantage that can’t be duplicated.

If you’re interested in spectacular success and looking for a passionate, skilled and experienced partner we would love to work with you.

Jim Crocker, CEO