What are the most important qualities for senior executives to possess to be effective managers? The Harvard Business Review surveyed executive search consultants to find out what their clients most commonly looked for in a good executive management candidate.
What Companies Look for in Sr. Execs
43% of executive search consultants surveyed in 2008 reported that [...]

My background has been many years working for blue ribbon technology companies- hardware, software, internet technologies. The value I bring to organizations is helping the company see new markets that they haven’t seen before and reach new customers that they haven’t been able to reach before, using research methods, data analysis and market analysis. Also, [...]

How can companies measure the effectiveness of an interim manager?
The metrics that I find to be most important are those that show ‘incremental’ gains (specifically net revenue and net profit) with an interim manager in place as compared with what would have resulted without him or her in the role. This requires having a clear [...]

by Paul Travis, Interim Management Executive
The challenge kept coming up in internal discussion: Our interim management value proposition is powerful but not self-evident, so how do we communicate the bigger story? Reflecting on my branding study with an anthropology professor at the Harvard Business School, I saw the opportunity to use a book rather than [...]

Interim Management Question: What are common objections from clients to Interim Management and how do you overcome these objections?
Objection: I have to hire someone after you leave which means we’ll be starting over from scratch.
Response: OneAccord provides a ‘front-end’ Revenue Review that is completed by 2 or 3 CEO-pedigreed Principals with proven revenue growth history. [...]

by Jonathan Gilliam, Interim Management Executive
People who work to generate revenue for companies understand the long-standing friction between marketing and sales departments. Often the relationship is at best cordial, at worst outright subversive. But the growing consensus, at least among top management, is that the two should be inextricably linked to the same accountability, metrics, [...]

by Michael Pearce, Interim Management Executive
There are a host of pains organizations inflict on themselves that present clear and present dangers to their very viability. Among those we often see are:

Goals and objectives that are out of sync with job descriptions and employee expectations

Compensation plans that don’t reflect the will of the organizations executive [...]

Will the recession lead to a lasting change in buyer behavior (in B2C) or will consumers revert back to old buying habits when the recession ends?

I think it will be all over the map. If you are an individual who prefers to buy a Pontiac, you will not have the choice of returning to your [...]

by Paul Travis, Interim Management Executive
I was reminded of the importance of packaging a few weeks back at the Pyramid Ale House in Seattle. As an alternative to coffeehouses, this place is one I find very convenient for “holding court” (serial meetings) in Seattle — how can you go wrong with free parking, wi-fi, and [...]