Clear and Present Danger (p. 29)
FC Article

Michael Useem suggests focusing on what is working during tough economic/political times. Discuss what recent approaches have worked for members' businesses. Has anyone taken a 'shock and awe' approach to shaking up the competition? What about confidence-building measures such as Wharton giving students leadership lessons from the Marine Corps? Compare other team-building tactics used by your group. Are there every any instances in which stressing competitive individual achievement might be a more beneficial strategy?

Learning How to Speak to Gen Y (p. 36)
FC Article

• With the Scion, Toyota is ready to take on Gen Y consumers. How's your company doing? What else will need to change besides cars, clothes, media, etc., in order to gain the respect of the millenials?
• Tap into the minds of some of your older COF members and discuss what product changes were needed 25 years ago to cater to the baby boomers. If no such institutional memory is available, recruit a senior partner at a marketing firm to join the discussion.

FastTalk (p. 47)
FC Article

• Last month the discussion focused on toughest assignments in business; this month it focuses on hardest decisions. Begin with a roundtable on your members' hardest decisions (business or personal). What techniques did they use when they were caught in a situation such as Jeffrey Zucker's, when he wasn't allowed to talk to anybody about the choices he had?
• As Marsha Johnson Evans comments, her hardest decision is every time she has to fire someone. Have the managers in your group talk about how they handle firings, or invite a human resource management firm to come speak on the matter.
• Gen. Wesley Clark put all his effort into a battle plan that never happened. Talk about the frustration one encounters in that situation and how you motivate yourself to get back on your feet and start the next project. If there any freelance writers, have them explain the process of researching and pitching a story, their acceptance rates, and how they've dealt with a story that was killed after they wrote it.

Daniel Richards contributed this month's Flash Points.

July 2003 Connexus | Flash Points | Next Steps

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