Alliance Perspectives

How Anyone Can Achieve Breakthrough Thinking
October 20, 2017

While the world is changing at an exponential rate of speed as industry after industry is being transformed, most CEOs are either seeking breakthrough ideas that will disrupt back, or are in fear of falling behind – or both. Here, Alliance Founder & CEO Paul Witkay shares four types of breakthroughs as learned from Olivia Fox Cabane and Judah Pollack’s latest book, The Net and the Butterfly: The Art and Practice of Breakthrough Thinking. The authors describe not only their findings based on neuroscience, but also provide practical tools one can use to increase the probability for creating breakthrough ideas.

Case categories include: Entrepreneurship   Executive Development   Founder’s Insights   Leadership   

The CEO Answers to Everyone, but How?
October 13, 2017

Accountability for CEOs can range widely depending on the structure, size, ownership and stage of the business. But the bottom line is that CEOs are accountable for delivering on their promises to all stakeholders and doing what is best for the organization. Learn how Alliance members Sunil Bhatia of Infogain, Christopher Burnley of Corefact, Jonathan Corr of Ellie Mae, Craig Goehring of Brown and Caldwell, JR Matthews of Tregaron Capital, Sean McCarthy of CytomX Therapeutics, and Doug Murray of Big Switch Networks, meet the complexities of accountability head on.

Case categories include: Entrepreneurship   Executive Development   Leadership   

Who Will Lead the Robot Revolution?
June 01, 2017

Automation will soon reshape the way we work in very profound ways, and present enormous economic and societal benefits. According to Alliance members Steve Cousins of Savioke, Irit Eizips of CSM Practice, Lisa Im of Performant Financial, Mike Jellen of Velodyne LiDAR, Jane Macfarlane of the Sustainable Transportation Initiative at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, John Pavlidis of Vytronus, Lizz Vilardo of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, and Christy Wyatt of Dtex Systems, embracing innovative technology may be the best way to not only survive tomorrow’s robot revolution, but actually lead it.

Case categories include: Entrepreneurship   Leadership   Technology   

Preparing for Tomorrow’s Customers Today
October 28, 2016

In a fast-changing world, Alliance members Joe Budelli of ABBYY USA, Bill Grosso of Scientific Revenue, Arwed Niestroj of Mercedes-Benz R&D North America, Barb Paldus of Finesse Solutions, Glen Shu of Bay View Funding and Antoine Villata of Planisware USA share their strategies for preparing to meet future market needs.

Case categories include: Entrepreneurship   Leadership   Strategy & Planning   Trends   

Stop (Frequently) and Think About the Big Picture
September 27, 2016

With so many demands on their time, CEOs often struggle to take pause and give unfettered thought to the long-term plan. In a recent Alliance meeting, the gathered CEOs were inspired by the approach of Alliance member Sid Nandi, Founder & CEO of TeqTron. This case study focuses on his successful steps to set aside time, think about goals, plan for the long-term, and keep on track for success, all while maintaining transparency and accountability to his greatest assets – his employees.

Case categories include: Entrepreneurship   Executive Development   Leadership   Marketing   Operations   Sales   Strategy & Planning   Technology   

How I Became a CEO
August 10, 2016

In this feature story, Alliance members Kirsten Bay of Cyber adAPT, Rachel Haurwitz of Caribou Biosciences, Nadim Maluf of Qnovo, Sameer Padhye of FixStream Networks, Chris Rivielle of Plant Construction and Timothy Robertson of Vium, talk about the expectations and challenges that came with sitting in the top chair.

Case categories include: Entrepreneurship   Executive Development   Leadership   Strategy & Planning   

Technology’s Fast-Forward Future
May 06, 2016

Alliance members ponder the accelerating pace of technological change and its future impact on their industries, organizations, and leadership

Case categories include: Entrepreneurship   Leadership   Technology   

Want to Upgrade Your Business? Upgrade Your Leadership Team.
February 17, 2015

A maturing industry requires its leaders to act differently. As industry players grow larger to manage compliance burdens and to gain access to capital, leadership styles that worked in the past can become dysfunctional. For midsized mortgage businesses to continue growing, they will need to upgrade their leadership teams through coaching, mentoring, and recruitment. Learn how Alliance member, Craig Sardella of Comstock Mortgage grew its volume to $750 million during a downturn in the industry, even while competition continued to be a drag on growth and profitability.

Case categories include: Entrepreneurship   Leadership   M&A   Strategy & Planning   

Tinkering is Fine in R&D, but Not in the Boardroom
November 26, 2014

As a CEO, restrain yourself from tinkering with your core strategy. Instead, funnel those great ideas through a process that helps vet the ideas without distracting your team from executing the current strategy. Once your winning ideas are confirmed and proven, then adjust the business plan to incorporate them. Read how Rodan + Fields grew 10-fold by avoiding top-level tinkering.

Case categories include: Entrepreneurship   Leadership   Strategy & Planning   

How Much Should you Risk for Growth?
January 23, 2013

Before you lay down a significant bet, spend time and effort on assessing market predictability, execution competency and your team’s forecasting acumen.  Then make the decision about your spending velocity and the level of risk that is prudent.

Case categories include: Entrepreneurship   Finance   Leadership   Sales   Strategy & Planning   

Malcolm Gladwell Article
May 20, 2010

One of my favorite authors, Malcolm Gladwell (Tipping Point, Blink, etc.), wrote a great article in the New Yorker called "The Sure Thing." It dispels the myth that successful entrepreneurs are daredevils or crazy risk-takers. He tells several stories of Ted Turner, Ingvar Kamprad of IDEA and others that show that successful entrepreneurs are more like predators that study their prey and seek the least risky time and place to strike.

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Case categories include: Entrepreneurship   

Choosing Relationships over Meteoric Growth
April 21, 2008

Two female business partners are offered a huge piece of business by a key client. Although initially excited, they think long and hard about the pros and cons of saying yes. Read how the decision went and what they ultimately decided.

Case categories include: Entrepreneurship   Strategy & Planning   

Creating and Owning a Category
April 11, 2008

This CEO has a system for finding new market categories and taking commanding market share leadership. He's done it over and over again, and he tells us how in this essay.

Case categories include: Entrepreneurship   Leadership   Strategy & Planning   

Business Temptation
November 24, 2007

Thriving business gets customer requests to jump into a new business. After resisting, they go for it with excellent success. When is it wise to start another business?

Case categories include: Entrepreneurship   Leadership   Strategy & Planning   

The Overly Optimistic Entrepreneur
May 23, 2007

Optimism is a natural part of entrepreneurship, but it can go too far. A bad string of luck nearly sinks the CEO's dreams before persistence starts to pay off.

Case categories include: Entrepreneurship   Leadership   

Purist to Populist
May 06, 2005

Great business ideas are often borne by finding the mainstream's interest in little-known products and services and making them more popular. Serial entrepreneur Rob Wrubel has a track record of doing just that, although it didn't happen overnight.

Case categories include: Entrepreneurship   Marketing   Strategy & Planning   

Sailing Beyond the Small Business Mindset
May 06, 2005

A small business struggles along staying small for many years. Its owners grow tired of the struggle and recommit to building a bigger and healthier business. Key signs of being stuck in the small business mindset are identified, and steps that can be taken to get your business to the next level.

Case categories include: Entrepreneurship   Strategy & Planning   

The Pain Doctor
February 24, 2005

Tom Engdahl is the pain doctor of business. He looks for pain in an industry then develops the cure. He's done it over and over again, each time with a business success and a liquidation event.

Case categories include: Entrepreneurship   Strategy & Planning