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BUSINESS MODEL

8/24/2023

 
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Empower your organization to lead by developing an agile, resilient, and dynamically sustainable business model.

​Introduction to Business Model Strategy with Stimler Advantage

Stimler Advantage guides organizations to develop agile and resilient business models as part of its work areas and services. The Stimler Advantage 5 S’s Framework informs its business model strategy work.

Challenges Organizations Face

In today's business world, organizations face volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) challenges that make it difficult to thrive in our dynamic times. These challenges include:
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  • Volatile markets: Demand, prices, and supply change frequently, making the global economy increasingly volatile. Businesses struggle to plan, allocate resources, and optimally serve customers through their products and services. 
  • Uncertainty: Political instability, natural disasters, and technological change provide great uncertainty in the world. Businesses have difficulty making strategic decisions, making prudent innovations, and achieving tactical success.
  • Complexity: New technologies, regulations, and customer demands emerge, fluctuate, and shift, increasing complexity. Businesses labor to keep up with the pace and production environments necessitated by these changes. 
  • Ambiguity: Incomplete and siloed information, conflicting signals, and polycrisis threats introduce significant ambiguity. Businesses may be unclear on how to make sense of the world, take prudent action, and be dynamically sustainable.

Agile and Resilient Business Model Considerations

Organizations need to build agile and resilient business models to thrive in this challenging environment. An agile business model is one that is able to adapt quickly to change and respond to new opportunities and threats. A resilient business model is one that is able to withstand shocks and disruptions. An agile and resilient business model can support a business's dynamic sustainability efforts. Dynamic sustainability for business is the ability of a business to adapt to and thrive in changing economic, environmental, and social conditions.

Here are some considerations for agile and resilient business models: 

Digital-First

Businesses should focus on providing digital-first products and services that are readily available, contextual, and convenient. This means having a considerate online presence and using the relevant digital channels to engage with customers. Digital-first solutions can have a greater capacity to reach and satisfy customers consistently, effectively, and with measurable results. Digital assets and content libraries empower a business to deliver value to customers through intellectual property made into modular content and deployed on digital channels. Businesses need to work continuously on their digital transformation to be prepared to serve their customers. 

Modular Content

Businesses should create content that can be easily reused and repurposed across different channels. This will help them to save time and resources, and it will also make their content scalable as needed and adaptable. For example, content locked through agreements, licensing, or formats is often content, effort, and resources not optimally utilized or, at worst, wasted. Businesses should prioritize the development of content with a long tail of relevance for customers, depending on when or where they may come into contact with it. Well-stocked content and delivery platforms can lead a business to become a platform of possibility. 

Digital Platform Building

Businesses should invest in building digital platforms that can be used to create, manage, and deliver content and services. Building digital platforms helps businesses improve efficiency and agility. Platforms enable businesses to scale sustainably in consideration and relation to other materials used, production processes utilized, energy used, or waste generated. Digital platforms enable businesses to enhance consistency, measure engagement, and iteratively and steadily improve content. With modular content developed with digital-first assets, platforms can continue to serve customers in different locations when physical locations may not be available due to public health and safety matters or natural disasters. Digital platforms are more adaptable and customizable to customer expectations and preferences, such as interactivity. 

Interactive Customer Experience

Businesses should meet customers where they are by using digital-first assets, modular content, and digital platforms to engage them. Businesses can inspire customers to interact with them through user interfaces that bring customers to content expeditiously. Gaming devices, kiosks, mobile handsets, and heads-up displays guide and make possible the experiences that facilitate our daily personal and transactional lives. Businesses utilizing interactive technologies offer customers an experience with agency, choice, and active participation in their customer journey. As businesses build digital platforms full of modular content, they can simultaneously develop interactive customer experiences that attract and retain customers informed by user testing, metrics, and surveys. Developing interactive and immersive experience capabilities is increasingly important to engage customers with artificial intelligence and the metaverse. Digital and interactive customer experiences can be incorporated into a business approach to lean sustainability. 

Lean Sustainability 

Businesses should strategically and tactically consider how to integrate sustainable practices. Digital solutions can be part of lean sustainability approaches. Planning and prioritizing research, development, and innovation on a focused budget are important as well. Content format, storage, and delivery methods can also impact sustainability goals. A lean sustainability approach also means running your business as leanly as possible to provide the goods and services you need but without unsustainable growth or endless pursuit of expansion that can be easily disrupted by volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous threats. Lean sustainability considerations are closely aligned with dynamic sustainability. Agile and resilient business models are interconnected with sustainability.  

​Empowering Your Business Model To Lead


An agile and resilient business model is essential for any organization that wants to thrive and be dynamically sustainable. Empowering one’s business model requires constant refinement. Your business model can empower your organization to lead and be an inspiration for customers and stakeholders alike by examining the above considerations along with applying the following principles:

Always Be Learning

Businesses should be open to learning new ideas and methods. They should constantly seek ways to improve and invest in certifications, training, and skills development. It is also important to focus on developing a culture of agility, resilience, and sustainability. Businesses should cultivate critical and smart feedback from customers and employees and be willing to experiment with new ideas and approaches. By cultivating critical and smart feedback, businesses can gain valuable insights that can help them improve their products and services, better serve their customers, and create a more successful organization.

Dynamic Strategy 
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Businesses need a dynamic strategy that can keep up with the pace of polycrisis threats and constant change. Multiyear strategic plans are no longer viable. By building a business model that embraces digital-first, modular content, digital platform building, interactive customer experience, and lean sustainability, businesses can become more agile and resilient to thrive. Digital metrics, dashboards, intranets, and project management tools can help businesses set a course and navigate course corrections as needed.

Empower your organization to lead by developing an agile, resilient, and dynamically sustainable business model. "
Stimler Advantage can help your organization with its business model strategy. Connect with me to discuss your executive coaching, tactical, and strategy needs. Follow Stimler Advantage on LinkedIn.

Budget Strategy

8/14/2023

 
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To empower your organization to lead, develop a clear, dynamic, lean, and accountable budget.
Introduction to Budget Strategy with Stimler Advantage

As part of its work areas and services, Stimler Advantage guides organizations to develop an effective budget strategy to achieve their management objectives. A well-structured budget positions an organization to save money, prioritize spending, communicate value to its stakeholders, and identify opportunities to increase revenue. Budget strategy work is informed by the Stimler Advantage 5 S’s Framework.

Considerations for Effective Budget Strategy

Here are some considerations for budget strategy, including the need for a clear and well-structured budget, the importance of agility and dynamism, and the value of transparency and accountability.  

Clear and Well-Structured

Make sure your budget is clear and well-structured. Your budget should be easy to understand and use. Create a centralized budget strategy system and reporting tools to help you track spending and identify areas where you can save money. Plan your budgets well in advance to identify potential problems and make adjustments.

Agile, Dynamic, and Lean

Your budget should be agile and dynamic to adapt to changes in your business environment. Have contingency plans in place for unexpected events. Organizations should build and manage their budget to function leanly and thrive in crises. The essential budget should include innovation, product development, and research.
 

Cost Savings

Effective budget strategy is about carefully considering the impact of cost-saving strategies while maintaining high-quality and consistent customer service. Closely monitor and control key expense areas to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and boost profits. Eliminate unnecessary expenses and find more efficient ways to operate. Technology can automate tasks, streamline processes, and scale goods and services. Spending within one's means is essential for long-term success.

Accountability and Transparency

Publicize budget elements that are appropriate to be to build trust and transparency with stakeholders. Budget transparency allows stakeholders to see where their money is going, better understand the organization's priorities, and make informed decisions about their support. Budget transparency shows that the organization is being open and accountable, building credibility, which can be essential for long-term success. Review any budget policies and information intended to be publicly shared with your legal counsel, board, corporate officers, regulators, and other necessary stakeholders prior to making anything public. Do your due diligence.​

Digital and Dynamic Dashboards

Digital and dynamic dashboards of budgets can be valuable tools for internal and external stakeholders. Set realistic goals and track progress. For internal stakeholders, dashboards can provide real-time insights into spending, identify areas where costs can be reduced, and help to make informed decisions about future spending. For external stakeholders, dashboards can help build trust and transparency and even attract new customers and partners. Ensure data is configurable, exportable, and migratable to meet reporting needs.

Empowering Your Budget To Lead

An effective budget strategy is essential for any organization that wants to achieve its goals. Create a budget that is clear and well-structured. Ensure that your budget is agile and dynamic and that you effectively manage your expenses. Build trust and transparency with your stakeholders by publicizing budget elements that are appropriate to be made public. Use your organization's budget to make informed decisions that will improve customer satisfaction and ensure long-term success.
To empower your organization to lead, develop a clear, dynamic, lean, and accountable budget. "
Stimler Advantage can help your organization with its budget strategy. Connect with me to discuss your executive coaching, tactical and strategy needs. Subscribe to the email newsletter. Follow Stimler Advantage on LinkedIn.

Brand Strategy

5/15/2023

 
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A successful brand is situated in the context of an organization's past, present, and future.

Introduction to Brand Strategy with Stimler  Advantage

As part of its work areas and services, Stimler Advantage guides organizations to situate a brand in the context of its past, present, and future to keep and engage new customers. Brand strategy work is informed by the Stimler Advantage 5 S’s Framework. 

Understanding Your Organization's Brand

A strong brand helps organizations attract new customers, retain existing customers, and distinguish themselves in a crowded marketplace. A brand is the sum total of how your customers perceive your organization across its touchpoints, including your logo, website, name, marketing channels, products, services, and customer experience. Brand, in the mind and perception of the customer, is connected to feeling and memory. 

Your organization’s brand should be an instantly recognizable expression of your organization’s mission, vision, and values. Critically, a brand should be accessible and legible, meaning that a brand must be easy for people to perceive and understand, regardless of their abilities or circumstances. In addition, an organization must build and sustain a devoted, durable, and dynamic brand. A successful brand is situated in the context of an organization’s past, present, and future. 

Situate Your Brand in the Context of The Past, Present, and Future

Your organization’s brand must be well-situated in the context of dynamic change. It is critical to understand the history surrounding the context from which your brand emerged, your brand’s own history (with its failures, missteps, and successes alike), its contemporary interactions with the marketplace and socioeconomic culture, and future.

​The Past

Your brand’s past is the history within which it is situated and its own history as documented by its logos, marks, content, products, and services. It includes the organization's origin and foundation stories, evolving mission, vision, values, key figures, timeline moments, and defining products, services, and customer experiences. Your brand’s past can be a valuable and actively deployable asset. It can help you connect with customers through an emotional connection to a sense of the past within the context of the present and emerging future. 
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Sustainable brands should develop an evolving and multigenerational customer base and position themselves for longevity with a continuous pipeline of ongoing engagement. People will perceive and interpret your organization’s past in ways that may not always align with how you communicate the organization’s brand. However, an organization with a clear and documented understanding of its past is an empowered organization, more able to know itself to lead and manifest the experiences and relationships it desires with its customers. 

The Present

Your brand in the present is the current situation of your organization. It includes how your customers interact with and perceive the quality and value of your products, services, and customer experiences. In the present, your organization should be actively measuring and analyzing the impacts of your brand through digital metrics and other survey tools. Week-by-week, quarter-by-quarter, and year-by-year, your organization should have an accurate and active assessment of customer affinity to your brand. 

​Critical considerations for a contemporary brand are finding creative, timely, and appropriate ways to circulate your brand on channels, platforms, and products that attract niche but impactful and mass audiences, thereby compelling opportunities for building and fusing customer communities. Your brand in the present sets a direction for how your organization may or may not be successful in the long run. That is why it is essential to deliver a consistently excellent customer experience and measure customer satisfaction as embodied by your brand.

The Future

Your brand's future is what your organization plans to do in the ever-changing dynamic future. It is your vision for the organization’s role in the world. Your brand's future should give customers a reason to be excited about your organization and its products or services and prepare them for what is next. While your organization may seek to set some target milestones for future development, know that these are less fixed than you might think and should be in flux and responsive to change. Your brand should be something you can achieve, but it should also be something you can measure and track. By tying your brand to your analytics and metrics, you can ensure that your organization is progressing toward its goals and that its future investments are successful.

Placing your brand in scenarios of the future is a way to help customers situate themselves in the organization’s perspective directions. Examples of scenario forecasting for your customers include publications with illustrative storytelling, presentations, and prototype product demos. By placing your product in future test environments, while doing your research and development, you can help learn from your customers and stakeholders if your goals for the brand align with your customers' desires. While some people can imagine the future from the concept stage, concrete demonstrations and examples can help others who perhaps need another point of connection to situate and understand the organization’s direction. That said, prototyping and testing in future scenarios should be a focused and structured process aligned with the organization’s budget, mission, and priorities to ensure it is a constructive and helpful mechanism to build capabilities for future success.

​Empower Your Brand To Lead

By situating your brand in the context of its past, present, and future, your organization can better understand its strengths and weaknesses. Help your organization identify how to empower your brand to lead. When your brand is empowered, your organization can attract new and retain existing customers.

Here are three tips for situating your brand in the context of its past, present, and future:
  1. Research and understand your organization’s past. Learn as much as possible about your organization's history, key figures, values, and mission. Then, embrace and utilize that history to empower your organization’s brand.
  2. Know your present customers and stakeholders. Regularly secure feedback and metrics from your customers and stakeholders on what they think of your brand to understand how you can be relevant, and connected to their desires.
  3. Innovate your organization’s brand future with a blend of pragmatism and visionary approaches. Take informed and reasonable risks to move your organization forward beyond stasis to work for accelerating and possible futures.

An empowered brand is essential for any organization that wants to succeed. It will help you attract new customers, build loyalty with existing customers, and distinguish yourself. By situating your brand in the context of your past, present, and future, your organization will be empowered to lead in today’s competitive marketplace.

​If you are looking for help creating or strengthening your brand, Stimler Advantage can help. We can work with you to develop a devoted, durable, and dynamic brand that continually engages your customers.


Connect with me to discuss your executive coaching, tactical and strategy needs. Follow Stimler Advantage on LinkedIn.  

5 Tips For Board Development

4/27/2023

 

5 Tips for Board Development

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Build an effective and empowering board to help your organization become a leader in customer success.
Introduction to Board Development at Stimler Advantage
As part of its work areas and services, Stimler Advantage guides organizations to develop sound board governance, create empowering documentation and policies, recruit new board members, and build productive committees to help your organization’s board to operate effectively and efficiently. Board development work is informed by the Stimler Advantage 5 S’s Framework. 

5 Tips for Board Development
A strong board is essential for the success of any corporate or nonprofit organization. An optimized board can propel an organization forward with strategic guidance, financial oversight, and critical support for its mission. It can also help to build awareness and social capital, strengthening the organization’s public image.

Here are five tips for board development:
  1. Recruit well-suited people and board dimensions. The first step in building a strong board is to recruit the right people. When recruiting board members, it is important to consider their commitment, experience, skills, and resources aligned with the organization's mission. It is also important to create a board that is able to bring the multifaceted dimensions of expertise needed that give the board breadth and depth across its activities, products, and services. Critically, board members should represent the communities and customers they serve presently and those they wish to serve in the future. 
  2. Provide training and support. Once you have recruited board members, it is important to provide them with training and support. This will help them to understand their roles and responsibilities and to develop the skills they need to be effective board members. Training and support may include activities such as online courses, reading lists, retreats, and workshops. It is the responsibility of the board and organization leadership team to ensure that its board members are informed and prepared to help it succeed and thrive. 
  3. Set clear expectations, responsibilities, and roles for board members. Have the essentials in place, such as a detailed board charter, position descriptions, and committee charters. Have clear policy and value board statements, which all board members agree to and support within the organization and externally with the community, customers, partners, and stakeholders.
  4. Have ongoing and regular communication powered by digital tools. Tools include email newsletters, manuals, knowledge bases, meetings, and meeting minutes. Dedicated digital tools for peer-to-peer communication, like chat via mobile and web apps, can also keep conversation threads together with other more formalized communication channels. Regular board messages and meetings are essential for productive communication and collaboration. Whether through asynchronous or synchronous methods, board members should be actively engaged in nurturing the organization's progress, make decisions in its best interest, and constantly have an eye on the future. Messages and meetings should be well-structured, digitally documented, and time-managed to maximize the board members' valuable presence and time when interacting with the organization. Work with your information technology team to ensure that board and leadership communications are secure for confidentiality, privacy, and security.
  5. Evaluate the board's performance. It is important to evaluate the board's performance on a dynamic and ongoing basis. Establish key objectives and results (OKRs) and key performance indicators (KPIs) for your board members' activities. Actionable, clear, and dynamic metrics informed by data and digital dashboards will help keep everyone on the same page and hold board members accountable for their performance. This will help to identify areas where the board can improve, and to ensure that the board is meeting the needs of the organization. Board governance, management, and oversight are critical components of a healthy and functional organization. 

By following these tips, you can build a strong board that will help your organization to fulfill its mission, vision, and values.

Here are some additional considerations for board development:
  • Create internal and external board profiles and digital dashboards that communicate transparently to the organization and its constituents who the board is and what it does.
  • Board members are not replacements or stand-ins for employees and contractors. Make sure your board members have a clear separation of roles and responsibilities focused on board activities and supporting staff in fulfilling their duties.
  • Ensure that board members and positions regularly change, as defined in the board charter and position profiles, to keep the organization engaged, fresh, and responsive amid dynamic economic, environmental, and sociocultural challenges.
  • Be open to welcoming persons with different backgrounds, career pathways, and experiences to join the board while ensuring that candidates are qualified with defined and documented criteria.
  • Engage the board in dynamic strategic planning rather than annual or multiyear plans or strategies. Dynamic strategic planning is an ongoing and regularly updated process, while annual strategic and multiyear planning are periodic events that may leave an organization unprepared for the challenges and situations of a constantly changing world, as these latter methods lack the agility, flexibility, and responsiveness that dynamic strategic planning provides.​
  • Create a board culture centered on and passionate about the organization’s well-being, informed by its past, but always focused on its present needs and future opportunities.

With the five board development tips and additional considerations, you can build an effective and empowering board to help your organization become a leader in customer success.

Connect with me to discuss your executive coaching, tactical and strategy needs. Follow Stimler Advantage on LinkedIn. 

Stimler Advantage 5 S's Framework

4/7/2023

 

5 S’s of Stimler Advantage​

Stimler Advantage provides executive coaching, tactical and strategic executive management consulting services.  The 5 S’s Framework is a tool used by Stimler Advantage as part of a facilitated and structured process of providing services in detailed work areas across business, executive coaching, and information technology.
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The Stimler Advantage 5 S's framework offers organizations a competitive advantage.
The 5 S’s:

Study
A discovery phase that documents, uncovers, and analyzes the current situation and begins to identify potential solutions. 

Survey
An opportunity to survey colleagues, peers, or customers about how you and your organization are perceived, meeting expectations, and delivering on your efforts, products, and services.

Scout
A process to conduct research of public information about your industry or adjacent industries to know where you are in the field of your competitors and peers. 

Situate
A moment to define and position where you and your organization’s priorities are heading, and what you will do in the next steps. 

Start 
A time to put your plan into action by mapping your to-do list into a project management planner with assignments, dates, prioritization, and tasks. 

Stimler Advantage 5 S’s framework offers organizations a competitive advantage.
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I am regularly engaged by corporations, nonprofits, governments, and start-ups, seeking my unique expertise to coach their executive leadership and provide tactical and strategic advisement on the challenges they face. Through my experiences as a consultant at the intersections of business, culture, education, government, and technology, you will gain meaningful insights that critically address your pain points and help you to take visionary next steps. 

Stimler Advantage can give you guidance unlike any other advisor. Our solution-focused approaches can help you and your organization towards the future you need. With Stimler Advantage, you will be empowered to lead with ambition, confidence, and purpose. 

Connect with me to discuss your executive coaching, tactical and strategy needs. Follow Stimler Advantage on LinkedIn. 
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Welcome to the Stimler Advantage—Consulting that Empowers Leaders to Lead

3/24/2023

 
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​Welcome to Stimler Advantage, an executive management consulting firm that offers executive coaching, tactical and strategy advisement. Stimler Advantage empowers today’s leaders to lead. The firm's President is Neal Stimler.

​What is the Stimler Advantage?

I bring visionary insights to your organization. I draw upon a breadth and depth of interdisciplinary knowledge to provide critical solutions to your challenges. My superpowers come from my critical and unique abilities as a digital and management practitioner, researcher, and strategist. Learn more about MY STORY.
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Blue and white text graphic with the logo, quote, and website address of Stimler Advantage.
"You don't get the everyday consultant. You get Neal."
If you’re looking for how we can work together visit my SERVICES. I provide the following services:

  • Executive Coaching
  • Tactical Engagement
  • Strategy Engagement

I offer my expertise and time to support clients on topics described in my WORK AREAS. The work areas, which contain subspecialities,  include:

  • Business
  • Executive Coaching
  • Technology

My consulting services across work areas informed by the Stimler Advantage 5 S's Framework of: 

  • Study
  • Survey
  • Scout
  • Situate
  • Start

Are you ready to drive you and your team forward? CONNECT with me so I can help you spur you and your an organization on to face change management and get on with the business that needs to be done for sustainability and success. 

You will be able to find my exclusive and visionary content on my  RESOURCES. 

Connect With Me

Find updates from Stimler Advantage on LinkedIn in addition to this website. 

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