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 Business Case Studies After reinventing itself years ago from a software-for-PCs producer to a software-for-the-enterprise producer, Microsoft is now in the midst of a multi-year initiative to transform itself again—to a software-plus-internet-services provider. And Microsoft remains committed to that transformation, notes Chris Capossela, despite the global economic downturn. In fact, it sees the crisis as an opportunity to rally all parts of the company behind its “big, big bets” for the next five to ten years. For the short term, Microsoft’s strategic direction to employees comes down to four simple guidelines: understand what they can and cannot control, prepare for an unknown length and depth of downturn, strengthen customer and partner relationships to grow market share, and act with a sense of urgency. For the longer term, the single-minded focus on its software-plus services initiative—which led to Xbox LIVE® and Exchange Online, for example—will continue to demand innovation on all fronts: technology, new business models, global pricing plans, and even naming and packaging practices. Program Highlights
Chris Capossela is responsible for worldwide product and business management for the Microsoft® Office System. He has spent more than 15 years with the company in marketing, technical and field positions, and was previously general manager of the Microsoft Project business unit. He has a BS degree in computer science and economics from Harvard University.
 Instead of focusing on where you want to go, today's uncertain future requires that you focus on how you're going to get there. The process you need is structured chaos — a few simple rules setting priorities and responsibilities, and total creative freedom for business units within that framework. The result is a strategy that morphs, dynamically re-matching portfolios to meet current opportunities. 52 Minutes (1999)
The Five Secrets of Communication: Business Edition - DVDProduced - 2009 This breakthrough-training package includes a 47-minute DVD that provides easy, step-by-step lessons illustrated by videos of President Obamas own speeches. Presented by renowned communication expert Richard Greene, the creator of the 5 Secrets, the package is enhanced by multimedia supporting materials and is designed to quickly advance the presentation and public speaking skills of all participants. Employees that have the consistent ability to inspire and unite, to convey a vision of accomplishment and stimulate action in pursuit of a goal, and to articulate the companys mission and future, are invaluable assets in moving your organization forward. Mr. Greene has coached world leaders, CEOs and CFOs of Fortune 500 companies to strengthen their skills in business and personal communication, message development, media training, speech writing. He has demonstrated remarkable results in helping clients overcome the fear of public speaking, a service he provided to Princess Diana in 1996. In this DVD he demonstrates how every employee can learn and improve their communication with co-workers, customers and clients, while at the same time strengthening their connection with and commitment to the organizations mission. Includes: DVD, CD Support Package Includes: Facilitators Guide, Participant Workbook, PowerPoint Presentation and Reminder Cards Length: 47 minutes Category: Communication Leader's guide and other materials:
As a platform for daily online publishing, blogs can dynamically connect your site to the larger online ecosystem and draw people to your site. The more readers that link to your blog, the higher your search engine ranking. Learn how blogging can expand your editorial mission. $99.99 [Add to Cart]As the complexity of work increases, the range in productivity from the most productive worker to the least continues to broaden. Leaders must therefore hold their teams accountable for results; emphasize training and skill development; and provide the tools necessary to excel. A principal authority on high-performance systems, Zenger provides fifteen practical suggestions to help your organization develop an environment that encourages your workforce to flourish. $99.99 [Add to Cart]In the past, marketing was essentially a broadcast activity: a limited, unidirectional casting-out of your message into the world. Now, thanks to the Internet and other interactive media, computers are handling many marketing functions, gathering data as well as providing customer care. Such transactions provide valuable feedback, rich with information that you can use to hone your brand and boost customer loyalty. But in order to use this technology to your best advantage, Regis McKenna explains that you need to create an infrastructure that responds and innovates, and use it to establish a dialogue that gets and keeps customers. This expands the responsibilities of marketing to everyone in the enterprise, and makes the customer a partner in long-term value creation. $99.99 [Add to Cart]David B. Yoffie Competition in business is healthy, but as with all things in life, someone’s going to win and someone’s going to lose. So how do you keep yourself on the winning end of things? This program uses lessons learned from the martial art of judo to teach you how to take down the competition by using their own power against them. You’ll also learn what to do if your business finds itself being challenged by newcomers. The advice offered here will help you move toward your strengths and use your competitor’s momentum to your advantage. $99.99 [Add to Cart]George Zimmer has succeeded in the retail industry by breaking many of the industry rules—especially those rules that seem to call for employees to receive low pay, little training, and lots of part-time work. The core of his company's success is its corporate culture, based on "servant leadership" values. These values seek to involve others in decision-making and enhance the personal growth of workers while improving the quality of organizational life. In this wide-ranging talk, Zimmer explains how his experience proves that a culture based on strong ethical values can succeed even within a competitive business environment. $99.99 [Add to Cart]While he was an executive at Microsoft, John Wood made a life-changing decision to found Room to Read, a nonprofit organization that now provides educational access to 1.3 million children in developing nations through 400 schools and 5,000 Reading Rooms. In this engaging talk, John describes a vision for scalable solutions to world problems, including the need to focus on results and how to attract high-level employees, volunteers, and investors. His work has been profiled by Bloomberg Television, CNBC, CNN, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and other news publications. $99.99 [Add to Cart]Managers and executives sit in a natural spotlight because of their leadership role. The best leaders harness the spotlight as a powerful tool to get things done – influencing the behavior and decision-making of their staff, even when they are not present. Professor Conger explains that leadership is gauged more in the small actions of the day than in the big decisions. He illustrates how successful leaders employ specific techniques to lead members of their organizations and guide their decisions. According to Conger, the spotlight also magnifies careless comments or actions, and the best leaders are always conscious of the image they project. $99.99 [Add to Cart]No matter where you work, customer service can prove to be a challenging part of your job. This best-selling program introduces you to three listening skills (attentive, active, and objective) that can lead to better interactions with customers. Learn ways to ignore distractions, ask the right questions, and be fair-minded when solving problems. With scenes set in a bank, a veterinary office, and a hotel, you’ll see how to adapt these listening tools to fit in any customer service environment. $149.99 [Add to Cart]Since its launch of the open-source Firefox web browser in 2004, Mozilla has captured 20% of worldwide market share with fewer than 200 employees, competing with Microsoft, a company nearly a thousand times larger. Mozilla achieved this by building upon the contributions of tens of thousands of coding volunteers around the world. Managing what Lilly describes as a “chaordic” business model—half chaos and half order—takes a continual balancing of competing forces. While an army of outsiders gives input through every means available, final decision making for the product build is not democratic, but handled only by code writers adept at engaging the army. The need to foster and support the community competes with the time needed to settle disagreements and clear up misunderstandings. And the poetry of inspiring thousands to contribute vies with the pragmatism of keeping the organization afloat. $99.99 [Add to Cart]People are fairly evenly divided between those with either a growth or a fixed mindset about intelligence and talent. And leaders’ mindsets, Professor Dweck shows, influence their ability to grow on the job and to develop successful teams. Leaders with a growth mindset (who assume talents can be developed) place high value on learning, are open to feedback, and are confident in their ability to cultivate their own and others’ abilities. Leaders with a fixed mindset (who assume basic talents are carved in stone) place greater value on looking smart and are less likely to believe that they or others can change. How does this play out in an organization? Leaders who believe intelligence is static place little value in developing staff, and in turn foster a fixed mindset environment. However, leaders with a growth mindset value effort in developing abilities and thus evaluate and praise workers to create optimal motivation and teamwork. Mindsets can be taught, and Professor Dweck shares research in how fixed mindsets can be identified and changed to growth mindsets. $99.99 [Add to Cart]The biggest risk today is irrelevancy. Barriers that protected incumbents in the past have broken down, and competitive positions can be quickly overturned. If you miss a trend, there may be no catching up. How do you stay out of the band of mediocrity and position your company to become an architect of industry revolution? The answer is to reinvent who you are in meaningful ways. Innovation has to be a deeply embedded capability where every person in the company has a responsibility for wealth creation. Of course, wealth will not only be created, it will also be destroyed. As companies move beyond incremental change, strategy innovation is the only way for a company to renew its lease on success. $99.99 [Add to Cart]"Now here, you see, it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place." So said the Red Queen, in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass. The neo-classical model of business strategy is built on a theory of market equilibrium. But in reality, markets create disequilibrium, and therefore opportunity. Rather than seeing competition as a problem to be solved, Professor Barnett explains how to see competition as an engine that generates capability. Intense competition can result in higher growth rates and higher profitability if you understand how to create an organization that leaps ahead—while your competitors keep running in place. $99.99 [Add to Cart]
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