Podcasts from a Caribbean Cubicle

Is Keeping Your Word in Business Passe?

In the past, the business world held a strong emphasis on keeping promises. Unfortunately, today, it seems that commitments are easily broken at the slightest inconvenience.
Many of us have witnessed this trend, even though there are occasional benefits when someone lets us off the hook. However, there’s a valid reason for concern. A corporate culture where trust in one’s word is waning can spell doom for the bottom line.

On Tactics vs. Strategy

In the ever-evolving landscape of business, some voices argue that the concept of strategy is becoming obsolete, overshadowed by the rapid pace of change. Yet, beneath this assertion lies a reluctance to engage in deep, thoughtful planning—a sentiment that betrays a certain intellectual inertia. How can we reshape this perspective, sparking a transformation in those who seem trapped within it?

Why Caribbean HR Departments Need a Big Reset

You are a Caribbean HR Professional who has noticed the respect finance professionals receive in the C-Suite. What they say seems to matter.
As a result, your colleagues in the finance department can see a clear path for themselves to the C-Suite. From accounting analyst, to manager, to director, to CFO, to CEO/MD.
But the same isn’t true for you. In fact, the total number of HR managers to gain a promotion to the CEO level in anything other than a small company is negligible.
(see blog.fwconsulting.com for the full transcript)

The Surprise Way CSRD Impacts Strategic Planning

You have heard of CSRD (the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive), at least in passing. As a new reporting requirement, it calls for your company to submit annual non-financial information, starting in just a few years’ time.
As someone who cares about long-term environmental and social impacts, you like where this is going.
But you are concerned that it will turn into a bureaucratic slog, in which laudable goals are lost in a tsunami of reporting requirements. Far from inspiring staff to do the right thing, you imagine it becoming a war of attrition between staff and some faceless regulators.
After all, you have seen this happen before. So, you have every right to expect that the same thing will happen again.
In this article, we’ll look at concrete ways for your firm to benefit from CSRD and its impact on strategy. There are many early actions to take to prepare, but they have something in common. They all rely on your understanding of the intent behind the framers of the standard - The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG).
In this article I’ll suggest the standard is a “nudge” in a positive direction which can empower your leadership team, strategic planning staff and all stakeholders.
The article is published in full here.

Why CEO’s Need to Care Less About Winning

The world is changing fast, and “winning” in business may already be a fool's errand.
You are a company leader who has risen through the ranks. You enjoy the competitive side of running an organization. Why? There are obvious winners and losers defined by a P&L scorecard. Plus, you have tactics and strategies to choose from. And finally, you can see a clear correlation between your efforts and results.
But what if the changes taking place in the world are making a mockery of the race you are mentally contesting? Keep reading if you want to stay ahead.

Why CSRD May Be Critical to Your Business Strategy

You have heard of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive or its acronym, CSRD. You know that it has something to do with the EU which means that you haven’t paid it much attention. It’s far away.
However, this could be a mistake. This new standard for disclosure reaches into some unlikely places for all companies who do business with the continent. In this article, we’ll look at the impact on your corporate strategy.
You can find prior articles at https://blog.fwconsulting.com

On Getting Your Prices Right

Your business offers a product or service. Regardless of how well your offer sells, you wonder whether or not you are leaving money on the table. In other words, are you charging the best price possible?
This question is often left to opinions, chance, or comparisons with competitors. These choices unfortunately indicate the lack of a defined philosophy.
Alex Hormozi’s book, $100m Offers, provides a simple way to think about the challenge of setting prices. If you have a sense that your company should reconsider its thinking, keep reading.

Making Hard Choices

Your company has once again begun to look to the future. It’s shaken off the post-COVID blues and must now position itself in its industry with a fresh strategy. But all of your executives are not convinced that hard choices must be made. How can you persuade them?

The hidden secrets of flexible strategy

As a leader, you need to provide your organisation with a clear path for the future. But you also hate changing direction in mid-stream. Some say you shouldn’t bother to make any long-term plans in the first place, but is that the best solution?
It pains you to think of spending a lot of time and money to create extended plans which require updates when there is a disruption. Why? You know staff can feel disempowered when a rethink is needed.

Balancing social and intellectual challenges in the workplace

Your company is dealing with a significant challenge. Due to the complexity of the issue, it's hard to determine the right path forward. This is an intellectual puzzle that needs the attention of analytic minds.
But is finding the optimal answer your only concern? After all, the management team has had implementation problems in the past. As such, you sense that the "soft side" warrants some consideration to succeed by the end.