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The pace of business and the speed of change has never been so great as in today’s business environment. Everything is in a constant state of flux.

Many companies don’t foresee future changes to their industry, and because of that, when chaos rolls around, the give up their competitors end up with their market share. A prime example of that is Blackberry vs. Apple.

In today’s interview, we chat with Mike Richardson, the author of “Wheel$pin: The Agile Executive’s Manifesto to Accelerate Growth, Leverage Your Value, and Beat Your Competition” about how to prepare your business for the future and avoid wheelspin by being an Agile company.

About the Guest

Mike Richardson

Mike Richardson is a scientist turned engineer, turned manager, executive and CEO turned facilitator, chair of CEO peer groups and keynote speaker and entrepreneur. As an organizational Agility Pioneer and Management Innovator, Mike Richardson specializes in the strategy, execution and traction challenges of small-to-medium sized and fast-moving businesses, business units and corporations. He helps CEOs, Executives and their teams be more fully In the Driving Seat of their businesses and their lives, translating strategy and execution into traction. Mike is also an award winning Chair of peer groups with Vistage International and Vistage Speaker to other groups, nationally and internationally. Follow him on his blog at mydrivingseat.com

Turn up your speakers or put on your headphones, and enjoy the conversation:

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Highlights of ‘Running Lean’

• Mike Richardson – author of ‘Wheel$pin’
• What Mike’s wife said when he jumped out of a corporate job and into entrepreneurship
• You think we had security?
• Masters of our own destiny
• What is wheelspin?
• What is agility?
• Going nowhere fast
• Losing a fortune in opportunity costs
• Horrendous examples of Wheelspin: Kodak, American Airlines
• The line between investing time and spinning your wheels
• Chaos will test your agility
• Are you on top of chaos, or is chaos on top of you?
• How to move from ‘disorganized chaos’ to ‘organized chaos’
• Examples of chaos
• How to see chaos coming
• The difference between Apple and RIM
• Why Mike uses a Blackberry phone as a prop
• Falling behind the curve
• How to get out of ‘wheelspin’
• How to get in the driving seat of agility
• Why you should develop an ongoing strategy process instead of traditional planning
• Mental Model of your business
• Agility is a mental fight and challenge
• Be pre-adaptive
• Luck is not an accident
• How to reinvent your business
• The taco shop that delivers via drone
• Ask ‘How would I put myself out of business
• What train wreck is awaiting me out there
• What’s the timeline you think your industry will be unrecognizable in a few years
• Productively paranoid
• Learn from foresight
• If you’re not careful, failure comes faster
• Don’t hit the gas when the headlights are in the trunk
• Find the agile middle
• How agility is like a jet
• How agility is like driving a car
• Operations management
• Culture of execution and agility

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