What Our Clients Do Differently To Achieve Success

Michelle shares four things that set the success of her clients apart from others.

Profile Of Our Best Clients

Michelle describes her best clients are and how she helps them achieve great results.

Michelle Randall Addresses AMCHAM China on Results-Driven Strategy

Michelle Randall, president of the global management consultancy firm Enriching Leadership International, recently addressed the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing, China on How to Integrate Strategy and People for High-Stakes Growth.

San Jose, CA (PRWEB) August 17, 2011 — Michelle Randall, president of the global management consultancy firm Enriching Leadership International, recently addressed the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing, China.
Speaking to a group that included senior officers at leading companies and organizations headquartered in Beijing, her topic was How to Integrate Strategy and People for High-Stakes Growth.

Ms. Randall discussed the importance of developing a results-driven strategy centered on clearly defined goals instead of believing what she sees as the mistaken yet pervasive notion that strategy drives results. She emphasized the importance of incorporating execution and accountability into every aspect of strategy development to make implementation more effective.

Ms. Randall also spoke about how companies can profit from seeking outside help for strategy development. “Having an outsider lead the process avoids the dangers of the CEO stifling the diversity of approaches, whether it’s done intentionally or not,” she said. Other benefits discussed included an outsider’s ability to broach taboo topics normally ignored by an organization and the best practices and intellectual property they can bring to the table.
She warned that companies should not shy away from strategy development for cost reasons, stating that the biggest investment any company will make is with time. “With a results-driven strategy process, business leaders can expect a ten times return on their investment,” she said.

Ms. Randall stressed the importance of building a well-balanced team and promoting employees with both skills and spirit to management positions, noting that, “The potential of any company expands directly with the development of its people.”
One staffer who attended said, “The presentation was lively and interactive, with attendees asking questions and engaging in a dialogue with Ms. Randall about their own experiences and challenges they have come up against in their work environment.”
Questions from attendees included how to best keep a company’s vision top of mind and how to push staff to help drive the company forward instead of just going through the motions.

Enriching Leadership International works to accelerate the growth of global organizations. The firm’s clients include top leaders and their teams at Fortune 500 companies such as IBM, Quest and NetApp, members of the U.S. House of Representatives, and notable mid-tier businesses.
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How the Walkman Caused the S&P Downgrade

Here’s my newest article for Fast Company. Check it out and whether you agree or don’t, please share your thoughts by commenting.

I was walking across my university campus 20 years ago when it hit me. My bulky Walkman was piping my favorite tunes through muff-like headphones when I noticed just how many other students were also plugged into their own music. We were ensconced in our own customized micro-environments with no need to interact with any sounds we hadn’t selected for ourselves, or even with each other.
At that moment, I was filled with dread for a likely future when we would become alienated from each other by our personalized, parallel realities. Fast-forward tro today’s era of mass customization. More far-reaching than entertainment, the Internet delivers news to us that is automatically filtered for our individual preferences. As a result, we never need bump into a viewpoint that opposes our own.

I currently live in Northern California and travel regularly to the Southeast U.S. As I listened to conversations in each region during the recent debt-ceiling debacle, both the differences in opinion and similarities in attitude were jarring. Whether it was the doomed “Reid-Pelosi-Obama economy” or an unwavering devotion to Keynsian economics, everyone at the respective tables was in such vehement agreement that the other viewpoint was completely incomprehensible. The result across the board was the wholesale dismissal of the people holding the differing opinions as uninformed, stupid, or just plain nuts.

The United States has become fairly accustomed to this dismal state of affairs over the past two decades. We bemoan the viciousness and voracity of divisive politics, but we’ve lived with it because the ramifications have been mainly private. Then comes Standard & Poor’s to pop our own personal bubbles and deliver stinging payback for our political dysfunction….
Read the rest of the article at Fast Company.

Success Magazine Features Michelle’s Advice for American Comebacks

Success Magazine has a current section on American Comebacks. The section includes inspiring comeback stories and my tips on how to make it happen.

Tips for a Comeback

Don’t go it alone.
When things are toughest, many business leaders isolate themselves. That’s precisely the wrong response, since it’s nearly impossible to be creative in a vacuum, says executive coach Michelle Randall. Talk with coaches, mentors and members of your team. “When things do turn around, the leaders who do this have created a more trusted team than ever before,” says Randall, the principal of Enriching Leadership International, a global management consultancy.

Turn vendors into allies.
Ask for more generous terms and programs while always positioning them as being in the vendors’ best interest—because they are.

Get focused.
“People I’ve seen stage successful comebacks were completely focused on the desired outcome. As a result,” Randall says, “they sought any course of action that would get them there.”
Be flexible. “My clients who have pulled off the most successful comebacks have been relentless in their belief that they could do it. As a result they were flexible in finding opportunities and marshaled the people around them to create extraordinary results.”

Don’t wallow in self-pity.
“People I’ve seen be less successful got mired down in why-me thinking. That victim mentality wasted time and energy and made them overly apologetic with vendors, customers and employees instead of acting like peers.”

Remember, Randall says: “Every real business has been through plenty of crises. It’s what they do when that happens that defines them.”

Read the entire section on American Comebacks

8 Blindspots That Torpedo Business Leaders

Business leaders face many challenges when time is tight and money is even tighter. There’s significant isolation at the top that results in growing blindspots that are like iceburgs threatening to rip apart your operation at any moment.

Michelle Randall, Business Coach, shines a bright light on the 8 Blindspots That Torpedo Business Leaders. She is offering your organization a 45-90 minute talk so that your members can grow their awareness and take measures that will move them to safer waters in achieving their business goals.

Join us for this webinar on Thursday, February 11th from 9:00am – 10:00am PST

Click here to register