Herbold Group LLC Speaking Engagements - Selected Recent Presentations

This describes the types of presentations Bob Herbold has provided groups from as large as thousands of people to as small as management teams of a particular department in an organization. To discuss the possibility of Bob talking to your group, click here for contact information.

How Successful Companies Can Remain Successful - This presentation is particularly useful to groups that have been fairly successful in the past and are relatively stable, but are having some difficulty dealing with issues such as a change in the competitive landscape, new technology, new customer needs or simply the natural evolution of an industry. Here is a summary:

When an organization or an individual experiences a meaningful level of success or a period of stability, they tend to believe that continued success into the future is an entitlement. In many cases, they become complacent, comfortable, and bloated, when, in fact, what they should be doing is building upon all the things they have done well in the past, probing to uncover fresh approaches, improving their products and services, and staying lean and agile. Unfortunately, the business pages are filled with sad stories of once successful organizations that, after reaching the top, could not keep it going; could not sustain their success.

It is important to realize that this happens to both individuals and organizations. Some of those organizations can be huge companies, and they succumb to the perils of success just the way individuals can.

This presentation discusses the human behaviors that cause the complacency and the resulting development of legacy practices that paralyze an organization. It then shows you how to fight off those legacy practices and avoid the nine dangerous traps generated by success. The book features numerous examples of successful companies that succumbed to these traps as well as examples of companies that avoided or overcame them. This provocative, thought-leading guide explains why “defending yesterday” is a prescription for failure. You'll learn how and why both you and your organization must constantly experiment with new ideas, processes, and business models to remain relevant.

Beating Bureaucracy and Achieving Excellence – This talk was given to the Annual Kalder Business Summit in Istanbul, Turkey in November, 2005. Here is a summary:

This presentation begins with a description of how things had gotten so complicated and fragmented at Microsoft in the early to mid 1990’s that it was almost impossible to close the books at the end of the quarter and produce the necessary financial numbers for Wall Street. We then cover an example from Procter and Gamble and how Sam Walton himself had to confront the company in 1988 and demand that their bureaucratic sales practices be dismantled.

We then step back and discuss the three human behaviors that cause these kinds of bureaucratic practices, complexity and fiefdoms to emerge. We then review the steps that can be executed to avoid these kinds of problem, achieve industry-leading efficiency and agility, while also increasing the innovative output of the organization. This presentation can be adapted to be meaningful to just about any industry or geography. Also, the messages are very relevant to non-profits, government agencies, and educational institutions.

Achieving both Discipline and Innovation - This presentation was given to the World Innovation Forum in May, 2006. To read a summary of this talk provided by the World Innovation Forum, click here.

Increasing the Innovative Potential of Your Organization – This presentation is designed to help organizations develop ways to substantially increase the creative and innovative output of there organization. Here is a summary:

We begin this presentation with a review of the human behaviors that set in as an organization matures, and discuss how those behaviors dampen creativity and diffuse the sense of urgency in the organization. We then get into the specific recommendations of how to tackle the problem. For example, when it comes to cultivating creativity, nothing catches people’s attention like reorganizing them and clearly stating their new responsibilities. It’s also very important to dismantle “layers of wisdom” decision-making, where many levels of the organization get involved in a final decision, potentially watering down unique ideas and slowing up the process.

We also review several other approaches for fostering creativity, such as avoiding pre-judgment of people, eliminating unnecessary training and communications, focusing on the customer’s needs rather than on meetings and memos, and ensuring that individuals who deliver creativity and innovation are properly rewarded. With each of these recommendations, we provide detailed examples showing the problem, the approach, and the resulting impact.

Dangerous Marketing Traps and How to Avoid them – This presentation is full of useful tips for marketing and sales personnel, as well as the management team of any business unit. Numerous case studies are provided, demonstrating the serious business problems that can emerge via falling prey to the various traps that exist in the marketing area.

The three primary areas of focus in this presentation are: 1) the need for a marketing strategy statement that is clear, concise, and distinctive; 2) the constant need for attention to details and excellence of execution of the marketing strategy and plans; and 3) the need, on an on-going basis, for the marketing to be relevant. In each of these areas marketing organizations constantly fall into traps that lead to no-motivating marketing and marketplace mediocrity. We discuss those traps in detail and how to avoid them.