{"id":70421,"date":"2023-03-27T20:05:53","date_gmt":"2023-03-27T20:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.imperialcrs.com\/blog\/?p=70421"},"modified":"2023-12-05T17:01:04","modified_gmt":"2023-12-05T17:01:04","slug":"intentional-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.imperialcrs.com\/blog\/business-insights\/intentional-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Is \u201cBeing Intentional\u201d the Force Your Company is Missing?"},"content":{"rendered":"

For this entry in my leadership blog series<\/a>, I\u2019d like to talk about intentional leadership and begin by asking:<\/p>\n

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  1. Do you ever feel like you\u2019re on autopilot? You\u2019re not even having to think about what you\u2019re doing \u2013 you\u2019re just doing it! Driving, filling out reports, attending recurring meetings, etc.<\/li>\n
  2. Do you have those days when you are so busy that you don\u2019t even have time to take a breath? When you get home, you can\u2019t think of a single thing you feel you accomplished.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Yes, life is busy. In addition to your job, you may have kids, pets, and a myriad of other responsibilities on your plate. The book The 4 Disciplines of Execution<\/a> discusses the challenge we face with the whirlwind<\/em> stealing our time away from important initiatives.<\/p>\n

    Examples of the whirlwind<\/em> are responding to emails, answering phone calls, putting out customer fires, and filling out forms. Whirlwind activities put you on autopilot. At the end of the day, you feel you didn\u2019t accomplish what you set out to do.<\/p>\n

    When we run on autopilot with our customers or prospects, we run a serious risk. Do you know what that risk is? It’s being average, being predictable, fitting the stereotype, and meeting but not exceeding expectations.<\/p>\n

    We Can Fight Autopilot<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    Did you know that you already have a secret weapon to fight autopilot? It\u2019s something that can take your company from forgettable to exceptional and something that, when put into words, sounds simple. But doing it can be hard, and that is why most don\u2019t. Get ready for it: The secret weapon against being on autopilot is\u2026<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    What do I mean by being intentional<\/em>? A good example is something we did in recent years at one of our portfolio companies.<\/p>\n

    We had seen perfectly good prospects fall off one after another, so we paused and evaluated our outreach messages and looked for weaknesses. We found our interactions were average on all accounts.<\/p>\n

    Some of the things we saw:<\/p>\n