The Portfolio Partnership

Driving Progress – Essential Project Management Checklist

by Ian Smith | Jul 20, 2018 | Project Management

We all believe we can multitask. We can’t. See this simple test and article explaining why. Link. That’s the first “landscape” point I want to make. The second point to make is that it’s much easier collecting related actions around themes. Let’s take a few examples....

An Operational Checklist – 24 Months Pre-Sale

by Ian Smith | Jun 20, 2018 | Exiting your business

Last week MRSI Systems sold to Mycronic AB of Sweden. The purchase price amounted to USD 40.7 million (approximately SEK 358 million) on a cash and debt free basis and is financed with a combination of Mycronic’s own funds and bank financing. Under certain performance...

Scaling Will Fail With the Wrong Organization Structure

by Ian Smith | May 14, 2018 | Org Charts & Org Structures

Facebook reorganized their management structure last week to address several issues that the current structure was failing to solve. Clearly the handing of user’s data was one of them. But they also rearranged the structure to separate new evolving technology...

Simon Sinek’s -10 Rules For Success – Cover Version of #6 to #10

by Ian Smith | Apr 9, 2018 | Leadership

This is Part Two of a post reviewing Simon Sinek’s 10 Rules For Success. Simon’s talk “How Great Leaders Inspire Action” has had over 37 million views. He has the ability to codify quite complex behaviors and therefore bring insight to leaders...

Simon Sinek’s -10 Rules For Success – Cover Version of #1 to #5

by Ian Smith | Apr 4, 2018 | Leadership

You may not have heard of Simon Sinek, ex-professor of strategic communications at Columbia University, who is better known to a wider global audience for his talks at TED conferences. His talk “How Great Leaders Inspire Action” has had over 37 million...

Why Companies Work on the Wrong Stuff

by Ian Smith | Mar 25, 2018 | Execution Tips, Leadership, Strategy

Why do so some companies win and others fail? How is it possible for a new management team to transform the performance of a business? What is the essential difference between winners and losers? In a previous post a few years ago I emphasized the importance of...

Staff Engagement – Some Questions To Ponder

by Ian Smith | Mar 12, 2018 | Talent

I’ve always been fascinated with what motivates someone to jump into their day! There were plenty of Glaswegians born in 1959 but not all chose a path of education to become a Scottish CA, run to London as the ink was drying on their CA qualification to take up...

Transforming Private Company Values

by Ian Smith | Feb 19, 2018 | Scaling, Selling Out

If you are in a leadership role driving the agenda of a private company, trying to significantly increase shareholder value and especially if the shareholders are considering a sale in the next three years, then this post is for you. Our team have run businesses as...

Simplicity – The Secret of Successful Leadership

by Ian Smith | Jan 22, 2018 | Leadership

We all admire a leader who can simplify a complex problem into an understandable, simple, explanation of the essential elements. We are motivated by the leader who can set out a clear, concise solution to a complex problem. Ultimately, in the best companies this leads...

The Sales Deck – A Checklist To Consider

by Ian Smith | Jan 8, 2018 | Sales Tips

We see a lot of sales decks in our work with clients. These remain an effective selling tool as part of a diagnostic selling process but they need to follow some golden rules to achieve their objectives. Too often they follow a similar path of story telling about you!...