Marginal cashflow tells you how much working capital you require to achieve an additional € in sales. If the working capital requirement is greater than your gross margin you will run out of cash. Your business might be profitable but volume is detrimental to your survival. This is what ‘growing broke’ feels like.
Great coaches lie awake at night thinking about how to make you a better board member. A coach is someone who tells you what you don’t want to hear, who has you see what you don’t want to see so that you can be who you always knew you could be. An important part of the coach’s skill and service is to never wait to give feedback – a great coach coaches in the moment.
The prove → plan →execute model doesn’t work in agile land. Instead it’s a case of Act → Learn →Build.nAction is primary. You can’t do a financial plan if a customer has never seen your new product or service. You must put something out there!
A good future may depend – not on minimising consumer capitalism – but on radically extending its reach and depth. This was an undercurrent at Bayer’s Future of Farming Dialogue held in Cologne in October. (I attended representing Nuffield International*.)
The common denominator among those who leave a lasting legacy is devotion to a cause greater than themselves; doing work they felt called to do. Rich or poor, famous or obscure they all had a mission to fulfill or a problem to be solved. To be legacy minded means that your calling and your job must line up.