Hewat’s Notebook

Maximumize your Member Value by having an effective committee.

Nobody wants to do business with a self righteous protagonist. Trade associations can fall into the trap of sounding like just such a creature. The more that one side piles on their grievances with little admission of failings on their side, the more likely it is that the other side will stop listening, put up…   Read More

If the issues were simple to solve we wouldn’t have them as key initiatives nor would the government be living with them as outstanding grievances. So let’s accept that they are hard issues and provide commensurate proactive leadership. It can go a long way to explicitly recognize and acknowledge the interests of all the parties…   Read More

Achieving significant public policy wins is seldom a short term process. Consequently, it is essential that both the expected long term and the short term results are identified at the outset. For the long term, the definition of success should reflect the expected impacts on our members` organizations. For example, if we were attempting to…   Read More

When we have an opportunity to put our sector’s most senior representative in front of a Cabinet Minister or a Deputy Minister, what is a desirable objective? At a minimum we want that government representative to be able to report – ‘They asked me (to take a specific action) because (of the valid reasons they…   Read More

It is always a challenge to achieve public policy wins for trade or professional associations. It is often made much more difficult by approaches that are counterproductive. So below are my Top Ten Rules of Engagement for successful regulatory and policy advocacy with governments. I will be discussing each one in detail in subsequent blogs….   Read More

If you are looking to sports for an analogy of business leadership, football comes closest to the ideal. Winning football teams create detailed strategies that are based on a comprehensive understanding of the competition. Players are deployed based on their skills for specific assignments. Roles and responsibilities are made very clear, and accountabilities are reinforced….   Read More

I participated in an eye opening presentation today by Peter Charboneau. He markets an intriguing and important service to companies. The system will aid in developing social media strategies; specifically related to Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. The system will monitor the chatter on the web and identify by key words, issues that are being raised…   Read More

Glen Hewat has recently joined as partner in Hewat Strategic Edge. He brings 30 years of leadership experience in manufacturing P&L operations and sales management. Prior to joining Hewat Strategic Edge, Glen served as Managing Director of Dynacast Canada. He consistently delivered operating results that surpassed profit, cash flow and business growth objectives for the…   Read More

We know there has been a period of 150 years of American economic ascendency. What we don’t know is whether this phenomenon is reaching its limits. In the 1850’s the British began to experience some of the same angst that North Americans felt when Japanese products of the 70’s began to exceed the quality offerings…   Read More

New Years is the time for making resolutions and setting goals for the coming year. In a way it is redemption for the faulting steps we took in the preceding year. We can wipe away the guilt and establish new intentions about weight loss, fitness improvements, financial gain and all other forms of self improvement….   Read More

It seems there are as many business writers and academic theorists as fish in the sea. Most are commentators. Few make a unique contribution to business strategy. One who did was C K Prahalad who died recently. He will be sorely missed. Prahalad collaborated with G Hamel in a number of publications over a lengthy…   Read More

There is a strong intellectual current that argues for big Boards and few committees (if any). Frankly I disagree. I tend to think this undermines the capacity of associations to maximize their potential. A large Board of Directors can be a difficult beast to keep focused. Moreover, without an executive committee, they can be problematic…   Read More

Pareto’s Law or the 80/20 rule, suggests that many things are trivial (80%) and a few things are vital (20%). I am frequently struck by how often we give the principle lip service, but seldom operate, in ways that are consistent with it. I have been thinking about a number of questions that follow the…   Read More

Today I went on Amazon.com and there were 115,967 titles available under leadership. Assuming a nominal price of $15.00 per volume, I realized I could have the complete library for just under $1.75M. Authors are churning out books on leadership in more and more desperate ways. Every conceivable analogy seemingly has been used to get…   Read More

Achieving focus throughout an association can be allusive. When a new strategic direction is established the complaint is sometimes heard from the staff—“this is just adding to my current job”. No, it should help to redefine your job. Redefinition should include determining what to stop doing, but because people don’t seem to want to let…   Read More

One of my passions is solo distance hiking in mountains. A favorite is the Swiss Alpine Pass route—from Liechtenstein to Montreaux—325 kilometers and 18,000 meters of height gain, done in 15 stages. One day I was walking from Lauterbrunnen over the Sefinenfurke Pass to the hamlet of Griesalp. The pass was really a minor break…   Read More

I have just returned from hiking the “Tour of Mont Blanc”. The route circumnavigates a huge massif that stretches across portions of Italy, Switzerland and France. I particularly enjoy extended walks that take you over a number of days to a distant destination. The alternative would be a series of day hikes from a base…   Read More

An ancient fable tells of six blind men who touched different parts of an elephant and came to diverse opinions about what an elephant is. “The 1st touched his broad side and said it was a wall. The 2nd felt his tusk and thought it was a spear. The 3rd met his trunk and thought…   Read More