A conversation with Chris LaVictoire Mahai
I recently had an opportunity to sit down with Chris LaVictoire Mahai, co-owner and managing partner at the St. Paul based global strategy and operational change firm Aveus. We discussed her new book, ROAR – Strengthening business performance through speed, predictability, flexibility, and leverage.
Here is a video of our discussion:
Here are some of the highlights:
What is a performance chain? The performance chain is everything that happens from once you trigger demand … until you have cash in the bank. The performance chain looks at businesses not in silos, but at all activities in a continuous stream.
What are 4 elements of the performance chain? Chris breaks it down to four questions: Do you use speed to an advantage? How predictable are you? How flexible are you … can you adapt to feedback from the market? How can you leverage your assets of the business … people, customer base and physical presence?
Which animal represents each lens? Cheetah is speed (70 mph), Elephant is predictability (great memory), Coyote is flexibility (ability to adapt), Ant is leverage (can carry 20x’s their weight).
Selling vs. solving? We fall in love with what we sell, but really should be focused on what we solve.
Favorite quote: “See the whole, mine the meaningful.” Look across the entire organization and prioritize those areas where you can have the most impact.
Explaining the concept of turning the dial? The dial notion is there are two sides to each lens: Speed (Patient vs. Swift), Predictability (Dynamic vs. Certain), Flexibility (Fixed vs. Nimble) and Leverage (Measured vs. Amplified). You turn each dial based on your strategy and the needs of the market.
How is the performance chain manifested? It comes to life through customer experience. You need to organize and make choices based upon serving the customer and driving towards better outcomes.
The book is an enjoyable and quick read. It uses the animal kingdom as a fun metaphor for looking at business performance. It’s not preachy, rather Chris lets the priniciples come to life through interviews with 7 CEO’s and business leaders. Lots of greats insights from John Dunlap (San Diego Zoo), Steve Milligan (Hitachi Global Storage), Richard Davis (US Bank), Beth Sparboe (Sparboe Farms), Leigh Abrams (Drew Industries), Helen Ng (Planet Habitat) and Jim Notarnicola (Red Mango). I would highly recommend picking it up and finding where you are … at the watering hole.
[Disclaimer: I received a review copy of ROAR]
