Welcome to the Cherry Advisory blog!
I have long been a strong advocate and practitioner of servant leadership – an approach that prioritizes the needs of others, helps individuals develop and perform as successfully as possible. Throughout my career as a consultant, it’s always been about making my client as successful as possible and enabling them to be successful once I’m gone. Early in my career a senior partner once shared with me that “the mark of a good consultant is that they make themselves expendable” through knowledge sharing to their clients. On the client side, a deep caring for my organization across all levels created a natural tendency towards servant leadership – my success would be measured based on the collective success of my leaders, peers and reports.
As my career has progressed, my views on servant leadership have transformed into a somewhat utopian view of leadership. In every organization, in every relationship, in every role…we should all act as if we had the same job. My job is to make your job easier. What’s your job?
Sounds simple enough, but how does it apply? If we each just took an extra moment to think before we act, “how can I make this easier for my business partner”?
- Do I need to win this argument? Or can I compromise?
- How can I best brief my boss on the situation, options, risks and recommendation?
- Should I share a great 20 page article? Or can I summarize the main points?
- How can I put my direct reports in a position to be successful? Can I be more explicit in my expectations?
- Should I demonstrate my expertise by making things sound complex? Or rather, prove my skill by simplifying a difficult subject?
That last point reminds me of one of my favorite quotes, from C.W. Ceran: “Genius is the ability to reduce the complicated to the simple”. Sometimes our most challenging problems can be solved with simple solutions. It reminds me of the myth that the U.S. spent millions on an “astronaut pen” that would write in outer space, while the Russians simply used a pencil. Although proven false (both countries initially used pencils), the moral of the anecdote still holds.
So with that introduction…Cherry Advisory is here to make your job easier by:
- sharing knowledge and experiences;
- providing simple insights into advanced analytics, omni-channel, retail, business and IT strategy;
- delivering value; and
- helping you and your organization become as successful as possible.
Thank you for reading and please share your feedback and questions, as I promise to personally respond to every one.
cherryadvisory.com 