David Harding

For almost 40 years I have been a student of business. I have worked alongside, and with, a long roster of great executives in companies large and very small. I have traveled the world, seeing how organizations cope with change, stress and opportunity in real time. I have been privileged to work on shop floors and in fancy boardrooms. My clients have had spectacular successes and in some cases equally spectacular disappointments. I have seen every management style. All the while, I have kept observing and learning. Here is what I think I know: 1). It all begins with people. Great companies have well-defined cultures that breed trust and collaboration. And culture starts at the top. If the CEO and his/her team don’t breath it and live it, the rest of the organization will know and wither. Every CEO should have a good coach. 2) Great business leaders have one common trait—they know what they want from their people (team) and they work tirelessly to put them in a position to be successful. 3) Industry structure and competitive position matter. A lot. Great managers can only do so much. In many industries, history and the development of competitive rivalry conspire to set the bounds on margins. 4) The truism that you manage what you measure is, well, true. We live in an odd world where companies simultaneously have too much data and not enough information. it takes time to understand what the relevant metrics are to manage a particular business. 5) Business communication is generally awful, and counterproductive. Too many words, leading to a lack of clarity. This is coupled with analysis that is akin to driving a car using the rear view mirror. 6) When an executive is not a good fit, the powers that be are almost always too slow to make a change. 7) My favorite metrics (all in the service of great resource allocation decisions): FCF, Household penetration, LTV-CAC, and ROIC. What am I missing?