Do This And Grow

The ‘no normal’ era is here – but companies that integrate creativity, analytics, and purpose are delivering at least two times the growth of their peers. McKinsey & Co. authors find that:

• Only 7 percent of companies are delivering on the growth triple play by unifying creativity, analytics, and purpose. They are driving average revenue growth of 2.3 times versus peers from 2018–19 (which increased to 2.7 times versus peers from 2019–20).
• In the period 2018–19, companies using just one of the capabilities—either creativity, analytics, or purpose—saw an average growth rate of more than 6 percent. Adding a second component saw growth rates climb to more than 7 percent. For those that employed the full triple play, growth rates climbed to more than 12 percent.
• CMOs have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to lead growth, as 78 percent of CEOs are now banking on CMOs and marketing leaders to drive growth.

The next normal is the “no normal.” The year 2020 was unlike any other, as lives and livelihoods were upended by the pandemic. COVID-19 affected every aspect of our lives, forcing customers and businesses alike to embrace new behaviors, including digital ways of working, shopping, and relaxing. Within a span of a few months, a decade’s worth of e-commerce adoption took place as the pandemic raged, leading to many new, digital-first marketplaces. The normal we all knew was gone. In fact, there was no normal at all. READ FULL ARTICLE>>

How Leverage & Inventory Turnover Keep the Balance Sheet in Order

One executive shares how he teaches employees throughout the dealership the importance of leverage and turnover, the guard rails for keeping the balance sheet — and dealership — on track. One thing I learned a long time ago was not to assume that people who are not accountants understand or have the same level of knowledge when it comes to financial metrics. It’s our job to take this information and make it relevant, and to boil it down to the question, “Why is this important?” Financial metrics don’t drive our business, but they are a set of guardrails to keep us from running our business off the cliff. And in a cyclical business, when the business goes up and down, it’s easy for those ratios and metrics to get out of kilter. That creates problems for the organization, namely cash flow issues. We’re all encountering one of those cycles right now. In today’s world, we can be inundated with financial information. My own partners say our people can’t assimilate and organize all the information at our disposal today. The challenge is what to do with it all. READ FULL ARTICLE>>