Briefing Notes: Dilemmas of Aligning Leadership Succession, Strategy, and Governance

 CFAR Inc.

Description: The following note offers an overview of the challenges of sequencing these intertwined issues, and the imperative that they be thought of in a woven, recursive way across time rather than a simplistic, linear sequence.

succ_strat_gov.pdf   [335.95 Kb]

The Integrated Family Enterprise

 CFAR Inc.

Description: This piece talks about Family Offices, Businesses, and Foundations and gives a case example of work CFAR has done with each.

OLB_IntFam.pdf   [119.80 Kb]

Leading the Family-Owned Sports Franchise

 CFAR Inc.

Description: This piece talks about the problems faced by family-owned sports teams and the ways in which CFAR can help them.

FB-Sports.pdf   [490.96 Kb]

Briefing Notes: Effective Strategies to Increase Engagement in Meetings

 CFAR Inc.

Description: This briefing note outlines some strategies, to be used selectively and in moderation, for vitalizing meetings and increasing the presentness and mindfulness of all who are attending.

BNeffmtgs.pdf   [154.06 Kb]

The Power of Small Leadership

 Chatham Sullivan, Thomas Gilmore, Rebecca Blum

Description: In this article, the authors shift the focus away from heroic deeds to small, subtle leadership actions that can have big impact. Chapter published in The 2010 Pfeiffer Annual: Leadership Development. San Francisco: Pfeiffer, 2010, pp. 220-232.

Pfeiffer10.pdf   [849.01 Kb]

Strategic Options: A CFAR Tool to Sharpen Strategy

 CFAR Inc.

Description: CFAR maintains that strategy is what you do, not what you say. This piece gives a brief overview of Strategic Options, one tool in CFAR’s approach to strategy.

StratOpt.pdf   [317.05 Kb]

Briefing Notes: Summary of Key Factors for Successful and Unsuccessful Change

 CFAR Inc.

Description: Implementing change in an organization is a lengthy and often difficult process. It requires collaboration between departments within the organization and persistence to drive the change initiative forward. This document outlines a number of factors that, taken together, impact the dynamics of change and ultimately help determine whether change efforts are sustained over time.

KeyFactorsChange.pdf   [185.22 Kb]

Creating Value and Engagement in the Pharmaceutical Enterprise

 CFAR Inc.

Description: This piece describes how CFAR works with Pharmaceutical companies to create value in a challenging environment

Pharma creating value.pdf   [120.44 Kb]

Briefing Notes: The Downsizing Dilemma: Leadership in the Age of Discontinuity

 CFAR Inc.

Description: This paper examines four critical dilemmas managers face in managing cutbacks— communication, structuring effective participation, managers in the middle, and the timing and depth of cuts.

downdilm.pdf   [398.35 Kb]

Briefing Notes: The Challenges of Helping Depleted or Overloaded Systems

 CFAR Inc.

Description: This paper looks at the lessons and implications for a consulting firm working in an overloaded system

depleted.pdf   [174.35 Kb]

Leader as Storyteller

 Chatham Sullivan

Description: Chapter 23 in Section 6: Creative Approaches to Developing Leaders -- Pushing the Boundary in Noel, James (Jim) and David Dotlich (eds.). The 2008 Pfeiffer Annual: Leadership Development. San Francisco: Pfeiffer, 2008, pp. 251 -- 260.

storyteller.pdf   [190.88 Kb]

Joint Ventures: A Fast Track Strategy for Growth

 Nancy Drozdow

Description: Partnering with another company enables a family firm to enter a market more quickly and broadly than it could otherwise. In this article, we explain how. Published in Family Business Magazine, Winter 2009

NDFB.pdf   [724.20 Kb]

Meeting Today’s Higher Education Leadership Challenges

 CFAR Inc.

Description: This brief note describes ways CFAR can help higher education institutions stabilize the bottom line while preserving core assets and planning for a stronger future.

HigherEd-rec.pdf   [93.42 Kb]

Briefing Notes: The Timing and Depth of Cuts

 CFAR Inc.

Description: The decisions surrounding the timing and depth of cuts are difficult. Is a single, quickly taken, deep cut the best approach, or is a slow, more careful process less destructive to the long-term health of the overall enterprise? This article focuses on how to approach downsizing as the leading edge of a transformation, not simply as a business cycle problem.

Timingcuts.pdf   [187.74 Kb]