In this presentation, Wendy Gilbert shares her thoughts on both strategy and influence. Main takeaways: - The definition of a strategy - How to go about creating a strategy - Ideas on how to improve your influence within your product and/or organization

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8. Wendy Gilbert
TONIGHT’S SPEAKER

9. Strategy & Influence
WENDY GILBERT
SEPT 12, 2018

10. Who Am I?
Director, Product Management
Global Data Platform
Egencia
10

11. • What is a strategy?
• Components of a strategy
• Successful strategies
• What is influence?
• Qualities of good influencers
11

12. Strategy
an integrated, overarching concept of how the
business will achieve its objectives
A product strategy outlines where the product is going, how it will
get there and why it will succeed. The product strategy enables you
to focus on a specific target market and feature set, instead of trying
to be everything to everyone.
12
MaRs Library -- https://www.marsdd.com/mars-library/product-strategy-setting-your-strategic-vision-for-product-offerings/

13. 13https://expertprogrammanagement.com/2017/10/strategy-diamond/

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19. 19

20. Arena
Where will you be active?
20
Market
Segment
Geography
ChannelStages
Technologie
s
nder CC BY-SA

21. Vehicles
How will you get there?
21
Internal
development
Joint venture
LicensingAlliance
Acquisition

22. Differentiators
How will you win in the marketplace?
22
Image
Customization
Price
Reliability
Speed to
market
Personalization

23. Staging
How will you move?
23
Speed Sequencing

24. Economic logic
How will you return on your investment?
24
Decreased
cost
New sales or
market
Increase $$
from existing
sales
Better results

25. A good strategy is:
https://www.sas.com/en_us/insights/articles/data-management/8-ways-an-enterprise-data-strategy-enables-big-data-analytics.html
• Practical -- easy to follow when conducting
daily activities
• Relevant -- contextual to the
organization/team, not generic
• Evolutionary -- expected to change on a
regular basis
• Connected/integrated with everything that
comes after it or from it
25

26. Why do some strategies fail?
26
“Strategy equals execution. All the great ideas and visions in the world are
worthless if they can't be implemented rapidly and efficiently.” – Colin Powell

27. One Size Doesn’t Fit All…
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28. Offense versus Defense…
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29. The product itself was flawed
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30. Didn’t understand the product and/or the marketplace
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31. It wasn’t a strategy in the first place
to provide a centralized Data Platform that can deliver quality data, in a timely fashion, to
maximize value for both internal and external customers
to grow the company 15 percent
to launch/transition to cloud service model by Jan 2019
Big Data
31

32. Failed to outline what it wouldn’t do…
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33. Implemented as a top-down process – failed to get buy-in
from the team
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34. There’s only so much in your control…
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35. Change is hard, and strategies often require change…
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36. Loss of interest over time
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37. Not agile – used a big-bang approach
Not aligned with other teams or dependencies
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38. Didn’t focus on the business value
RDD
38

39. Influence
The power or capacity of causing an effect in indirect or
intangible ways
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40. What do people expect from their leaders?
• To know where they are going
• Communication
• Competence
• Authenticity
• Energy & Enthusiasm
40

41. Influence Styles
• Rationalizing -- logic and reason
• Asserting -- personal confidence and direction
• Negotiating -- compromise without sacrificing long term goal
• Inspiring -- shared mission, draw on passion to open people’s eyes to new
possibilities
• Bridging -- uniting and connecting others, listening and building coalitions
• ...
41

42. As with strategy, one size doesn’t fit all
• We can’t all be charismatic, born leaders
• Do I really need to lower my voice?
• We don’t all need to lean in, but it’s fine if you want to
• It shouldn’t feel like manipulation, be genuine
42

43. Increasing Influence
• Self Awareness -- Know your strengths and weaknesses and manage them
• Be competent, be prepared
• Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable
• Assume positive intent
• Treat others well and solicit their opinions and expertise
• Embrace difficult conversations – avoid passive aggressiveness
• Tell stories
• Be emotionally curious -- connect with people and understand what drives them
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44. 44

45. 45https://cem.nd.edu/assets/171578/hambrick_are_you_sure_you_have_a_strategy.pdf

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