“Debunking the Myths of Management & Leadership”

Speaker: Donald Cooper, MBA, CSP, HoF

Executive Summary:

This is the time of year for much strategising and goal setting. With the uncertainties
induced by Covid, this year it is not easy for leaders. We are all operating in
a rapidly changing, and sometimes scary business and societal environment; and
we are still acclimatising to all the implications of a post-Brexit world.

We are surrounded by all manner of confusions – too numerous to detail here.

We readily recognise that strategies, plans and budgets are only as good as the
underlying economic assumptions eg – So how many SMEs, this time last year,
projected the scenario of a pandemic for 2020?

However, it isn’t just the “big picture assumptions” that get transmitted into
our crystal balls and spreadsheets but our unstated or subconscious
understanding of what constitutes good business norms and practices.

So, have you ever stopped to question how valid and realistic your assumed ‘norms’
are in reality? And what if the opposites were true?

Who better to cut through the confusion about leadership and management than Donald
Cooper, as he shares his clear insights on how to improve clarity,
commitment, effectiveness and accountability in the real world?

Donald Cooper transforms businesses and business people.

Introduction:  What Donald Cooper says about this ‘straight
talk’ session

After 30 years in business and 20 years of coaching business owners and
managers in over 40 industries around the world, what I’ve
figured out is that all too often our beliefs about our customers, our staff,
our future and our bottom line are simply not true.  Some of it never was true…and some of it
was – but isn’t anymore.  As business owners, leaders and managers, we’re making important decisions based on myths,
lies and false assumptions…and it’s killing us.

These myths and lies keep us from seeing reality…and, “The beginning of wisdom is the recognition of reality!”   How do we come to believe all these dysfunctional myths and lies?  
They’re in our culture.  We repeat hem over and over until they become ‘real’. 
We pass them on to others as business advice.  We even pay consultants to assure us that they’re true.

For the record, a ‘lie’ is anything we tell ourselves, or others, that simply isn’t true. 
‘Myths’ are lies that have been told by so many people, for so long, that almost everyone believes them. 

Myths are convenient.  They allow us to blame someone or something else for our less-than stellar performance. 
But they also prevent us from seeing reality and taking responsibility for what needs fixing…and that’s where the real harm is.  We’ll never solve a problem that we don’t first recognize, define and take ownership of.

Presentation Content – Illustrations of myths and lies – For example:

·    
Customer loyalty is NOT dead…and doing business is NOT all about price: 

     The truth is that people are loyal to what’s best for them, or what they assume is
best for them…and it’s only all about price if you say it is.  Donald explains the truth about why people
buy, why they don’t buy …and what they really want when they do buy.

·     Similarly, the belief that, “You just can’t get good staff anymore.”
is a convenient myth:

     The truth is that the best people have to work for
somebody…it’s just that you have to deserve them.   Donald delivers the ‘straight goods’ on how to attract, challenge and keep a top-performing team…and how to deal more effectively with non-performance.

·     Cutting through the confusion about leadership
and management:

     How to operate your business more effectively, based on clear insights and fundamental
business and human truths. Donald’s breakthrough work in improving clarity, commitment, urgency and accountability will transform your hinking.  

^·          
The explanation of the simple ‘math
of profitability’:   

     How small improvements in sales, margins and expense control will have a dramatic bottom line impact.

Additionally, Donald delivers the ‘straight goods’ on what a business Vision & Mission
really should be (spoiler alert…it’s not what you have now) as he explains how to define and create a more extraordinary and profitable future for your business.  Then, he delivers the Tools
to make it happen.

Presentation Output:

Part 1: (At 2pm sharp on Teams) SIBL’s eclectic
members are drawn from all three sectors. Each one is at their own stage of
development. It follows that whilst Donald Cooper will signpost the way forward by
addressing and expelling some fundamental management myths and lies, the actual
output of the presentation and Q&A rests with the active listening and open-mindedness
of individual participants.

 Part2: (At 3.35pm on Zoom) This is an opportunity to engage in an extended and facilitated Q&A and feedback
session with Donald focused on how his insights can be helpful in creating more effective management and leadership in your business.  Note: There is a 10-minute tea break at 3.35-3.45pm.              

Keynote speaker Donald
Cooper – profile:

Donald has been both a world-class manufacturer and an
award-winning retailer.  He started his business career at the age of 6, sweeping the floor in the family business for 5 cents a day.  Long days and low pay…excellent early training for an entrepreneur.

He earned an MBA from the Ivey Business School in London, Ontario, followed by 18 years at Cooper Canada, the family business. From humble beginnings, Cooper Canada became the world’s leading maker of hockey equipment and a Canadian Brand icon.

As a growing family business, Cooper Canada bought competitors, went public, imported, exported to 20 countries, opened an offshore factory in Barbados, and grew to over 2,800 employees. 

At age 43, Donald reinvented himself as a visionary retailer of ladies’ fashions and gifts, creating a 13,000 sq. ft. destination ‘Warehouse Boutique’ which fundamentally redefined the customer
experience. For this, he was voted Canada’s Outstanding Innovative Retailer.  As both a manufacturer and a
retailer, Donald has been ‘in the trenches’.

For his ransformational business insights and unique ability to inform, challenge and inspire audiences around the world, Donald has been inducted into the Canadian Speaking Hall of Fame and been awarded the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation…the highest international designation in professional speaking.

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