RSPA Recommended Read: Leaders Leap

“RSPA Recommended Read” is a series of articles in which RSPA staff members share details from books we think would be helpful to leaders and aspiring leaders at VAR, ISV, and vendor member organizations.

By: Jim Roddy, President & CEO at the RSPA

Something’s been keeping me up at night. Two somethings, actually: disruption and transformation.

How disruptive will AI be to the retail IT channel? Will VARs and ISVs transform their businesses quickly enough? Will I transform quickly enough? What other disruptions are on the horizon – or already here but in my blind spot?

What helped remedy my insomnia was reading Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption. (I sure hope author Steve Dennis doesn’t take that the wrong way.)

Let’s dive into some excerpts from the book before tying these lessons to our industry:

  1. Unless companies become aware of the widening disconnect between what is needed and what they are doing, truly accept this growing and powerful reality, and take aggressive action, they are likely doomed to irrelevance – or even worse, complete extinction.
  1. The challenge is not to figure out how to mount resistance, but to accept the things you cannot change, get focused on the things you can, and then get to work.
  1. It shouldn’t take a crisis to innovate.
  1. Being the best blacksmith in town was a pretty great gig. Until it wasn’t.
  1. Crush Your Ego: It is very often the case that progress is impeded by the person we see in the mirror each day.

Save the date for the retail IT channel’s #1 trade show, education conference, and networking event. RetailNOW 2027 is set for July 25-27 at the Caesars Forum Conference Center in Las Vegas. It’s Where The Industry Meets!

  1. We often need to unlearn what we believe to be unchangeable so that infinite potential has a chance to reveal itself.
  1. Special, Not Big: Too many companies plan their strategy around the mantra “Bigger is Better.” Improve your aim. Discover your passionate core. Edit to amplify.
  1. Start with Wow: Marketing is the price you pay for an unremarkable product.
  1. Rather than engaging in a race to the bottom, what about trying to win the race to the top?
  1. Reimagine the future. Reconfigure your business. It’s not the least bit hyperbolic to suggest that your future may exist well outside the fence you’ve put around your present ways of operating.
  1. Safe is Risky: The ultimate price for “wait and see” or “slow and steady” can be irreversible irrelevance.
  1. Organizations that innovate at the speed of disruption just try more stuff. They are constantly testing and learning.
  1. The path to remarkable is through iteration, through trial and error, through taking chances. Through leaps, big and small. That doesn’t mean we don’t have a plan. It means we build agility into our plan.

RSPA Recommended Read Rating: 9.0/10

At some point during almost every talk I’ve given to VARs and ISVs over the past 10 years, I include this phrase: Try, Test, Measure, Adapt.

Then I repeat it – like I will do here – to be sure it’s not missed: Try, Test, Measure, Adapt.

Try, Test, Measure, Adapt.

That’s the same tenet upon which Dennis closed his book: try more stuff, test and learn, iteration, trial and error, build agility into your plan.

As an ISV/VAR hybrid said to me years ago, “Keep your head on a swivel for opportunities, then respond.” Your swiveling head might be nodding in agreement now but you might not be sure what next steps to take.

These three overarching questions and 12 supporting questions will help you start down the right path:

Do I know my clients’ goals and problems well enough to provide indispensable products and services to them?

  • Do we conduct frequent 1-on-1 client meetings?
  • Do we conduct JBRs (joint business reviews) with significant clients?
  • Do we survey our clients?

What are we exploring and investing in right now that we believe will allow us to deliver higher value to our clients?

  • Which of our current products/services are likely to be commoditized next?
  • What recurring revenue opportunities should we explore next?
  • Which industry shows and conferences will expose us to relevant opportunities for us to consider?
  • How frequently are we talking with other solution providers (VARs, MSPs, ISVs, ISOs) about their newest and most effective products/services?
  • What are the biggest gaps in our team training and education that need filled?
  • What training/education should we pursue?

What are the mechanisms that will ensure we are innovating, not just talking about innovating ?

  • Have we established clear goals, milestones, and deadlines?
  • How is our leadership team tracking progress towards our goals and milestones?
  • Do we need to develop new metrics and reports?

In a Leaders Leap section titled “Wake Up,” Dennis concludes a success story saying, “The lesson here is the company didn’t sit around waiting for market forces to wake them up. They made a conscious effort to do it themselves.”

Wake up and purchase your copy of Leaders Leap here.

Be sure to save the date for the retail IT channel’s #1 trade show, education conference, and networking event: RetailNOW 2027, July 25-27 at Caesars Forum in Las Vegas

Jim Roddy is the President and CEO of the Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA). He has been active in the retail IT channel since 1998, including 11 years as the President of Business Solutions Magazine, six years as an RSPA board member, one term as RSPA Chairman of the Board, and several years as a business coach for VARs, ISVs, and MSPs. Jim has been recognized as one of the world’s Top Retail Experts by RETHINK Retail and is regularly requested to speak at industry conferences on SMB best practices. He is author of two books – The Walk-On Method To Career & Business Success  and  Hire Like You Just Beat Cancer – and is host of the award-winning  RSPA Trusted Advisor podcast. For more information, contact JRoddy@GoRSPA.org.