About the Book
Organizational Gravity explores the fundamental elements of business success outside the traditional focus on product or service, sufficient capital, exemplary sales, and technology to grow your business. While those are critical elements to building and growing a business, this book provides an unconventional yet pragmatic approach to create a competitive advantage to keep your business on a growth trajectory.Working with organizations like yours, Tony Kubica and Sara LaForest found that the alignment of strategy, brand, culture, and talent is often missing as businesses work to grow beyond their prior successes and through the inevitable inflection points. In their years of work and achievement in helping leaders grow their business, they have created a compelling model for sustainable growth-Organizational Gravity. Their comprehensive, easy-to-read guide provides company owners and entrepreneurs with an actionable roadmap to bringing any promising enterprise to the next level. Organizational Gravity: A Guide to Strategically Growing Your Company's Brand, Culture and Talent lays out the four all-important factors that come into play when growing a business, offering best practices to make optimal use of each. These four fundamental elements are branding, culture, talent, and strategy. When integrated synergistically, they can work together as a highly effective model for sustainable company growth. For example, strategic branding, or the promise your company makes to the market, can create the kind of reputation that will draw both talent and customers to the business. Similarly, your company's culture fulfills that promise, supports the reputation, and creates an environment that is attractive to top talent. Put these together, and you have a framework for growth.The guide is divided into these four disciplines, analyzing each to ensure a company is positioned for the desired results. In "Part One - Business Growth Strategy" the authors assess key issues including creating an actionable strategic plan; the mistakes organizations unknowingly make; and developing a competitive edge. "Part Two - Branding," weighs the value of value, establishing the promise and considering aspects such as identifying your target market, key messaging, and protecting your brand. "Part Three - Culture" explores delivering on the promise and addresses considerations such as understanding the perceptions and realities of employees, healthy conflict, innovation, and tribalism. "Part Four - Progressive Talent Management" offers insight on recruiting, employee and leadership development, and retention. Examples, tips, and techniques are also provided throughout the guide. With the proper awareness of this approach, business leaders can establish a solid, executable strategy for growth that includes building a brand that communicates your promise to the buyer; establishing and fostering a culture that is designed and enabled to deliver on that promise; and securing and developing the crucial talent that can best execute the previous elements. Whether you are a small company owner or an executive in a larger organization, this synergistic approach to balanced growth can make all the difference in your business.
About the Author: Tony Kubica and Sara LaForest, partners in Kubica LaForest Consulting, are business growth advisers, executive/leadership coaches, speakers, and authors. Kubica LaForest Consulting specializes in a high-touch, personalized approach to helping entrepreneurs and executives of global companies and organizations improve their business performance and accelerate their business growth. They focus on understanding the organizational and people factors in getting work done and growing businesses. They help business owners and organizational leaders Build Remarkable Companies through Strategy and Business Growth Initiatives, Brand-Building for Market Differentiation, Organizational Alignment and Culture Building, and Talent and Leadership Development. They also provide support for key transitions, such as new manager integration, development of emerging leaders, and succession planning and exit readiness. In addition to their advisory/consulting, coaching, and organizational development work, they are widely published internationally and train and speak at conferences and events across the country. Based on years of experience working with businesses and organizations, Kubica and LaForest have developed the Organizational Gravity model of building a company. This model is based on the premise that to successfully grow a business, a company requires active attention to a good strategy, a recognizable brand, a strong culture of performance, and the ability to attract and retain the talent and leadership necessary to enable growth to happen. Kubica draws from his experience as a departmental director, hospital executive, executive for a mid-size national consulting company, entrepreneur, and business owner. LaForest spent nearly two decades in workforce development roles and management, previously ran her own independent consulting company, was an adjunct instructor at the University of Alaska, and has worked with for-profit companies, as well as not-for-profit organizations, government agencies, and American Indian/Alaska Native corporations and organizations.