Topic: Clear Thinking: "Success Assured"

The phrase refers to the point in a project where you realize that, even though there is more to be done, you have reached the key inflection point after which success will be assured.

Speaker: Hans Norden, Founder of Anticipated Outcome
 

Presentation:
Why is it, when different individuals and different companies tackle the same problems, some will fail and some will succeed? Among those who fail, do some of them believe themselves to have succeeded, only to realize much later that they did not? Among those who succeed, were they differentiated from their failing brethren by having superior tools at their disposal, or was it something in their approach that facilitated their success? And whatever the reasons for the success, are those reasons duplicable among their less successful brethren and competitors?

In this talk, Hans Norden will look at these and related issues, relating some illustrative situations and some classic success stories along the way. Among other things, we will learn the origin and meaning of the phrase, "Success is assured", and will learn the relevance of that kind of thinking to the problems and issues with which we all have to deal in our careers.

We will take away some key learnings from this presentation, including:

 • Is "best practices" always the best approach?

 • Is maximizing your knowledge about all aspects of a problem a guarantee of success?

 • Avoiding the pitfalls of prescribing without diagnosing.

 • Differentiating between nice-to-have knowledge and must-have knowledge.

 • Having the skill to identify and do the right thing, versus having the will to do the right thing.

 • The criticality of defining success properly -- in order to achieve success.

 • What are the senior management attitudes toward the organization, its purpose and its employees that help facilitate success?
 

This will be Hans Norden's fourth time presenting to the SD FENG over the years, the first time on this subject. This will be a talk with active Q&A, and lots of analytical insights and understanding into how to think clearly and manage projects to successful outcomes.

About our Speaker:

Hans Norden is an executive advisor with 20+ years of experience leading enterprise-wide, mission-critical change initiatives. He has enjoyed serial success in aligning business processes with corporate strategy through root cause analyses, creating authentic solutions, and gaining buy-in across key stakeholders. He is wholly fluent in English and Dutch, and competent in French and German.

He is the founder and principal consultant of Anticipated Outcome, where he consults, coaches, mentors, trains and speaks on the topic of change management, project management and human error. He does that primarily by assisting decision-makers in overcoming resistance to change, by connecting the dots of their business activities into a big picture perspective, and designing “Authentic Solutions” that create services of superior value and unprecedented profit margins.

Hans previously worked for the BRE Commercial Real Estate company, as Chief Information Officer (CIO), where he developed a vision and implementation plan for their newly acquired Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, which was well received by the industry. Previously he worked in asset management for ING, a major European bank, at their group headquarters in Amsterdam. At ING, he developed an affinity for the “what”, “how”, and “why” that makes asset management possible -- the processes behind all aspects of the business. He then transferred to the bank’s division for Information Technology and Communications (ITC) where he worked as project manager and change management consultant.

Hans has a BS in Economics and Philosophy from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, in The Netherlands. He is the author of the upcoming book, Get to the Root: Solve Stubborn Enterprise-Wide Problems with Executive Buy-In.

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After you register and before the meeting, you will be sent the link and meeting ID that will enable you to easily enter the meeting.

If you have trouble registering after following the above directions, please reply to me directly, and we will register you.
 

Again, all FENG members are welcome to register. You are free to invite outside guests, as well, especially those whom you think could directly benefit from the information to be discussed.

Several things to note BEFORE the meeting:

1. In order to participate in a Zoom meeting, you must download Zoom. By this time, a year into the pandemic, it's safe to say that most members have long since downloaded Zoom software to their systems. If not, you can download the free version as shown below.

2. Please go to www.Zoom.us in advance of the meeting and download Zoom if you have not already done so in the past. Please do this prior to our scheduled time, to avoid any technical issues that may arise. This will enable us to begin on time and avoid delays associated with login problems.

By default, when you connect via Zoom, you will be on “mute“, meaning that no one else can hear you. In order to speak during the meeting, lower your mouse to the bottom of your screen. That will bring up a black band with various icons. On the lower left side, there will be a microphone icon. Clicking on that will unmute you when you want to speak. If you wish to ask a question or to comment without actually speaking, the "Chat" feature enables you to submit it in writing.

3. Please have your Zoom setup tested in advance, per the testing instructions you receive upon downloading and installing the software.

Please contact me directly if you have any questions or wish to advise me about your inviting an outside guest. We hope to see you at our virtual San Diego FENG meeting tomorrow.

Dan Ruchman
[email protected]

Meantime, stay healthy and safe!