Hand Held CEO offers planning, strategy insightl

SYRACUSE - Hand Held Products CEO Kevin Jost won't pretend to know everything about corporate strategy and planning.

"There's volumes written about this subject," Jost told a group of about 80 people at the May 23 event sponsored by the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce on strategic business planning. "All I've done is made the mistakes."

Jost shared numerous insights into his experiences in developing strategy and planning at the talk. He also shared some examples from his leadership at Hand Held, a Skaneateles Falls-based company spun off from Welch Allyn, that develops and manufactures bar-code scanners, mobile computers, and other data-collection devices.

Here are some of Jost's thoughts.

* On one of the reasons for Hand Held's recent success: The company has grown from sales of $160 million in 2003 to $280 million last year. It employs 1,000, including 700 in upstate New York, and has 18 locations around the world. "The growth rate is really a result of dreams converted to strategies and strategies converted to tactics," Jost said. "I think planning and strategy is a big deal and it needs to be an important component of how you grow the business."

* On the difference between strategy and planning: Jost said strategies usually last for several years, at least. They incorporate a company's focus and what it wants to accomplish. Plans, on the other hand, tend to be more action oriented, include defined objectives, and details on how to reach diem. It's important to remember they are different, Jost said. it's also essential to have people in a company that are good at both. Some employees will tend more toward execution while others are what Jost called dreamers. "You need dreamers in any organization," he said.

* On the process of developing strategy and plans: Companies need to assess themselves internally before starting any strategic effort, Jost said. They need to be critical of themselves and know their strengths and weaknesses. Executives also need to be sure they understand the external forces that affect their business as well, he added. Both those things help a business determine where it is in the present - a necessary element for any executive planning the future. "In every company, you have limited resources. You have to pick very carefully where you're going to differentiate yourself and where you're just going to be equal. Those decisions are among the most important." Once strategy is defined and plans developed, it's time to act, Jost added. "You can spend all your time on a great strategy. But if you don't get out there and start executing, you're going to be toast. We've made that mistake in the past." Still, leaders should be sure their plans are flexible and be willing to alter them as they go forward. Plans need to change according to evolving business conditions, Jost said.

* On the importance of measuring success: Hand Held uses internal report cards for all its projects. The cards list critical items and give a color-coded assessment (green, yellow, or red) of how each element in a project is progressing. The company also uses report cards to evaluate its relationships with customers. It shares all that information with those customers to foster open communication, even when those reports contain bad news about Hand Held or its clients. "If you can't measure it, you can't know if you're going to accomplish it," Jost said. "You can't monitor it along the way."

* On a recent strategic-planning effort at Hand Held: The company embarked on a strategy effort in 2006. The goal was to develop a vision for where the firm would be in 2010, Jost said. He wanted employees to dunk about what seems impossible in the present. The process was difficult, but as workers have spent time developing specific plans to connect with and achieve "impossible" goals, the effort has generated broad enthusiasm. Employees have seen that lofty goals are within reach and have been energized by their parts in what it takes to reach them. "We're really betting the company's future ... on our 2010 strategy."

Copyright Central New York Business Journal May 25, 2007
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