After recording our interview, it became clear to me that there were two or three important articles emerging. This first one, a profile of Dan and his work - discusses two of the many important subjects in his upcoming work, partnering and branding.

Additional stories, presented as articles in the newsletter, will explore additional elements and benefits of his roadmap for family companies interested in continuing their previous successes - in the 21st Century.

“The upcoming work is designed to be more than the tired old self help book. It’s really a learning system, designed to help leaders acquire the skills and tools that they'll need to take their organizations to new levels of performance and productivity in changing markets. It is packed with ideas and tools that can be applied by a thoughtful and considered leadership approach. It does not require companies to spend additional dollars in order to apply these lessons and tools successfully. Going forward, it is clear that the leader will not have all the answers. S/he may not know the whole solution by themselves. This learning system will prepare leaders to get the answers they need. It will enable them to lead their organizations not only effectively, but to lead them to extraordinary results."

Every business has an idea about how it’s going to use its resources and knowledge to create a product or service that is sought by the people in its marketplace. That’s what Dan Elash refers to as their "Business Idea."

"So many businesses, started each year, fail. Some of these business ideas are ill conceived or mistimed. Some catch on initially, often sustained by the reserves of the entrepreneur, but they never really take off. Others are good ideas that limp along inadequately resourced or half-tended. I see one of the benefits of the Toolkit of business resources we are developing is that it gives family owned companies a way of keeping their good business ideas well tuned and well targeted for ever evolving markets."

“The business idea enters the market place in the form of a story; one which you tell, but also one that gets told by those who hear your message or sample your offerings. The Tools allow you to clarify and refine the story you take to the marketplace, to assure customers what you can do for them; to broadcast it to the people you want to have as customers; to intrigue them by showing what they’re missing by not partnering with you, or by not being your customer.”

“What I’m expecting is, that as people go through this learning system, they’re going to understand how they can take their business idea and use that to focus people in their companies on the priorities needed to fulfill the promise inherent in your idea; to learn how to capture the attention of new customers; and how to respect an implicit contract with customers. The Toolkit enables you to focus your people on delivering on the promise of your business idea: ‘Here’s what you can expect from us. You can count on us. This is our brand and our promise. Here’s what we’ll deliver.’”

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