Tony Perkins, author of The Internet Bubble and chairman of Red Herring predicted both the rise and the fall of the "dot-coms". When Hilary Schneider, the new CEO of Red Herring joined in the Fall of 2000 she knew that focus would be crucial to using scarce resources where they could have the greatest impact.

Rather than mandating this focus, however, Hilary and her Senior Management team choose to involve leaders throughout the company is determining where the focus should be placed. They formed the ELT (Extended Leadership Team) with key contributors in each of the organization's three business lines, as well as the administrative functions.

The Senior Team identified what they believed to be key focus areas for success in the coming year. Each business line leader then met with his or her leadership team to identify key objectives for that business line, as well as key areas of interdependence where teams needed to work cross-platform to solve a critical business issue.

In a large group setting, each business line presented to the extended leadership team, who added their point of view. At the end of the meeting, each member of the ELT understood -- and felt a sense of ownership of -- the organizations goals and direction.