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Create a great team
One of the most important parts of business is placing the right people around you that not only believe in your vision but also are passionate about seeing you succeed. If we have ever tried to go it alone, we quickly realize how difficult and lonely it can be. This past year I’ve learned about […]
Achieving peak performance
In last month’s article, Culture: The soul of your company, I talked about the importance of developing and nurturing a strong corporate culture. In fact, a great corporate culture combined with operational excellence is the secret to helping employees achieve peak performance day in and day out. Today’s companies should strive for peak performance on […]
The formula for business success
It’s a million-dollar question: “What must I do to have, or run, a successful business?” We hear it often in our meetings and training programs with Fortune 500 executives. Here are some insights into the answer. One way to keep it simple is to recognize that every company consists of only four things: cash, property, […]
Seven tips for a winning business and personal plan
What is your plan for 2012? Some of you may have a plan – great, pursue it and continue monthly assessments. For others who have put planning off, it is not too late. It is always the right time to assess progress, reaffirm your passions, align your passions with a meaningful purpose and then […]
Business fitness = productivity
Is productivity important? Put it this way-what’s better for you, binging and crash diets or just staying in shape? Economists have long pointed to productivity gains as a key driver for economic well-being. But many managers don’t know what productivity is, and fewer still focus on it. Yet increasing productivity lies at the heart of […]
Seven steps to more powerful PowerPoints
In the early days of PowerPoint presentations, audiences were tortured by typewriter text, pointless, clunky animated clip art and obnoxious sound effects. Gratefully, much of this noise is gone or has been upgraded by higher quality, more entertaining audio and video. Even with the evolution of some presentations, we are still subjected, however, to one […]
To succeed in business, take off that hat!
I use the term “hat rack management” to describe what startup and small business managers go through. As managers, you wear many hats: management, sales & marketing, accounting, production, IT, strategic planner, fireman, custodian, the list goes on and on. So all day long, you are mentally running back and forth to the hat rack […]
The power of internal branding
Have you ever walked into a company’s office or production facility for the first time and immediately noticed a refreshing level of enthusiasm and commitment from the people who work there? There is something positive animating the whole environment. What you’re sensing is the employees’ collective loyalty to the company and its brand. The effort […]
Coping with deal fatigue
I have had the good fortune to manage or be involved in more than 100 transactions or negotiations throughout the course of my career, and without exception, in all of them I have observed parties suffer what I call “deal fatigue.” Deal fatigue is that feeling of frustration, exhaustion, irritation, and in some cases, resignation, […]
How to be your own great boss
We all dream of being our own boss, but only some of us have made it a reality. For those who haven’t made the jump yet: Come on in, the water’s fine.If you want to beat the odds and have your small business succeed though, it will depend entirely on you. Here are the 10 […]
How to get what your business is worth
When you decide to sell your business to an outside party and you no longer want to manage your company, you naturally desire top dollar. Unless you are a gambler at heart, you want cash, not someone else’s stock. If you accept stock, you are gambling on someone else’s performance, market conditions, and a whole […]
Trade secrets: Lonely and misunderstood
Over the years, we have had thousands of consultations with prospective clients. I cannot think of a single time when I was asked about protecting the prospective client’s trade secrets. Trademarks, all the time. Patents, almost daily. Copyrights, regularly. Trade secrets. What? It’s not like transactional intellectual property attorneys (lawyers that protect your intellectual property […][...]
