Mixing Values of Family and Business
Recognizing and Navigating Conflict on The Road to Family Business Success Discover the potential hazards of attempting to drive in the both lanes. The inherent conflicts between the two lanes shown below form the basis of nearly all family-owned business conflict. For each of these issues, ask yourselves, for the sake of your business and […]
That Will Never Work
The Purpose of ANY Business Management Guru, Peter Drucker said it best. Because it’s purpose is to create a customer, the business has two – and only- two functions, marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results, all the rest are costs. – Peter Drucker Is Innovation Attainable? If innovation is a primary function of […]
Why Have We Always Done It THAT Way?
Doing More with Less As you’re continuously challenged to achieve more with fewer resources, at some point you start to wonder if you’re trying to squeeze blood from a turnip. While it may not be possible to get vegetables to bleed, there are always opportunities to find a better way. But you do need to […]
From “Good To Great” To GONE
The first six weeks of 2009 were not kind to the reputation of Jim Collins’ business bible, Good To Great. Performance issues with at least five of the eleven chronicled Good to Great companies have hit the headlines. G2G financial service companies Wells Fargo and Fannie Mae are seeing their darkest days. On January 9, […]
Brave New World is No Place for Chickens
Decision Making in Times of Uncertainty With the current pessimism, media overkill and uncertainty about economic conditions, we are seeing more so-called leaders become reluctant to set revenue and/or profit or related performance goals with their subordinates. In the interest of fairness to their sales force, asking for 20 to 30% increase for 2009 may […]
Meltdown Message
“Hello Muddah” We’ve all been pondering our country’s financial meltdown and wondering: How could this happen? Here’s my take. I’m not a financial guy. My analysis comes through the lens of understanding how human dynamics affects how things do and/or don’t get accomplished. At the risk of dating myself (again), I’m reminiscing about a parody […]
If I Had A Hammer
Figuratively Speaking, you do. So, what are you doing with it? Pogo Cartoonist Walt Kelly coined the phrase: We have met the enemy and he is us. If we can accept that we are all our own worst enemy, the next step is to figure out how to become more of an ally? At the […]
Tough Times Test
As the tight economy has reduced business activity and limited resources, I’m also seeing an accompanying new trend in behaviors. Variations of that ever popular lie: “The check’s in the mail” is being used with greater regularity. With that, there is an accompanying trickle down effect as one unfulfilled payment promise leads to another at […]
Filling Your “Good to Great” Bus
Your passengers and their placement can determine your success. It has been said that business leaders evolve into one of three categories: ▪ Inspired ▪ Complacent ▪ Desperate In 2001, author Jim Collins provided the inspired with a business bible for pursuing greatness, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t. […]
Organizational Performance Puzzle: 2 Key Pieces
How do we get our people to execute? Each year, the typical American company invests 36% of their sales in their human capital. According to the book, Play to Your Strengths, “human capital is the biggest investment about which management knows the least.” Puzzle Piece #1 Job Descriptions Done Properly In the interest of learning […]
