Want to achieve personal and professional success?
Of course you do! Then take a look at these similarities of Olympic Athletes and a dynamic business professional. [Read more…]
posted on October 21, 2015 by
Executives! Are You Being Guarded? Beware!
“Make sure whatever you send to the President goes through me first. If you want to speak to him on the phone or see him do the same. I have to protect him from getting bogged down with too much information and too many appointments.”
This is what managers, directors, and supervisors are told by a client’s executive secretary. If you have your secretary or assistant do the same, beware. [Read more…]
posted on April 20, 2015 by
Forging the Link Between Sales and Marketing
When Edwin Land successfully launched his classic invention, the Polaroid camera, he should have stopped there. Against the advice of his sales and marketing people (and without the benefit of market research which he detested), he introduced a device, called Polavision, (selling at the hefty price of $700) that would record an “instant color movie.” So convinced that this device would succeed, Land invested 68 million dollars to promote it. In spite of the desire and the dollars, the product failed. [Read more…]
posted on February 11, 2015 by
10 Things to Ditch in 2022
1) Ditch the term “employee.” Progressive companies refer to their staff to as “business partners,” “colleagues,” “team members,” or “associates.” All of these infer a level of respect for the individual. Smart.
2) Ditch the term “customer satisfaction.” Satisfaction isn’t enough. Strive for higher levels of customer loyalty. Measure the number of repeat and regular customers. Strive for higher levels every year.
3) Ditch micro-managing. Instead, help, guide, approve, thank, coach. When you are sure employees are competent, empower them.
4) Ditch boring meetings. Maybe even ditch some of the meetings. And certainly do all you can to make your virtual meetings interesting through employee involvement, contests, brainstorming, etc. Be creative! Make sure you are not the only one talking.
5) Ditch the discussion of revenue and talk profitability to your “business partners.” Remind them that
REVENUE IS REALLY NICE! PROFIT IS WHAT MATTERS!
6) Ditch conflict situations. Apply conflict management techniques – whether the conflict is between you and someone else, between two team members, or between departments.
7) Ditch people in leadership positions who do not demonstrate the values of honesty, integrity, professionalism, health and safety, accountability, family, and your other core values. Every leader should treat employees exceptionally well and lead in the same way. Create “guiding principles” on how you lead, and how to treat people.
8) Ditch under-performers. As hard as it is to attract, hire, and retain employees these days, eliminate underperformers. You can’t afford to have them on your team- especially if top performers have to make up for the slack in their work.
9) Ditch using the term “back to normal.” Strive for higher aspirations if you want to achieve success in today’s world. Business has changed.
10) Ditch negativity. It’ just too hard for people to have a smile on their face and stay motivated to perform if you or anyone on your team is negative. Negativity has a powerful force of it’s own.
posted on November 21, 2012 by
Go Back to the Basics – Make a Business Plan
When a sports team is stuck in a losing streak, and feeling down and out what does the coach say? He or she usually claims that the team is going to “get back to the basics” with grueling practice drills to reverse the trend and boost the motivation. The same applies when executing a business plan. [Read more…]
posted on July 18, 2012 by
Create a Winning Team With Confidence
Every season, sports professionals state with supreme confidence that they will be the champions by the end of their respective seasons. Of course, there can be only one champion. No way around it. [Read more…]
