Posts Tagged ‘Personal Outlook’
Traits of Great Leaders
Leaders come in all shapes and sizes. They can be found in all different places. Francesca Zambello is the artistic director of the Washington National Opera, and her advice about leadership is just as true in business as it is in the creative fields.
Read More Focus on Key Performance Indicators
Successful people look for the signs. Small business owners are no exception.The signs are reality. It’s true in business the same way that it is true in sports, relationships, or any other part of life. But what does it mean to see the signs in business? What should you be looking for?
Read More Why Giving Is More Powerful than Getting
It’s not about you. That’s the secret that every person needs to learn in business—it’s not about you. It’s about helping others, about putting what other people need ahead of what you want. The secret to business is providing value to your customers, not looking for ways to make money for yourself.
A Sense of Desperation
We are all going to experience failure and disappointment in our lives. The key to success, including in business, is reacting the right way. We all need that sense of desperation, that driving motivation to do whatever it takes to make it. We need to feel a little uncomfortable and use that as a spur.
Read More Abraham Lincoln: Business Lessons
Abraham Lincoln is one of the most enduring, inspiring figures in American history. His popularity is unwavering, and is as high as ever thanks to Steven Spielberg’s movie Lincoln. Every president aspires to be like Lincoln, but they shouldn’t be the only ones. The life and career of President Lincoln has plenty of great business lessons.
Read MoreWhy We Miss Our Goals
Tell me if this scenario sounds familiar. You know exactly what you want to do. You have it all figured out. And then somewhere along the line, something happens. You’re not even sure what it was—all you know is the end result: whatever it was you were planning, it didn’t get done.
Read More Keeping the Entrepreneurial Spirit Alive
As any business ages and grows, it will change. You don’t always do things the same way you did as a startup. The quest for innovation and new approaches to problems often gradually give way to a focus on incremental improvements and doing what you’ve always done, just a little bit better. This problem is part of what is widely known as The Innovator’s Dilemma, after the title of the book by Harvard professor Clayton Christensen.
Read More Succession Planning
What will happen to your business after you retire? Most small business owners want their companies to survive after they leave, but only a small fraction of businesses actually manage to last into a second generation. To make it, you need an effective succession plan.
Read More Building a Culture of Growth
A culture that encourages and rewards growth can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. When you build an organization, the right emphases and values can be a strong factor for growth. It requires every member of the team, from top to bottom, to buy into the right principles and beliefs.
Read More Reasonable Person Principle
Any time you get a group of people together, there are bound to be misunderstandings and disagreements. How you handle these situations is important for a strong corporate culture. The Reasonable Person Principle is a simple but effective approach to building a culture of trust.
Read More