Most startup ideas begin in the mind of an individual, but an idea is not a business. It takes a team, with effective leadership, to build a business. Many aspiring entrepreneurs default to team leadership by domination and control. Yet in my experience, the best entrepreneurs quickly learn the art of people connection. They connect […]
Leadership
COVID-19 Is a Black Swan Event–Do You Even Know What Questions to Ask?
Great executives and managers seem to intuitively know what they don’t know. But it is not at all uncommon to not even know what questions to ask. Who would have thought about COVID 19 and public’s panic responses? Image credit: Alexas_Fotos / Pixabay One week we all thought we had our responses dedicated to supply […]
Why Entrepreneurs Need to Be Scramblers
The things I did to become a better quarterback in the NFL have also had a major impact on my life in business. The principles from one directly applied to the other–and nowadays, more than ever.As a quarterback, I was known as a scrambler. When a play starts to break down, there’s nobody open and […]
3 Proven Ways to Get You Through Tough Times
Editor’s Note: This article originally posted Dec. 19, 2017. In light of the difficult economic and social impacts from Covid-19, we felt it was timely to re-post now. We will get through this together. I couldn’t handle it. The pressure of closing the business, being hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and in the middle […]
CoronaVirus and Small Business: A Discussion About Economics
The CoronaVirus (Covid-19) will potentially cause some real economic disruptions in the US. Specifically, it will have an adverse affect on small and medium-sized businesses. Here are some tips to consider. Advice to managers, entrepreneurs With a multitude of caveats, it might be worthwhile to heed the following advice: Anticipate the worst, prepare for it, […]
Watch the World Change
Now that we’re a few months into the new year, I hope that you have more than begun to sketch out your plans for 2020 and beyond. As you push into 2020 and map out your plan for 2021, it’s a good time to channel your inner marketer and lean on your curiosity and imagination. […]
5 Ways to Lead Through the Coronavirus Crisis
Small businesses are especially vulnerable during this latest public health crisis. Supply chain issues, voluntary social distancing by customers, fear among employees about short term layoffs (not to mention their own health concerns) and financial management are just a few of the challenges that face the small business owner. Circumstances like these, however, also provide […]
Are You a Consensus Leader or Dictator?
It’s a good bet that you’ve been exposed to articles, courses and lectures about various styles of management. You’ve read how each is appropriate for some companies and for some levels of organization and at various times. When should the dictator in you emerge? A consensus-building leader works well in that style until someone yells […]
Do Those Summaries. Use Those Frameworks. But Don’t Think They Replace Business Planning.
There is some bad advice floating around in the startup world. Useful as the Lean Canvas is, and despite some well-intentioned suggestions of summaries, those are not business plans. They don’t deal with the drivers and components of cash flow. They don’t set milestones, metrics, and tracking. You can’t run a business with them. And […]
Do This to Develop Leaders Who Are Strategy-Driven
Every successful small business faces the challenge of growth. When that happens, others must be relied upon to provide the same level of commitment, smarts, and grit to get the job done. Developing others with the same passion as yourself is never easy. Research indicates, however, that a planned and intentional approach that focuses on […]
