Posts Tagged ‘Leadership’
Reasons Not to Make Decisions Today on Gut Instincts
I still know some entrepreneurs who boast of simply following their gut instincts, rather than listen to anyone or any data, to make strategic decisions. We’ve all worked with autocratic leaders in large companies who seem to thrive in this mode. They all forget or ignore the high-profile failures that have resulted from some single-handed…
Read More13 Entrepreneurs on Their Biggest Business Mistakes
If entrepreneurship was easy, everyone would do it. Unfortunately, the reality is that half of all startups close within five years, which means you’re just as likely to fail as succeed. Sometimes failure is out of your control—disaster strikes, or a competitor gets an unexpected boost. But often, the reason is a little more depressing:…
Read MoreDo Your People Own Their Commitments and Responsibilities?
A sales manager was whining to me, “My sales people don’t do what I tell them to do! How do I get them to do the things I want them to do?” He went on a rampage describing how they weren’t meeting their commitments, how they weren’t doing the things that drove the best results,…
Read MoreHow to Show Team Appreciation During the Holidays
The holidays are quickly approaching, and your small business needs to be ready. This is a busy time of year for almost everyone, so celebrating in the office might not be high on your priorities. However, taking time to appreciate your team is crucial; 90% of employees say that recognition positively impacts their engagement, and…
Read MoreWant to Fully Engage Employees? Use These Proven Strategies
The obvious purpose of strategic planning is to decide what you want to become. The not so obvious purpose is engaging the hearts and minds of every person in the organization to engage in the journey to get there. So what is it that engages us? We know that people have a deep desire to…
Read More6 Tips on Effective Decision Making in Business
Cognitive biases affect every decision we make. In the world of business people need to make important choices every day. These choices must be made without delay and have broad consequences. How can we make sure that our choices remain rational and objective and free from our potential cognitive biases? As it turns out, there…
Read MoreHow to Get Your Team on Board with Change
Sometimes, you need to shake up the day-to-day operations of your business. Settings and maintaining goals needs to happen frequently in your business, since you need to adapt to market conditions. This all means you need to get your team ready to accept change. It can be difficult to get your team on board, especially…
Read MoreHow to Keep a Savvy Millennial Team Happy & Engaged
Opinions continue to fly about the nature of millennials. People argue over what they care about, how they view the world, and whether they’re entitled layabouts or driven idealists. In reality, of course, there are very few meaningful character generalizations to be made about them (or any other generation)—but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some major commonalities that…
Read MoreFaster is Sometimes More Valuable Than Better
This is one of those arguable insights, where both sides win. Dell is a great example of emphasis upon fast, creating a customized computer in 48 hours or less, bringing in assemblies and components just-in-time to make the assembly line. However, if Dell quality were poor and returns high, the company surely would not have…
Read MoreConscious Capitalism Drives Winning Businesses Today
I’ve noticed that most young entrepreneurs are more socially conscious today than ever before, which is a great trend. Unfortunately, some are so focused on this principle that they forget that every business, even nonprofits, have to practice the basic principles of capitalism (build a business model to make money) to cover their costs to do good…
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