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Helping business owners grow their companies and transition with confidence, added value and complete control.
Category Archives: Entrepreneurship
Leadership vs. Management
What is the difference between a leader and a manager? We talk a lot about managing employees, but no amount of management will direct employees who don’t know what they are supposed to be doing. Simon Sinek on TED.com talks about the … Continue Reading
Posted in Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Managing Employees
Tagged entrepreneurs, leadership, management
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Performance Reviews- Best Practices
Performance reviews are a pain. In my nearly 40 years in business they have always generated the same complaints. Managers hate to do them. As a consequence, they are frequently over due. They provide the employee with little information on … Continue Reading
Profits and Savings aren’t the Same Thing
How much profit will you make this year? If you are like many business owners, the answer is “We’ll see.” They consider profit to be the amount left over after all of the business expenses are paid. That’s an accounting … Continue Reading
The Third Factor- A Third Eye?
For several years my writing and speaking has focused on two factors that are indispensable for entrepreneurs; creativity and tenacity. Creativity is the drive that not only makes entrepreneurs see opportunities, but also makes them consider every problem or challenge … Continue Reading
Black Swans and Small Business Plans
The term “Black Swan” has become immensely popular on Wall Street and in the media to designate a rare occurrence. Google “Black Swan Japan earthquake” (which is popular enough that Google will fill in the last 11 or 12 letters … Continue Reading
Posted in Economic Trends, Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Planning
Tagged business planning, small business
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Service Needs to be a Defensible Territory
The UN air strikes against Gaddafi’s forces raise an obvious question. Why Libya? Although we believe Qaddafi is a really bad guy, there are plenty of other players in North Africa and the Middle East that have to rank somewhere … Continue Reading
It IS all about you.
Why did you want to own a business? If you believe the textbook definition of an entrepreneur, it was to leverage capital and other resources to create wealth. That probably applies to about 5% of us. Or, you might have started … Continue Reading
Hunters and Farmers
Several times monthly, I interview entrepreneurs who are considering membership in The Alternative Board® as a means to improve their business. Part of the process is asking each one what his or her core skills are – the things that … Continue Reading
Jerry West on dealing with tough times
Sorry I’ve been away. Actually, I wrote this to post last week and forgot to publish it. Lately I’ve been telling business owners a story from an interview I did with Jerry West during his tenure as GM for the … Continue Reading
Serendipity and Strategy
This is kind of an unusual posting. It is more philosophical than most, and more personal. This blog tends to practical comment and advice. While I stray a bit with this, it has a business objective. I have a coach. … Continue Reading
The Rhythm of the Sales Process
With so many of our clients trying to boost sales in a tough environment, we’ve been having lots of discussions about sales incentives. It’s surprising to me how many business owners create incentives that don’t fit their business, simply because … Continue Reading