Category Archives: Strategy and Planning

Off to Planet Ten!

I confess to being a fan of really, really good “B” movies. What is a good, bad movie? It’s one that knows it’s a bad movie, and lets the audience know that it knows. I haven’t seen it, but Piranha … Continue Reading

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The Long Road Ahead

I’m sitting in Denver International Airport after yet another conference. Fortunately, it’s a whole 9 days until I have to come back here for another one. In January of 2009 I wrote a blog on the strategic Triple Threat. The … Continue Reading

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Mission, Vision and Values: Weighing in on the Definition War

The other day during a continuing education class, the old argument came up again. “These are the kind of things that belong in a company’s Vision Statement,” the instructor said. “I thought they were Mission Statement kind of things,” replied … Continue Reading

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Small Business Goes Global

I know that the business press has described the Internet based global marketplace for a decade now. Certainly I have any number of clients who’ve seen their small businesses impacted by a customer’s ability to search the globe for competitive … Continue Reading

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Ready…Set…Wait? Leading Indicators and small business

In the last few weeks I’ve talked to a score of small business owners who say that things are improving for their companies. Several have been involved in trade shows that had record attendance. A few manufacturers are seeing a … Continue Reading

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Penny wise

A client who provides Information Technology services to small and midi-sized clients was expressing frustration the other day. His company has a relationship with a business to support their employees’ technology needs. They were constantly delayed, however, by the network … Continue Reading

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Do you understand where this is going? Four

I ran into a friend in the gym the other day. he is the President of a tech company providing IT services to the government. What they do is highly skilled and highly sensitive.I asked him how his business was … Continue Reading

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Do you understand where this is going? Three

We worked on an interesting hypothesis with a client the other day. He has 100 employees (or close enough to make the math easy.) The company pays for 75% of each employee’s health insurance. Additional coverage for the family is at … Continue Reading

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Do you understand where this is going? Two

Between 1997 and 2009 I had one client audited by the Department of Labor for Wage and Hour compliance. In the last 90 days I’ve had two. The first had an auditor who brought along a trainee. The second brought … Continue Reading

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Do you understand where this is going? One

One of my TAB Board meetings has an insurance broker who followed the reform debate closely. The discussion was illuminating. It is one of many that I’ve had in the last three months, and it’s all beginning to come together. … Continue Reading

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Just sign here

In January of 2000 I was asked what I thought the first big change would be in the new century. I said (and it’s been documented elsewhere) that we would have a national health care plan by 2011. It wasn’t … Continue Reading

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Technology- Investment or Expense?

I regularly hear one of my small business owner clients saying something like this. “Dammit! I have to buy another computer. I just spent (fill in) on this one just (fill in) years ago.” Why are we so offended at … Continue Reading

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