I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody – Bill Cosby Ask any Green Bay Packers fan and they will tell you without any hesitation that the infamous call at the end of the game against Seattle was blown and it cost them the game. Before…
First there was Maslow who created an avenue to employee benefits, then Employee Rewards, and more recently Employee Engagement. Today, Culture seems to be the buzz word. We are consistently evolving employee rights into human improvement strategy. The fluff is gone and even kindness has an ROI metric: ~ Does a rewards strategy cheapen the…
Markets are conversations, and these days, they are often led by the crowd. Be it your customers or your employees, they are uniquely empowered to spread the good or bad word about you. Question is, how closely are you listening? More than ever, internet users have two things going for them: Transparency and Tools. They…
Time changes everything except something within us which is always surprised by change – Thomas Hardy In a recent USA Today feature (http://usat.ly/ROMSvv) leaders from various walks of life shared their insights as to what they believe world will look like in 30 years. It was a fascinating read. Here are a few highlights. Bill…
Companies are frequently facing the need to restructure their organizations. Changes in leadership, a shift in strategy, or changing factors within an organization often create the need for reorganizing. Organization design is one of the most powerful tools available to senior managers for shaping the direction of their organizations. “Organization design” is often used incorrectly…
Twenty years ago, likely, you were desperate for more time. Managing it was the key to success. Time was the scarce resource of the uber successful and the harried executive. Today, we have more time than ever, aided by myriad tools and software solutions. We can move mountains in days, aided by digital devices and…
A successful man is the one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him? – David Brinkley The nation watched in horror when the video tape emerged showing the bullying of 68-year old school bus monitor Karen Klein. According to ABC News more than 32,000 people went online and…
The trend these days is clearly for managers to take on more of a coaching role. But they still need to be the manager! These are two different roles. As a manager, you have stewardship for results in your area of operation. You ensure that your people are performing at an acceptable level and are…
Whether you are a sales pro, marketing whiz or entrepreneur, business is a fierce compeition. You’ll never win unless you understand the milestones that stand between the prospect stage and the finish line. Even the most impulsive purchases follow the mental path I’ll reveal in this post. In fact, done right, businesses can elicit more…
If the world is cold make it your business to build fires – Horace Traubel In a recent Gallup Business Journal feature, Scott Simmons and Christie Fraser reported on the state of customer service in the hospital industry. Notable in their findings: hospitals try to deliver the best healthcare outcomes and good customer service, but…
The early bird catches the worm. I hate that phrase. I find it irritating because of the origin behind it, the idea that in order to succeed, you must wake up and get to work early. I’m going to have to disagree with this concept. I’m a night owl. I have little desire to be…
I don’t know about you but it pains me to see so many people in organizations not contributing near to what they are capable of. Many of course, for any multitude of reasons, just don’t want to, thank you very much. They are satisfied with average, with just enough. That’s a topic for another time.…
“How can I keep up with social? Why should I care.” I have this conversation weekly with very smart people, who are still stumped by the social media phenom in our culture. They feel a strong sense of urgency if they aren’t fishing in the social stream, but at the same time, it feels like…
Whether a company promotes a successful candidate from within – appointing someone to a new or lateral role – or selects a candidate from outside the organization, the company has confidence that a new leader’s skills and experience can meet the challenges of the job. However, consider this startling statistic regarding new leaders: estimates of…
Make a difference about something other than yourselves. – Toni Morrison In an interview with Open Forum (http://amex.co/SDQOLd), Johnny Rocket’s CEO John Fuller offered some fascinating business insights. Fuller says that one of their guiding principles is to be a difference maker verses a care taker. He explained that he wants people to feel that…
You start your day by hitting snooze twice, you yell in traffic, and your heart pounds as you approach the office door. It starts and ends with your boss and his/her ability to instill confidence in you! …Reset…. You leap out of bed ready to attack the day, rock out to the radio on the…
They are happy men whose natures sort with their vocations – Francis Bacon According to a survey reported on in People Management (http://bit.ly/MmCPet) the number of employees who are ‘proud’ to work for their organization has fallen from almost half of workers at the start of 2012 to just two-fifths. A survey of 1,114 office…
How often have you heard that our favorite topic is ourself? This is certainly true but a few people go overboard. We call them egocentric. At a neurotic level, they become narcissistic. This comes from the Greek character Narcissus who fell in love with his own reflection in a pool of water and remained there,…
A warm smile is the universal language of kindness. – William Arthur Ward An entry in Reader’s Digest relates the story of an individual calling for information about one of his credit cards. He stated, “I got the following prompt: ’Please enter your account number as it appears on your statement.’ Then the system said,…
It is safe to say we were all inspired by the 2012 Olympic games. None more so than the 70,000 volunteers who gave their time to ensure the event was safe and efficient. Who wouldn’t want to be part of a worldwide extravaganza where each nation sends their most gifted athletes to represent their flag.…