From Webster’s dictionary: Onboarding: “The process by which a new employee learns the ropes and gets settled.” Waterboarding: “An interrogation technique in which water is forced into a detainee’s mouth and nose so as to induce the sensation of drowning.” Finding and retaining top talent has never been harder for small businesses. Research indicates that Read more about Employee Orientation: Are You Onboarding or Waterboarding Your New Employees?[…]

“TED Talks” written by Chris Anderson I love TED talks. TED.com has been my favorite source for inspiration, education, and personal growth now for many years. My favorite TED talks include Seth Godin, Simon Sinek, Daniel Pink… the list goes on and on. The President of TED, Chris Anderson, has recently written a great book Read more about Book Review: TED Talks[…]

“If you are not genuinely pained by the risk involved in your strategic choices, it’s not much of a strategy.”  – Reed Hastings, Netflix How often do you get “stuck” on a big strategic decision? If you are like many small business owners, the answer is “too often”. It may be a key employee hire, Read more about J Curves: How to Map a Big Strategic Decision[…]

In the key area of employee retention, the “stay interview” has become my new favorite tactic. The concept is simple: “What would it take for you to stay?” When do we normally pose this question to a key employee? Of course, when they have announced their plans to leave our company. In the exit interview, as a Read more about The Stay Interview: What Would It Take For You To “Stay”?[…]

If you know Tim Fulton at all, you know three things… he loves tennis, small cars, and goals. Growing up in the Fulton household, there were two holiday season guarantees – there would be yard work on Thanksgiving and your New Year’s goals will be analyzed and documented before the first week of January. For better Read more about How Strategic Are Your Personal Goals?[…]

Patrick Lencioni has always been one of my favorite authors and his newest book, “The Ideal Team Player” was a most enjoyable read. Lencioni’s past best-sellers have included “Five Dysfunctions of a Team”, “Death by Meeting”, and “Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars”. I have participated on a variety of different teams in my lifetime. Baseball Read more about Book Review: The Ideal Team Player[…]

Last month, nationally recognized speaker and best-selling author Barbara Babbit Kaufman spoke to one of my Vistage groups about “Attitude”. Among her “Ten Tips for Maintaining a Great Attitude” was to create a personal mantra. A mantra is an abbreviated (3-5 words) personal mission statement. Kaufman suggested to my members that a personal mantra helps Read more about See It, Hit It[…]

I often times receive my best training in customer service in the most unlikely situations. My 6-year- old son, Taylor, had been pressuring me for weeks to take him to a baseball game. At the time, I was still on strike as a major league baseball fan. Hence, I decided to take him to see the local Read more about Lessons Learned at the Ballpark[…]

I believe that one of the most important roles of the small business executive is “Scorekeeper”. You are responsible for making sure that score is being kept in your business and that your team members are seeing the numbers they need to see. My experience is that many small business owners see monthly financial statements Read more about Five Financial Numbers for Every Small Business Executive[…]

Best-selling author Adam Grant has done it again. In his first book, “Give and Take”, Grant gave the reader a provocative and refreshing perspective on how some people give of themselves and how people take from others. In his newest book, “Originals”, takes a similar look at how non-conformists, “trailblazers” as he calls them, change Read more about Book Review: Originals[…]