“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[…]
I love the new “Settler” commercials from Direct TV. The commercials have caused me to consider the possibility that there are small business “settlers”. Business operators that continue to do business as they always have. Unwilling to change. Set in their ways. Possibly accepting less than optimal results. Here are several examples: Profitability. Are you “settling” Read more about Are you a settler?[…]
This is a question I spent much of my time pondering this past summer as I forged my way across Spain on the El Camino Santiago. When will I know when it’s time to move on? To start fresh? I have been a Vistage Chair now for over twelve years. Over 500 monthly group meetings. Read more about When is it time to go?[…]