SEPTEMBER FEATURED ARTICLE Is Your Company the Cosbys or the Red Sox? Your organizational culture has a dramatic impact on your success as a small business. Most new businesses start off with a family-like culture. Everyone trying to get along. Emphasis on survival and continuity. Think of great television families like the Waltons, the Cosbys, and Read more about Default title[…]
AUGUST FEATURED ARTICLE 10 Ways to Keep Your Superstars… Before They Leave You “What’s more, hiring, measured as a share of total employment, is in high gear; monthly job gains are regularly topping 200,000; and more workers now have the confidence to quit one job to seek a better one.” – Kiplinger Letter 8.8.14 Remember Read more about Default title[…]
JULY FEATURED ARTICLE Are You Spending Too Much Time on Employee Motivation? There seems to be much attention currently in the business press on employee motivation. Rightfully so given the recent data that suggests that fewer than 20% of employees feel “engaged” in their work. That’s a staggering statistic. However, one of the biggest mistakes I Read more about Default title[…]
JUNE FEATURED ARTICLE It was a “Happy” Conference As nearly 200 guests at this year’s Small Business MattersConference made their way into the hall, they heard these happy, if less than grammatical, lyrics by from the Pharrell Williams song “Happy” — “Can’t nothing bring me down, My level’s too high.” And what a high it was throughout the Read more about Default title[…]
APRIL FEATURED ARTICLE Three Reasons to Host a Tribal Meeting On May 16th , I am hosting my 2nd annual Small Business Matters Conference. This is a tribal meeting. Marketing guru Seth Godin suggests in his best-selling book “Tribes” that we are all chief of our own “Tribe”. My tribe includes Vistage members, GrowSmart participants, colleagues, and Read more about Default title[…]
MARCH FEATURED ARTICLE Imagine Your Business Has Disappeared In the GrowSmart program when we discuss “exit strategy”, I like to ask the group the following question: Imagine you knew for a fact that your business was going to go away in six months. Disappear. Cease to exist. Gone. What would be different in the management Read more about Default title[…]
FEBRUARY FEATURED ARTICLE It’s a Failure to Communicate Last month I was stuck in my car overnight during SnowJam in Atlanta. I was sitting in my car on I-285 from 6p until 9a the next morning. Fortunately I had a full tank of gas, a warm coat, and limited food and water. It was a Read more about Default title[…]
NOVEMBER FEATURED ARTICLE What’s Your Why? One of my favorite TED Talks is Simon Sinek speaking on “Start With The Why”. I have shared this presentation with hundreds of GrowSmart participants and many of my Vistage members. In his “talk”, Sinek suggests that “people don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.” This Read more about Default title[…]
SEPTEMBER FEATURED ARTICLE Should You Fire Your Cheerleader? It depends. A year ago I wrote an article about Terrorists. You may recall that according to the Welch Grid, a terrorist employee gives you above average performance and below average behavior. The question then was whether they should be fired. The easy answer was “of course”. Read more about Default title[…]
AUGUST FEATURED ARTICLE Social Media Explained Much like many other technological trends, I am behind the times with regards to social media. Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, I find myself scratching my head at all of the hoopla. After speaking with many other small business owners, I was surprised to find that I was not Read more about Default title[…]