Many things have been said about leadership some good and some bad, but the one thing that has stuck with me has been the awareness of leadership. Now when I say awareness, I don’t be mean micro-managing your staff or applying dual layers of approval. I mean awareness of the atmosphere you create in your company. Different companies will have different cultures, but at the very … [Read more...]
A Pay for Performance Twist
In a conversation with a trusted advisor this morning, I had a rather revolutionary suggestion thrown at me. We were complaining about employee motivation and work quality solutions and how none of them actually seemed to address the motivation and reward head on. My advisor threw out the suggestion "what if people were only paid for the kind of work they completed? It would … [Read more...]
Komen and Planned Parenthood: The end of a marriage
This week women’s rights took a big blow with the dissolution of the partnership between the Susan G. Komen charity and Planned Parenthood. One side says its politics; the other side says the rules of the relationship have changed. Sounds like a scene from divorce court right? Well here’s what we can learn from this disintegrating relationship. Communicate perceived … [Read more...]
Lessons from J.C. Penney
Earlier this week, J.C. Penney announced that it was going to undergo a major overhaul in the way it does business and communicates with its customers. As we watch this change unfold and wait for customer reactions, here are some of the more positive things business owners can pull from the strategy. Simplify, Simplify Simplify This is the best part of the strategy, even … [Read more...]
Thank You Ma’am
Last night I read a wonderful article in Entrepreneur about giving praise to your staff. It was wonderfully written, but I thought the article was missing the most important element of praising your staff-sincerity. So with that in mind I wanted to highlight the reasons why sincerity should be included in your praise package. A sincere thank you is a million times better … [Read more...]
A Leadership Perspective
I had a new experience as a juror this week and as we were deliberating one of my fellow jurors made a poignant statement. He quoted the Blackstone ratio and said ‘it is better than 10 guilty persons escape, than one innocent suffer’. Bringing those experiences back to the office made me think about how we lead our staff; some use leadership as a punitive advantage and others … [Read more...]
Sears: A Post Mortem
Sears has been on a steady decline for quite some time and they have just released news that they have a new merchandising officer. They have lured Brookstone CEO, Ron Boire, to fill this invented position under the guise that a focus on merchandise will help the struggling brand. We can learn from some of Sears’s mistakes and here’s how. Find your voice and stay true to … [Read more...]
Verizon Are You Listening?
As of January 15th Verizon will start charging its customers a $2.00 convenience fee for paying their bills on-line via a credit card. Now as a Verizon customer myself for my home and business, let me address all the ways that this situation was mishandled and hopefully give a summary of how customers don't want to be treated. Don’t spring change on your … [Read more...]
The Bitter Entrepreneur
I’ve been sitting around wondering what to write about since the usual business topics have been covered and I think I’ve come to a great topic, the bitter entrepreneur. I promise that I’m not being facetious, but at one time or another we have all been this person. You know the one at the networking event or trade show that is sulking in the corner wondering why another … [Read more...]
Lessons from Avon
This week Avon CEO Andrea Jung was released from her position and stock prices soared. The company is trying to find its footing and the CEO was the unequivocal target. Is that a bad thing? Is there anything that Jung can take from this experience? No woman is an island The first thing that jumps out at me is the fact that Jung had no COO. I believe that this fact alone … [Read more...]