One of the more complicated tasks for a business owner is being able to correctly classify the people working for you. As a one man shop it it’s fairly easy, when you pull someone in it is a temporary arrangement. As a larger operation, it gets a bit tougher. The Department of Labor and the IRS have just made this issue more complicated. The Department of Labor and the IRS … [Read more...]
HP Headed to Hotel California?
HP has made some controversial decisions lately, but is Meg Whitman a great strategic move or the kiss of death for this once great tech company? HP announced Whitman’s appointment on September 22, 2011 but given the public comments, customers seem to think it’s a bad choice. It’s my stance that HP usually leaps before it looks and I am not sure that I am sold on Whitman as … [Read more...]
The Leadership Toll
In the recent months we’ve seen posturing from both sides of the political line and constituents everywhere are expressing frustration at the lack of leadership portrayed by party representatives. With all this frustration, what can we learn s entrepreneurs? People are always watching As I watched the President give his jobs speech the thing that struck me the most was … [Read more...]
The USPS Lesson
The post office is nearly bankrupt, the cost cutting is not working. We are in danger of losing a service that is vital to many small businesses. So while other business blogs are looking at this situation and wondering what went wrong, I’m asking “what can we learn?” The postal situation is not unique and what it highlights is how the wrong type of organizational culture can … [Read more...]
The Cost of Business
In our current situation many companies are cackling about how much money they have saving on services and are doing their fair share to keep pushing prices down. On the surface this savings looks good to many companies, but as soon as the economy turns around these services are going to go back to the increased costs they deserve and then what? Well in my years I have observed … [Read more...]
You Are What You Say You Are….
Leadership is an elusive quality and few people ever really get it, but as the figurehead of a company you are supposed to know what it means to be a leader and a motivator even if it wasn’t taught to you. In my industry I see a lot of individuals who were really good at their chosen profession and that skill got them thrust into the management arena. Leadership is an elusive … [Read more...]
The Leper in the Room: Workplace Violence
As a business owner I have noticed that entrepreneurs talk about a range of topics and we share some pretty personal details; what doesn’t happen is the talk about violence. We speak about managing teams and dealing with problem performers, but we very rarely speak about what happens when those situations go horribly wrong. To get to the bottom of this I got some advice from … [Read more...]
Mom’s The Boss
As an entrepreneur and a mother you need a steel resolve and almost epic determination. Running a business is a very scary thing and the unique challenges presented by motherhood have a tendency to further complicate an already complicated situation. This is a situation close to my heart, so I am always on the lookout for companies and websites that support mother … [Read more...]
Can a CEO be brutally honest?
Can a CEO be brutally honest? Everyone from sales clerks to CEO’s have been talking about the ‘burning platform memo’ from Nokia’s CEO Stephen Elop. In the memo, Elop points out where the company is failing compared to its competitors and effectively asks what the staff plans to do about it. ( Read the full memo here, here.) In the memo, Elop takes a hard and critical look … [Read more...]
When employee empowerment goes too far
Today I shake my finger at FedEx, because they should know better. Earlier this week, I was sending a laptop in for service and I needed to schedule a pick up. Everything was going great until I needed to change some information on the delivery bill. It turns out that I couldn’t make the changes on the website, so I called their customer service line. Well customer service was … [Read more...]