Ascending to a role as a leader -- whether that is in a company, community, or organization -- can be an opportunity to make a significant impact. But simply assuming a title as leader doesn't do it. You don't create significant impact just because you occupy a role or wear a title. You make the significant impact because of your strategic actions that inspire, empower, and … [Read more...]
How to Become a More Strategic Leader
Great business leaders understand that leading an enterprise in the direction of continuous growth once it has caught fire can take herculean effort. Inevitably, every organization—from startups to the well established—faces the tenuous transition point where it must be willing to untangle from deeply embedded routines and consistently make core decisions that result in … [Read more...]
3 Key Areas to Improve Your Business
The small percentage of entrepreneurs who succeed know this: If your business is going to succeed, you must focus on constant improvements. Small incremental changes in your business are the key to succeeding in business. Following are three key areas every business should focus on: 1. Customer Acquisition Getting new customers is tough for most businesses. Getting new … [Read more...]
Developing High Performing Talent
The most valuable asset of any successful business is the human talent that executes day to day operations. Remove the individual team members, and you invalidate the role of leader or manager. Leadership becomes a title with no purpose or usefulness. The effort and labor of the employee – their output – correlates with increases in revenue. Highly qualified and trained … [Read more...]
5 Best Ways to Irritate Your Employees and Paralyze Production
Whether you manage employees from one to one hundred, you’ve probably said and done things that you wish you hadn’t. Take heart; there is no perfect leader, just as there’s no perfect employee; but there are perfect ways of irritating your staff members, forcing the best ones to leave and paralyzing productivity. And you’re probably already doing them. So before you continue … [Read more...]
There’s No “I” in Team, But There Should Be
I’m just going to come right out and say it. Being a team player is passé. Long the mantra of the corporate world, all employers babble about hiring a team player; every employee wants to be a team player (or feels like they have to say they’re a team player on paper). Well, I’m throwing it out there and saying the one thing you’re not supposed to say in the office. I’m done … [Read more...]
You Cannot Baby Anyone into Being Successful
Sometimes, I speak to people who have dabbled at entrepreneurship and when you ask them why they did not succeed, they start to tell me about all the reasons why someone else is responsible for their failure and I listen in quietly. On the other hand, some days I speak to business owners who are building a team and trying to accelerate the growth of that team and they are … [Read more...]
Entrepreneurship – A Lonely Quest?
Undoubtedly, entrepreneurs are traditionally seen as singular in their role---the founder, the lone-ranger, the decider of all, the solitary leader. That’s a tough place to inhabit and it sounds very lonely! As they say, “It’s tough at the top!” However, in this day and age, there is no excuse to exist in isolation, even if you’re running a one-person entity or small … [Read more...]
Handling Conflict on Your Team
It is inevitable that discord among team members will arise from time to time, and stepping in to tackle and resolve conflict ranks pretty low on most managers’ list of enjoyable activities. But unhandled friction erodes morale and productivity, and can turn even top performers into stressed out B-team players. When disharmony is affecting your group, you may be tempted to … [Read more...]
Leadership Redemption
So, you screwed up. Royally. You might have let down a team member, missed a major deadline, dropped an important meeting, or lost a critical sale. You feel helpless, hopeless and confused. You just don’t know what to do, though your mind is giving you a lot of conflicting guidance. The panicked side of you wants to overreact. It’s telling you to express your emotions and … [Read more...]