Radically shifting markets, a plethora of price challenging products,

ever changing technology, and the unrelenting hand of time are making the aging owners of small to midsize (SMB) companies vulnerable. For many, this is a new and uncomfortable mindset. Fiercely independent, hard working, and resilient, a significant number are reluctant to consider...

Handing over or inheriting control of a family business requires planning

...

A shared vision of the preferred future is present in successful change

initiatives.  People need to know the link between your “master brand” and proposed changes.  For example, Nike’s JUST DO IT might be the north star used to align people. Preparation must happen before the actual planning begins.  Following are six foundation...

Trade Show marketing is a tough nut to crack.  CEOs usually know when

Now that expectations have been set for participation in the show, the next step is to keep expenses in line. If you had a gross profit margin of 50%, you’d know that $36,000 in revenue will produce $18,000 in gross profit. Therefore, you should limit the total cash outlay for the show to $5,000.  That way, you will enhance the probability of producing...

Why do so many business strategies fail? From IT implementations and acquisitions

to process management initiatives and customer focus projects, the outcomes are distressingly similar. If you want to play the odds, bet on failure.  Most business leaders have fresh ideas, good intentions and a willingness to take action. So why is it so hard to turn...

Everybody has the same amount of time.  The real issue isn’t time…

it’s about commitments. You can’t “manage” time.  It is what it is and does what it does, regardless of what we do.  We can however, manage commitments, promises and our agreements.  Your organizational life is composed of making, managing, modifying, and keeping or...

If HR wants to “earn a seat at the strategic table,” it must justify

Recognize that most small to medium-sized businesses don’t have much HR expertise. How many of those folks wearing the HR hat have made the effort to obtain their PHR or SPHR designation—the benchmark of a “serious” HR executive? A company without this expertise would be wise to seek it out, either through a part-time consultant or HR executive...

“To start a business, the CEO must be everything.  To grow a business

Radically shifting markets, a plethora of price challenging products, ever changing technology, and the unrelenting hand of time are making the aging owners of small to mid size businesses (SMBs) vulnerable. For many of them, this is a new and uncomfortable mindset. Fiercely independent, hard working, and resilient, the majority of SMB owners  have...

An indigenous American, Chief Seattle (1780 – 1866) gave a widely

publicized speech arguing in favor of ecological responsibility. His iconic quote, “important decisions should be made through the eyes of seven generations—from great grandfather to great grandchild” has retained its appeal because a critically important question is left...

Today’s workplace doesn’t look like it did just a few years

ago — yet many people are operating from an industrial-age mindset that is no longer reality based. Instead of looking at their job as a business relationship, they view coworkers as family. Instead of questioning their company’s direction and assessing the capability of...