Category Archives: Leadership

Getting Action From Your Team: COLLABORATION

Managers’ big concern is attracting and retaining employees. A collaborative culture is prerequisite to engaging and retaining employees. There are three keys to collaboration

Getting Action: Attitude

Do you consider all telephone calls from sales people a waste of time or do you examine calls for merit? Do you get defensive or impatient when an employee complains about an assignment or do you see an opportunity to improve the work environment? We all have beliefs and attitudes and they all have at […]

Overcoming Inaction Through Leadership

When I was first promoted to a supervisor, my reports suffered through my zest to do work quickly and perfectly. Through commitment and years of scattered workshops, I changed what came natural. I learned to communicate and collaborate with people different than me. I learned to keep my eye on the goal and not be […]

Overcoming Inaction: Success Through Goals

Nobody plans to fail; but of those that fail, 97% fail to plan. Is the statement trite? Its impact is greatly dependent on the listener’s desire to succeed. Goals and planning is a critical area most prone to inaction. This can be due to a strong ego that believes intuition can solve problems more quickly […]

Overcoming Inaction: Creating Value

How do you set prices? Do you put a markup on your direct costs? Do you estimate the tangible product benefit for your customers and price for a fair return? Or does your accountant keep an Ouija board under their desk? Successful companies focus on perceived value; which is defined as the premium a buyer […]

Overcoming Inaction: Driving Your Success

If I were to declare to this audience that it is the role of every manager to capitalize on strengths and shore up weakness, I would no doubt see and hear much indifference. But what distinguishes successful managers is the skill to identify which weaknesses are important to address. Organizations stagnate or even fail when managers […]

Developing Your Successor

Whether the issue is preparing a business for sale or enabling the next generation to take over, managers increasingly find themselves wondering where the future leadership for an organization will come from. They may wonder, “When will Jim finally step up and take some leadership around here?” or “Will Susan be willing and able to […]

Executives Bonding with Sales

Perhaps, there is a reason that so many corporate CEOs come from the Sales organization. I have observed that successful businesses have strong teamwork between the Executive Staff and the Sales group. Everybody in a business understands that they are dependent on Sales to provide a predictable, profitable stream of orders. Yet, a surprising number […]

Will They Remember You?

  The essence of making a good business introduction is connecting with the other person. The great poet, Maya Angelou, captures this notion succinctly:  “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” While it is important to tell […]