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Helping business owners grow their companies and transition with confidence, added value and complete control.
Category Archives: Leadership
Generational Differences and Identity Politics
Generational differences are a hot topic for organizational behaviorists. Is this a real issue, or is it just the current management fad? “Never in history have we seen four generations together in the workplace.” That line starts thousands of articles … Continue Reading
Posted in Economic Trends, Entrepreneurship, Exit Planning, Leadership, Managing Employees, Strategy and Planning
Tagged Baby Boomers, Boomer Bust, business, business ownership, business planning, business strategy, economy, employee performance, employees, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, exit planning, exit strategies, health care costs, health care reform, hiring, management, medicare, politics, small business, small business advice, social security
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Employee Gratitude isn’t Loyalty
Most of us have heard something like this expression of employee gratitude. “I’ve enjoyed working here. You taught me so much, and you’ve always treated me well. But the company down the road is paying a lot more for people with my … Continue Reading
Posted in Entrepreneurship, Incentives, Leadership, Managing Employees, Uncategorized
Tagged business, business ownership, business planning, business strategy, employee performance, employees, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, hiring, leadership, management, new business, small business, small business advice
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Is Your Business Built on Individual Heroics?
Great employees are a wonderful gift, but individual heroics aren’t healthy for your business. Someday, you will start thinking about leaving the business. Perhaps you already do. When you begin planning for your transition, what will your company systems sound like … Continue Reading
Posted in Building Value, Entrepreneurship, Exit Planning, Leadership, Managing Employees, Selling a business, Strategy and Planning
Tagged Baby Boomers, business, business brokerage, business ownership, business planning, business strategy, employee performance, employees, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, exit planning, exit strategies, leadership, management, selling a business, small business, small business advice
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What is Your CEO Job Description?
On occasion, a business owner client will ask me if I have a CEO job description. I’m sure such exist in large corporations, but for an owner-managed company it’s a bit vague. The simple (and usual) answer is that the … Continue Reading
Posted in Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Managing Employees, Strategy and Planning
Tagged Baby Boomers, business ownership, business planning, business strategy, employee performance, employees, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, leadership, management, sales management, small business, small business advice
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Employee Peer Review: The Internal Market
There are various approaches to employee peer review. Comprehensive multi-level feedback, top-down and bottom-up comparisons, and even the lightening fast Stoplight 360 I wrote about here a few years ago. In many instances, however, the most powerful rating system is … Continue Reading
Employees Who Make Bad Choices
Employees who make bad choices in their personal lives usually create problems in the workplace. Should you take their issues outside of the business into consideration when hiring or assigning responsibility? The legal answer of course, is “no.” Employers are … Continue Reading
Posted in Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Managing Employees, Strategy and Planning
Tagged Baby Boomers, business, business ownership, business planning, business strategy, employee performance, employees, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, leadership, management, promotion, small business, small business advice
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Employee Experience: Is Bigger Better?
Small businesses provide much of the initial employee experience. We take younger folks and teach them decent work habits like showing up every day, being on time, and working to deadlines. As owners, our personal skills may not be sufficient. We … Continue Reading
Posted in Business Perspectives, John's Opinions, Leadership, Managing Employees, Strategy and Planning
Tagged Baby Boomers, business, business ownership, business planning, business strategy, employee performance, employees, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, hiring, leadership, management, marketing, sales, small business, small business advice
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Is Two Weeks Fair Notice?
I formerly employed an assistant who held a Masters Degree in Human Resources. On occasion she’d say “I love working here. I’ll never quit.” Of course, as a good employer I felt an urge to reply with equal commitment, but … Continue Reading
Posted in Entrepreneurship, Incentives, Leadership, Managing Employees
Tagged Baby Boomers, business, business ownership, business planning, business strategy, employee performance, employees, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, hiring, leadership, management, small business, small business advice
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What Does HR Do?
What are the roles of a Human Resources professional in your organization? A common rule of thumb is that a company should have a dedicated HR function once it reaches 80 employees or so. This post comes from a recent meeting of … Continue Reading
Posted in Entrepreneurship, Incentives, Leadership, Managing Employees, Strategy and Planning
Tagged Baby Boomers, business ownership, business planning, business strategy, employee performance, employees, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, health care costs, hiring, leadership, management, promotion, public relations, small business, small business advice
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Small Businesses Fantasies: Service
As an evangelist for small business, I am the consumer equivalent of the locally-grown food movement. I spend as much of my discretionary income as possible with the owned-and-operated businesses in my area. As a consultant and coach to owners, I also … Continue Reading
Posted in Customer Relations, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Managing Employees, Marketing, Marketing and Sales, Sales
Tagged business ownership, business planning, employee performance, employees, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, leadership, management, marketing, media, promotion, public relations, sales, sales management, small business, small business advice
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