After working with businesses of all shapes and sizes, I have come to the conclusion that there are five over-arching questions that can dictate whether your business will be successful or not. If an owner can clearly articulate the answer to these five questions, there is a reasonably good chanceRead More →
I remember a definition I once heard of auditors. It was said that they came in after the battle and shoot the wounded. (My apologies to all of the auditors out there.) Recently the term came up again. It was used in terms of a leader that comes in afterRead More →
The topic of succession planning comes up in many of my conversations with business owners. We are in the midst of the largest transfer of wealth the world has ever seen. Much of this wealth is in the form of businesses. Companies that have been formed by the boomer generationRead More →
Effective training can be the lifeblood of an organization. By training and developing your team members, you can drive greater success, increase accountability and build a stronger organization for the future. However, most companies do training wrong. I believe the best way to approach training is to feed it to employeesRead More →
According to the Servant Leader Institute (https://www.servantleadershipinstitute.com), there are nine behaviors of servant leaders. Are you putting them to work in your leadership role? I recently was exposed to this list and thought it was rather thorough. It’s different from the ten characteristics put out by Robert Greenleaf, the founderRead More →
Someone once said “Integrity isn’t a value in an of itself, but it is a value that guarantees all the other values”. I believe that is quite true. In this installment of the “quality of a leader” series, we will examine the idea of integrity. And for simplicity, I willRead More →
While we all say we work on high-performing teams, statistics prove that this is simply not the case. According to numerous studies, fewer than 20% of teams are considered “high performing”. And as many as half of all teams are considered “dysfunctional”. What is the problem with so many teams? AndRead More →
Have you ever had a great idea, and have your boss, peer or team just shut it down? I know you have. It’s happened to all of us. And the truth is, we have probably done it to others as well. In a recent podcast entitled “Uniquely Better”, Andy StanleyRead More →
Do you have dreams? I hope you do. Dreams are the beginnings of success. Every great innovation began with a dream. Pick a company that has made a big impact on the world: GE, Apple, Amazon. They began with a dream someone had. So do you have dreams? Sadly, itRead More →
Innovation is critical for growth. For companies to truly stand out in a crowded market, they must find ways to innovate. Craig Groeschel, in his leadership podcast (episode 34), shared “the innovation equation”. It’s a great model for wrapping your head around what it takes to be an innovator. TheRead More →