Setting goals gives us something to motivate and rally our team around
If you’re burned out at the thought of another daunting year and trying to plan, you’re not alone. Trying to figure out what will happen and how it will affect your organization seems like a crapshoot. Yet many leaders who recognize that they need to change still fail to understand how to make the necessary…
Could improve your performance by 10 per cent and double your profits
Imagine slaving away for years in your own business only to find out that it isn’t worth anything. I regularly meet with business owners who ask me how much their business is worth and I have to tell them the disappointing news that it’s actually worth very little. The reason their business isn’t worth anything…
Naming the year inspires and motivates; a new year's resolution often ends in frustration
As a child, I remember my parents and their friends gathering on New Year’s Eve and talking about their resolutions for the next year. Some of those resolutions might have been: quit smoking; plant a bigger garden; get the kids to school on time; drink more beer and less hard liquor; have a bigger pile…
Are you a dominant or conscientious or steady leader, or an influencer?
Thanks to the women’s suffrage movement and their demands for equal work for women, I was at home last week while Margaret was slaving away at the university. Because she’s only in her 11th year at the university, she has to work until Christmas Eve. To make matters worse, Margaret was worried – as she…
Treat them as adults
John reached out to me because he had heard we were able to help leaders like him reduce their stress and have better outcomes. John’s problem was that his company was growing quickly. While his company had been around for 20 years, the size of the business had tripled in the last three years, and…
You need to increase profitability, get the business to run without you, start planning and be creative
Forty-one per cent of businesses in North America are owned by baby boomers between 55 and 75 years old. These people are actively thinking about retirement and how they will get their money out of the business. Research shows that, in many cases, up to 90 per cent of a business owners’ equity is tied…
Put as much effort into the implementation as you did into the imagination
Imagine spending days in a room with people you may not care to know that well and finding out later it was all a waste of time because the plan you decided upon is never implemented. This happens after many strategic planning sessions. Plans work when they engage your staff and create a framework that…
Focus on existing customers, reach past customers, increase prices, work on conversion rates and change
James sat down with us and put his head in his hands. As one of our partners noted later, he seemed like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. His company was doing millions of dollars in business but was struggling to stay open. James said he needed to come up with some…
Labour shortages, inflation and supply challenges are forcing businesses to make serious decisions
The steely blade of the hunting knife at my throat made me swiftly take stock of the seriousness of the situation and my immediate options. At the age of 26, I was selling goods that included hunting knives from an outdoor stall when a patron grabbed a knife and held it to my neck, demanding…
Three reasons your staff might be quitting and what to do about it
A pandemic of quitting seems to be rolling across the nation. This has compounded the difficulty many organizations have faced over the past year finding and retaining good staff. Every week I hear a new story of companies losing what they thought were loyal staff and struggling to find quality replacements. There seem to be…