Leadership Thought #457 – Eight Things You Can Do To End The Year On A High Note
As we wind down another year, I thought it would be useful to share some best practices I have observed over the years by leaders who tend to end every year on a high note:
Daily Leadership Thought #174 – Success Is Open To Interpretation
In small business settings once you get past the obvious knowledge and competency screens, success decisions are most often a matter of personal choice.
Leadership Thought #461 – Success Must Be Earned
I’ve witnessed a disturbing trend lately amongst many entrepreneurs. They want to work the hours of a successful person without yet attaining actual business success. I think all this talk of work-life balance has people a bit confused. It you want to run a business that supports a flexible lifestyle, you can certainly choose working for yourself as an option, but financial success usually requires very hard work especially at the beginning. You can’t enjoy the experience of having climbed the mountain without having done the hard work to climb it in the first place. You can’t be all things to all people including yourself; you must make some tough choices about how you spend your time.
Leadership Thought #442 – A Few Basic Truths About Business
Here are a few basic truths to help ensure your success: It all starts with simple math. The formula is pretty straightforward: Revenue – Expenses = Profit. You need to sell enough of something and price it properly so that it exceeds your costs of doing business. Knowingly taking work at a loss is a […]
Leadership Thought #356 – You Need To Have Decision Making Filters
How an organization makes decisions greatly affects whether or not it will have sustained levels of success. Any company can get lucky every once in awhile, but relying on ad hoc judgments is not a good strategy. One of the most important things a leader does is make decisions. He/she must also create a culture that knows how to make sound judgments without relying too much on any one individual. In essence, you want to foster an environment where you, your management team, and other key employees use decision making filters to increase the likelihood of making the right choices.
Leadership Thought #355 – Growth Comes With Its Own Challenges
Business ownership has never been for the faint of heart. On-going change and adaptability is part of the success equation. Even when things go well there are problems you will have to navigate. As you grow, your company and you should be prepared to experience many if not all of the following issues:
Daily Leadership Thought #179 – Create Your Own Destiny
Courage still matters in business and in life. Many of us avoid the difficult decisions or talk ourselves out of taking risks. We strive for comfort where only pain and discomfort exists. It’s better to bet on yourself and your business and accept the consequences then to live in someone else’s shadow or become another fish in the pond of mediocrity.
Daily Leadership Thought #144 – Beware Of the Start-Stop-Different Syndrome
It’s easy to have a new idea. It’s much more difficult to see an existing initiative through to completion. People get bored. Results take longer than expected and cost more money than planned. Unforeseen obstacles are strewn in your path. Execution can be tedious work. Employees may want clear direction but often struggle with managing multiple responsibilities and deadlines. As a result, most organizations end up using an ad hoc management style of putting out fires and responding to external events or internal pressures as needed. They take very little control of their own destiny.
Daily Leadership Thought #104 – Spread The Wealth
Being smart with your money is an admirable quality, but being cheap or greedy is not. When you are fortunate enough to achieve some level of success make sure you spread the wealth. Remember the people who helped get you here because no one is ever successful alone.
Daily Leadership Thought #87 – Focus on The Outside (Sales) and The Inside Will Follow
Way too many leaders spend far too much time tinkering with the internal operations of their business or organization (often when their sales are stagnating or failing). The bottom line is that unless there is consistent and reliable sales activity, the internal operations will be a challenge anyway.
Daily Leadership Thought #80 – When It Comes to Goals, Less Is More
The most successful people I know don’t create long lists of goals they want to accomplish. As the saying goes, “if everything is important, than nothing really is.” Instead, they focus on a handful of objectives that will clearly advance the end results they are trying achieve in their work and personal life.
Daily Leadership Thought #63 – Be Transparent
The more people who are knowledgeable about the basic metrics of the business, the more people you have who will be able to make a connection between their work and the actual outcomes of the company. As long as you are a reasonably fair employer, they will take pride in the organization when things are going well and pitch in when you need them to make the extra effort.