How to Immediately Improve Every Communication Effort

Have you ever noticed that when some people write or speak you immediately resonate with them, while at other times, with other communicators you don’t? Have you ever asked yourself why that is? Now, while there are a lot of answers to that question, there is one fundamental mistake that I observe most communicators make—and [...]

Read more

Are You Sure You’re Focused on What Makes You Money?

In your business, when do you actually make money? Is it … When you’re coming up with an idea? When you’re delivering your service or product? When you’re coaching an employee? When you’re writing an email? When you’re doing a performance review plan? When you’re in a meeting? When you’re working on your budget? When [...]

Read more

To Grow Faster, Practice Half-Time

No matter who you are or what industry you’re in, you already have certain expectations about how long it’s going to take to accomplish something (and again, it doesn’t matter what that thing is). How long it takes to… Write a letter Create a marketing campaign Design a new strategic plan Prepare for a board [...]

Read more

Why You Need to Care More About Culture If You Want to Grow Your Business

Most business and organizational leaders don’t care enough about culture—and that’s a huge mistake. To find out why, you’ll want to watch the following video I just created for you. In general, whenever a business becomes plateaued or falls into decline, the natural inclination of the leader is to fix it. And the first two [...]

Read more

You Don’t Have a Business If …

If you were completing that statement, what words would you use? You don’t have a business if … If you’re a slave to it. If you’re the only one doing everything. If your revenues don’t exceed your expenses. If you’re constantly on the hunt for new customers. If you haven’t systemized it. If you can’t [...]

Read more

Marketing Success: Two Simple Tweaks That Can Change Everything

How often have your created a product or service, marketed it, and then been disappointed by the results? If you’re like most owners, entrepreneurs and service providers the answer is, “More often than I care to admit.” Since that experience is such a common occurrence, you and I ought to ask ourselves, “Why is that? [...]

Read more

Is It Time to Say, “No!” to More People?

You want more customers, right? That’s a good thing. The only problem is that most owners, entrepreneurs and service professionals try to solve that problem by trying to be all things to all people. “You want what? Of course we can do that!” For example, this year I have a number of clients who happen [...]

Read more

What Standard Are You Setting for Your People?

As you know, people do what people see. We can argue about whether that’s fair or not, but fairness is irrelevant to this conversation. Your people (whether you call them your staff, direct reports or employees) are, for good or for bad, a reflection of you. So, based on your people and how they work/behave, [...]

Read more

Three Keys to Creating a Team of A Players

If you were to list the members of your team on a spreadsheet and then place a letter grade next to their name (A, B, C, D, or F), how many A players would you have? If you were then to divide that number (your total number of A players) by the total number of [...]

Read more

The Cost of Leadership

If given the choice between buying a book entitled, “The Cost of Leadership” or “How to Be a Highly Successful Leader in Just Twenty Minutes a Day,” which would you buy? Based on current book sales, the later would cream the former. However, when it comes to real leadership, the former creams the later. It’s [...]

Read more