I just arrived back home after delivering a breakout session on brainpower for Communicatiion ‘10, The District 7 Toastmasters Spring Conference at eh Oregon Convention Center. Because the introductory keynote ran a bit over, I had to cut our session short, so thought it would be helpful to post an outline for you, since we did rather race to [...]

I found this fascinating quote today:

If your job requires you to lead meetings, brainstorming sessions, or problem solving gatherings of any kind, chances are good that most of the people you come in contact with are left-brain dominant: analytical, logical, linear folks with a passion for results and a huge fear that the meeting you [...]

The best book on branding I’ve read is “What is Branding?” by Matthew Healey. I recommend it be your reference book on branding.  Every graphic designer, product designer, artist, and business person should have a copy of this book and look through it regularly.
Branding is more than a logo, more than design, more than….listen to [...]

What does an executive performance coach really do?
 
People hire physical trainers for a number of reasons: perhaps to lose weight, build muscle, gain overall health, rehabilitate from an injury, train for a specific event, such as a triathlon, or work on a specific skill (as a professional athlete would).
 
Great leaders in business hire executive performance [...]

Those of you who know me know I don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t take drugs, don’t usually eat meat, work out on a regular basis, love hiking, used to be a ballet dancer, ran marathons, love yoga and Pilates, and so on.  At one place they used to call me the “Tofu Queen”, and for about 15 [...]

If a job could talk, what would it say about itself?
What would it say are the behaviors, key motivators, and personal skills necessary for superior performance?
 
Job Benchmarking is a process that tells you that very thing, about any position in your organization. 
 
80% of turnover is caused by bad hiring decisions, and a job analysis is the most [...]

Look at your business for a moment.  How can you increase your viability?  Even in the largest companies, there are areas where we are “flying by the seat of our pants”, as my mother used to say. 

Are you measuring what your competitors are measuring? What ratios are they looking at, that perhaps you are not? [...]

   Growing your Business without Hiring Anyone New 
Yesterday we talked about Strategy, Today we’ll talk about Efficiency, and Tomorrow we’ll talk Viabillity
 
Part Two: Efficiency
 
·       Systems, Processes, and Standardized Procedures. When these are not in place, or inadequate or outdated,  your organization is wasting so much time.  The average worker spends up to 20% of [...]

 
March is the month we are focused on Selection and Retention of Top Talent.  However, many of you are in a position right now where you can’t add staff, and you need to increase profit without hiring. 
 

 
I have written a three-part series for smaller-sized businesses on how to grow your profit without growing your staff.  The three [...]

First, let me introduce Judith to you.  She is an amazing woman I have become friends with, and I love reading her blog.  On Monday, while I was in a class on How to Counsel People who suffer from Co-Dependency, she was writing this blog post.  I found it ironically serendipitous, so I asked her [...]