I’ve been re-reading Ben Franklin’s Autobiography for the “umpteenth” time.  In his long journey of self-improvement, he came up with his own 13 “virtues”, which I will list below.  This would be a great set of values for any company or employee! It comes from a man who was not of any religion, but established his own moral [...]

  This morning at our weekly MAC Toastmasters Meeting I was asked to give a short recap of my Saturday breakout session “Pumping Mental Iron”. One of the things I didn’t get to do on Saturday, since my time was shortened (read my last blog post) from 50 minutes to about 35-40 minutes, was to do [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

   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 When these are not in place, or inadequate or outdated,  your organization is wasting so much time.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 [...]

Recently at a continuing education class on Co-Dependency, I was given a handout I found hilarious.  It is most funny if you are familiar with the twelve steps of any recovery program, which are, by the way, not just good recovery steps, but excellent steps to follow in daily life in your business and personal [...]

last night I watched the premiere of a new show, right after the Super Bowl.  It was called “Undercover Boss”.  Another on the long list of ubiquitous reality tv shows.  Truthfully, I expected to be turning it off after a few minutes.  That did not happen.  In fact, I was amazed, impressed, and am a [...]

“OMG, Here she goes again with the EQ stuff!  I’m focused on the bottom line and don’t have time do deal with all this ’soft stuff’…”
I know, but here’s the deal. It’s all soft stuff.  Yes, that’s what I said.  It’s all soft stuff.  Just imagine, you show up at your office, and find out all [...]