Tired of Meetings Going Nowhere? Give This a Try.
Picture this scene: A group of mid/upper level managers have been in a meeting for over 90 minutes. The discussion has been going around and around on a particular contentious … Continue reading
Why Great Strategies Fail
The benefit of experience is that you start to recognize familiar patterns in the ways organizations behave. A common one is the borderline obsession companies have with strategy & growth. … Continue reading
The Three Kinds of Managers
What kind of manager or leader are you? How often do we honestly ask ourselves that question? From a very straightforward point of view, and in spite of what all … Continue reading
Can Managers Do Their Own Recruiting?
When LinkedIn recently announced its membership had cracked the 200 million mark (up a whopping 39% over the year before), it not only proclaimed its arrival as a leading social … Continue reading
9 Huge Tech Waves to Ride Now
The incredible rise of new technologies and the wired universe unfolding around us are creating endless possibilities for companies to radically shift business models, accelerate innovation or simply outperform the … Continue reading
Open Office Spaces and What Lies Ahead
You’ve probably noticed that the trend these past few years has been towards open work spaces. Gone are the individual offices and even the oft derided cubicle. Drywalls have been … Continue reading
How to Spot the Insecure Manager
We’ve all had to work with insecure people who take credit for others’ work or who can’t help drawing attention to themselves at the expense of others around them. Sometimes … Continue reading
What Marketing Can Learn From Portfolio Management
Business people, and especially marketers, are always hatching new ideas, programs or campaigns. Its just what they do. Unfortunately, we live in a world of finite resources – and budgets. … Continue reading
A Better Way to Gauge Performance
Employee rankings and performance evaluations are serious business. They are as difficult to do well as they are important for an organization’s development. Seems every company has its own unique … Continue reading
How to Know if You are Still Relevant
Survival in the business world is normally tied to one’s value to the organization. Not a year goes by when companies aren’t tightening their belts and asking more from each … Continue reading
Why Being Courteous in Business Isn’t Frivolous
They say its the small things that make all the difference. But is being courteous in business really such a small thing? The other day I get an e-mail out … Continue reading
You Won’t Find the Answers in The Office
They say that visiting houseguests are like fish: after a week they stink up the place. The same could be said about marketers in the office. You see, marketers have … Continue reading
Business Integration and the Acquisition Hangover
You can’t open a business journal these days without reading of at least one business buying another. This happens so frequently and all around the world that it feels like … Continue reading
When the Going Gets Tough. The Tough Visit Their Customers.
You come to the office and there it is waiting in your Inbox. The familiar message from senior management announcing that once again, all “non essential” travel is on hold … Continue reading
So You Want to Be a “World-Class” Organization?
To become a genuine world-class organization you have to make some difficult choices. Picking where you will be located or based out of is a big one. After all, it … Continue reading
When Does an MBA Make Sense?
I’ve often been approached by people interested in earning an MBA. Should I get one? Is the school important? Will it make me a better leader or manager? Truth be … Continue reading
When Life Knocks You Down, Don’t Get Bitter. Get Better.
Millions around the world have been hit hard by an economic recession which has been plaguing the world since at least 2008. Jobs, industries and even entire professions have disappeared … Continue reading
What a Disrupted College System Means for Business
The forces of the internet and digital age are at it again. They are sharpening their knives and preparing to take on a new “fat cow” industry. Like the music, … Continue reading
Now More Than Ever. Why The World Needs Liberal Arts Education.
What is the one thing you believe in that nobody else does? That’s the question that was presented to Chad Dickerson in a video interview. He eloquently pointed out that … Continue reading
Blogging Strategy: Strip Tease vs. The Full Monty
I’ve seen a couple of articles recently which called into question the benefits of revealing too much in a blog. As if putting it all out there was the professional … Continue reading
Is Inbound Marketing Just Another Passing Fad?
With all the ever-growing attention being devoted to digital marketing and social media these days, it begs the question of whether this is a passing trend or whether it is … Continue reading
A Powerful Business Lesson from Cajun Country
A few years ago I was introduced to the word “Lagniappe” (pronounced Lah-Nyap). And just like Mark Twain in 1883, who described it as a word “worth traveling to New … Continue reading
Why International Business is Different
Doing business internationally is one of life’s great joys and challenges. It is immensely enriching but it is neither for the faint of heart nor for those who are by … Continue reading
How Much is Too Much Spending?
In marketing as in life, there is a natural tendency to get greedy and think that more is always better. It often seems that anything worth doing, is often worth … Continue reading
Writing is the “New” Marketing Skill
It is easy to think that the business world today runs almost exclusively on spreadsheets, e-mails and PowerPoint presentations. The business memo has faded away from most organizations and even … Continue reading
5 Marketing Trends to Make You More Successful
Every new season is chock full of top 10 lists and prognostications about what the future holds. I must confess that I have read a fair share of these and wanted … Continue reading
A Coach for Moi?
The last decade has seen the emergence of a relatively new and growing profession, namely the personal or career coach. The range and quality of services they provide as well … Continue reading
The Perils of E-mail
The last 20 years have seen the meteoric rise of e-mail in the workplace. It now occupies such a central role in our daily lives that one has to wonder … Continue reading
10 Critical Success Factors for More Effective Presentations
I hate PowerPoint. Yet I use it almost every day. Seems it has become one of life’s necessary evils. The common denominator we all rely on to convey our ideas … Continue reading
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