Author Archives: Dave Berkus

Manage your bottlenecks!

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Dave Berkus

As a manager, you have a number of critical tasks that are general to your position as opposed to specific to your industry.  These include ensuring the continued health of the organization, setting the moral compass for your stakeholders, providing … Continue reading →

Posted in Protecting the business, Surrounding yourself with talent | 2 Comments

The FAIRNESS doctrine.

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Dave Berkus

Reduce the emotion; reduce the threat of lawsuit. You’ve certainly experienced the angry outburst from an associate or employee who has just learned of an event that the person took as “unfair,” no matter how rational the explanation by the … Continue reading →

Posted in Protecting the business, Surrounding yourself with talent | 4 Comments

Contractors must really be independent!

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Dave Berkus

How many of us have “hired” independent contractors over the years, a bit worried over the gray area between employee and contractor as defined by the IRS?  I’ve experienced the results of a wrong decision, and the IRS and state … Continue reading →

Posted in Protecting the business | 8 Comments

Hone your sense of urgency!

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Dave Berkus

It is an unfortunate truism that most of us become a bit stale in our jobs after some time, even if we are most successful at it and appreciated by all who work for or with us.  It is human … Continue reading →

Posted in Growth!, Surrounding yourself with talent | 3 Comments

Avoid the office politics trap.

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Dave Berkus

It is hard to separate this kind of advice from economic lessons in running a business, when office politics can threaten a business in ways that are subtle, but sometimes just as devastating as economic shocks or continuing poor management. … Continue reading →

Posted in Depending upon others, Surrounding yourself with talent | 1 Comment

Document your tribal knowledge.

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Dave Berkus

It is not common for the CEO of a rapidly growing company to think of slowing down the furious pace enough to have each manager (including the CEO) document the job process managed, as well as see to the documentation … Continue reading →

Posted in Protecting the business, Surrounding yourself with talent | 4 Comments

Important notice to Berkonomics RSS feed readers!

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Dave Berkus

You may lose your feed immediately after this notice (March 26th, 2013) as we switch today from Feedburner to local control of your feeds. PLEASE come to https://berkonomics.com now and re-enter your email address at the RSS on the upper right … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Leave a comment

Be a leader!

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Dave Berkus

This simple statement is not what it seems at first.  I quote this from a frequent family exhortation by parent to child in the Kemp clan, going back several generations.  The late Jack Kemp, famous as quarterback for the Buffalo … Continue reading →

Posted in Depending upon others, Surrounding yourself with talent | 2 Comments

Develop a culture of curiosity.

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Dave Berkus

Some of the world’s best companies to work for are those that encourage employees to spend time following their own paths of curiosity toward development of new products or services.  Google, 3M, Facebook, and Microsoft all allow their employees to … Continue reading →

Posted in Depending upon others, Growth!, Surrounding yourself with talent | 1 Comment

It is dangerous, but fair game to hire from a competitor.

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Dave Berkus

Sometimes it is the first thought you or your managers have when in need of skilled talent, especially for sales or product development.  It is not hard to find and observe the best employees of a good competitor at work, … Continue reading →

Posted in Depending upon others, Protecting the business, Surrounding yourself with talent | 1 Comment