Category Archives: Surrounding yourself with talent

How to avoid “death by meeting.”

Zoom, Teams, phone, or in person? Imagine yourself with a calendar requiring you to be in six meetings in a day.  Day after day.  It doesn’t matter whether you’re required to be there in person or virtually, you get worn … Continue reading

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Your eye of the needle: Do you worry over bottlenecks?

Here’s your question to ponder… Think for a minute whether there is any process or person that could be classed as the eye of the needle in your organization.  Is there anything, process or person, that stalls the flow of … Continue reading

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Is your WORK interfering with your JOB?

So, what’s the difference? First, thanks to longtime reader and friend, Harley Kaufman, for the thought and title for this insight.  He stated, “Too often it seemed our internal staff was more focused on getting the ‘work’ (daily tasks) done … Continue reading

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Simplify your commission structure. Please.

Is your commission structure so complex that even you must have help understanding it – and calculating a commission on a pending bid? Salespeople are incentivized by the money.  Of course. They usually can calculate what’s in it for them … Continue reading

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Are we managing like JERKS?

Are we who issue orders to associates or employees ever acting as jerks?  We’d never like to think so, or we wouldn’t do it in the first place. Here’s a clue… If someone is saying “This is confusing to me” … Continue reading

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Hire on ability. Fire on fit.

This is not necessarily the way we intend to behave as managers, but our headline reflects the reality of most experiences when viewed in retrospect. Don’t we most often hire based on experience? We carefully vet the potential hire for … Continue reading

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Would you celebrate your mistakes?

Leading by example How do you teach your work force that mistakes are OK as long as they learn and don’t repeat them?  By being a visible example.  A friend and fellow CEO states that he publishes each of his … Continue reading

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Learn processes from your employees at work

Empathy comes from experience. Over fifty years ago, I was CEO of a record manufacturing company in Hollywood.  We were the only such facility on the West coast to provide and control the entire process from studio, through finished vinyl … Continue reading

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Is ‘servant leadership’ too soft for you?

First, what is “servant leadership?” It’s a term rooted in ancient philosophy.  Robert Greenleaf may have been the first to resurrect the concept in his book published in 1970.  Not quite as bold as inverting the management triangle, the concept … Continue reading

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Is “management by walking around” an outmoded fad?

Let’s set the scene. One of the CEOs I used to coach started his day by walking the floor of his extended facility and checking in with managers and employees of the various departments, especially the call center.  He tried … Continue reading

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