Tax planning – have you thought about whether there is anything you can do proactively while still in 2010? Projects – which projects will make a difference if they are completed in 2010? Can you increase focus? Divert resources from other projects? Take time to consider how to overcome [...]
Businesses remain in a quandary. Optimism is up. Sales are lackluster. Unemployment remains high. Customer service expectations continue to rise. Cash remains king. For example, just take today's Wall Street Journal's headlines: The private sector added 217,000 jobs; however, layoff announcements increased for the second month in a row. [...]
There's little more important than building relationships to personal and business success. One of the avenues to achieve this goal is networking. Thus, I thought a few tips might be in order: Integrity - based on my experience and according to a survey of a dozen executives, integrity tops [...]
As high-tech becomes more prominent, high-touch becomes even more vital. Make building relationships and staying in touch a part of your daily routine. Thanks to Jim Cenname, as he gave me the idea to discuss this topic and thanks to Rich Beu for emphasizing its importance in a recent [...]
As the 80/20 of business success can be traced back to leadership and communications, what could be more important? Be clear & concise - it is amazing how often the messages can become garbled (similar to the old game of telephone). Take the time to be clear and concise. [...]
As this topic is top of mind since I led a webinar for ExecSense on COO Best Practices for Conducting Year-End Reviews, I thought it would make sense to discuss a few tips. It's not an event; it's a process - if you look at the yearly review as [...]
The holidays tend to be insane: Year-end activities. Planning for vacation and holiday schedules. Family. Events. Thus, I thought a few tips might be in order. Take a step back - it's easy to get wrapped up into thousands of activities and not think about what's most important from [...]
I find that the difference between success and failure is often dictated by the "little things" - yet it's never as easy as it seems. It's all about the people - a common theme in my newsletter as people drive the 80/20 of success on any project, no matter [...]
Sticking with my theme of obstacles, I thought I'd discuss common roadblocks - many times, half the battle is identifying potential issues. An employee feels threatened - one of the most common causes of project roadblocks is when an employee feels threatened. Who might worry about how a project [...]
In talking with a client earlier today about goals, it reminded me of the often-overlooked importance of goals. Start with strategy - unfortunately, you can have the best goals in the world but if they don't align with where the company is headed, they are a waste of time. [...]
