Values in a VUCA World

August 4, 2019 in Success in business | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

In 1987, Warren Bennis and Burt Nanu created the term VUCA to describe the leadership challenges created from a world which was increasingly Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous. It became more popular because the acronym captured some of the tension that people were feeling in many industries and organizations.

There’s no question that most of us are experiencing this.

How do we deal with it? In the coming weeks, I’ll introduce you to a replacement VUCA which leads you to constructive action. It starts with Values.

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The path isn’t clear!

July 28, 2019 in Success in business | Tags: , , , | 1 comment

There are many times in business where it feels like you don’t know where you’re going. Employee issues. Customers giving you grief.

It just feels like the formula isn’t working anymore.

So what do you do when it feels like a need for change somehow?

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Who are your most valuable employees?

July 21, 2019 in Success in business | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

A recent Gallup paper concluded: “When your best employees are not engaged, they are as likely to leave your organization as your employees who tend to have performance issues and are unhappy.”

We can all understand how your under-performers will look for opportunities elsewhere. And, honestly, you don’t worry so much about them, right?

Good riddance. They weren’t delivering that much for me anyway.

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Learning from Amazon’s core principles

July 14, 2019 in Success in business | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Amazon.com is now over half a million people. For such an incredibly automated service, this is an astounding number of employees.

But you’d be hard pressed to find ANY business where its success doesn’t lie in the hands of its people.

So how do they manage this?

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Who are your motivated employees?

July 7, 2019 in Success in business | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

You know exactly why employee motivation matters. Productivity. Teamwork. Customer service.

But I run across a whole lot of people who don’t know how to build and nurture that innovation. They think it’s just a magic thing that some people have and some don’t.That’s why I was excited to read Why Managers Must Ask 5 Questions to Empower Employees, one of Gallup’s top 2018 reports. It’s practical and powerful.

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Messy and beautiful!

June 30, 2019 in Success in business | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Several things happened to me recently which reminded me that … the beauty in life comes from what also makes it messy.

I tend to be an organized guy, so it doesn’t feel comfortable when I’m dealing with things outside my control. I like to have a plan.

But I was part of an event organizing team recently, and the event was truly amazing. Yet it wasn’t as structured and tightly controlled as I would normally prefer. So why did it work so well?

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Amazing businesses fail too!

June 23, 2019 in Success in business | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

I’ve written profiles for about 80 values-driven businesses, and one of them shut down last week. As I think about it, there are probably 7 or 8 which have failed in the last five years.

That’s better than average, actually, as the SBA estimated that 95% of startups don’t survive their first five years. But it’s not a comforting thought.

As someone who is trying to do something special, even world-changing, in your business, why don’t statistics like this cause you to just give up?

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So what’s changed?

June 16, 2019 in Success in business | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

RECENTLY I HAD A GREAT DISCUSSION with a local service club about Conscious Capitalism. One of the members remarked that he’s heard about companies wanting to “do good” for decades. So what does Conscious Capitalism – and similar kinds of thinking – bring to the discussion?

This is a fabulous question! Because, in fact, some companies have engaged in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and other kinds of philanthropy for a long time.

What’s new is how this is growing and accelerating. First, because people have been developing some core competencies and given us a language.

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Time to have a life!

June 9, 2019 in Success in business | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

It’s wonderful to be the boss, right? You get all the recognition and glory while your people do all the hard work.

Yeah, I don’t see that either.

The truth is that if you want to have time for your life, in any position at all, you have to create it.

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The perfect customers

June 2, 2019 in Success in business | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

I just released a new webinar, so I wanted to make sure you’re able to take advantage of it. You can connect for free with the information down below – and these webinars are always live, not recorded.

I’m digging into the struggle that we all have with attracting the right customers. You may be lucky to have a sufficient flow of customers, but it’s easy to end up with ones who cause you more grief than they’re worth.

Plus, the revenue from these customers may be just fine, but what about the rest of the relationship? Because, if you’re following what I write, you probably have more impactful goals than just money. It’s your mission.

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