Build a great company on a powerful foundation!
JONATHAN RAYMOND wrote a powerful article recently called The Power of Caring over at the E-Myth Blog. They do great work over there.
His observation is that customers make most of their decisions based on emotions rather than logic. I find this to be absolutely true – even in surprising cases.
My background is in engineering, so I’m a pretty hardcore analytic. Read the rest of this entry »
LAST WEEK I gave some perspectives on branding your values-based business. My good buddy Hugh offered up a challenging question that I think is worthy of more exploration.
His question is around the values of your company versus the values employees hold as an individuals.
When you started out as a one-person company, it probably wasn’t too hard. Read the rest of this entry »
THERE was a wonderful discussion this week when I put an announcement of this blog in one of the Facebook groups. I have to say that I’m very pleased with the support I’ve been receiving.
Someone made a great point about how they’ve strongly branded their coaching business with a Christian theme, and how well that’s worked. For myself, I’ve chosen to emphasize two points:
GALLUP Business Journal recently published an article entitled Making Hope a Business Strategy. I have to confess that I was a little disappointed, though, because the bottom line seemed mostly, “if you support your people, they’ll have hope in a better future and they’ll be 14% more productive.”
Sure, but that’s only scratching the surface.
ODAY marks the beginning of Lent, a Christian period of reflection and renewal leading up to Easter.
If your business is based on Christian principles – either implicitly or explicitly – perhaps this would be a great time to reflect on how well it’s living up to those ideals.
FOR my professional and spiritual development, I listen to a number of podcasts. One of those is Get-It-Done Guy, presented by Stever Robbins. A recent episode entitled How to set unplannable goals addressed situations where the normal goal-setting doesn’t work.
This idea strikes me as similar to what we’re talking about with creating a business which is values-oriented.
Normally, setting goals wouldn’t be terribly hard to do. Read the rest of this entry »
IAM a member of a local group called Bridge Networking. I enjoy this as an asset for growing my business, but more important, doing good in the community.
It’s a values-based organization, which is a primary reason why I stay engaged and contribute.
It was a lot of fun to have a great discussion with the group this morning around what values really look like. Here’s the structure I introduced:
A DEAR friend died on Friday. He was a great, generous, caring man, and he improved many lives.
This got me thinking about the role that funeral leave plays in the business world. Yes, I know that’s a leap, but stay with me here.
HERE’S the honest answer to today’s question: Anywhere and everywhere!
OK, I realize that’s not especially helpful.
With my clients, I tend to distinguish between VALUES and GOALS. Read the rest of this entry »
IT’S A HAPPY COINCIDENCE that I work inside a company which has a fish as a logo. Of course, the symbol of the fish is powerful for Christianity, dating back to the earliest days of the Church.
But it’s just a coincidence.
The truth is that Read the rest of this entry »
The Values-Based Business 