Is there an “indispensable person” in your business? Worse still, as the business owner are you the indispensable person? An indispensable person in a business can be a major risk and also a bottleneck! They are the kind of person who has some expertise / knowledge / experience in a particular aspect of the business…. [Read more…]
In their book “Great By Choice” Jim Collins and Morten Hansen dispel a number of entrenched myths about what makes companies great in tough times. What do you think about them? Please add your comment below! Entrenched myth #1: Successful leaders in a turbulent world are bold, risk-seeking visionaries. Contrary finding: The best leaders we studied… [Read more…]
As business owners, how do we learn anything? What happens in the brain? The four stages of learning, initially described as “Four Stages for Learning Any New Skill”, was apparently developed at Gordon Training International by Noel Burch in the 1970s. (Wikipedia) It’s a great theory for business owners to understand because often we “don’t… [Read more…]
“No-one on their death bed ever wished they had spent more time at the office / in the business.” This is a fairly well known quote by the late Stephen Covey, author of “The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People” and many other great personal development books. If you have never read this book, we… [Read more…]
It’s easy to get lulled in to a false sense of security when a business is doing a good turnover and turnover figures are going up. The problem is though that it is NOT about the turnover, it’s all about the LEFTOVER! In other words the profit and growing the profit dollars. So often we… [Read more…]
In a Business Owners Board business advisory meeting, when we ask this question, the answer is usually something like “Vitals, what are you talking about?” or “Yes, my blood pressure is a little high. So what?” According to Wikipedia: “Vital signs (often shortened to just vitals) are a group of the 4 to 6 most… [Read more…]
The most underrated tool in business for driving up your results – a good strategic plan! A good plan will fit on one page and be the guiding light for everything that happens in the business. However, success not only relies on a good plan but also good execution. There are many reasons why business… [Read more…]
One One of anything! The numbers in a business are the instrument panel by which an owner should run his business. It still amazes me how many business owners we talk to have no idea and no interest in their numbers – until it is too late! That’s why there are many businesses out there… [Read more…]
Why many heads are better than one! Karl Duncker’s radiation question. “What’s Karl Duncker and radiation got to do with business advisory boards?” you ask. Whilst researching for a public presentation recently I came across the story about Karl Duncker and I realised it explained exactly why advisory boards are such a powerful tools for… [Read more…]
How do you make sales in tough economic conditions? You adopt the old black hen philosophy. I can’t credit the author of this little poem / parable because I have had it for so long that the source is long forgotten. However, it is a great little story! One of Business Owners Board expert speakers,… [Read more…]
