Performing at our best all the time can seem like a challenge unless we move the goal posts and focus on learning, fun and clarity
There were only three days left before I had to have the program ready for my team. I had been putting off working on the project until it seemed like the last minute. I could feel the pressure building internally and I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to deliver. Working to deliver…
Many companies are trying to figure out how to sail into a brighter future as 2021 begins. Unfortunately, most businesses simply ride the tide of the prevailing economy, rising or dropping depending on that wave. They float with the current and put little effort into changing their direction when they’re off course. And many leaders…
In the midst of the pandemic, a great deal of pressure has fallen on managers. Here are some tips to help deal with the increased stress
Lucy is a manager who oversees a large team of sales reps. Like many other organizations, hers quickly made the transition to work-from-home. It was a new experience for a team used to working from their downtown office. Lucy used to be able to monitor her team with regular walk-arounds and check-ins. She had a…
Our mistakes in judgment help us learn and hopefully grow
When I was a brash and self-assured 21-year-old, I announced at a family dinner with my aunt and cousin that I would be a millionaire by the time I was 30. I had found investors and had just started a business. I thought I was invincible, living in the big city, and figured I could…
To grab someone's attention, move from making speeches and announcements to creating an experience in which people learn for themselves
In San Francisco, on the corner of Powell and Market, I once watched street performers entertain tourists waiting for the cable car to arrive and depart. My favourite "act" was two fully-dressed men who spray-painted themselves gold and silver. Posing like statues, they would kneel on the sidewalk facing each other with their elbows resting…
Being rooted and attentive to a guiding motto, principal or goal can keep us from being distracted
It was icy and the pickup truck on the road in front of me started sliding out of control as it rounded a corner on our way back from the ski hill the other day. While others in the car with me were shouting distracting instructions, in my head I could hear my father’s voice…
I was humbled this week – and that’s not a bad thing. I was informed by a prospect that they were going to choose between our firm and another business coach. They chose the other business coach for a reason that made sense to them. They said that the other firm was smaller and they…
Without the right tools, people and plans, your business will suffer. You’re going to have to work harder and that will affect your bottom line
It was almost the final straw. I was laying on the ground after falling off the roof of the house and the carpenter, John, was standing over me yelling. He was mad because his sawhorses had been broken in half because of my stupidity, while I was just wondering if I had broken anything in…
When looking for opportunities to fill needs and create value, start by looking close to home
There was a lot of excited yelling at our house on Saturday morning when I cut down the tree in front of the house. My morning started when my wife asked me six times in a row if I was getting a Christmas tree. I had told her all week that I was going to…
Leaders who make quick, smart decisions in times of difficulty and follow through are significantly more successful than owners who waffle
It was an especially nice Irish day, which means it wasn’t raining. Emily, Isabel and Aisling had just been dropped off by their uncle at a train station in the middle of the country. The girls proceeded to the ticket counter, where they realized they were 10 euros short of what they needed to get…
Guiding researchers and scientists to commercialize their intellectual property
A little more than 20 years ago, MIT developed a mentorship program that challenged notions about competition in the world of business. They called on local titans of business to volunteer to guide the school’s researchers and scientists in commercializing their intellectual property. Within a decade, this in-house service was drawing so much praise from schools around…
When presented with a difficult conversation, have that conversation. That’s it. Then have another. And another. Again and again, and again. In the near decade of my business, I’ve had to end three major business relationships for business to move forward. The one thing I wasn’t prepared for when I signed up to be an…
Here are our suggestions to help you change your fortunes
I’m one of the worst people you can have buying you gifts. I tend to be one of those guys who shop on Men’s Day at the mall, which is more generally referred to as Christmas Eve. When I was in retail, I would be tired after weeks of selling others gifts and helping them…
No one just buys stuff. You need a concrete sales model based on what the product does, what its advantages are and the values it brings to the marketplace
My first sales experience was in high school, selling chocolate bars door to door as a fundraiser for a school club. Not much interested in the club but interested in the prizes for top sellers, I hit the pavement. Each day after school, I knocked on doors and sold chocolates to starving mothers and their…
To be successful, you need to determine what causes your fear and figure out whether that fear is holding you back or pushing you forward
The day I got married was the scariest day of my life. I walked up to the altar shaking like a leaf. At 31, I would have thought I was too old to be afraid of getting married. But I was afraid. Each month, I talk to a business owner who expresses their fears to…