Making It
With everyone yapping about inflation and supply chain shortages and the sky is falling, maybe we need to have a different philosophy from "scarcity." How about, say, "abundance"? One technique: When you have an expense that's unexpected or quite high, don't
You Don’t Need A Third Party to Prove You’re An Expert
Have you ever been asked for help by someone and you possessed sufficient experience and familiarity to help them? Were they helped and improved as you provided feedback and encouragement? If the answers to both of these questions is "yes," congratulations, you're
The Non-Profit Problem
My wife and I have been on the boards of dozens of non-profits over they years, mostly in the arts, and I've chaired two of them. She has raised millions for them without ever personally asking for a dime. Many non-profits,
Of Ritual and Rodents
Continuing to search for staff (help, employees) without changing your unsuccessful offer is ridiculous. If you want to attract people, the working conditions, flexibility, lattitude of action, pay, benefits, travel, fringe benefits, contact with others, customer interface, and so forth must
Funny Thing
Creating the correct expectations saves a lot of grief farther down the road. Sometimes people approach me for coaching telling me they want to make a million dollars their first year in business, or they want to close a deal
What Does It Take to Persevere to Prosperity?
It's reported this morning that the auto dealers' convention in Las Vegas is an ecstatic event because after a tough time during Covid's worst moments, things are booming now. The housing market has gone crazy. Professional services firms are doing
There’s No Reason for It, It’s Just My Policy
If you think consulting is rocket science, allow me to disabuse you of that notion. A couple of weeks ago, in talking to a client on other matters, I learned that his top sales commission for his people was 15%. That
Business (Not) As Usual
There is nothing as strong in obtaining business as your willingness to walk away from it. When you act as if you must have the business, as if your survival depends on it, you are obsequious and fawning. When you're
Forget the Target, What’s the Range?
We tend to think of success or "victory" as a bullseye. We think there's only chance of succeeding, some royal road. In sports, one team or one person wins a game, but over the course of a season, you don't have
Icing
In Detroit, one person operates the plane de-icing truck, shooting the liquid from an elevated perch while also steering the vehicle below that supports it. Eight people operated eight vehicles. In Boston, the truck is driven by one person while