Quotes: “Getting your house in order and reducing the confusion gives you more control over your life. Personal organization…frees you to operate more effectively.” — Larry King, American journalist. “Civilization is the process of reducing the infinite to the finite.”… Read more »
I think the best benefit I received from being a professional athlete was not the money, fame or fortune my family enjoyed but the mentality I developed to get there. Successful athletes have amazing mental discipline, confidence and have command… Read more »
Jon Ferrara is a genius. He’s also an aggressive salesman reminiscent of the Fuller Brush sales reps who would knock on our door back in the 1950’s. Suddenly, I feel old. Whoever heard of a salesperson knocking on your door?… Read more »
After three years of essentially lousy employment reports, the January 2012 report was simply better. Job growth exceeded expectations…it occurred in almost every employment classification…hours worked in various sectors rose…and the unemployment rate ticked down for the fifth month in… Read more »
From as early as I can remember, a boy named Craig Waterman lived next door to me in a basement apartment with his mother and sister, Michelle. Craig was 9 years older than me, and was friendly and kind. I admired him like a big brother. The Vietnam War raged, and when I was 11, Craig was drafted. A few months later he was killed in action. For me, the war came home in Craig’s place.
This led me to some fairly unhealthy pre-adolescent pondering about what his experience might have been in the firefight in which he died. In my professional life this same fixation settled into a deep interest in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. And what emerged as the most significant facet of my interest is what multiple studies have confirmed are the personality factors that protected the 25% of combat veterans who did not develop PTSD. These highly stress-resistant individuals are characterized by 3 traits:
All of us want to get more out of our personal and professional lives. Accomplishing this goal will require us to be more productive in every area. Productivity is simply the process of achieving more results in areas where we… Read more »
The latest issue of a national weekly newspaper recently arrived in my mailbox with the cover story: “The World’s Most Admired CEO’s.” The headline prompted me to recall a recent study suggesting that nearly 90% of common stock investors will… Read more »
Everyone dreams of the next step in their career or their next big raise, but how do we make those opportunities happen? What can we do to position ourselves more effectively for success – personally or professionally? 1. How making… Read more »
Imagine the devastation your organization could experience if you lost your best, most well-trained, highest producing employees. How can you prevent that calamity? Take into consideration: Customer service disruptions; potentially losing profitable clients. Opportunity costs incurred: hiring replacements and their learning… Read more »
Early in Xerox’s history, the company’s founder, who was then working in government, returned to Xerox because he couldn’t understand how their newer, better machine was selling so poorly in relation to their older, inferior machine. When he looked into the situation, he found that the commission arrangement for the salesmen was far greater for the inferior machine.
If we desire employees, managers, or executives to behave in certain ways we must ensure that systems exist that reward them for the behaviors and outcomes we desire. In the case of the Xerox salesmen, an outdated commission structure existed that encouraged them to sell their customers an inferior and probably over-priced product – a potentially unethical and unprofitable business activity for both parties.
The two top executives at Intel some years ago, when their main business was making memory chips, were in a situation where their memory business was in ruins. As the story goes, these two gentlemen were preparing themselves for their… Read more »
Everyone is looking for the next seminal idea or way of doing business that will lead to greatly increased productivity, profitability, and performance in the workplace. Where do these breakthroughs come from, and what can we do to ensure that… Read more »