Articles
Most Business Leaders are Paying Scant Attention to Employee Engagement
"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." – John Quincy Adams "View life as a continuous learning experience." – David Gergen If you asked a dozen business leaders to list their goals for the year, chances are you’d hear about increasing sales, improving productivity and increasing earnings from most or all of them. If you asked those leaders how they plan to achieve their goals, and they would probably talk about implementing a strategic plan, driving the goals down through the organization and similar strategies. In other words, [...]
When the Boomers Retire, Will You Sink or Swim? — Part 3
"You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there." – Unknown "View life as a continuous learning experience." – Denis Waitley For the last several months, I’ve been talking about the tidal wave heading toward the shores of American business. The Baby Boom generation is reaching retirement age and more than 20 million workers – including the executive management team in many businesses -- will retire in the next eight to ten years. In order to survive, organizations must be prepared for the inevitable leadership transitions ahead. My previous two articles covered pre-transition planning and how to [...]
When the Boomers Retire, Will You Sink or Swim? — Part 2
"Our only security is our ability to change." – John Lilly As I said in last week's article, there’s a tidal wave heading toward the shores of American business. The Baby Boom generation is reaching retirement age and more than 20 million workers – including the executive management team in many businesses -- will retire in the next eight to ten years. This impending management shake-up will be especially dire for small- and mid-sized businesses. Organizations that are not prepared are likely to be washed away when this tidal wave hits. Last month I talked about pre-transition planning: evaluating the [...]
Do You Really Think Junior Can Run This Business?
"Don't handicap your children by making their lives easy." – Robert A. Heinlein "We can really respect a man only if he doesn’t always look out for himself." – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe One of the most challenging issues for family owned businesses has to do with the succession of a son or daughter as the leader of the company. The American dream of starting a business, building it into a thriving enterprise and passing the mantle of leadership down to the next generation is strongly ingrained in our culture. In fact, we almost assume that Junior will take over [...]
Whatever Happened to All the Businesses? Success is in the Succession.
"Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now." – Alan Lakein Have you noticed how frequently businesses come and go? You buy a product or service from a good local company for years. Then you hear that the company has gone out of business. Someone else starts up a company and takes over the business, but after a few years the cycle repeats itself. We see this phenomenon in all industries. It isn’t that there’s no business. Even in these difficult economic times, individuals and organizations need essential products and services. [...]
Why Company Culture Counts
"Culture is the set of beliefs, values, and norms, together with symbols like dramatized events and personalities, that represents the unique character of an organization, and provides the context for action in it and by it." – Gareth Morgan "Leadership defined by "To lead is not to influence others to do something they are not committed to, but rather to nurture a culture that motivates and even excites individuals to do what is required for the benefit of all." – Arthur F Carmazzi This is a test: Describe your company’s culture in one sentence. If you’re hemming and hawing right [...]