Seems like our small-sized companies are catching on to the telecommuting option this year which is a bit of a change. I think a good post would be one that lays out a salesperson’s tools of the trade for today. Included in that list would be a web-based CRM and a VPN connection for telecommuting. No? Check these stats out from a recent Wall Street Journal article (h/t to Lee): Seventy percent of Cisco Systems employees regularly work from home at least 20% of the time. So do 34% of workers at Booz Allen Hamilton and 32% at S.C. Johnson & Sons. Those stats, from a recent Fortune companies survey… Read More
Continue Reading7 Saving Graces Of Managers
This is an interesting article from BusinessWeek.com – a ranked order of saving graces which are essentially counterpoints to the typically hard-charging approach of managers. The 7: 1. Listening: Taking the time to listen can get you out of more jams than the rest of the saving graces combined. It is the ultimate way of demonstrating that it is not all about you and your agenda, and it is an excellent tool for breaking down barriers and getting more out of what you do with others. Few executives are good listeners. 2. Approachability: The best executives need to be early knowers, especially when it comes to negative information. The best… Read More
Continue ReadingLeading Out Of Our Status Quo
Being in the final stages of strategic planning right now with my company (following the establishment of a Vision statement last year) I just can’t leave Derrick’s post alone. He is absolutely correct with his assumption that many “visioning” exercises are empty of real meaning or impact. As any good business consultant will tell you, execution of the vision and the strategy is a lot harder than crafting the words. Most companies do not follow through and get any real value. It sounds like that’s what Derrick experienced (as I have in several previous lives). But, for a company like ours that is transitioning from a manufacturing mentality to become… Read More
Continue ReadingVision Statement vs. Leadership
Color me skeptical, but I am just not a fan of vision statements, mission statements, company statements and whatever else is the latest iteration. I prefer P&L statements. I could be wrong on this so I’ll provide an article from BusinessWeek.com titled Vision Decisions. The opening graph: Feeling the pressure to prove they have what former President George H. W. Bush famously termed “the vision thing,” they drag their staffs through formal visioning sessions. The resulting empty exercises yield “vision statements” to which employees periodically genuflect, but they have no operative meaning. The net result is anti-inspirational. The purpose of vision, after all, is to inspire: vision provides motivation through… Read More
Continue Reading7 Signs You Are A Bad Boss
I thought the article was going to be anecdotal and humorous, but it is actually quite insightful. Inc.com offers this article – The Office: The Bad and the Ugly – which is well reasoned. Here are the 7: 1. The staff has developed guidelines for dealing with you and quietly passes them to new employees. “Never suggest that there might be another way of doing something,” they might say. Or “Act self-deprecating so he doesn’t feel threatened.” 2. You have one or two fanatical acolytes. Yes, such devotion may be a testament to your fabulousness. But often when a boss is perceived as universally loathed, the staff opportunist offers herself… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Reason Behind Ruts
Totally fascinating post from Steve Clark titled Why is change so difficult? The human organism is resistant to change. The body tries to maintain what physiologists call homeostasis. This is the physical state of equilibrium or status quo. The body is designed to operate in a very narrow range of physiological processes. The brain is no different. And now for the explanation: Change creates psychological stress. Change engages the prefrontal cortex, the conscious part of the brain that is responsible for judgment, planning and decision making. The prefrontal cortex is like RAM memory in a PC. It is fast and agile, able to hold multiple threads of logic at once… Read More
Continue ReadingDeal-Killing CEOs
ManageSmarter.com offers an article I could have penned – The CEO as Salesperson. I can relate to this sales call: After initial introductions, the CEO took over the meeting and, ignoring the agenda, began a detailed demo and discussion of the product. He set about to demonstrate the superiority of the product and his own knowledge of the industry. He argued with the prospect, dismissed their questions and points of view, and then couldn’t understand why they didn’t buy immediately. It took the regional manager nine months to recover and get the sale. My experience with the CEO in a sales call most often followed a similar form with even… Read More
Continue ReadingWisdom From Sports Illustrated
I read many things across the web including certain columnists from Sports Illustrated. Peter King writes an insider’s view to professional football that I find fascinating. Plus, the guy is a coffee (actually lattes) addict like myself so I always appreciate his weekly coffee tips. This quote from his article last week caught my attention: But I will say one thing about the firing: It’s always dangerous when you start polling players and people in the building about the job the head coach is doing. If you’ve got a conviction about the coach, act on your conviction, and the beliefs of your closest associates, like president Dick Cass and GM… Read More
Continue ReadingA Lack Of Praise
This sounds almost comical, but I have seen it first-hand. BusinessWeek.com’s article – Is Praising Employees Counterproductive? – discusses the topic of praising employees for their good work. The gist of the article: After the meeting, James asked Tom, “What were you going to say at the meeting, and why did you stop?” Tom answered: “I was going to praise Penny on her marketing plan, but I’ve already praised her twice this week. I don’t want to go overboard.” There is a fear—an irrational one, in my experience—among certain managers of praising employees too much. It’s as though they believe that one “attaboy” or “attagirl” too many can spoil a… Read More
Continue ReadingManic First Monday
I got to start my first Monday of the new year without my laptop. It died over the weekend so I come to you via a desktop system that is not my “home.” It is a strange feeling being on another system. It seems like there should be a resolution in here somewhere. In that light, BusinessWeek.com went to the streets looking for input from managers. The survey was literally conducted walking the streets of Boston so keep that in mind. Two items were the winner: Managers want to find a better work/life balance. As you saw in the video, one person is working 16 hour days. So much for… Read More
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