Photo by Theo Decker It’s October. Three months remain in the year, and somewhere in your organization someone is saying, “We need to finish strong.” Fair enough. There are commitments to honor, customers to serve, and goals people have worked toward all year. Finishing strong is a reasonable expectation. But before you ask everyone to pick up the pace, have you taken a fresh look at what you’re asking them to accomplish? Quite a bit may have changed since January. A customer you … [Read more...]
Which Came First – The Chicken Or The Egg?
My article today follows a quick quote from Steve Job. If you’re in a rush, just read this quote or copy it and text to yourself. Then think about it and discuss it with your leadership team, investors or co- business owners. Would you ever risk behaving this way and actually doing it? Quote by Steve Jobs: "It doesn't make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do". This quote emphasizes the importance of empowering … [Read more...]
Is It Time For A Check Up?
Is it time for a check up? Not a shock as the first quarter is coming to a close to be asked a question about checking how you’re doing is it? Seriously it’s important, in fact, critical to know your numbers and be on top of things. In your business are we making or losing money? Are we hitting our targets in each area of the business? If not, why not? What do we need to do better or where do we need to make changes? How about our people? Is turnover trending higher than … [Read more...]
What’s Your Big Finish Plan?
What’s your big finish plan? I’m talking about the months that we are all in now – the last four months of the year! Without it you’ll be out trick-or-treating before you know it. Can anyone say – Spiced Pumpkin Latte? Regardless of how you financially report, the majority of the people we come into contact with feel and know the importance of finishing the year strong. This may mean new clients, adding more value to existing clients and potentially new business streams of … [Read more...]
The Bell Is Ringing – The 2023 First Quarter Ends Today
The 2023 first quarter ends today at COB. Why should this matter to you? We all, everyone of us, need something to measure ourselves by. We are able to measure how everything is going compared to previous similar periods of time. We should be looking at what we planned to do compared to what we actually did and take notice. Did we perform better than we expected? Why? Where did we do better? What did we do for this result? Similarly if we did not do as well as we expected? Why? … [Read more...]
Mark Off The Date With A Big X
A favorite and consistent habit of every person working aboard an ocean going merchant ship is marking off each day on the calendar. A big X signifies another day done and dusted. Sometimes the calendar is a large one on the bulkhead (that’s the wall you land lubbers!) and for others a smaller calendar on the writing desk or by their bunk. It’s a combination of seeing the days gone by and looking ahead to the days when it’s time to leave the ship and go home again. Other than a few words … [Read more...]