Illustrating The Corporate Workflow

April 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

“Have you ever taken a low-level job with a major corporation? Maybe you were a sales associate or a burger flipper? If so, you likely sat through at least a day of employee orientation, filled with management lectures, videos from corporate and, worst of all, those posters filled with acronyms. W.A.S.T.E.O.F.T.I.M.E.”

I just stumbled across a really interesting article from Fast Company about an artist who made the busy corporate culture a little more fun. If you’ve ever worked in a larger organization you should be able to appreciate the subtle details in these illustrations/infographics.

Check out the images below or read the full article Here.

Filed Under: Business Strategy, Infographics Tagged With: , , ,

The Strongest Habits of A True Strategist

March 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

“All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.” Sun Tzu

Having a strategy to achieve any goal is one of the smartest things you can do. As the leader of your organization, you are responsible to see how all of the different pieces work and how you can use them to achieve your goals and continue to grow. Your company and your people need you to be the strategic one, they can handle everything else.

Here are a few habits to start developing if you want to become a master strategist:

1. Anticipate Everything

Everyone is looking forward. It’s your job to see what’s coming at you from all angles. Opportunities may be standing right next to you so it’s your job to turn your head and see them. You should:

  • Look for game-changing information in the periphery of your industry
  • Search beyond any boundaries you currently have
  • Build a bigger network to help you scan for those opportunities

2. Start thinking Critically

Don’t settle for the obvious conclusion and don’t ever do what everyone else is doing. Question every new method that presents itself before you make the decision to put any of your resources into trying it. Force yourself to:

  • Reframe your current problems
  • Challenge your current mindset and beliefs
  • Uncover hypocrisy, manipulation, and bias in any and all decision making

3. Make Decisions

There comes a point when you have enough information to make a decision. Don’t wait too long and don’t fall victim to “analysis paralysis”. Not making a decision leads to missed opportunities, and that’s something most companies can’t afford. Start:

  • Carefully frame the decision to get to the crux of the matter
  • Balance speed, rigor, quality and agility. Let your superiors worry about perfection.
  • Take a stand even when there’s more data to collect and especially when people don’t all agree.

Find more habits to help you become a better strategist here. 

What habits help you think more strategically?  Share in the comment box below or on Facebook and Twitter.

 

Filed Under: Business Strategy, Leadership, Leadership Lessons Tagged With: , , , , ,

Branding Now vs. Branding Again… And Again

November 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Your brand is the most important asset your company has. It’s what people think of when they hear your name, what people feel when they see your product and what they say when they are talking about your company. Your brand is also one of the morst permanent aspects of your company. Don’t get me wrong, your brand can survive change, but it shouldn’t change often. Here are a few good reasons why you should put more time into your brand upfront instead of continually changing it down the road.

1. Brand loyalty is hard to earn and harder to earn again and again – Once you do your job of giving the customer something they want that they can depend on and a relationship they value you will earn their loyalty. Once you have that, it’s easier for them to come back and do business with you again. If you rebrand, you have to prove yourself again by starting from scratch and under higher scrutiny.

2. Re-branding loses the attention of the general public – Unless you have the resources to buy enough advertising to let the world and all of your customers know about the rebrand, you are going to lose the ones wh don’t have time to pay attention. They may be used to seeing a certain color box on the shelf or going to a certain website, and when it’s not there they might just move on to the next best thing.

3. The “almost-customers” will forget about you – There is this magic marketing tool you may have heard of called “Word Of Mouth”. This means that your current customers are happy enough to tell other people about your company, your product and/or your service. If you do something drastic like a name change all of that praise will have fallen on deaf ears. They may have heard their friends talk about “Acme Company” thousands of times but never “Acme Supreme”. If it’s not what there friends told them to buy, they have no reason to buy it.

Don’t forget to connect with me on Facebook and  Twitter or share your thoughts in the comment box below.

Filed Under: Branding, Rebranding Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

The Secret Ingredient In Small Business Success

October 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

4 minds are better than one!  Check out this video from Allbusiness.com with writer Fredric Paul, StartupNation‘s Rich Sloan, “marketing maniac” Scott McDonald from LegalZoom, and Scott Gerber, founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council in offering real-world examples of actual small businesses with game-changing ideas, adaptations, or process improvements.  Great real world experience compiled and collaborated with business tips that everyone can use.

Don’t forget to connect with me on Facebook and  Twitter or share your thoughts in the comment box below.

Filed Under: Small Business, Success, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , ,

Is It Time To Change Your Strategy?

September 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

You never want to give up before your plan has really had a chance to spring in to action. But, there is such a thing as waiting too long for a strategy that might not pan out. So how do you know when it’s time to switch gears?  There a few very extreme situations that are actually becoming more common, one of which was described and explained in this article from Inc Magazine.

Don’t forget to connect on Facebook and Twitter for more tips, articles and discussion.

Dear Norm,
Our small business provides government agencies and consulting firms with specialized computer models that simulate flooding. Sales have been very slow this year, and one of my partners thinks we should make the software available as a free download to anybody who wants it. That’s what our main competitor does, and a lot of people use its product even though it’s not as good as ours. My partner’s theory is that by getting our software into more hands, we would be able to sell more support subscriptions. My fear is that we would succeed only in losing a lot of revenue at the worst possible moment for our company. It would be one thing if price was the main reason we aren’t selling more software. But, in fact, price plays a small role in a customer’s buying decision. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what we should do.

—Reinaldo G.

Click Here for the expert response.

 

Filed Under: Changing Your Business Strategy, office chair experts, office furniture experts, Opportunity, Running a Business, The Economy Tagged With: , , , , , ,

3 Opportunities Your Business Is Missing Part: 1

August 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

You may have built the company from the ground up or you may have been there since before it was even close to being the company is today, but I bet there are a few hidden treasures in your company that you didn’t know about. Not hiding in the boiler room or the basement, but right in front of you, in fact you probably greet half of these treasures on a daily basis.  Pay attention and you will catch on quickly.

  1. There are better ways to get everything done. Believe it or not, some of your employees aren’t doing things exactly the way they were trained and this is actually very good for you.  You might have to look around but I would be willing to bet that some of your employees have found ways to do things better and faster than how you taught them to.  The only bad part about this whole situation is that some or most of your employees are wasting time doing things the way they were taught to do them.  Invest the time in learning the new methods from your employees, because no one knows the job better than the people who do it full-time.  Then you should invest the time to train the rest of the team and also let it be known that you are always looking for better ways to get things done.

For more articles, tips and discussion connect with me on Facebook and Twitter.

What do you think are some big opportunities businesses are missing out on?  (Share in the comment box below)

Filed Under: Business, Opportunity Tagged With: , , ,

When In Doubt… Be Different

August 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Sometimes it’s hard to figure out how to do something the same way that everyone else is.  Most people will struggle and fight to keep up with a process that doesn’t work.  I would recommend trying something different that does work.  Just because your company recommends that you do something a certain way doesn’t mean that’s the only way to do it.  If you can find another way to get the same or better results than I would be willing to bet that your superior wouldn’t mind too much. Here are a few tips for finding something that works for you.

1. Do what makes sense.  Something that makes sense to you may not make sense to everyone else, but it probably still works.  Look at the goal and do what comes as the obvious process to you.  Usually your instincts will tell you what will work best for you.  Compare that process with what was suggested to you and see if you can come up with an even better compromise.

2.  Experiment often.  If something doesn’t present itself as the obvious solution you may have to do some digging.  In this case think about how can something be done instead of how should it be done.  This will give you several different perspectives and methods to reach your goal.

3.  Try something totally different.  As long as you get to the end prize and make it through all of the hoops on the way there, your boss should be happy.  Start from total scratch, ask other people who do the same thing, and develop your own method.

Feel free to share your tips and comments with me on Facebook and Twitter.

Filed Under: Being Different Tagged With: , , , ,

Jedi Training For Successful Management (Infographic)

July 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I had never thought about trying to incorporate sci-fi into my leadership and management techniques until I saw this infographic.  Whether you like/love Star Wars or not, there are some great ideas and tips in this infographic for any manager in any industry.  FeFeel free to comment or share your opinions on Facebook or Twitter.

Filed Under: Infographics, Leadership, Management Tagged With: , , , , , ,

What Are Successful People Doing Differently?

June 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It seems very obvious that there are fare fewer extremely successful people than there are semi-successful or even unsuccessful people.  So what makes them so special?  They are probably doing something you aren’t.  Here are a few things that I noticed make a big difference.

Successful people are very specific when it comes to everything.  They are specific when it comes to their goals and they are specific when it comes to all of their requests.  This makes accomplishing those goals easier because they are always in sight and there is no half-way there.  It also keeps everyone accountable for what they need to be getting done.

Successful people seize every opportunity.  You will never hear one of these people say “I am just too busy” when it comes to a good opportunity.  Of course they weigh the opportunity versus the cost and make the best decisions but they don’t let them slip through their fingers.

Successful people are realistic and optimistic at the same time.  They need to be able to understand the heavy reality of the situation while still hoping for the best possible outcome.  They also have a plan for the other outcomes that could possibly happen, so that they are never caught off guard.  The key is believing in your ability and skills while still understanding how hard it is and should be to accomplish your goals.

Successful people put their efforts in to improving instead of just being good at what they are doing.  If you are always looking for a way to be better you will always be the best or at least one of the best.  That mind set helps improve yourself as well as your company. Read More.

For more business and innovation tips and ideas you can follow me on Twitter and connect with me on Facebook.

Filed Under: Success Tagged With: , , , ,
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