Most founders of a successful family business sell their business to an outside third party. The 39 percent of family businesses passed to a second generation fail. Why don't these owners plan better for one of the most important events of their lives? If only it were...
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Truth and Trust: They Go Together
We've lost trust. How do I regain the trust of my employees after six rounds of layoffs? How does my organization regain the trust of the community after we dumped toxic waste and covered it up? How does my management team regain trust of each other after a nasty...
The Path to Critical Thinking
Can you write a refresher on critical thinking? We business leaders so like to believe that we can think well, but we don't. Only one in seven even reaches the top 10 percent of quality thinkers.1 The rest of us haven't even read a book on critical thinking, much less...
Linking Vision, Strategy, and Tactics
You're so proud of your new vision statement. It sounds nice. Inspiring, even. But the vision is useless unless it can direct action. Your vision lays out a destination; your destination guides your strategy; and strategy chooses action. It's action that leads to...
Give Your Organization Serious Traction
When we're getting traction on something new, we typically have a week's worth of work to do, and an hour to do it. The International Labor Organization says Americans win the prize for the most overworked people in the world.1 We're productive, not because we work...
Making it Right with Wronged Employees
An executive team laid off a group of employees here in Canada in order to outsource to an Asian country. They can't find talent in the new country, work has stalled, and management tries to cajole laid-off employees (all talented, experienced peak performers) to...
Minimize Secrecy, Maximize Knowledge
People have lots of reasons for hoarding information, mostly bad ones. But sometimes it’s good to keep quiet. After all, you want information to get where it’s needed, in a way that serves everyone involved. Our daily job as managers is simple. We observe, taking in...
Productivity Means Working Smarter, Not Longer
Workers in the United States put in more hours at work and take fewer vacation days than those in most industrialized countries. But the U.S isn't the most productive country in the world. When it comes to full productivity, according to an article in The Economist,...
Understand What Motivates Your Boss
Letters from last month's column Productivity Means Working Smarter, Not Longer have been gratifying and surprising. Most unexpected was a theme I heard over and over: "My manager won't let me work smart. What do I do?" That's a real problem. Let's start by facing...
Thinking Outside Your Beliefs
I'll bet I know why you're reading this: You want the secret of success. And today, I plan to deliver. But the secret isn't what you think. It's not a practice, business model, or trend. Those are all just by-products of the real secret. All the "best practices" in...