“The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want.” – Ben Stein I’ve been reminded on several occasions this week of a common struggle among business owners & leaders (at least it’s common to the ones I’ve been around). Most individuals leading organizations want their … Read more
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” – Maya Angelou Last week in this space we talked about taking control of your future. We said that to get started, first think about WHERE you want your business (or your life) to be, then act on the … Read more
“Don’t tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.” – George S. Patton I attended a conference for family businesses recently, and one of the recurring themes was business-related family conflict. The conversations went in many directions, but one underlying theme was the conflict … Read more
“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.” – Ernest Hemingway I meet a lot of leaders who want to ‘do strategic planning’. They want to look out into the future, envision what they want to be as a business, then start working … Read more
“Nobody ever wrote down a plan to broke…lazy, or stupid. Those things are what happen when you don’t have a plan.” – Larry Winget I had a very engaging conversation with someone a few weeks ago about strategy development and planning. The core question was, given the rate at which our world is currently changing, … Read more
“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.” – Lao Tzu It’s not groundbreaking to suggest that leaders need to always be thinking about the future. Everybody knows that already. That’s why organizations have planning sessions, retreats, etc. We’re all trying to discern what our business needs to be … Read more
“To do anything in this world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can.” – Sydney Smith I think it’s fear of the unknown that stops us. We’d rather have the unpleasant reality that we’re familiar with … Read more
“You will either step forward into growth or you will step back into safety.” – Abraham Maslow A recent survey of international business leaders concluded that the #1 focus for those leaders was ‘profitable growth’. Lots of people hear ‘growth’ and they immediately think of new products or new markets or really successful salespeople. But … Read more
“This is the first time in history that you can be great at what you’re doing today and be out of business tomorrow.” – Ken Blanchard Quotes like Blanchard’s above can be found everywhere these days. Everyone talks about the pace of change and how quickly we have to change and how if we don’t … Read more
“Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn out.” – John Wooden Despite all the things we say about positive attitudes and self-talk and the like, the reality is that as long as you’re a resident of this planet, things are going to happen that don’t mesh with … Read more
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