In our last posting entitled, “Entrepreneurship by the numbers. How do you measure up?,” we took a statistical look at entrepreneurship based on Inc. magazine’s “Inc. 500” (the 500 fastest growing private companies in America). So we talked about how old entrepreneurs tend to be when they start their first business, how long they wait
Best Places to Work in Illinois 2015
As it has for the past 10 years, the Daily Herald Business Ledger has published a list of the “Best Places to Work in Illinois” for 2015. The “Best Places to Work” program is managed by the Best Companies Group (BCG) of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. BCG administers this program not only in Illinois, but in many
Just say “No!” to business-speak.
Whatever it is you do for a living, chances are you use some sort of jargon or slang or made-up words that you use to communicate with others who are in your line of work. Airline pilots speak their own language. Doctors and nurses talk to one another in med-speak. Lawyers, scientists, and computer geeks
“At the end of the day, you bet on people, not strategies.”
The Filene Research Institute is a think tank aimed at helping credit unions find ways to operate smarter, more efficiently, and more effectively. An acquaintance of mine who manages a credit union shared one of Filene’s reports with me. The title of the report is “Attributes and Skills of Highly Effective Credit Union Managers,” but
Outstanding organizations have one thing in common: an absolute sense of mission.
Mission, vision, and values are the three legs of a stool we call “culture.” The leg we call “mission” is about purpose. It answers the questions, “Why are we here? What are we doing and why are we doing it? Who are we trying to serve?” Without a shared sense of mission, an organization is
There is no talent shortage if you’re a great place to work.”
In his book, “What Were They Thinking? Unconventional Wisdom About Management,” author Jeffrey Pfeffer devotes a chapter to “making companies more like communities.” His premise is that a company’s human capital is the key to its success, and the key to attracting and retaining the best people is to develop a caring, community-like culture. In
Let’s get confrontational!
To many of us, confrontation is something to be avoided. The word conjures up something unpleasant or uncomfortable. We imagine two people standing toe-to-toe, their faces red, the veins in their necks bulging, and screaming at one another at the tops of their lungs. Well, if that’s the way you think of confrontation, it’s easy
“Extraordinary companies and teams . . . “
In his book, “True Alignment,” author Edgar Papke makes the point that in genuinely great organizations, everyone . . . every executive, every manager, every employee . . . pulls together toward the same goal, the same outcome. Makes sense, doesn’t it? After all, without this sort of “alignment,” members of an organization can work
What’s the difference between a leader and a boss?
Leadership is an endlessly fascinating topic because it’s one of those things that we recognize when we see it in action, but it’s frustratingly difficult to define or quantify in terms we can all agree upon. What does a great leader do that a not-so-great leader doesn’t do? What does a not-so-great leader do that
Why can’t we ever get anything done around here?
Our last posting talked about BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) and we asked, “What’s Your New Year’s BHAG?” But achieving a BHAG is just like keeping a New Year’s resolution: it’s all in the execution. It’s all in the doing. It’s one thing to dream up a BHAG, it’s quite another to put the wheels
