Brand and culture. Two sides of the same coin. Your brand is the outside world’s perception of who you are. The only question is, is that perception the one you have intentionally put in place and nurtured, or is it the one your market has bestowed on you by default. Likewise, your culture is how
“You can’t manage what you can’t measure.”
“You can’t manage what you can’t measure.” “What gets measured, gets done.” Those are two complimentary management axioms, and they both happen to be true. Take the first, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.” It’s pretty hard to argue with that. For instance, how could we manage our receivables without a measurement of some
“Goals produce results, not activities.”
Our last posting talked about consistency. We talked about identifying “critical success factors” . . . operating principles that, when applied consistently, are at the core of a company’s success. But operating principles are only half the equation. They are the front end, the input side of things. They are the consistent activities that produce
“Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.”
For most small business owners, the business is their single largest asset and the one they are counting upon to fund their retirement. So wouldn’t it make sense for them to plan when and how they expect to exit the business? You would think so, but many don’t . . . at least not in
“The nicest thing about not planning is that failure always comes as a complete surprise and is not preceded by a period of worry and desperation.”
Many small business owners do not engage in any real, substantive planning activities, even though planning will do more to move the business forward than anything else they can do. This is often because: a) they are so busy putting out the fires of today that they don’t have time to worry about tomorrow, or
