We can help people with skills . . . to improve old ones or learn new ones. But it’s just about impossible to change their behaviors in any meaningful way. Yet we continue to waste time trying.
Take the example of Bill, ace IT guy. He’s an electronics genius. There […] Continue Reading…
“As managers, we have to get out of the behavior modification business.”
“If you listen closely enough, your customers will explain your business to you.”
Your customers don’t have to do business with you. They have many suppliers from which to choose, but they have chosen you. Why? What is it about the product or service you offer that brings you customers and keeps them? You think you know why your customers have chosen […] Continue Reading…
“A decision is an action an executive must take . . . “
For owners and managers, decision-making goes with the territory. We can’t escape it. It’s an important part of the job. Even if an executive presides over an inclusive, democratic decision-making process, he or she must still make sure that process is effective and efficient and doesn’t lead to grid […] Continue Reading…
“One of the greatest challenges as a manager is how to delegate so effectively that once you have gotten the monkey off your back, your employees don’t return it to you . . . with instructions for its care and feeding.”
An important part of leadership, delegation, is growing the people who are under the leader’s care. It takes time and it takes effort, but it’s the only way to develop a strong, effective team.
Picture this. You’ve just given one of your direct reports an important assignment. Soon the direct […] Continue Reading…
“If your horse dies, get off.”
Inertia can be a terrible thing. It can keep us rooted in decisions and activities that may no longer be productive. It can keep us astride ol’ Trigger long after it has become obvious that Trig isn’t going anywhere.
For example, let’s say we launch a new product or service, […] Continue Reading…
“A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a joke or worried to death by a frown on the right person’s brow.”
Bruce Lund is the owner/founder of Lund and Company Innovation, a toy design and product invention company (inventors of Tickle Me Elmo). His company is dedicated to the proposition that toys are profoundly important. Great toys teach, entertain, surprise, inspire and invite inquiry.
Mr. Lund wrote this blog and I […] Continue Reading…
“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 […] Continue Reading…
