Business Goals
The Formula to Balance Your Business
Opportunity & risk. Gains & losses. Promotion & Prevention. These are all ways to describe the balance a business needs to succeed. You can’t avoid risk, and you – hopefully – have plenty of opportunities. Making these two things coexist is important, but one of the hardest things to do. Business potential Back in 2017,…
Read MoreHow to plan to be spontaneous
“The last thing I want for my business is a plan or a process. I need my people to be spontaneous and adaptable”. This is an actual quote from a business owner who is terrified of turning his employees into automatons. His fear is valid: at what point is too much instruction removing any capability…
Read MoreOn Information: a lesson from my course
New content! Running a business is about continuously making decisions. Who to hire? Who to serve? What to do next? Which software to buy? What to say? How to say it? What needs to change at any given moment? This is why I built a whole course on decision making, sharing the most popular and…
Read MoreHumans vs. Machines: Who Wins?
In the eternal struggle between humans and machines, I have come to trust the opinion of chess champion Gary Kasparov. Not least because his opinion has changed over time and as he examined results. His conclusion is: machines are better than humans at some things. Humans are better than machines at some things. And nobody…
Read MoreWhy you don’t want to sell quality
Look through the language you use to talk about your business. Consider your website, your pitches, your business cards, your brochures, the way you introduce yourself at events and in interviews. Now review all that language asking yourself a single question: what’s the alternative? “Quality” is not a quality message Imagine that you are about…
Read MoreLet’s talk about an entrepreneur’s biggest mistake
What is an entrepreneur’s biggest mistake? I was asked this question just the other day. And as much as I am not a fan of questions that require absolutes, I will still answer a question when it is posed. And the answer to this one is: thinking they know what their customer wants. One coin:…
Read MoreComparing to the Competition
You have heard me say it before: innovation is about customers, not the competition. If you are looking at your competitors to decide your next move, you are doing it wrong. But that doesn’t mean that there is never a reason to look at your competition. Sometimes you just want to look and compare: so…
Read MoreTime to assess your new year’s plans
New year’s resolutions tend to be a disappointment in search of a cause. We write them, we break them, we forget all about them. 2020 has been… whatever 2020 has been. We adapted, we updated, we pivoted, we persevered, and however things went for any of us, it is true that the year was unexpected for…
Read MoreAnything worth doing is worth doing badly.
Is it worth doing? Then do it. In any way that you can. Nike figured this out long ago. Want to get into better shape, want to learn a new sport, want to start a new fitness habit? Just do it. Buy the shoes and do it. Because if it is worth doing, it is…
Read MoreCan everyone in your business hear your customers?
Who talks to your clients every day? Is it you? Is it your salespeople? Is it the teams that serve your customers? Who listens to your clients every day? What customer-centric means Being customer-centric is not just about appreciation gifts, cards on birthdays, and a friendly demeanor. Being customer-centric means innovating for customers, not against…
Read More