Posts Tagged ‘company values’
Hire the right person the first time
Hiring is difficult. It’s complicated, and confusing, and will take a long time. Here’s one way to simplify your hiring: start with essential skills. What are essential skills? Essential skills are the skills you need for the job but don’t have time to teach. You can teach somebody how to use a hammer to hang…
Read MoreHow to be a good leader: (hint: know when you should follow đ)
One way in which people demonstrate leadership is by knowing when to be followers. This was a lesson I picked up recently from listening to the McKay Interview podcast episode with Dr. Cynthia Cherrey and Professor Mike Hardy. (If you want to both feel and be smarter, spend some time with The McKay Interview). A…
Read MoreAn introduction to company culture
Itâs not really a âthingâ, itâs more of a concept. An abstract we can talk about but not physically build. Right? No thatâs not right. Culture is when we put ping pong tables in the office and offer beer on tap and relaxation pods. Right? Is it when I let all my employees work from…
Read MoreThe three pillars of a sustainable business
When you search for images of an ancient Greek temple, most of what you see will have at least a foundation and columns remaining. This image springs to mind when I think of a sustainable business. The foundation is the mission. The columns are the business pillars of happy employees, loyal clients, and business goals. …
Read MoreThis one is all about you
Letâs talk about you. âBest of the yearâ lists can sometimes seem a little self-indulgent. But really: when I am looking at the content you consumed the most this year, it is telling me something about you: what you are interested in, and what you are working on in your business. So letâs get down…
Read MoreYour next employee is exactly nothing like you
There are so many theories about how to decide who to hire. Only hire somebody youâd want to hang out with on a weekend. As well as Hire people who are completely different from you, and that you wouldnât otherwise connect with. And everything in between. Whatâs a business owner to do? The hiring balance…
Read MoreThe formula for happy employees
One of the top three challenges that new employees have is unmet expectations: the job is not what they expected it to be. That means difficult conversations where they are telling you that they expected something different, and what are you going to do about it. Or even worse: they quit. One simple fix will…
Read MoreWhen company values become harmful
Iâll get straight to the point: company values become harmful when they are not enforced. This happens more often than you would imagine, and usually because of good intentions. But the harm is always greater than the perk. The wrong way to use values Letâs say you claim a core value at your business is…
Read MoreFix your marketing: add your brand
Pretend, for a moment, that you are in the business of pens. Now pretend that you are planning your marketing efforts for your pens. And you come up with the message you want to get out there: We sell pens With that message, what makes somebody buy your pens rather than somebody elseâs? Price, proximity,…
Read MoreHow to pick the worst clients
If a strategy is about knowing what not to do, then client profiles are about knowing who not to target. Much of this will happen as a process of exclusion as you build your Customer Profile. But that is not enough. There are certain traits you want to look out for, that make universally bad…
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