Posts Tagged ‘company values’
The 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
Let’s talk about you. “Best of the year” 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 let’s 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 you’d want to hang out with on a weekend. As well as Hire people who are completely different from you, and that you wouldn’t otherwise connect with. And everything in between. What’s 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
I’ll 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 Let’s 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 else’s? 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…
Read MoreEvery business has a business culture: what is yours?
Business culture is not optional. Like gravity or photosynthesis, whether or not you acknowledge it, it is there. The question is never: do we have a company culture; the question is always: do we have a good company culture or a damaging company culture? And if it’s going to happen anyway, you may as well…
Read MoreBe the person you want your employees to be
Leading by example. We all think we do it. But few people take deliberate steps to ensure this is true. The best descriptions of how to “lead by example” are the ones that create visuals: Model the behavior you want to see Create a picture of what is possible. Leading by example isn’t about what…
Read MoreWhy your employees want to know your mission statement
How do your employees know why they do the things that do? How do you know why your employees do the things that they do? Are you giving them a good direction about where you want their work to take the business? Employees join a company to use their skills in a valuable way. But…
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