3 must-know essentials to grow your business

Just start

You want to grow your business.  Why else would you be in business if not for some type of growth? After all, growth brings you more than just revenue. It is also about new opportunities, new clients, additional products or services, stronger bargaining power, better talent, and especially: increased value for a future exit.  Growth,…

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Are you achieving all of your goals on time?

The next question is: does it matter? What’s most important to you when it comes to achieving your goals? Meeting a deadline Checking a ā€œcompletedā€ box Creating new value in your business You probably know where I am going with this: goals aren’t about dates and times.  Goals add value to your business.  What has…

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The historical lens of lessons learned

One of the challenges of studying history, classics, and the past, is knowing how to read stories through the right lens: is it ours, or is it the lens of the time? Do you know how this comes up in business?  In your Lessons Learned.  Lessons Learned After a major project or process update, you…

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The best lessons are the ones we learn

There’s nothing wrong with things going wrong in business.  Do you remember Apple’s first hand-held device, the Newton? No? That’s ok, neither does anybody else.  Managerially the company did everything right and yet the product was a huge flop.  But the brand didn’t disappear, and 13 years later they launched the iPhone, which quickly set…

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Innovation happens when you think inside the box

Innovation happens when you are good at something you do… and then you do it a little bit better.  Innovation matters because it ensures that you are always doing things in the best possible way. “Innovation is about tweaking systems that are already faring wellā€, according to Business News Daily. It’s the little changes you…

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The single best business tool you can ever use

Adapt tools to your needs, not your needs to the tools.Ā  When you turn to the tools, start with the best one. The one tool that will solve problems and get you started on every project. The tool from which any other tool can be built.  A list.  Why lists are the single best business…

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We cannot solve the problems of the future

Because we don’t know what they will be.  Think of all the jobs that exist today but did not exist 20 years ago. Now imagine the other side of the coin: with all the new opportunities we couldn’t have predicted, think of all of the challenges that we won’t be able to predict.  We can’t…

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How to stay busy without losing your mind

A client recently told me that his favorite thing about working with me was the accountability it gave him. We created a new management plan, rolled it out to his employees, and then structured his management meetings.  While he enjoyed all this work, the knowledge of upcoming meetings with me, and knowing that the work…

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Why you should stop trying to be better

It’s a little bit like trying to be perfect. Trying to be better does not add value.Ā  But wait: doesn’t better mean an improvement? Wouldn’t that automatically add value?  Yes and no.  Better is comparative to a previous version or an outside influence. Value is, remains, will always be, about the client.  Better and best…

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