Posts Tagged ‘lessons learned’
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…
Read MoreFailure usually isn’t (what we think it is)
“It was a complete failure. All the time: wasted. Everything I tried: wrong. Now I’m doubting everything I do.” Statements that, unfortunately, sometimes happen in a business environment. When I heard this one I took issue with, well, all of it. Something had indeed gone wrong. But no time had been wasted and I didn’t…
Read MoreHow to talk to problem employees
Nothing you tell your employees should ever come as a surprise. This is especially important with bad news. If you are telling an employee that they are at risk of being fired, and they had no idea, then you are the one who made a mistake, not them. But don’t tell your employees about their…
Read MoreWhat is Information, and how should you use it?
What makes a small business work? Information. Whether it is information about clients, about projects, about people, about jobs, about plans, or about goals, that information has to move throughout the business for everybody to know what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. But when is information reliable? Here are…
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 MoreHow to always learn from failure
It is a common trope that failure is a lesson. The question is: are we learning it? In school, we had lesson plans, curricula, lectures, and homework. To truly learn our lessons from failure – or mistakes, or problems, or imperfections – we need a lesson plan. When you find that something has gone wrong…
Read MoreSuccess Is Not Final
Starting at a young age, we are led to believe that life is fairly linear. You go to school, then you specialize your field of study, then you start working, then you get promoted, then you retire and start playing bridge. At some point, we start to suspect this is not entirely true… The way…
Read MoreWhen your Success Hurts You
Things are going well! Your business is growing, your clients are happy, finances are all comfortably in the black and your employees all have smiles on their faces. You can now relax and simply enjoy a job well done. Let the systems run themselves since whatever they are doing, seems to be working. Or. You…
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