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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Stop trying to stop making mistakes

Mistakes should never be your primary goal.  If you know that something is the wrong thing to do, don’t do it. You don’t have to chase mistakes because they’ll happen anyway, regardless of your planning and precision.  When we don’t make mistakes, we get to do things right. When we do make mistakes, we get…

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Innovation happens when you think inside the box: start with the everyday

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 well”, according to Business News Daily. It’s the little changes you…

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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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Decisions, decisions, decisions: start by saying no.

Decisions. What to eat for breakfast. How much coffee to have. Which route to take to work. What to listen to on the radio. What to do first. What to do later. When to take a break. Which shoes to wear.  Just some of the decisions we have to make within a few hours of…

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How to be a good leader: (hint: know when you should follow 😉)

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…

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The risks of bad management

Last week we established that management is happening in your business right now, tomorrow, and every day, whether you acknowledge it or not.  This also means that somebody is managing the business, whether they acknowledge it or not.  And that someone is probably you.  But what happens when you don’t acknowledge it? Does any of…

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How to be specific and not too specific at the same time

Tell your employees exactly what is expected of them.  But don’t tell them what to do.  A client recently asked me how to balance these two instructions.  We were building role descriptions and she wanted to know how to be specific enough that people knew what to do but also open enough that she wasn’t…

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The quick and easy solution to business problems

She had a crack in her windshield. She decided she would go to the repair shop to have it looked at, but of course not today, she was too busy today. And not tomorrow, because what if they hold on to the car for hours and she needs it. At some point, when the opportunity…

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