Anticipate Customer Expectations, leadership, business growth, business strategy

Anticipating Changing Customer Expectations: An Elusive Leadership Skill

If you are like many leaders, you think about customers often and scan for potential tweaks and improvements in processes and products, so consumers continue to choose yours over another solution. Technology advances have set a high bar for all; people expect tools and products that make lives and work easier, quicker and, yes, cheaper. […]

Business Growth Event

Weave Value Into Your Business Growth

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.15″] Let’s face it, our companies experience ongoing challenge and change. We might have different business paths, maybe even goals (apart from profitability). Also, we would all like to remove frustration, reignite stalled projects, and get faster results along the way. In fact, businesses with a clearly-outlined and useful plan are consistently, […]

people meeting communication

The Spectrum of Character Traits: Genuine Connection

Greg Jameson invited me to join him on his podcast, 20 Minutes of Influence. Our conversation on influence covered two areas: first, the sales side – specifically, getting another person to take action based on what we say or do or suggest; and second, three soft skills necessary to have influence. On the latter topic, […]

leadership, decision making, problem solving

LEAD Model for Better-Decision Making and Problem-Solving

Owning a business, running a department, doing the best we can is a constant challenge. Not that our pants are on fire all the time, but that there is always something that diverts our attention, demands our time, and competes with the activities that are the main and best use of our time. Every business […]

Three Ways of Showing Up with Courage and Empathy in Business

Have you ever thought about your EQ … your “Emotional Intelligence” … and how this relates to your career or business? If not, you should! Emotional Intelligence is how we show up for us. Empathy is how we show up with others. It’s our capacity to care without interference. While they are not interchangeable terms, […]

Elephants in the (Conference) Room

Elephants in the (Conference) Room

Elephants have strength and gentleness. They act with power and grace. They have pride and love. Just like elephants, humans also possess contrasting attributes – which can sometimes happen concurrently in an individual or a team. When opposing, interdependent emotions occur simultaneously, the path becomes clouded; momentum slows (even stops), missed deadlines crop up and […]

Get Unstuck Quick! Jessica Dewell’s Appearance on CLBLive

Act To PLAN and Get Unstuck Quick What’s the remedy for being simply, completely, unequivocally stuck? How about recognizing that fact and then moving forward? And that’s just where my discussion with Christine L Bowen on CLBLive began. Read on for the highlights, because the conversation provides solutions right at your fingertips! From the starting […]

What Present Has to do With Business

(Spoiler Alert: There is NO Magic Box) In maintaining a healthy and adaptable business, one helpful tip is to examine situations through different lenses. For example, let’s take the meaning of a single word. Here’s what happens when we look at our business through three definitions of the word “present”: A present?! A gift for […]

How do you get comfortable making choices?

The more we choose the easier the action becomes. There are three main components to making choices: Know there is a choice to be made. Understand what’s in our control (or not). Consider the options. Let’s take moment to clarify: there are decisions we make for ourselves, our families, and for our work. The aforementioned […]

4 Steps for Business Problem Solving to Get Results

“What are we supposed to do here?” is a question that I use to gauge what the team is thinking as we tackle problems together. The steps to problem solving are universal, and we can apply all to situations throughout life – including business. Let’s imagine that the last problem we worked on is one […]

How To Successfully Employ Customer Touchpoints

  A previous blog commented on the importance of listening skills in choosing a consultant. Not surprisingly, listening is also important to successful business as a whole. As a business owner or executive, how and how well you listen has a direct impact on how the execution of those decisions and plans will actually benefit […]

How To Choose THE Consultant For Your Business

  So, an opportunity presents itself with regard to your business – expected or not. Either way, your business plan might not account for it. Or perhaps you’ve got a nagging feeling that something isn’t quite right with what’s happening and you don’t (easily) know how to figure it out. That’s when it’s time to seek […]

Growing Small Business — Collaboration, Boundaries, and Listening Well

  One can’t overestimate the importance of learning to listen well (a skill which represents a deliverable in and of itself). Workers are dependent upon you, as both business owner and de facto team leader, to perceive the nuances of their comments and actions. Individuals who love supporting one another in the workaday environment represent […]

Growing Small Business — Establishing the Cost of a Product or Service

If your small business – and by extension, YOU – are potentially available 24/7, how do you determine what is an equitable, livable fee to charge for your product and/or service? Determining what to charge is a challenge for any business, at the beginning or in product evaluation. There are real-world consequences in charging too much […]