Posts by Mark Morgan Ford
Deception Works… Like Drugs
In your eagerness to get more customers, you may one day be tempted to make promises and claims that are deceptive or misleading. Resist the temptation. Why? Not because it won’t work. I can tell you from experience that hype and deception do work. At least they do at first. Customers want to believe your…
Read MoreWhat Does It Really Take to Change Your Life?
I was 14 when I first heard the word “underachiever.” Mrs. Growe, my ninth-grade English teacher, used it to describe a student who had, in her opinion, failed to work to his potential. The student? Yours truly. “Mr. Masterson,” she announced to the class, “is the classic example of an underachiever. He doesn’t complete his…
Read MoreWhat Does Cholesterol Have to Do With Cholesterol?
Like me, SL is fighting the inevitable. At 55, he’s working out vigorously at least once a day. “I feel a hell of a lot better,” he tells me. Working out not only makes him feel better, it has reduced his risk of heart disease. His cholesterol counts are better than before, but not as…
Read MoreAre You Leading a Well-Balanced Life?
The last two weeks of December is when I look back at what I’ve accomplished and failed to accomplish and make plans for the coming year. I make a commitment to complete my major goals in each of four areas: 1. Health (mental and physical) 2. Wealth (business and investments) 3. Personal (hobbies and interests)…
Read MoreWhat Are You Doing to Develop Your Up-and-Comers?
Let’s begin with an axiom: Business growth depends on new ideas that are well executed. If you are running (or involved in) what I call a Stage Two business (with more than $1 million in revenues and 40 employees), you deal with new ideas almost every day. In fact, assuming you’ve staffed your business with…
Read MoreWhy I’m Not Ashamed of My Failures
I’ve had plenty of failures in my life — in business, in sports, in achieving my goals. But I don’t spend much time ruing my failures. I may think about them for a day or two, analyzing what I did wrong. But afterward, I hardly think of them at all. And if I do, I…
Read MoreDon’t Let Guilt Rob You of Your Most Valuable Possession
My mother once told me that the first word I said was “No!” She said I continued to say “no” to just about everything. “Does Michael want a bath?” “No!” “Does Michael want to take a nap?” “No!” “Does Michael want to take the bowl of spaghetti off his head?” “No!” Somehow, along the way,…
Read MoreDon’t Just Be Good, Be Known
Back in the day when I was just starting to work my way up the business ladder, it was my policy to give my boss more than he had a right to expect. Maybe more important, I made it a point to let him know whenever I did something good. If you aren’t doing that,…
Read MoreThe Parable of the Professor and the Bucket
A philosophy professor and his student stand in a warehouse. A large tin bucket and several boxes are in front of them. The professor picks up a box that contains large rocks, each one about four inches in diameter, and pours them into the bucket. The stones reach the top of the bucket, and he…
Read MoreThe World’s Quickest, Easiest Performance Review
I don’t like formal performance reviews. I find them awkward and unproductive. But I do think it’s important to get and give feedback. I do that with the people who report to me by discussing their progress with them on a regular basis. I call these interactions three-question reviews. I ask: How are you doing?…
Read MoreGet Out There and Make Contacts
You will accomplish your career goals much faster if you put yourself “out there.” That’s where you’ll meet prospective partners/employers/proteges/vendors. One of the best ways is to attend industry trade shows. Yes, the formal aspects of these programs — the speeches and the product presentations — are often superfluous. But the networking that surrounds them…
Read MoreHow to Get Your Employees to Act More Like Owners
If you want your employees to think more like you do about your business, you should give them the same opportunities you’ve had. These include: The chance to profit when the business profits The experience of suffering when the business loses money The chance to see how the bottom line is actually produced — how,…
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