How To Run Great Meetings
There is no question in my mind that the executive who involves his managers in the decision-making process by running meetings that are open, candid, and informal will achieve more and suffer fewer setbacks than the employer who is all output and no input. That said, it must be acknowledged…
READ MOREMichael Dell vs. the Red Screen of Death
If you ever start a business, you had better decide early what your business’s USP — its unique selling proposition — is. What is it that your company brings to the competitive marketplace that sets it apart from your main rivals? What is the supreme benefit that it delivers to…
READ MOREGive Gifts That Mean Something and You’ll Be Remembered For Them
Charity often pleases the giver and weakens the recipient, but gifts are another matter. The occasional gift (occasional, as for a birthday, Christmas, etc.) — even an extravagant one — can sometimes have a lasting positive effect. Such was the result of a gift my godmother, JK, gave me many…
READ MOREHow To Handle Irate Customers
Only after an angry customer believes that you understand his problem and sympathize with his plight will he be willing to believe that you really mean to help him. This is especially true if he’s been run through a customer-service drill that resulted in nothing happening. One way I’ve found…
READ MOREPay Attention To Your No. 1 Job
According to most “serial business builders,” bad hiring and firing decisions are among the most important mistakes entrepreneurs make. These include: 1. not spending the time and energy to recruit the very best employees 2. not paying close enough attention to an executive’s performance 3. waiting too long to…
READ MORESomething To Ponder
Something to ponder: All your clients, customers, and employees have a hidden mission — and that is to reduce your profits to zero. It is a cynical thought, but it’s true. The moment you let up on the pressure to produce, sell, save, and improve, your bottom line will begin…
READ MOREWhen You Shouldn’t Fire Your Weakest Link
As an executive working for a business I didn’t own, I fired employees right and left. It was clear to me that my primary duty was to the business — and when someone working for me couldn’t cut the mustard and could be replaced rather quickly by someone better, I…
READ MOREMake Your Personal Life Richer This Year
What are your hobbies? If you say “watching sports on television,” I’ve got news for you. That’s not a hobby. It’s a habit, and a bad one at that. A hobby is, or should be, something that makes your life richer. The kind of hobby Winston Churchill was recommending…
READ MOREResolution: Increase Your Income
Let’s start with some simple arithmetic. Joe Ordinary is 25 years old, makes $28,000 a year, and gets ordinary 3% to 4% yearly increases. Over a 40-year career, he makes approximately $2.3 million. Elwood ETR is not satisfied with ordinary. He follows the advice he gets here every morning and…
READ MOREHow Much Should a CEO Make?
“Greed’s worst point is its ingratitude.” – Seneca (Letters to Lucilius, first century) When I first read the statistic quoted above, I accepted it without thinking. Then my brother questioned it and I realized it was one of those trumped-up pieces of data meant to score a point. What is…
READ MOREDale Carnegie’s 10 Rules for Getting People To Like You
“The ideas I stand for are not mine. I borrowed them from Socrates. I swiped them from Chesterfield. I stole them from Jesus. And I put them in a book. If you don’t like their rules, whose would you use?” – Dale Carnegie I’ve told you about my Dale Carnegie…
READ MOREHow to Hire and Keep the Best Employees
“I am convinced that nothing we do is more important than hiring and developing people. At the end of the day you bet on people, not on strategies.” – Larry Bossidy Which of the following actions will give you the greatest success in hiring employees “for life”? * finding out…
READ MORE