Working with Startups for the last 17 years, I’ve heard this many times when I ask about their competition. “I don’t have any competition. No one is doing what I’m doing.” My response is always the same. A broom will beat out a vacuum cleaner if the Customer lives in a cave with no power….
“The aim of leadership should be to improve the performance of man and machine, to improve quality, to increase output, and simultaneously to bring pride of workmanship to people. Put in a negative way, the aim of leadership is not merely to find and record failures of men, but to remove the causes of failure:…
“I think, at a child’s birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity.” ? Eleanor Roosevelt “What if …?” is the first step to getting where you want to be. Sometimes, the solution will be as simple as the story about the…
People talk about the benefits of an open-door policy. Not everyone takes advantage of all the benefits, Traffic flows two ways through a door. Let them in. Get out on the shop floor. Get out of the building. LET THEM INMake sure employees know they can come to you with ideas and concerns. At one…
First, rather than go with the trend to continuously elongate acronyms, I’ll stick with JEDI for Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. It’s beyond me how Belonging and Accessibility are not part of Equity and Inclusion. Besides, I like the “power” of the term JEDI. I can already see you waving your politically correct light saber…
“I thought you were my friend. I’ve already had a stroke on the job and now you’re trying to kill me.” It wasn’t the reaction I expected when I brought Tommy the wonderful news that he was getting a computer and access to the inventory system. I was there as a consultant, making continuous improvement…
Everyone can’t afford to work with hiring agencies or pay for applications. A manager of a credit union called me into her office and said, “What am I supposed to do? We’re overloaded with work. I need more help and posting a job got me more than a hundred resumes. How am I supposed to…
Many years ago, I worked for a large corporation. They had a division that increased business in a downturn and balanced the losses of other divisions. They had a “Cash Cow.” Over time, management evolved from guys who started as bag boys in stores to a team with little experience in the business but the…
I love Baseball! I’ve loved it since I was a kid, and we could only play softball. I was a pretty good outfielder. I wasn’t too bad at bat. There’s a lot that goes into being a successful player. With all the hard work and the best intentions, a player can swing and strike or…