Strengths Based Leadership by Tom Rath Our book club studied this book last time and it sparked deep and meaningful discussions about what leadership means and where it begins and ends. Do we have the responsibilty as leaders to ensure that all of our staff are working to their strengths or is it their responsibility […]
I believe in working from your strengths. Everything I’ve read about it is focussed on a work environment; usually a corporation. Not a one-person shop, not a 2 or 2 1/2 person business, net even a small group. Here’s how you can use this if you are just you, or you and a few: 1. […]
There are 4 acknowledged pillars of business: marketing, production, human resources and finance. The theory is, if you can master each of them separately, you will have a successful business. Let’s look at this a different way. What if they are inter-related and the goal isn’t to master each separately, but to master the relationships […]
What do you call HARD SKILLS? Accounting (my fave), copywriting, inventory control, employee relations, sales, collections, purchasing, etc. These are acknowledged to be essential for business success. Then there are the SOFT SKILLS: listening, empathizing, being optimistic, problem solving, showing compassion. They are much more difficult to measure. They are not the focus of the […]
Most people start a business because they are good at what they do – bookkeeping, hairdressing, selling, fixing cars, cooking etc. They start off as self employed…(bookkeepers, hairdressers, mechanics ) and do fine. Over time they decide to grow their business. Soon they find they spend less time doing their business and they have to […]
The statistics tell us that 80% of businesses fail in the first 5 years. The reasons cited include: lack of basic business skills not enough good advice cash flow problems lack of sales losing focus pricing poorly not seeking help underestimating the competition and the market undervalueing promotion Usually the reasons are directly related to […]
