A Call to Action!
Sadly, the personal touch in business is being lost. The more technologically advanced we become, the fewer people we find who are willing to take responsibility, both in their personal lives and in their business dealings. The ability to take decisions seems to be the preserve of committees, with individual judgement calls being relegated to …. Read More
Management Crisis
Management in Crisis After a few years of classes, they expect to manage people who have many times the amount of knowledge, gained through intensive personal experience. Those without the credentials have been relegated to the “slow track” and subjected to the ‘leadership’ of those who do not have the legitimacy to lead! What has …. Read More
Your Brand Lives in Your Customer
Part IV of our IV Part series on “Creating Your Own Niche” Your Brand is everything! Your Brand is owned by your customers and lives in their minds! Your brand is not your advertising. It is not your logo, your company name, or even your product. Your brand is a living entity, owned by your …. Read More
The Commodity Trap
Why should I do business with you? Probably the most basic of competitive questions, but unfortunately most companies answer the question (probably not in as many words) by saying “Do business with us, because we’re pretty much the same as our competition, but we’re good at it”. What choice does it give the Customer? Customers …. Read More
Serving Others First
Never, in the history of the world, has there been such abundant opportunity as there is now for the person who is willing to serve before trying to collect! In response to a particularly forceful verbal venting of abject frustration, my business sage at that time asked me a simple question: ‘How far do you …. Read More
Profit means NOTHING!
What would you rather have – a profitable business or a cash cow? The one is definitely not the same as the other! Just look at Enron and the millions of ’Profitable’ businesses that have collapsed. It tires me to hear businessmen and women brag about their profits. It is the cash position of the …. Read More
Dead Money
Most business failures result from a shortage of cash. To patch the cash holes, we run to the banks for higher overdrafts, factor our debtors, raise trade finance, enter buy and leaseback arrangements … or make any one of several other inventive financial arrangements. It is tragic that not enough attention is paid to identifying …. Read More
Don’t get tripped up.
We all have that small inner voice which guides us to always do the right thing but all too often we elect to ignore it and in the process are responsible for tripping ourselves up. In analysing all the ‘unique’ situations where you have fallen, you will undoubtedly be able to identify with either one, or …. Read More
Opportunity Cost
Oh, he was so lucky – he was in the right pace at the right time! Absolute nonsense! Count the number of times lady luck visits you in any week and you will realise that you create your own luck! The difference between ‘he’ and you is that ‘he’ acted upon one of the opportunities …. Read More
A Definite Chief Aim
It is sad to observe the number of businesses that play out their brief lives by morphing from day to day without any clue as to what their destination is. No wonder they go out of business, destroying hopes, and dreams in the process. These entities operate without a definite chief aim and have no …. Read More