CSR is No Indulgence
I find it disturbing when business leaders choose to use CSR to compensate for ethically questionable business.
Principles Reign Supreme Over Values
A company I know has a stated value of innovation that it parades out in front employees on a regular basis, but rarely, if ever, do any staff or managers innovate anything—including staff in research and development!
Increase Your Attrition
Many companies are struggling to find the qualified people they need, so they resort to retaining the people they have whether qualified or not. They fight to eliminate or at least reduce rates of attrition when it is increased attrition that can do the business the most good. Retention of the best is all that […]
Forget Recruiting. Poach.
Don’t recruit. Poach. In a tight labor market, there is no percentage in tentativeness. If there is any time to go on the offense, it is now. I don’t know why recruiting firms call what they do a “search.” Who cares about a search? A search is easy, and often consists of little more than […]
Retain Just the Best
You want to retain just the best in your organization. Why? Retention, per se, is no business objective. It is retaining the best that counts, even in the tightest of labor markets.
Your Own Worst Enemy
Businesses can be their own worst enemies when business process supplants business thinking. The CEO of a large industrial American company in Japan told me of difficulties he faces in buying from a division of a large Japanese industrial company, not because of a lack of will to sell on their part, but rather unnecessary and […]
[:en]No Pain Points, No Problems[:ja]問題を抱えない顧客へのアプローチ[:]
[:en]What if your prospects and clients have no pain points and no problems? Presumption of damage is never a good way to start a relationship with anyone, whether in business or otherwise. Not long ago, I was working with a sales team to help improve their capability to ask questions when meeting with prospects. Without fail, […]
[:en]Empathy Trumps Projection[:ja]投影ではなく共感をすること[:]
[:en]Projection and empathy are not the same thing, but they are often confused. Empathy is the ability to understand how someone is thinking, whereas projection is presuming a person thinks like you. Be careful not to project when it is empathy that you intend.
[:en]When Risk Aversion is Personal[:ja]個人的な理由からのリスク回避[:]
[:en] There is nothing wrong with risk aversion. It is only aversion to reasonable business risk that is a problem. When a business leader complains of excessive risk aversion in his staff, the underlying concerns are frequently personal.
[:en]Start With Strategic Absolutes[:ja]戦略作成では、まず譲れない部分を明確にする事[:]
[:en]Any business, in any situation, in any market always has multiple options for a strategic direction that are all good. It is a terrific boon to buy-in when your leadership team can come up with a strategic direction that matches yours without you having to tell them what your vision is. However, that rarely happens […]
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