Can anyone say they have created a business all on their own? Even when that prospective business is just the spark of an idea, there is always at least one area where support from someone else can advance the idea from possibility to reality. As founder and owner of the highly successful Bounce Curl, I understand the challenges of launching a business independently and am … [More]
Are Investors Missing This Huge Opportunity in Their Private Equity Due Diligence?
The competition to acquire high-quality companies is intense. Private equity firms each have their own methods for evaluating the current and future values of companies they wish to invest in: the product and service, leadership team, future scalability, and competition in the space. But there’s another piece that often gets overlooked, one that may hold the biggest key of all … [More]
Avoiding the Turnover Tsunami
Employee turnover is always a looming concern for businesses. But, as the pandemic slows down and the world begins to recover, employee turnover has started to emerge as one of the most pressing issues in the workforce; in fact, many experts are warning of a “turnover tsunami.” According to a recent report, more than half of employees surveyed in North America plan to look … [More]
Flip the Pyramid – Bottom-Up Pipeline for Ideas
Innovation doesn’t just come in a box or get delivered to overnight. Like a plant, it needs to be watered and fed so it can grow. Many organizations realize this, but the pipeline of ideas can get strangled, and ideas get lost in the shuffle of day-to-day business or, worse, have no place to go to be vetted and implemented. TruWest Credit Union recognized an untapped resource … [More]
What Is the YOLO Economy?
The acronym “YOLO” took the world by storm in 2011 when Canadian rapper Drake used the term, meaning You Only Live Once, in a song. Since then, YOLO has been used far and wide as a newer version of carpe diem, or seize the day, as a way to encourage people to take risks and live life to the fullest. Now YOLO is being used to describe a new mindset that is changing the economy … [More]
Second Chance Hiring Can Transform Business
As businesses emerge from the setbacks of the pandemic, they are increasingly challenged to find the workforce they need to grow. Much of this is demographic. Many older workers have permanently left the workforce, joining a march of retiring baby boomers that will average 10,000 retirees each day over much of the next decade. The millennials, largely already in the workforce, … [More]
Branding and Politics
The corporate furor over new restrictive voting laws currently being advanced across the country is the latest example of corporations rewriting how they are engaging with social and political issues. In the past, companies tended to remain publicly neutral on even potentially divisive topics. However, over the last decade, more corporate entities and business leaders have … [More]
Leadership Ethics, the Only Standard
It seems the public’s faith in many U.S. businesses, banks and financial markets has been eroded because of reported management failings, continued bankruptcies and repeated financial crises. Sadly, trust in corporate management, boards of directors and political leaders seems to be at a low point. What led us to such a low point in our moral beliefs and our moral conduct? … [More]
Now is the Time to Launch a Mentorship Program
When I consult with corporations and higher education institutions about establishing mentorship programs, I’m often asked about the benefits. Let me take a brief moment to tell you the bevy of reasons that your company should consider such a program — and why now is a better time than ever before. First, why me? As I researched and drafted my book, Teach to Work: How a … [More]
Behavioral Patterns Impact Communication
Two years ago, when setting out to write The Search for Why, the tools we had at hand were not up to the task to adequately answer the question of why we do what we do. So, we set out to use the best science from the related fields of data science, neuroscience and behavioral science to build a Model of Why. Since the dawn of civilization, the greatest thinkers in the world … [More]
Four Steps to Thinking Positive in Business
It’s long been known by successful people what a powerful tool positive thinking can be. Just think of all the inspirational quotes out there that point out the impact of the right attitude and the importance of perseverance. Positive thinking can help people in all aspects of life, and it can be incredibly powerful in the way people conduct their businesses and lead their … [More]
Ripple Effect of a Toxic Boss
Working for a difficult or temperamental boss is common in the U.S. A survey last from by Cision for Robert Half showed roughly half of the employees quit their job due to what they termed a bad boss. But high turnover isn’t the only downside such bosses cause. Abrasive or toxic leadership creates many other costs for organizations and employees as well, from personal health to … [More]
Physical Intelligence – Key to Workplace Performance
We’re all familiar with cognitive intelligence (IQ) and emotional intelligence (EQ); what about physical intelligence? Right now, hundreds of chemicals racing through each of our bodies (in our bloodstream and nervous system) largely dictate how we think, feel, speak and behave. Most of us operate at the mercy of those chemicals — experiencing thoughts, reactions and emotions — … [More]
Intuition Is Your Superpower
Several years ago, I participated in a women’s leadership program focused on embracing what power was in all senses of the word. Intuition wasn’t one of the topics listed on the agenda. However, it was an incredible component of our leadership work together. On Friday night, the 26 of us were given an assignment: We were to transform a nursing home facility to have a … [More]
Election Year Talk and Tempers in a Virtual Workplace
Take a presidential election year, combine it with a global pandemic and the stage is set for workplace discussions to bubble over into heated discourse, even in a virtual environment. Between the daily stressors of COVID-19 and partisan tensions surrounding the 2020 presidential election, business owners and leaders need to be aware of how these factors can impact team … [More]
The Value of Shareholder Letters
Letters to corporate shareholders contain some of the best writing on business. These communications can be particularly valuable for investors probing for high-quality companies and managers. They are of general value for their insights on business and economics. Shareholder letters have an interesting history. Through the 1970s, shareholder letters consisted, as a rule, of … [More]
Black- and Woman-Owned: Business in the Shadow of COVID-19
Building their businesses here in Phoenix, these two black women business owners had little in common — until the COVID-19 pandemic wrought disruption indiscriminately throughout the economy and put us all in the same boat. Retail is commonly acknowledged to be the hardest-hit sector. As a concessionaire with gift stores in airport terminals, Lachele Mangum’s retail … [More]
The Monday Blues
With the impact of COVID-19, Americans across the country went from wishing for the weekend, to living it daily. To many, it is feeling a bit like the film Groundhog Day. But the current state of the country won’t last forever, and before too long Americans will be back to counting down for the weekend. The typical countdown begins when they arrive to work on Monday. From … [More]
