You’re the boss, the leader, the master of business; yet your team is becoming increasingly frustrated with your over use of technology in the workplace. Employees cannot express how your behavior is challenging their willingness to act upon what you say. Influence is essential to running a successful organization and can be earned only through the development of trust, … [More]
Snaring the Right Web Designer
The Web designer you ultimately choose will play a critical role in the digital success of your business, which is why you need to be able to ask the right questions and identify obvious red flags during the interview process. Recognizing and avoiding red flags can be the key to protecting yourself against a bad business deal. When it comes to hiring a Web designer or … [More]
A World of Difference in Leadership
Leadership has been a hot topic for several decades, and the ways women lead has landed at the top of the discussion. Although the pace has been less than dazzling, women have found their footing in every level of existing organizations or have created organizations to provide an environment suitable for them. I should know. I was one of the women who founded a company and … [More]
Capitalize on New Facebook News Feed Algorithm
Recently, Facebook announced some significant changes to its news feed algorithm that will, ultimately, affect both users and businesses. According to reports, Facebook’s executive team saw that news articles and marketing ads were creating an imbalance in the platform, drowning out all the personal moments people had to share. The new algorithm aims to correct this imbalance, … [More]
Attitudes toward Supplier Integration: the U.S. vs. China
Employees don’t always agree with company initiatives. On the one hand, leadership may be committed toward an organizational change that many company employees view negatively. Downsizing is an obvious example, but new technologies or new techniques may also have this effect. On the other hand, employees may have a positive view toward an initiative that leadership refuses to … [More]
Successful Entrepreneurs May Be Their Own Worst Enemy
Do I risk what I have for more? This is the ultimate question that nearly every successful entrepreneur faces following the building of wealth through their business. The mantra of “If you’re not growing, you’re dying” has been preached to entrepreneurs at every business seminar or within every best-selling business success book, so one would assume that continued growth is … [More]
In Perspective: The U.S.-Mexico Border
My first academic position was at New Mexico State University in 1991. On my first day there, I was shown a plan to improve border crossing operations from Mexico to the United States. I’ve been involved in Mexico-U.S. issues ever since. Since I study transportation and logistics issues, I initially spent considerable time understanding, explaining and evaluating the … [More]
Managing Conflict: A State of Understanding
I’ve had thousands of conversations with managers in recent years, and in almost every one of them, a manager is struggling with trying to change behavior — his own or someone else’s. And it’s usually someone else’s. The struggle with that behavior is mostly caused by the lack of understanding of it. Too many of us don’t understand our own behavior, let alone someone else’s; I … [More]
The Surprising Truth about Humans and Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence is not new but, suddenly, everyone seems to be talking about it. We have hit an inflection point with computing power and data that is finally allowing for commercial applications of this technology, and that’s what all the excitement is about. It’s only going to get faster and better from here on out. Along with talk about the new possibilities, … [More]
Leadership Power in Listening
As a brand strategist, author and public speaker, I rely upon my voice and storytelling ability to make a living. I’ve observed that my interpersonal communication style is less 1:1 and more “broadcast” in nature. I get in a room full of people, position myself directly in the center, and hold court. At a leadership conference featuring 10-hour days of training and intense … [More]
What Corporate Social Responsibility Looks Like in AZ
What pops into people’s heads when “corporate social responsibility” is mentioned? Most likely it is a large company with happy employees, in a building with sleeping pods in the breakroom, engaged managers who create a fun environment for their team, and a lengthy list of how the business acts in an environmentally friendly way. What might not be top of mind are small to … [More]
Healthcare Fallout on Small Business
Employers Need a Stable Individual Insurance Market by Andrew Cavenagh The Affordable Care Act’s (Obamacare) health insurance exchanges are poised to collapse. By 2018, nearly 40 percent of all counties nationwide are expected to have only one insurer participating in the exchanges. More insurers are expected to leave the exchanges in the coming weeks. Tens of thousands of … [More]
When a Business’s Reputation Is on the Line
Whatever happened to the attitude that “the customer is always right”? The airline industry has been taking its hits lately, thanks to several mishandled passenger interactions: pulling a doctor off an overbooked flight in Chicago, a dispute over a carried-on stroller in San Francisco, a couple booted off a flight in Maui when they put their baby in a seat purchased for his … [More]
More Dollars from Data
According to Buckminster Fuller’s “Knowledge Doubling Curve,” human knowledge doubled approximately every century. Today, it is estimated that human knowledge is doubling every 12 to 13 months. IBM is estimating that, with the build out of the “Internet of things,” knowledge will double every 12 hours. The explosion of information is clearly accelerating. Data is flooding … [More]
Truth May Be Muddled in Perception
Imagine you’ve got an employee who’s recently been doing a lousy job. You sit him down and give him some constructive feedback about his subpar work. But instead of accepting your feedback, he looks at you genuinely bewildered and says, “I think I’ve been doing a great job. I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about!” If you’ve ever had that challenge, you’ve witnessed … [More]
Employee Retirement Plans Are for Small Businesses, Too
Small-business owners probably think they have enough headaches already, what with meeting payroll, dealing with government regulations and pleasing customers. After all, setting up a retirement plan for their employees is just extra red tape and possibly expense — headaches that they can do without — right? But creating such a plan is more doable than they may realize and … [More]
Historically Successful Leadership
As Gordon Leidner notes in his introduction to The Leadership Secrets of Hamilton and the Founding Fathers, “the Founding Fathers’ adoption of the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, and the Bill of Rights was the most revolutionary demonstration of leadership in American political history. … It was not because of the political unanimity of the nearly … [More]
Corporate Tax Reform: It’s Not Big Business vs Small Business
Reforming the U.S. corporate tax system could provide a major boost to U.S. economic growth and competitiveness, but progress continues to stall due in large part to small-business advocates who claim that corporate-only reform is unfair and economically harmful. Our studies have found significant flaws in their arguments. Corporate tax reform is one of the most important … [More]
