Management

5 Hard Lessons Related to Firing Somebody

February 13, 2012

So you start your business, and you get it going, and growing. If you have employees, it’s likely you’re going to have to deal with firing somebody. Here are my some of my thoughts (based on actual experience; not theoretical) on that subject. Having to fire somebody who’s been trying hard and failing is the [...]

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Should Your Strategy Be Constantly Changing?

June 21, 2011

I read Holly Green’s Shifting from Strategic Planning to Strategic Agility, on Forbes.com the other day. Ok, agile sounds good for a business. And the world does change rapidly, too. But what about this, from something I wrote about 10 years ago: Better a mediocre strategy, consistently applied over time, than a series of brilliant [...]

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It's Analytes Vs. Justdoers in a Battle to Business Death

March 15, 2011

In a darkened arena with a spotlight on a fighting ring in the middle, the crowd hushes as an announcer walks to the middle of the ring and announces the next battle. “In this corner…” — his voice echoes through the arena — “… we have the analytes.” The analytes can’t move without the numbers. [...]

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Can You Define Good Management Technique?

March 4, 2011

With due respect to some of the great thinkers who have, I don’t understand how anybody even tries to define, teach, or even predict good management technique. Even if it’s just one manager and one person being managed, there are already three huge factors: the manager, the other person, and the situation. Both the people [...]

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Productivity is as Productivity Does

February 3, 2011

Work differs. The other day somebody told me about the problem of getting into some kinds of work. It went something like this (paraphrasing): With computer programming it takes more time to get in and out of it. You can’t just stop to talk, or answer an instant message, and then continue. Interruptions make a [...]

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Company Culture Is What You Are Not What You Want To Be

January 14, 2011

I got this business plan question in email: When you’re starting your business, does “company culture” have an impact in your business plan? Do you start your “culture” when the company is small and create one that will easily expand as your company expands. How important is that type of thing as you go forward [...]

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That It Didn’t Work Then Doesn’t Mean it Won’t Work Now

January 13, 2011

I’ve had another stark reminder this week: with the way things change so fast, these days. we can never assume that what didn’t work for our business even two or three years ago won’t work now if we try it again. That’s tough. It’s so easy to get locked in mentally. I’m thanking my lucky [...]

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Why Going Soft Is Good For Business

January 5, 2011

Dyke Drummond had an interesting quote in a comment to my list of entrepreneurship traits post last week: And I agree about EMPATHY. I think it is a very underused term because people think it is “Soft” … and it is the core of any successful marketing campaign. You must be able to put yourself [...]

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Nice People Can be Bad Bosses. Way Too Often.

September 29, 2010

I’m troubled. The problem, in a nutshell, is that saying jerks and idiots are bad bosses is a bit too easy. It implies that not being a jerk or worse makes you a good boss. And that’s not always true. Nice people can be bad bosses. I like Bob Sutton’s work a lot. He blogs [...]

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