We conducted a survey of several Puget Sound companies asking them which area of their business caused them the greatest concern. The issue rated the highest was the failure to introduce successful new products. When asking these companies to explain why they see this issue as their greatest challenge, the responses were as diverse as…
The 12 Steps of effective businesspeople
Do your work before you play. Always do more than others expect of you. Never quit trying to become better at something. Be willing to do the things you don’t like to do in order to achieve what you want. Be willing to accept failure and disappointment as a part of learning. Recognize that there…
Where are the VC’s?
A question I hear often is “how do I find a VC to invest in my company?” First, there are many different institutional equity investors, both private and public. Venture Capital companies are best known by start ups and early stage companies, because VC’s are most likely to be found investing in these riskier ventures. …
25 Attributes of Effective Teams
If you take a magnifying glass and hold it up to most organizations recognized for their effectiveness, you will see that they have two characteristics in common; they have effective Leadership and they operate through effective Teams. If you believe the chicken came before the egg, then you would agree that it takes effective leadership…
Entrepreneur or “PermopreneurTM”? Which are you?
Entrepreneurs are heralded by the business community as key contributors to the success of the US Economy; probably one of the most resilient economies in the world (even in a recession). New products, technologies and business ideas are the objectives of millions of aspiring Entrepreneurs throughout the world. Yet, there is an 80% failure rate…
The “5″ P’s of Marketing
There are many misconceptions as to what is marketing and what it can do for an organization. Marketing is best described as a process intended to increase the perceived value and to stimulate demand for a product. A product, in our case, will mean both a physical product and a service, which is then translated…
Marketing and Sales Differences
Marketing and sales are often used in the same sentence as though they were synonymous. This happens frequently enough that many organizations structure these functions into the same department and cost centers. Being combined in this manner is not a major issue for most organizations, as long as they understand the true functional differences between…
STEPS TO BECOME A MORE SUCCESSFUL PERSON
You are a success …. ….IF you are able to look within yourself and realize that you are the only one who is responsible for yow you feel about yourself… ….IF you realize that others may hurt your feelings and that life may be cruel at times, but realize that how you react to these…
“You Get What You Pay For”-Rewarding Incorrectly Will Hurt You!
Most organizations will say they reward “results”, yet that is not necessarily true. Organizations establish a formal or informal process to incentivize their workforce to achieve a desired level of performance. Depending on the size and culture of the enterprise, this compensation plan may include all employees, just management or something in between. All such…
Shifting From Accountability to Entitlement-Whose fault is it?
I recently read an article about the shift within corporate America from a workforce that expects to be held accountable, to a workforce that looks for entitlement. Why should we even be concerned with this shift? We should be concerned since a growing level of entitlement within our population is having an impact on the…
