Mary Marshall At the end of the day, the successful companies have one thing in common, an outstanding business culture that promotes the success of the individuals working there. When this is in place a company can create great products and provide excellent service to its customers. … Read more
I had a conversation this weekend with my son who is currently a Peace Corps volunteer in Guyana in the Amazon rain forest. He lives in a small village in the north of the country and works at the only health clinic serving the mining … Read more
I saw this post today with alarm as it’s completely counter to what I have always believed. As I read more of the article, I realized the author, Lou Adler, and I are actually probably in agreement, just using different ways and words to describe … Read more
Look no further than your daily paper to be reminded of leadership missteps, especially in the form of an offhand comment or email. Recently in The Seattle Times Boeing CEO James McNerney said he won’t retire because “the heart will still be beating, the employees will … Read more
I have worked with so many entrepreneurs who had trouble hiring salespeople that I had difficulty picking which example to use for the puzzler! I decided to use the one that most everyone can relate to. This was a services company that had struggled for … Read more
This could be, (and in many ways already has been), a never ending debate, but in my mind, it comes down to a few critical characteristics. First, the person must be a great conversationalist. This means the salesperson, (likely an extrovert), is: Comfortable engaging … Read more
You may have heard of author Susan Cain and her book, “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking.” The book has been extremely successful and has clearly resonated with many people. It has many implications for the workforce, and Susan … Read more
In my approach to business an organization’s culture is absolutely critical. I’ve written multiple blogs about it, and talked about how to create a great culture in my book, Putting Together the Entrepreneurial Puzzle, (in Chapter 2, “Intentional Culture”). Lately I have started wondering how … Read more
According to a July 8th article in Forbes passion actually leads to failure. This is news to me because some of my most passionate entrepreneurial clients are quite successful. And, ahem, Steve Jobs was certainly considered a “passionate” leader, at least about the innovation and … Read more
Marketing means so many things to so many different people that it’s hard to pin it down. In many ways, it’s a misunderstood discipline, so when one of my clients kept saying, “we need more marketing,” I finally sat him down and asked, “what does … Read more