A few weeks back I was at a Family Business, a sporting goods shop, their core business is firearms. This small business is a focused on customer satisfaction. They have a series of key questions for buyers, first time buyers: What is the intended use? Set a budget New or Used Size/type Caliber How does [Continue Reading]
Character, Competence and Chemistry in Family Owned Business
Recently the NCAA basketball season ended, both the Men’s and the Women’s champions have legendary coaches. Listening to the stories and the coaches; one had to ask. How do you win so often? What does it take to make a leader? Are there lessons a family business could learn from these two coaches? It takes [Continue Reading]
Entrepreneur or Business Owner?
The entrepreneur starts out of love, passion, inspiration, maybe some spark of genius and many, many times frustration.
The Power of Discomfort – Do You Live in Your Comfort Zone?
View the comfort zone not as a shelter but a prison. Family businesses need to manage the comfort zone. With the NCAA tournament in full swing we wanted to take advantage of a query, a postulate put forth a few years ago by Malcolm Gladwell. In January of 1971, the Fordham University Rams played [Continue Reading]
Managing Yourself and Business Analytics
Two articles really grabbed me this week as we all watched as nature remind us what power is and what it’s capable of with eight, ten feet of water.. The first read was by a Peter Drucker, although deceased Drucker’s articles still hit home and like aged advice from our parents, it still sends a [Continue Reading]
Owners, Employees, Customers and Company Culture
. Why are you in business? Does your company culture reflect the owner’s values, inspire employees and satisfy customers’ needs? During a recent discussion about the new iPhone 5, a friend asked our group, ‘why Apple is in business’? A business is an activity that provides goods or services to consumers for the purpose of [Continue Reading]
“You’ll Miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”
Don’t Miss the Opportunity “You’ll Miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” Family Businesses, the successful ones, recognize that their longevity depends on keeping customers, employees and shareholders happy. Recently a family business President commented on the challenges and the opportunities that have been presented to him. He expressed his personal drive, focus and [Continue Reading]
r u into #socialmedia?
“What do Google, Wal-Mart, and MyBarackObama.com have in common, besides their extraordinary success? They are organizations that are infused with IT in such a way that it leads to a qualitative change in their entire business. I get frustrated when I see people highlighting use of social media–blogging, wikis, twitter, customer feedback system–as if they [Continue Reading]