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Transparency In The Workplace: Honesty As A Strategy
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What Is The EOS Clarity Break? A Tool For Keeping Yourself Honest.
The Entrepreneurial Operating System® is just that, an operating system. It’s a complete package for running your business. But, like most operating systems (looking at you Windows) it has a few features that a lot of users don’t take the time to explore. Much like being able to switch to “dark theme” on Windows 10,…
Building A Culture Of Healthy Conflict At Work
When I work with a leadership team as their EOS® Implementer, they learn very quickly that I encourage a culture of healthy conflict at work. By lunch the first day, we’ve already built their EOS Accountability Chart™, which takes an immense amount of respectful debate, trust, and willingness to be open. These are all hallmark…
Simple Tips For Managing Healthy Conflict In Meetings
If you’re having truly productive meetings, your team is experiencing conflict. If you disagree, I’m afraid your meetings probably aren’t as productive as you’d like. Either that, or you aren’t aware of the conflict. Most of my readers, though, are well aware that having conflict in their meetings is a great thing. Healthy conflict resolution…
4 Tips For Using Language To Improve Conflict Resolution Skills At Work
As a certified EOS® Implementer (that’s the Entrepreneurial Operating System) and trained conflict resolution specialist, I’ve never had to look hard to find teams that aren’t managing conflict as well as they could. All teams have conflict. As a leader you know that to be true. You also know that the responsibility of managing conflict…
How The EOS Level 10 Meeting Simplifies Conflict Management At Work
When most people think about conflict at work, their minds go somewhere negative. After years of dealing with managers and leaders who don’t understand good conflict management practice, they have (understandably) formed that opinion that conflict at work should be avoided. But, healthy conflict is a linchpin of growth and progress. It’s rooted in our…
The Entrepreneurial Operating System – It’s Not Consulting, It’s EOS Coaching
The Entrepreneurial Operating System® is unique in many ways. When I decided to become a certified EOS® Implementer and began doing EOS coaching in Dallas, I promised myself I would never lose track of the one aspect of EOS that truly stood out to me: simplicity. I am dedicated to that simplicity, because it puts…
The Best Executive Coaching In Dallas Isn’t Coaching At All
I spent a good number of years providing executive coaching in Dallas. In that time I helped dozens of executives find their stride and deal with the day to day responsibilities and stresses of being at the top. I did right by those people, people that (for the most part) I still consider good friends.…
Guest Post: Key Ways To Make Your Business Transparent
I don’t post very much guest content, but when I find something that I really like around the web, I want to share it. Honesty and openness in as a company is one of the most valuable things they never teach you in any of the world famous MBA programs out there. So, when I…
Best EOS Implementer in Dallas Texas – Our 2019 Goal
Those of you who read my blog know that I’m not one for bragging. I genuinely hate doing it. In fact, you could say that I’m the best at not bragging. Why am I rambling about this and not giving you advice on the Entrepreneurial Operating System® (EOS®) like usual? Because I made resolution this…
What Is An EOS 90 Minute Meeting?
I’ve been a certified EOS® implementer for a good long while now. In that time I’ve spoken with hundreds of business owners who were considering implementing the Entrepreneurial Operating System® in their organization. When I tell people that the first step is sitting down for an EOS 90 Minute Meeting they are usually just confused.…
Level 10 Meeting Agenda Explained by an EOS Implementer: IDS & Concluding
(This is part 4 of a 4 part article on the EOS Level 10 Meeting Agenda. Click here to go back to part 3) A lot of people think that once they have downloaded the Level 10 Meeting Agenda™ that they’re good to go. The agenda certainly helps, but if you want to use the Entrepreneurial Operating…
Level 10 Meeting Agenda Explained by an EOS Implementer: Headlines & To-Dos
(This is part 3 of a 4 part article on the EOS Level 10 Meeting Agenda. Click here to skip to part 4. Click here to go back to part 2) A lot of people think that once they have downloaded the Level 10 Meeting Agenda™ that they’re good to go. The agenda certainly helps, but if…
The Level 10 Meeting Agenda: Explained By A Certified EOS Implementer. Pt 2 – Scorecard & Rock Review
(This is part 2 of a 4 part article. Click here to skip to part 3. Click here to go back to Part 1) A lot of people think that once they have downloaded the Level 10 Meeting Agenda™ that they’re good to go. The agenda certainly helps, but if you want to use the Entrepreneurial…
The Level 10 Meeting Agenda: Explained By A Certified EOS Implementer. Pt 1 – Segue
(This is part 1 of a 4 part article. Click here to skip to part 2) A lot of people think that once they have downloaded the Level 10 Meeting Agenda™ that they’re good to go. The agenda certainly helps, but if you want to use the Entrepreneurial Operating System® to its full effect, you need…
The Level 10 Meeting Agenda: Explained By A Certified EOS Implementer (Pt 2)
(This is part 2 of a 2 part article about the Level 10 Meeting. Click here to go back to part 1) A lot of people think that once they have downloaded the Level 10 Meeting Agenda™ that they’re good to go. The agenda certainly helps, but if you want to use the Entrepreneurial Operating System®…
Are You Pushing Your EOS Level 10 Meeting Down The Ladder?
When an organization starts using the Entrepreneurial Operating System® (EOS® for short) the EOS Level 10 Meeting ™ is one of the first tool they get comfortable with. The clear structure and the proven commitment to a regular timed meeting are part of that. Of course, the fact that a properly run Level 10 Meeting is the…
How To Rate An EOS Level 10 Meeting
The first real step to success is recognizing that there is always room for improvement. Feel free to quote me on that, because I just made it up and it’s a gem. Ready for your next gem? Your EOS® Level 10 Meetings™ are not perfect. Smarmy comments aside, it’s definitely true. In the Entrepreneurial Operating…
Building Up To Build Expo 2019
I’ve mentioned before that Dallas is changing. The whole of Texas is changing, really. Our growth over the next ten years will really define Dallas (and Texas as a whole). That’s why Build Expo isn’t just an opportunity this year, it’s a responsibility. WHAT IS BUILD EXPO? Build Expo is a national group that introduces…
ABC’s of EOS: Level 10 Meeting Not Helping? Here’s Why.
The Level 10 Meetings ™ are one of the most important tools in the EOS ® (That’s Entrepreneurial Operating System ®) toolbox. If I had to pick one tool to recommend to every business owner or executive team, it would be the Level 10 Meeting. When teams use The Level 10 Meeting right, it propels their…
How To Make Decisions And Influence Your Business: EOS Shiny Stuff
If you follow my blog, you understand that the Entrepreneurial Operating System® isn’t for people who are sitting around waiting for the phone to ring. Real entrepreneurs are out there making the opportunities happen. They are looking for places to grow their business, building strategies to make that growth happen, and executing. Easy as 1,2,3,…
Proud To Work With: KPost Roofing Dallas
I’m proud to be working with KPost Roofing Dallas. There is simply no other way to put it. As a Certified EOS® Implementer, I am lucky enough to work with truly amazing people from nearly every industry imaginable. Today, though, I’d really like to share some of what makes me proud to work with KPost…
Dallas Construction Isn’t Slowing Down Anytime Soon
There’s no doubt that it’s a good time to be in the construction industry in Dallas. In fact, the vast majority of metropolitan Texans are enjoying the boom. Home owners in DFW are seeing their taxes go up, sure, but property value is keeping pace and then some. With Texas in such an upswing, though,…
EOS Crypto-Currency: The Other Dallas EOS
As a Dallas EOS ® Implementer I spend a bit time each week researching the state of EOS (The Entrepreneurial Operating System®) in Dallas. It didn’t take long for me to realize that EOS is also the official abbreviation for Ethereum, one of the world’s most popular crypto currencies. Now, I am not a crypto-expert.…
Transparency In The Workplace: Honesty As A Strategy
When you look through the book Traction or Get a Grip, it’s pretty to see the surface level benefits of the EOS Management System. The Entrepreneurial Operating System® (or EOS) has dozens of tools that help organize a business for both short and long term success. Tools like the Accountability Chart™, the Scorecard™, EOS Rocks™,…
A Great Year Of Bringing Dallas Traction
Not too long ago, I was Jeff Whittle, attorney at law. Despite how much fun being a corporate attorney may sound like (if you’re crazy), I knew I had something else in my future. The change from attorney to CEO to starting my own business hasn’t been an easy one. But, 2018 has been the…
How To Use An EOS Meeting Pulse – Answered By A Certified EOS Implementer
If your organization is suffering from a lack of accountability or a lack of communication, it is possible you are using the wrong meeting structure. I always advocate that organizations use the EOS Meeting Pulse™ for three reasons: Regular meeting timing creates internal schedules and increases the problem solving mindset in the organization; and Regular…
The Traction Book Isn’t Working: 3 Mistakes People Make Self-Implementing EOS
You’re Not Keeping Up Accountability Accountability is the easiest concept in Traction to wrap your head around. At the same time, it’s one of the hardest to actually achieve. The basis of Traction® is that accountability is broken into scaling goals. If you’re using the Entrepreneurial Operating System® already, you’re probably familiar with the following…
Leadership Team Problems: 10 Reasons Your Business Isn’t Growing
I’ve met hundreds, if not thousands, of entrepreneurs and business owners. What’s the one thing they are all most worried about? Stagnation. It’s no secret that an entrepreneur gets very nervous when their business isn’t growing. What is a bit less known is that the reasons are usually simple and rooted in one or more…
How To Answer “Can I Self Implement EOS®”
“Can I Self Implement EOS?” I hear this question quite a bit. Can I self implement EOS ®? The short answer is yes, you can. Doing so will take immense personal and professional discipline, hard work, and objectivity. But yes, it is possible. I fully support the idea of a business leader deciding they are…
You Can Get EOS Traction Online
Getting EOS Traction Online I like to think of our blog and video content as a way of keeping the thousands of struggling EOS® self implementers out there aware that they aren’t alone. Trying to implement the Entrepreneurial Operating System® in your business without the help of a professional comes with some very real challenges.…
Asking Yourself “Should I Fire This Person?” There Is Only One Way To Know.
One of the toughest questions that comes across my desk is “should I fire this person?” If you’re asking that, it means you have two thoughts in your head that seem to conflict with each other. How do I know? Well, if you weren’t conflicted, you’d have fired them already or have quit stressing it.…
EOS Rocks: Sometimes Traction Means Making Mistakes
The first time you and your team sit down to set your EOS Rocks™, you probably left the room bright eyed and full of positive energy. For the first time in a long time, you felt like you had real control. The leadership team had bickered a bit about exactly what EOS Rocks to set,…
Entrepreneurial Operating System: What Is An EOS 10 Year Target™?
What is an EOS 10 Year Target™? In a nutshell: a dream. This dream, though, is one you can achieve. Your EOS 10 Year Target is what every person in your business is working towards, it’s the reason you wake up and go to work in the morning. The Entrepreneurial Operating System® is a complete, holistic…
How To Build A Great EOS Issues List
How To Build A Great EOS® Issues List Thomas Edison said, “Vision without execution is hallucination.” In the book How To Be A Great Boss, Gino Wickman and Renee Boer claim execution requires Traction®. That’s what the EOS® is all about: Traction. And, it starts with a great Issues List. Learn how to get your…
How to Join the Booming Gig Economy
This week we are happy to host an article from the very talented Lucy Reed. Lucy Reed has been starting businesses since she was a kid, from the lemonade stand she opened in her parent’s driveway at age 10 to the dog walking business she started while in college. She created GigMine because she was…
The 5 Leadership Abilities That Change How You Do Business: Structure
With April coming to an end, so too does our series on The 5 Leadership Abilities. If you haven’t read the rest of the series, I recommend you check out each of the 5: The 5 Leadership Abilities™ Are: Simplify Delegate Predict Systemize Structure This week I’m going to briefly touch on the last of…
The 5 Leadership Abilities That Change How You Do Business: Systems
Over the past month, I’ve been defining The 5 Leadership Abilities and why I think they’re so important that I start teaching them to my clients from the moment they sit down for our first session. The 5 Leadership Abilities Are: Simplify Delegate Predict Systemize Structure In this article I’m going to be talking about…
The 5 Leadership Abilities That Change How You Do Business: Predict
The Power of Prediction If you’re in a leadership role in an organization, you’ve got issues. Don’t worry. It’s a good thing. All organizations have issues. How we deal with them is the real question. And I help deal with them is by using The 5 Leadership Abilities™ in conjunction with the tools and practices…
The 5 Leadership Abilities That Change How You Do Business: Delegate
Last week I started a series on The 5 Leadership Abilities ™ that we teach our clients on the very first day. These are the 5 skills we call on day in and day out to identify and solve issues with consistent efficiency. You absolutely must learn to rely on these abilities, if you are attempting…
The 5 Leadership Abilities That Change How You Do Business: Simplify
How To Simplify I often use the phrase “one of the first things we teach” when I’m blogging. That’s lead a lot of readers and listeners to ask me a pretty important question. “What’s the first thing you teach?” The answer: the first thing I put in front of a client is The 5 Leadership…
Game Changing Small Business Tools: What Is An Accountability Chart ™?
What Is An Accountability Chart ™? What is an Accountability Chart™? That’s a question I hear a lot, usually followed by, “how is this different from an organizational chart?” The simple answer? Org Charts describe what people do or who they report to. Accountability Charts change what people do. And changing what people do is…
Put An End To Useless Meetings: Stop Politicking. Start Solving
If you read this blog, you know that I hate useless meetings. I talk about how much I hate them a lot. And, I try to make recommendations to help my readers make them less useless. Unfortunately, useless meetings are a lot like a bad smell. You can’t just wave around a candle and…
Guest Article: How To Turn A Business Defeat Into Development
This week we are happy to hosts a guest article from the owner of Embleholics, Lee Adams. Embleholics is veteran owned business, and one we are proud to partner with. How To Turn Business Defeat Into Development Getting the most out of the bad situation is a skill to behold. Learning through defeat and coming…
A Collaborative Approach To Small Business Consulting In Waco
A Collaborative Approach to Small Business Consulting In Waco Collaboration is key for small businesses. Any small business owner or professional with small business consulting experience can tell you that. Collaboration saves businesses heartache, it drives innovation, and builds community. That’s why we host regular collaborative workshops in Dallas and Waco. And that’s why, as…
Never Let Your Business Hit The Ceiling Again With The EOS Model
Never Let Your Business Hit The Ceiling Again With The EOS Model When an organization stops growing and starts getting frustrated, its leadership team can really struggle to move forward. This can be caused by any number of factors, but the result is always the same: a company that is just trying to keep…
How To Set Company Goals: EOS Rocks ™
How To Set Company Goals: EOS Rocks ™ Few things are more important in a business than knowing how to set company goals. It doesn’t matter if you run a 1-person operation, a small business, or a corporate production facility; without goals you’re just driving in circles. And, if you’re going in circles, it doesn’t matter…
What Is An EOS Scorecard?
What Is An EOS Scorecard™? This is a question that most, if not all, businesses self implementing the Entrepreneurial Operating System® ask themselves. Usually, “what is an EOS Scorecard” is coupled with, “why do we need it”. Many self implementers make the mistake of thinking they already have a scorecard, because they track what…
Put An End To Useless Meetings: Stop Politicking. Start Solving
If you read this blog, you know that I hate useless meetings. I talk about how much I hate them a lot. And, I try to make recommendations to help my readers make them less useless. Unfortunately, useless meetings are a lot like a bad smell. You can’t just wave around a candle and have the problem solved. Maybe it’s…
EOS Vision And A Strategy For The Future Of Your Company
EOS® Vision And A Strategy For The Future Of Your Company Modern businesses toss the term “vision” around a lot these days. Consultants and colleagues alike will tell you that you need a “vision” without ever telling what exactly a vision is. Plenty will even tell you that their “vision” is the right one…
EOS Core Values: Demonstrate To Elevate
EOS Core Values™: Demonstrate To Elevate Anyone familiar with the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS)® knows that identifying EOS Core Values™ for your company is a key step in having a real Vision. EOS Core Values guide the company in every decision, from whom they hire to their 10-Year Target™. As a Dallas leadership coach and…
Want Better Leadership Team Meetings? Learn to Solve Your Issues
Want Better Leadership Team Meetings? Learn to Solve Your Issues I want to start by dragging the ugly truth into the cold, hard light of day. According to interviews by the Harvard Business Review only 5% of leadership team members think their company had a rigorous system for keeping their meetings focused. 12% believed…
A Proven Tool For Work Life Balance For Small Business Owners and Executives
Personal Rocks: A Proven Tool For Work Life Balance For Small Business Owners Work life balance for small business owners and executives. It’s a phrase that almost sounds like an oxymoron in today’s hyper-competitive world. Too many small business owners work life balance means sleeping at least 6 hours a night and having one meal…
Dallas Traction: Learn to Run Your Business on a 90 Day World
January means a few things to small business owners. It means taxes. It means New Year’s resolutions. And it means annual meetings, where we look back at our annual goals and see how we measured up. Too often we fail to make those goals, because we aren’t keeping ourselves accountable to short term milestones. That’s…
Delegate and Elevate: How EOS Helps Small Business Owners Increase Efficiency
Delegate and Elevate: How EOS Helps Small Business Owners Increase Efficiency For most small business owners, CEO’s, and leadership team members a 50 – 60 hour work week is something that has long since been normalized. According to a survey done by The Alternative Board something like 82% of small business owners are working…
Dallas EOS Workshop
Upcoming Events “The hardest part of success is often the first step.” Join us for our first EOS Workshop and learn the tools necessary to take the first steps towards taking back control of your business. This free half day seminar at Texas Security Bank gives attendees the chance to learn how to start…
Leadership Team Problems? Time To People Analyze.
Are You Experiencing Leadership Team Problems? As business owners and top level executives, our job is often to deal with the hard truths of an operation. One of the hardest of all truths comes when a member of a leadership team is struggling with their responsibilities in a way that negatively impacts the rest…
Guest Article: How To Turn A Business Defeat Into Development
This week we are happy to hosts a guest article from the owner of Embleholics, Lee Adams. Embleholics is veteran owned business, and one we are proud to partner with. HOW TO TURN BUSINESS DEFEAT INTO DEVELOPMENT Getting the most out of the bad situation is a skill to behold. Learning through defeat and coming…
4 Steps To Set Your Company’s EOS Core Values
4 Steps To Set Your Company’s EOS Core Values In the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS)® Core Values™ define the company culture and personality. But how can a leadership team be sure they are setting the right EOS Core Values? What makes a good Core Value? Following these 6 steps is a great way to get…
Refuse To Let Your Meetings Suck
I work with a team that has amazing meetings. All the time. Every meeting. And do you know how they do it? They make a commitment at the beginning of every meeting that everyone there will do whatever it takes to accomplish something HUGE in the meeting. Think about it for a second. If you’re…
Great Scorecards Answer a Simple Question
One of the most important things we help leadership teams do is build great scorecards. Just as in golf, a scorecard tells a big story in a small space. By looking at your golf scorecard you can quickly see how you played a round, where you did well and where you struggled. By adding up…
Do You Have Someone in Your Organization You Could Not Live Without? Fire Them…….
Is there someone on your team that you absolutely, positively, cannot live without? Someone who is so good at what they do that you’re willing to tolerate any kind of behavior because you so fear what would happen if he or she weren’t around to do their magic? If so, here’s what you do. You…
Task Management
How many times have you begun the day with a small set of priorities that you want to accomplish, only to find that by the end of the day that you had totally forgotten about them and none of them got accomplished? It’s a great practice to have your most important daily tasks identified, but…
The critical question when setting great goals
The critical question when setting great goals The easiest thing in the world to do is to set a lousy goal. You’ve probably done it before, and if you manage people you’ve almost definitely seen it happen. What makes for a lousy goal? Ambiguity and generalities. See if any of these “goals” sound…
Three Ideas for Managing Your Underperforming Sacred Cows
I had a great conversation yesterday with a group of CEO’s who were wrestling with a thorny problem. Each of them had people on their teams that just weren’t getting the job done, but the CEO’s felt powerless to do anything about it because each employee in their own way was a “sacred cow”. …
The Recipe for Ending the Endless Conversation
Some people have no problem ending a conversation. Once they deem the conversation over they walk away, slam down the phone, turn back to their computer, or do any number of things that the more genteel among us might consider rude. And most of the time, rude is bad. So if you’re trying to keep…
Master Your Email Inbox with One Simple Rule
If you’re like so many people, your email inbox is one of the most serious time sucks – and energy sucks – of your day. Ask yourself: Do you leave your email inbox open all the time on my computer screen? If not, do you check your inbox incessantly to make sure that nothing new…
Lower ratings aren’t always bad news
I run a lot of meetings, and if you think it’s easy to run a good meeting, think again. Running an effective meeting is hard work, and one of the tools I use to stay on my game is an end-of-meeting rating. At the end of most meetings I facilitate the group rates the meeting…
Seven rules to guide your thinking
Hi, my name is Jeff, and I’m a lawyer. That’s the way I introduce myself in the Lawyers Anonymous 12-step meetings, anyway. I don’t practice law anymore, but I did for many, many years. Recovery is a slow road. One day at a time. Okay, I sometime relapse into using esoteric Latin legal jargon. I…
Your business is like a three-legged race
Three-legged races can be great fun to watch, usually because several of the teams are falling all over themselves, stumbling clumsily toward the finish line and often ending up face-first in the grass. Big fun, right? Not if it’s your business we’re talking about.
Stop annoying interruptions. You know you want to…
Do you keep regular office hours? If you don’t, you’re making it easier for people to interrupt you, and harder for yourself to get things done. I assume that you spend time in your business. Probably a lot of time, and maybe more time than you’d like. When I say “keep office hours” I don’t…
Make bad meetings a thing of the past…
Be honest. When you and your team are working through a thorny issue, challenge, opportunity or problem do you push forward aggressively to reach a fast, effective workable solution for the greater good of the organization? If you’re like many leadership teams that’s not what you’re doing. Instead, you’re flogging an issue to death —…
Something new at Cogris
Businesses evolve, and mine is no exception. Great things are happening, and I hope you don’t mind me sharing them with you. This isn’t a sales pitch, just an update…every now and then I figure I get to talk about my business! When I founded Cōgris less than two years ago we started out with…
Golf and Sales Are Easy, Right? Riiiiiiiight….
Today’s guest blogger is Russ Burch, a good friend and a heck of a sales guy. A few days ago I was having a conversation with my college-aged daughter about sales. She is an aspiring sales professional, so I am very proud. She asked me, “Dad, is sales hard?” I thought about that for a…
Great Free Marketing is Just a Manifesto Away
After hearing him speak at our recent state-wide TAB Synergy Conference I’ve begun reading Andy Sernovitz’ really fine book “Word of Mouth Marketing”. Andy’s whole premise is that if you do the right things, people will talk about you – and that’s the best kind of marketing. I’d encourage you to check out his website. …
How to be the Best Networker on the Planet in One Easy Step
Networking is just part of the deal these days. If you want leads, you network. If you’re looking for a job, you network. If you’re looking for a date, you network. You network until your bladder can’t stand the thought of another cup of coffee, and then you get up and do it again. We…
Social Media Marketing is Like Exercise…Don’t Get Out of the Habit
It’s amazing how quickly things can get away from you. A year ago I was buying a new wardrobe because I’d lost 40 pounds after diligently sticking with an exercise program. Today? The exercise regimen is only occasional. Some of those skinny-guy pants are a little tight. And why? Because I allowed myself to get…
A Few Things I Learned about Social Media from my First Viral Blog
After months of blogging for a handful of people a day I posted a blog this Monday that had more than 150,000 hits in 36 hours. Former President George H. W. Bush commented via his Chief of Staff. Texas A&M University administrators sent me emails, I reconnected with long-lost old friends and at last count 377 people…
Texas A&M Aggies Teach a Florida Gator a Lesson in Corporate Culture
Business leaders often struggle to define corporate culture. The right culture is elusive and fragile, and if it’s not a carefully protected part of what you’re about every day you can lose it. This weekend I got a lesson in organizational culture I’ll never forget. I went to my first football game at Texas A&M…
Are you selling too cheap?
I observed a role-playing sales exercise at a recent national business conference. One person was assigned to be the buyer, one person was the salesperson. After exchanging pleasantries the buyer asked “so, how much do these widgets cost?” “The list price is $1,000,” the seller replied quickly “but if you’ll buy today I can discount…
Most important day of the work year? Today.
Today is the most important day of your work year. Today is September 4, 2012. It is the day after Labor Day. Did you enjoy the beer and burgers? Have one last marathon lounging in the pool or enjoying the outdoors? Hope so. Because now it’s time to accept the cold, hard truth…
The Last Magic Question
Today we wrap up the Three Magic Questions that help you stop taking on the problems of people you manage. They work. Guaranteed. Here’s a quick review. You manage people. People want to escalate their problems to you so you can worry about them and they can wash their hands of them. You don’t like…
Are You Working your Management Magic?
In the last blog we shared the first of the three Magic Questions to help you stop taking on the problems of people you manage. If you’ve tried Magic Question Number One, I’ll bet you’ve already seen a change in the way your team interacts with you. So now let’s take it to the next…
Three Magic Management Questions. Guaranteed.
If you manage people – even one – you understand the frustration of having someone else’s problems escalated to you. There’s an easy way to deal with that when it does happen, and to stop it from happening again. It’s a three-step process, and it involves three simple questions. The Magic Questions. Master them and…
To get stuff done, stop doing things
It’s tempting to stay busy just for the sake of feeling busy. Spin lots of plates. Keep lots of balls in the air. You know the drill. Answer email during the conference call. Text while you’re driving. The more things you can keep moving at one time, the more effective you are, right? Turns out…
Don’t be a Cricket Chaser
Regular readers of this blog already know I hate to fish. Sorry, I just do. My father tried to use fishing as a paternal bonding experience (one, I might add, from which our relationship never quite recovered). I would rather have had my intestines pulled out through my nose than get in a little rowboat…
Fear the Tweet
I used to think that the “send” button on an email was the most dangerous potential click on the computer. Not anymore. Now I think the most dangerous button is “Tweet”. You know the feeling. You get an email from somebody being difficult. You want to vent, so you forward it to one of your…
Secret to success. Guaranteed. Read On…
I heard a really good keynote speaker several years ago, and he had some advice that has stuck with me for a long time. At the outset of his talk he claimed to have discovered the secret to success. Cue the skepticism. Everybody knows that the key to success is marrying rich. He was going…
It’s Never Too Late to Think
I work with a business owner I’ll call Al who recently lost a star employee. Al was totally blindsided, and didn’t see the loss coming. The employee appeared happy, challenged, engaged and committed. Next thing Al knew, he was gone. Al brought up the loss in a recent TAB board meeting. He talked about how…
How to Annoy the Crap Out of the IT Department (v.2.0)
OK admit it, you really do resent those geeks in the IT department. They work whenever they want to, they dress funny, and they probably spend most of their “work” time playing video games and hacking into our systems to read our personal email. Sure, we’ve already burned one blog sharing ideas on how to…
You Can’t Kiss All the Networking Frogs
So how much coffee have you gotten to drink with people who will never, ever be a good networking resource for you? Probably a lot. Now be honest with yourself…how many of those sessions did you attend knowing in your heart of hearts that there probably wasn’t going to be a networking love connection? Most…
Blue Face Paint Makes Leaders
Yet again the other night, my wife and I sat through Mel Gibson’s “Braveheart”. Yeah, I know… Mel Gibson has kind of run off the tracks of life. Forget that for a minute. Think about the movie. Channel the movie. You’re in 13th-century Scotland. People eat mud, play with rocks and have a life expectancy…
Strategy, 15 minutes at a Time
I’m going to tell you a dirty little secret that the rest of the consulting world doesn’t want you to know. Strategy is easy. And if you do it right, it’s fast. Here’s an exercise that can get you pushing forward on the right things in no time. For starters, understand that you can’t get…
Pick a New Task to Ignore and Watch the Other Stuff Get Done
I’ve found a good technique to get moving on a task that’s been stalled by my own procrastination. And it doesn’t involve egg timers, checklists or accountability partners. For me, it works every time. When I get to the point that I recognize I’m procrastinating on a task I’ve usually demonized it. Not sure why…
Process is Cooler Than You Think
Whether you want to admit it or not, you’re surrounded by process in your life. You use it most of the time without even knowing it. You put your shoes on the same way. You have a system for doing the laundry or your expenses. Process is everywhere. And it’s cooler than you think. Process…
If You Don’t Know What Success Looks Like, Who Will?
It’s not uncommon for business leaders to tell me that their people don’t want to be held accountable. “I tell them what I want,” they’ll say, “but it just doesn’t seem to happen.” When I hear that, I always ask the same question. “Exactly how did you tell the person you were going to metrically…
How to Annoy the Crap Out of Everyone When you Quit
Checking out? May as well squeeze every ounce of fun out of the experience. You may be moving on to another job, but there’s one task still left at your old gig. You’ve got to make sure your resignation creates as much havoc as possible. Especially your boss. Last week we talked about inconsiderate ways…
How to Annoy the Crap Out of Someone You Fire
Feeling low because you have to let someone go? Come on, Mr. Downer, all you have to do is make a game out of the experience, and nothing says fun like trying to aggravate the person you’re canning. See if these techniques don’t liven up your next “final conversation”. Act like it’s no big deal…
Don’t Believe Your Own LinkedIn Profile
Ever wonder what our LinkedIn profiles would look like if we let other people write them? And what if those writers were the people we managed? Chances are the profiles would look a little different…at least I know mine would. For instance, my LinkedIn profile includes the statement “Jeff leverages a unique background in sales,…
The Marathon of Running a Business. Rule #2
In this unstructured series of blogs we’re looking at how running a business is much like running a marathon. This week we’ll consider one of the most important realizations. #2 All you can do is take one step at a time One of the most daunting things about a marathon is that 26.2 miles is…
How to Annoy the Crap Out of the HR Department
Work used to be fun. You could say whatever you want to whomever you want, fire people for all kinds of inappropriate reasons, create hostile environments at will. Those were the good old days. Now we have HR departments. And they think they can tell us what to do. Ready to return the favor and…
Podcast
The Business Pit Stop 32 – Don’t Hire This Person
The Business Pit Stop 31 – Learn To Sell With Jill Young Pt 2
The Business Pit Stop 31 – Learn To Sell With Jill Young Pt 1
The Business Pit Stop 30 – Can I Get EOS Traction Alone?
The Business Pit Stop 29 – Collaborative or Group Consulting
The Business Pit Stop 28 – Accountability & Working With Remote Employees
The Business Pit Stop Episode 27 – Interview With Jim Coyle
The Business Pit Stop Episode 26 – The EOS Issues List
The Business Pit Stop Episode 25 – EOS Core Values