The recession continues to seemingly worsen by the day. Businesses are cutting back. Employees are fearful. Foreclosures are rising. And the cycle continues. So, what is a manager or business to do to break this cycle? Minimize Complexity: One of the keys to success is to minimize unnecessary complexity. [...]
In today's economic and business environment, cash is king. The critical importance of cash in businesses continues to rise. One just has to read the news to see cash highlighted on a daily basis in relation to several high profile companies - GM, Chrysler, MGM Mirage, GE Capital etc. [...]
Businesses continue to cut back as the economy continues to worsen - seemingly every day. Cutting costs in a reasonable and smart manner is required; however, cost cutting alone rarely achieves success. As one of my mentors used to say, the best problem to have is a cost problem [...]
In today's economic and business environment, most people/ businesses are doing their best to survive; however, this approach is not a recipe for success. Instead, it is critical to aim to thrive. Only the best businesses and people will thrive during the current turbulent times, so if your goal [...]
The Wall Street Journal and other news sources are starting to talk about a bottoming process, implying that an economic recovery will be forthcoming. Although I wouldn't bet $1 on this occurrence, I would invest far more than a dollar on the critical need to be prepared for an [...]
We are in an era of volatility. Who ever thought we'd get used to commonplace bank failures? How about the Dow rising or falling by hundreds of points in a day? Oil gushing into the Gulf? Toyota quality issues? Never! Get used to erratic change as it is the "new normal".
Learn how your business stacks up with internal and external strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT), then take action. Volatility is here to stay! Even though we continue to drudge along in the lackluster recovery, excitement remains - earthquakes, nuclear disasters, global conflicts in Libya, oil prices skyrocketing again, [...]
In today's new normal business environment, volatility is the new norm. Change is required to remain competitive or to become competitive. If you manage change better than your competition, you'll have the opportunity to leapfrog the competition. In the last several years, I've seen a multitude of examples of [...]
