Archive for January, 2012

@maurilio:

4

Why You Need a Culture of Discipline

Unless your organization has a culture of discipline, it cannot grow beyond where it is right now. I will be even bolder and say that it might not endure.  Honesty in measuring goals is the difference between sustained growth and obsolescence. While we might find a lot of good things our business, church, or not for profit is doing, we must be honest and establish success or failure on the basis of our stated goals. While we can celebrate some of our successes with press releases, board presentations, and beautiful annual reports, we should be ruthless about evaluating our accomplishments based on our set goals. A smart leader should not ask “what have we accomplished in the past year?” The more important and relevant question should be, “have we accomplished what we have set out to do?” The first question while makes us feel good and helps build temporary morale,…

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7

Why Your Organization’s First Impression Matters

First impressions matter, whether you like it or not. They matter not only on a personal level but also on a business and even more so when it comes to a church. Our first impression of a business, store or venue sets our expectations for the type of product or experience we perceive we are about to get. The implications of your first impression are huge.  Starting at a deficit. If you don’t “present well” someone’s first encounter with your organization, then you will automatically go into a “deficit” standing. Starting here means you have to work harder to overcome the initial perception of your product, whether it be consumer goods, services or an experience. Basically you’re saying, “we’re better than what you think we are” and then you’ll need to spend time and equity to get your audience to see in a better light. Unfortunately, you often do not…

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8

Are you Adapting to the Change Accelerators?

Change is inevitable. Everything and everyone we know is a constant state of flux. As much as we seek stability in the comfort of a routine, we soon have to come to the realization that the world around us is changing at an increasingly rapid pace. There are three accelerators that drive most of change today. Here’s how people, technology and information are accelerating change. People The world population is currently estimated to be 6.915128 billion by the United States Census Bureau.[1] The world population has experienced continuous growth since the end of the Bubonic Plague around the years 1348-1350.[2] Current projections show a continued increase of population with the population expected to reach between 7.5 and 10.5 billion in the next decade. Technology Radio 38 years to reach 50M TV 13 years to reach 50M Internet 4 years to reach 50M Facebook – 9 months to reach 100M Information…

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4

Creating an Internal Culture in Your Organization

One of the few things I do as a leader that I cannot delegate is to help create The A Group’s  internal culture. That’s one of the most important jobs in any organization that often goes ignored because we tend to equate our mission with our culture. Mission tells us what we should be doing, but our culture provides the pathway to how we get there. As The A Group has grown from a couple of people 10 years ago into almost 30 people strong, I have tried to be deliberate in creating an internal culture that aligns with our mission. Our culture is framed by a set of value statements that I repeat ad nauseam. We value innovation. We are a solution-based company. Innovation is the heart of what we do from marketing best practices, communication trends to technology new frontiers. One of the reasons we grew during a…

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13

4 Gauges Every Entrepreneur Should Monitor

As a business owner, I’m never “off.” The mind of an entrepreneur is always working on opportunities, challenges and next steps. Of all the many thoughts that go through my mind on any given time, there are 4 areas of business that I’m constantly monitoring because I have learned that if they begin to deteriorate, so does my business. The Brand. That’s the promise every company makes to those it serves. Whether you sell widgets, services or an experience, your brand promise needs to be monitored. The A Group is a high-end marketing, technology and branding firm. Everything we do is based on strategy and best practices. I’m always monitoring the output of both products as well as services. Are we delivering on our promises? The Model. Is the current business structure a sustainable one? You’d be surprised by the number of busy businesses that end up failing. I remember…

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6

Men’s Fashion Do’s and Don’ts for Spring 2012

It’s snowy and bitterly cold outside but it won’t be long until Spring. At least that’s what I keep telling myself. Today’s Fashion Friday post is by guest blogger Brenda Lyttle. Spring is the season of putting away those woolen woes and getting into the groove of the latest trends hitting the fashion industry. Clear your wardrobe off those wraparounds and boardshorts and start stocking your racks with light and colorful outfits. Seeing that you are raring to break into those bright colors, be a little cautious as this season attracts most fashion disasters. Here are a few dos and don’ts for this spring – Do’s 1.     Light Fabrics – Say bye to your corduroys and woolens and welcome spring with linens and cotton. These lighter fabrics will keep you fresh. There is a wide variety of fabrics to choose from and you can also give a try to the…

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16

Is Your Greatest Idea Still on a Napkin?

“The greatest ideas are still left on napkins,” said a friend over lunch. These words stuck with me like some ugly unwelcome platitude. The more I tried to ignore them, the more they nagged at me. My ultimate fear is to go to my grave with my greatest idea still left on a napkin. What holds us back from pursuing our dreams? Here’s where I have landed on pursuing new business or ministry ideas. I don’t like risk, but I’m willing to take calculated ones. For someone who has started several business over the years,  (about 5 to date), I still struggle with the idea of something not working out. The fear of failure is real when you put a lot on the line for your dream.  But I also know that in order for an idea to flourish and become a reality, I have to step out of my…

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Getting Your Vision Funded

There’s not a week that goes by that I don’t meet with someone who’s trying to secure funding for a project, business, ministry or church. I love meeting with visionaries who can see an opportunity to make a big impact whether it be in the business sector or in the not-for-profit world. But there are more ideas floating out there than money to fund them. Here’s a few lessons I’ve learned about why some people get their dreams funded, while others don’t. The idea has to be viable. I know this sounds so basic, but I can’t tell you how many pitches I’ve heard of crazy and just plan bad ideas. Interestingly, I have seen people dip in their retirement accounts, take a second mortgage to propel what it was obviously, to me anyway, a flawed proposition. You can throw good money at a bad idea. It  will just take…

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7

When You Feel You Have Lost Your Influence

I wonder from time to time if the stuff I write on this blog really matters. Does it ultimately help anyone, or am I rambling on about things that no one really cares? I know that it often helps me to process thoughts and ideas and even to crystallize a concept that has been brewing in my mind for a while. But what about the rest of the people who read these posts? When I question my effectiveness, the reach of my influence, I am thankful for days like today. I opened an email that read: “You didn’t know it when you posted this, but I was influenced greatly by it.  I was feeling “restless” just before Thanksgiving and your post opened me up to some new possibilities.  As it turns out, I have taken a a new job. . . .” You might be struggling with feelings similar to…

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15

Target Text Gift Card: A Fail Experience

It is a great concept: send a gift card to someone using text messaging. That’s exactly what I wanted. I had a friend who was at a nearby Target, and wanted to send him a birthday gift certificate. As I consumer I was thrilled to be able to do something as cool as sending my friend an instant gift card and have him get it while on the phone with me. It didn’t work. Target even created an iPhone app that allows one to send a text or email version of a gift card to a mobile-phone user. But what the company failed to tell me is that the transaction usually takes 24 hours to process! Yes, 24 hours. There’s nothing instant about that. I didn’t find that out until several hours and three different customer service calls to India later. In my mind there was nothing to process! You…

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