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…

“If you work too much you make yourself and your boss look bad.” That is certain not the American way! Recently I spoke with a friend whom works for an European-owned publishing company. It has taken him a while to acclimate to their working environment where more work hours doesn’t mean more credit from your supervisors. My friend was gently reminded that he was working too much, and, therefore, making his boss look bad. What?! Yes. According to the company’s thinking, if you’re working past 5 p.m. or before 9 a.m., you’re not being effective and not managing your time well. If you work too much your productivity drops and your work quality suffers. According to the French, you make yourself and your supervisor look bad–effectiveness before busy work. And, by the way, they close their offices from December 23 until January 2nd and that’s doesn’t count toward the month’s…

It’s happening all over the place: leaders are hijacking critical projects from their internal teams and implementing a “bypass” play in order to get things done. While you might question the non-conventional leadership style, the wisdom or the potential fall-out inside the organization of such tactics, these leaders are more worried about missed opportunities, missed revenues or loss of ministry impact than trying to protect the organizational pride and inefficiency. Lately, much of my consulting has been with key leaders who find themselves in endless meetings, studies, and discussions of projects that have been stalled for months and even  years because of organizational inertia. As leaders they see the opportunity and want to seize the moment, but cannot make forward progress with their teams. Fear, incompetent, ignorance, philosophical differences, and so many other issues often play into this organizational paralysis that keeps a lot of good businesses and ministries from…

This weekend I found myself in the middle of a 32-hour technology ban with 20 people I’ve never met before. What was I thinking? Well, that was one of the “privileges” of being chosen for the Leadership Brentwood class of 2010. I had not heard of the program until my friend Bob Knestrick urged me to apply for this year’s class. My first reaction was the typical: “Oh, for the love, not another thing to do. Have you seen my schedule?” However, the more I though about it, the more I realized that I know very little about my own community, and due to my business’ broad, national scope, I’m not engaged much locally. On a whim, I delivered my application on afternoon of the cut off day. I heard from a friend who went through the program a couple of years back that there was a lot of interest…

Yesterday we had The A Group annual Christmas Event. I call it an event because it’s way more than just a party. First we closed shop by noon Friday and the entire team then made its way to our Brentwood Costco for lunch. [ Before you call me cheap, read on.] As we dined on the exquisite chicken bake and pepperoni pizza everyone drew a name in secret. Then I performed one of my favorite Christmas tradition: pulling out a bunch of $100 bills and giving one to each of our team members. The rules are simple: Buy a total of $100 worth of gifts for your secret Santa during the next hour, take it home, wrap the gift(s) and come back that evening for our dinner party. Since no one knows who you’re buying for, it’s always fun looking at what people are buying and trying to guess whom…

The 2006 Brazilian National team was favorite to win the World Cup. They were touted as, potentially, the most talented soccer team ever assembled. Yet, the world favorite was eliminated during the quarter finals much to the disappointment of Brazilians worldwide, including yours truly. What happened? How can so much raw talent, experience and stardom result in such a poor performance? While some blame Brazil’s coach, Parreira, most of us saw clearly the problem play itself out on the field: superstars who could not play together as a team. It was obvious that the players were more preoccupied in looking good than winning games. Individually, they were the best in the world; together, however, they were less than the sum total of their talents. All the pride and praise of Brazil’s “jogo bonito,” translated “the beautiful game” could not make up for the lack of team spirit and comradely on…

Going live with a website is analogous to the birthing process–ok, ladies, please give me some latitude here. First, there’s a conception plan, then the site begins to take shape in the womb of a development server. A lot of work goes into creating and growing the new site that’s hidden from everyone but its creator(s), and then one day, the new site goes live after the DNS records propagate. And much like the birth of a baby, the site, no matter how large, will continue to develop and grow in the days to come.Over the past few days we have given birth to some great websites: www.eagledrygoods.com and their sister sites www.Tommybahamacs.com and www.calvinkleingolf.com. Beyond the clean, streamlined design of these sites, their most powerful function is something most people will never see: the back end custom programming that allows different people, from designers and product buyers to inventory…

Last week I was flying to Orlando to speak at a conference. The flight was full with not a vacant seat in the whole plane. Half-way to our destination a lady two rows to the front right of me started having an attack. First she vomited and then her body began to convulse. Things weren’t looking good. What follows next was a lesson in team work and how being prepared for an emergency makes all the difference. The Southwest crew jumped into action right away. They moved the two passengers in that row out and began dealing with the sick woman. At one point, one of the flight attendants plugged a microphone/headset combo into a jack on one of the overhead bins near the lady and began communicating with ground EMTs in order to diagnose the issue. They identified family members who were on the plane and probed on medical…