Wordcount: 575 Time to read: 3½ minutes
It’s bad enough when an organization can’t take care of its own operational and maintenance needs. It’s much worse when improving those activities are the very products and services being offered to its customers.
Wordcount: 580 Time to read: 4 minutes
When it comes to delivering products and services, consistent levels of customer service outweigh all other aspects of the end-user experience. What makes a business stand out is outstanding customer service.
While there are many pieces to this puzzle, this newsletter focuses on three that are universal and foundational to building a sustainable organization.
Businesses want predictability and dependability, i.e., no change, while the world is constantly changing. This creates friction. Learning how to manage the environment and maintain a sufficient degree of stability is an art most haven’t perfected, much less realizing any need to try. Here, Mandelberg talks about how to do just that.
Wordcount: 415 Time to read: 3 minutes
“Planning is an unnatural process; it is much more fun to do something. The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression.”
— Sir John Harvey Jones
Wordcount: 613 Time to read: 5 minutes
Long-term organizational success and sustainability require leadership’s dedication to three operational imperatives. In this post, I explain consistency of performance, the second operational imperative, and why it’s at the root of the highest, most perfect form of promotion, marketing and attracting new clients.
Wordcount: 592 Time to read: 4 minutes
The debate over what makes a good leader serves no purpose and has no value. The right questions are, what are the attributes of the best leaders, which apply to my role as a leader, and how do I develop the ones I don’t have. For some answers and guidance, please read more.
Wordcount: 498 Time to read: 3 minutes
Everybody loves the change they do unto others. Nobody likes the change others do unto them. Learn how to flip that script and make change a welcome guest in your organization.
Wordcount: 563 Time to read: 3½ minutes
The first time every new leader takes charge, they quickly realize how ill-prepared their education left them. As humorously depicted in the Rodney Dangerfield film, Back To School, running a business ain’t as simple as it might seem. This installment talks about the pitfalls and provides some useful tips.
Wordcount: 844 Time to read: 5 minutes
As a consultant with expertise in strategic planning, I get called to help clients for one of two reasons. They’re either trying to develop their first strategic plan or tired of having them fail. For either scenario, the reasons a strategic plan, or to be more specific, a strategic objective, fails are the same.
Wordcount: 623 Time to read: 3½ minutes
Nobody knows which ideas will succeed until one does. Success stories are often written off as bad ideas that won’t work by the experts before they’ve been tried or tested. How do you answer the question “How will COVID affect my business?” Read this post and find out!
Wordcount: 578 Time to read: 3 minutes
Sometimes the cost of not planning is negligible. Sometimes it’s expensive. The ease and speed with which a lack of planning can become fatal is almost impossible to grasp or prepare for. When it happens, game over.
Wordcount: 668 Time to read: 3½ minutes
Do you want the successful organization you’ve built to survive when you and your leadership team are gone? Then you’re looking for the Holy Grail of business too. Read this post to find out how to create sustainable, profitable growth with generational sustainability.
Wordcount: 524 Time to read: 3 minutes