Business Purpose: The new pecking order for business purposes is Employee, Customer, Vendor, Community, and Shareholder. The Business Roundtable puts customers before employees. I disagree with that. However, it is a step in the right direction.
Serendipity—Again
Recently I joined a few fellow photo club members on an outing to a nature preserve. My wife decided to tag along. We had several reasons for getting out despite the pandemic restrictions. One of them was that a cleaning crew would be in our home during the morning, and we usually find somewhere to go that is safe so that we can leave our home to them. Another reason was that we are going a little bit stir-crazy.
The outing made sense for us. The club members are COVID aware and careful. Masks are required, we would all be outside, and social distancing is enforced. The surprising thing was that this nature center is about 15 minutes from home, and we never knew it was there.
Changes in B2B Sales
Slow Messaging: When I was in the corporate world, we had an understanding that a human being would answer the phone no later than the second ring. Even when I had an executive assistant, she was to pick up the call. And, if she was not at her desk, I had to pick up the call. Those days are long …
Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt
Forecasting is Treacherous Business: According to Linda Yueh, Adjunct Professor of Economics, this year and next are likely to be filled with uncertainty. She names the events we all know are on everyone’s minds—Brexit, US-China trade tensions, and European Union reforms. Since Professor Yueh’s specialty is economics, she goes on to point out that those disruptions are occurring at a …
Top of Mind
Artificial Intelligence (AI): Based on what I observe in the business world, AI is going to continue being in our collective consciousness for some time to come. Many thought this was going to be a fad—and with reason. The promise of AI drastically changing our world has been around for several decades. However, we in the technology world have not …
Efficiently Providing What Isn’t Wanted
Management: When the markets for our products or services are reasonably stable and predictable, managing performance makes sense. We are, however, no longer in such a world. Managing will lead to performing to short term goals while missing the fact that markets may be moving away from us. Managing focuses on mitigating uncertainty by making business processes predictable and efficient. …
Owning Less
Youth Lead the Way: I was speaking with a close friend who was lamenting the fact that despite having a grandson old enough to be driving, he wasn’t, and didn’t show any interest in driving. Therefore, my friend was relegated to being a chauffeur for all the grandkids and their various activities. We remarked that when we were approaching driving …
The Credibility Gap
Sharing Before Caring: Recently I was in a meeting with two other well-established service providers. These are successful men (yes, it happens all three of us are male); at least I believe many would consider them to be successful. The conversation turned to how difficult it is to get potential clients to “pull the trigger” and hire them for their …
Shipshape
Experience: There is a saying about sailing that goes something like this: “Sailing consists of hours and hours of boredom punctuated by minutes of sheer terror.” In my experience, that is pretty much true. Moreover, while I am familiar with sailboats, my brother is an expert on all things marine. When I asked him about his experience, he agreed that …
What Is a True Patriot?
Happy Fourth! As those who read my newsletter know, we are on vacation in Europe at the time of the publication of this blog post. And while I usually shy away from any political topics in this business blog, I think it is appropriate to pause and think about patriotism on this day. I believe that is especially appropriate when …