Blogs

I am a huge believer in mentorship. Especially in today’s times, I believe a mentor or multiple mentors becomes even more important. When a new employee is hired, I ask those in my workshops and keynotes, should those new hires have a mentor and, if yes, when should that mentor be determined? The answer is always yes and on Day One. Yet it almost never happens.

Please enjoy this Podcast I appeared on, “Candid Conversations by Catersource”, hosted by Clinton Hufft (I’d like to have his…

In honor of international stress awareness week our spotlight is on executives. Running divisions for a Fortune 50, and consulting for over 100 companies there are some misnomers about workplace stress and how to reduce it.

The job of the Leader becomes challenging to try and prevent chaos. How are you going to help your team and all those impacted (and potentially not impacted but fearful they will be) to be not only comfortable but embrace possible changes?

While the influence of AI in your workplace may be gradual, it’s also likely inevitable and the pace of development is faster and the implications more far-reaching than most executives and managers realize. Michael J. Levin has a brilliant keynote on how executives should embrace change.

In the past, it was common for just two age groups to be represented in the workplace. There were long-serving, old-timers and ambitious newcomers. With people living longer and retiring later just as younger generations are taking their first jobs, for the first time ever, four generations coexist in the workplace – Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y/Millennials, and Generation Z. Broadly speaking, each one has its own set of preferences, styles, perspectives, and experiences.

I personally developed my list of “The 10 Steps for On-Boarding/Developing First Time Managers”. If you would like a copy of this list, please reach out to me and I’ll be happy to share.

Creating an Entrepreneurial Workplace is the theme of the Leadership Process and Philosophy I developed and teach. 

In my last communication, I talked about my philosophy of “Sitting on the Same Side of the Table as Your Customer”. I explained a bit of what that philosophy entailed. I mentioned that it ties back to a Collaborative Selling process I developed.

One of the things I enjoy doing is listening to and reading what other thought Leaders have to say. When it comes to Leadership, one of those I like is Simon Sinek

I had an epiphany from a recent workshop that I believe can help create clarity around why we struggle so frequently with respect to process improvement.

For me, one of the greatest rewards working with companies is seeing their people thrive and shine when taking them through my “Creating an Entrepreneurial Workplace” Leadership Workshop Series. This story however is about the person who supports me on a daily basis. Her name is Charmine Bunker. But no one who knows her calls her Charmine. She prefers to go by Rosebud.

One of the biggest complaints I hear when I work with clients is with respect to meetings. I’m guessing this will be familiar to many of you. Meetings are a waste of time. They take too long. We have too many meetings….

In my last blog, I said I’d provide a bit of a summary and some other key tips on helping your employees focus on being part of the solution and feeling motivated, empowered and excited about leading Change Management initiatives within your organization. Some key tips are:

In my last blog, I spoke about how in my workshops, the front line Managers, Supervisors and Individual Contributors form Initiative Teams and develop action plans to lead Change Management in their organization.

We left off with throughout an organization, from the CEO to the front line staff, typically identification of what the problems are is similar. The question becomes how do you get everyone within an organization to be part of the solution?

One of the key shifts for front line Managers, Supervisors and Individual Contributors is shifting from identifying the problems to not only recommending but becoming a key part of the solution.

As we discussed in my last article, I constantly hear from my clients how frustrated they are regarding E-Mails. Whether it is the number of E-Mails they get, to how poorly they’re written, to the lack of response to the E-Mails they send, managing E-Mail communication is a challenge for the majority of us.

I consistently hear from my clients how frustrated they are with E-mails. How many of you experience any of the following?

In my last blog, we talked about the “C” in my LACE system for overcoming objections, handling questions and concerns. In this blog, we’ll talk about the “E”. It’s the last step to help you not only close more sales but more profitable sales. Using this methodology was a key factor in helping me increase my sales close rate from roughly 33% to 75%.

In my last blog, I shared with you the “A” step in my LACE process for handling questions and concerns. In today’s blog, I’ll share with you the “C” step.

Last time, I shared more about my LACE Objection Handling Process. This month, I’d like to talk about the “A” in the process. I believe it’s the most difficult to do and the most critical to the success of the process.

In my last article, we started talking about how to view objections and what to do to be in a position to resolve them. We talked about viewing them as questions and concerns versus objections. We also talked about the importance of creating an environment in which your customer is willing to share their questions and concerns.

Overcoming objections. To me even the term is a misnomer. If your perspective is you need to overcome objections, I believe you put yourself at a disadvantage.

As I say frequently and fully believe, when I conduct workshops I learn as much from my clients as they do from me.

Turning Presentations into Conversations I believe is one of the keys to closing more business.

I saw this quote and it aligned with my feelings and the theme of my book “Let Them See You Sweat: Lessons I’ve Learned on My Personal Journey with Stress”. That theme is that your solution is going to come from within and not from a pill.

I was having dinner with a client of mine and his wife.  We were talking about two things we don’t always do enough of for ourselves. One was making the time to exercise and take care of ourselves.  The other was taking the time to think or just appreciate the beauty around us.

Michael Levin’s latest book “Let Them See You Sweat:  Lessons I’ve Learned on My Personal Journey with Stress” hit #1 on the Amazon Bestseller list!!!

One of the key challenges I hear from clients is the ability to find and retain good people.  Especially during today’s times, when the economy is strong and unemployment is low, keeping good people becomes even more paramount and difficult.

There are several difficult challenges to creating this workplace.  One of those is giving an employee a reason why to be entrepreneurial.  Isn’t it far safer for an employee to simply do what they’re told?  That way, if things go wrong, they can just blame their boss.  And, they don’t put their job security at risk.

There is a real power when you can get your front line believing in an entrepreneurial workplace.  When they take on initiatives instead of waiting on their Manager to solve their problems, it creates tremendous gains in many respects.

One of the great rewards for me personally is when I see the impact for those who have participated in my “Creating an Entrepreneurial Workplace™” workshops.  This is where the employees become more empowered, take more ownership and lead critical initiatives for the companies they work for. It’s also an opportunity for people to shine.

Creating an Entrepreneurial Workplace, as I wrote about in Jack Canfield’s book, “The Road to Success, Volume I”, is very challenging to do.  At the same time, the rewards for creating this environment are exceptional.