Cash-strapped business owners aren't the only ones suffering these days. Let's have a little sympathy for bankers. As a business owner, you may be distressed by tight credit but so is your banker. Bank officers used to attend networking meetings…
Do you recall Frank Sinatra's hit song, "That's Life?" Think of his lyrics, ‘pick myself up and get back in the race.' This youtube video has good advice for all of us (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qh_TKJTPsQ) Many people would say they are happy…
The recent recession has impacted the workforce in different ways. For some, tough economic times have made it all the more important to aim for excellence and work diligently at their current jobs. For others, the economic downturn has inspired…
Scenario: An employee makes a mistake or takes a risk that goes wrong. As a manager, you have a choice of how to deal with it. You can: • reprimand the employee and note the issue in their personnel file…
Last month, Poudre Valley Healthcare System (PVHS) in Fort Collins became Colorado's third recipient of the Baldrige National Quality Award -- the highest level of national recognition for performance excellence that a U.S. organization can receive. The Baldrige National Quality…
As a brighter economic landscape emerges, the job market should open up. This means more applicants knocking on your door and competitors possibly recruiting your star performers. How do you attract and retain the best staff? Here are some suggestions:…
Smart leaders know that strategic hiring and deployment of their top talent are essential to managing risk, achieving business outcomes and ensuring future sustainability. It's the strength of your people that drives the rise or fall of your business-especially in…
As we move into a new year, many of us are making personal resolutions or goals for 2010. I've created a list of the top four challenges for the HR profession for 2010. Notice that I don't say, "list of…
The theme for the recent 8th annual Colorado Performance Excellence (CPEx) conference centered on sharing lessons learned and best-in-class practices, especially in understanding how high performance organizations create value during a downturn in the economy. Keynote presentations were made by…
Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from business performance improvement expert Larry Valant's book, Stop Breaking These Rules! 100 Hard-Hitting Truths for Business Integrity and Performance. 34 - Stress is the result of fear. There is a source of stress…
In 2009, TOMS will give away 300,000 pairs of shoes to needy children in eight countries. Every year, employees at Home Depot volunteer seven million hours of service, and the company donates millions of dollars in four target areas. The…
I bet some of the most profound lessons you've learned about business and life come from the most seemingly mundane events. One of the most important for me about being a decent human being in all aspects of life came…
Will you look back on this recession as not much more than an ugly, but brief, economic blip in your company history? A determining factor will be how effectively you communicate with your employees, who are, after all, the owners…
Many of us have suffered from overzealous attempts to repair things we weren't qualified to fix. All too often, these efforts end up causing more damage than good, and we're forced to eat a piece of humble pie as we…
While many organizations are cutting costs, delaying investments or hustling customers, others are using the downturn in the economy as an opportunity to work on their internal operations. Last month's 8th annual Colorado Performance Excellence (CPEx) conference recognized those organizations…
(The second of two parts. Read part one here.) If it's true that "You get what you measure" what would happen if we developed a "balanced scorecard" of success in our society that tracked and reported statistics related to happiness,…
(The first of two parts) Remember the old saying in business, "You get what you measure?" There are powerful implications in our society for exploring what is being created by what we are measuring. Spend some time today looking -…
It's that time of year again, spending many hours of your management team's effort developing the business plan for next year. Too many companies spend hundreds of hours on the plan and miss their targeted results because of an inability…
The term "sustainability" conjures images of wind farms and energy-saving light bulbs and paperless offices. But sustainable business isn't merely about "going green." Employees and the values held by customers are as much a part of the sustainability equation. As…
Fund manager and philanthropist Peter Kellner headlines the Dec. 1 meeting of the Denver Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth. In an interview, he talks about what drives him, how to find entrepreneurs in unexpected places and which state has the best…
Whether you are a small company that can't allocate a designated resource to sustainability planning, or a large company with only one person assigned, creating a team of employees to support the company's green initiatives can be effective. These teams, commonly…
I was in a client's company a few weeks ago and met a young executive who was very switched-on by his work. He couldn't say enough about how he enjoyed doing it, but I could also tell there was something…
Regular readers of my blog here on ColoradoBiz may be very surprised what I am about to write. Please be aware that this is not in response to any criticism of my previous HR article. I stand by every word…
Few business people realize that the number one exporter in the world in 2008 was not China, Japan or the U.S. The number one exporter was Germany -- because of the many small and medium-sized German businesses which are ranked…
