Many of us give careful consideration to the external threats to our company. Competition, economic conditions, global uncertainty, supply chain, cash flow and access to capital are all things that can harm our business. Some of us give careful consideration to the dangers lurking within our company – our people. However, our focus is typically

I’ve been fortunate to be able to work with many great CEOs of mid-market companies over my career – outstanding men and women who will leave a lasting impact on the business community. Some of them are innovators who created a new category of products or services. Some of them are professional managers who took

Recently, the Wall Street Journal discussed the scathing portrait of the General Motors Co. corporate culture, painted in the 315-page report on the company’s mishandling of deadly defects in ignition switches in up to 2.6 million cars. You can read the full report by Anton R. Valukas here. Before we dive into the report, let’s

Hiring is an interesting topic of discussion amongst executives. Most think they’re really good at it, but not everyone has the metrics to back up their claim. For the majority of mid-market companies, poor hiring creates the single greatest expense to the P&L. A single hiring mistake can cost as much as 5 times the

In my previous post, I talked about how to inspire your team by asking 6 questions. Having your people see your exciting view of the future and how it involves them is an important driver of their performance. Today I want to talk about how a person’s energy level affects their performance. Did you know

Which of these employees is better trained to perform his or her job in a small to mid-market company? A.   CEO B.   CPA Does it surprise you that a CPA is almost always better trained than a CEO? In fact, a CPA receives 4 to 6 years of formal education, has passed a difficult certification

A critical element for developing strong, consistent and high performing cultures in any organization is for the leaders to talk about the exciting vision they see for the future of the company, and how they see each person in the organization being a part of it. Of all of the animals on the planet, human

What’s more important in your business, profit or your people? One of the biggest problems in small to midsize businesses today is that the story we tell and the way we act are not connected. We tell the world what’s important to us – people, products, services, customers and quality – but then base every

Have you ever asked yourself If I could just get my people aligned to my strategy, then everything will fall into place? It’s a common challenge for CEOs of companies under $100 million in revenue. People can be the greatest asset of a small to midsize company. Or, they can be its greatest liability. If