Just about every company in existence was started by someone (or several people) who saw an opportunity to make money in the marketplace. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that. But one company – a high tech software firm based in Minneapolis – was started by three guys (who each self-identify as ‘nerds’) with the singular goal…
It was midnight at the Omni Hotel in Amelia Island about 45 minutes from Jacksonville, Florida. I had just been dropped off by an Uber driver after a 4-hour flight from Denver and I was dog-tired. I was scheduled to speak for a large conference of 600 C-level executives the next day at this high-end…
Carson, the son of a friend of mine, is an MBA whose passion centers on business mergers and acquisitions. Two years ago, Carson accepted a position with an investment bank that offered him an embarrassingly low starting salary that was packaged with the promise that he’d be seeing some nice bonuses as the firm closed large deals.…
A great workplace culture does more than merely share timely and relevant information with its employees; it goes to great lengths to listen to them and digest that feedback. Employee surveys can be useful tools, but by themselves they’re not enough to truly know what your people are thinking. There’s no survey, assessment, or digital app…
In Western cultures, the transition from school-to-work-to-career generally happens between the ages of 16-to-24. This is a period of explosive personal growth when an individual crosses over from a dependent child to an independent adult who no longer relies on their parents to provide food, clothing, shelter, laundry services, and gas money. (This transition is not happening as early…
Regardless how they obtain the skills they need for the job, employees worth their paycheck have the desire to get better at what they do. They want to acquire and develop new skills, talents, and abilities that will help them increase their value to their present employers and other prospective employers. To ignore your employees’ need…
It’s astounding how often it happens… You’re in a conversation with a sales person, service representative, or an associate of an organization and you ask a question or make a passing comment about something that’s happened within their company — something interesting that made the headlines or the evening news — and they look at you as…
Standing 726 feet high, and weighing more than 18 Empire State buildings combined, the Hoover Dam is a jaw-dropping wonder of the industrial world. It was built in the early 1930’s during the Great Depression by a consortium of six major tunnel, railroad, and highway contractors that went by the name Six Companies. The promise of above-average…
Roy and Beth have been dating for a year. One night after a romantic dinner in a posh restaurant, Roy pretends to drop a napkin on the floor. While reaching down to get it, he falls to one knee, pulls a big, shiny ring out of his coat pocket, and proposes to Beth. Totally caught…
“We’re adding a little something to this month’s sales contest. As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac El Dorado. Anybody wanna see second prize? Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is…you’re fired.” In the 1992 film Glengarry Glen Ross, Blake—famously portrayed by Alec Baldwin—issues this decree, exposing an artful…