For a business, non-profit or association manager, they could be fatal, coming as they do in four bitter flavors. Mistake #1 - You limit your PR activity pretty much to placing product and service plugs on radio and in newspapers. Mistake #2 - You fail to embrace the kind of PR plan that persuades those important outside audiences to your way of thinking, then moves them to take actions that help your department, division or subsidiary...more
I would like to share with the reader an article printed in the financial section of U.S.A. Today on March 7, 2003 which exemplifies the awesome power of a stock dividend. MICROSOFT TO ISSUE FIRST DIVIDEND TODAY:Microsoft investors will get their first payday today, when the tech giant shells out its first dividend. At 8 cents a share, the dividend will cost the company $850 million. Co-founder Bill Gates, who owns about 1.2 billion shares...more
The use of cultural awareness training has increased rapidly in the majority of global companies over the last decade. My experience working in global companies in which effective cross-cultural functioning was critical, involved the devotion of considerable time and energies to ensuring that cultural training needs were identified and accommodated as necessary. This commitment to bridging cultural gaps represents a perceptible shift in attitudes amongst British company global thinking. This is a shift from the prevalent subconscious (and sometimes not so subconscious) driver, which existed in previous years. Thinking typically held that the way in which the West did business was the norm to which to strive and that non-western citizens should assimilate into our own particular mode of cultural thinking as opposed to vice versa. Little effort was truly made to understand the cultural differences between countries. This thinking was gradually moulded and changed by the realities of the failure of such thinking including ineffective team functioning, lack of productivity and general dissatisfaction amongst cross culturally functioning staff. It also become apparent that the financial...more
Ever wonder why most small businesses-- no matter how huge effort they put in their endeavor--still fail? Micheal Gerber reveals the answers in this book. Accordingly, the future of small businesses revolve in only three philosophies: the e-myth (entrepreneurial myth), the turn-key revolution, and the business development process. The...more
Tammy, a skilled and gifted horticulturist, called me to discuss what she needed to know to start her own florist and landscaping business. She had been in the horticulture industry for 10 years and was incredibly skilled at working with flowers and plants - one of the best. She also had great design skills, as well as good customer service...more
Owning a home used to be the "American Dream." However, this long-standing goal that so many aspired to, and ultimately reached, has been replaced with a new goal -- becoming a business owner.At first glance it sounds perfect: Leave the corporate world behind and become an entrepreneur. No more commuting, office politics, difficult co-workers and demanding supervisors. You'll be your own boss and reap all the financial rewards. It will be a brand-new lifestyle with incredible opportunities and much less stress. Others have achieved the new "American Dream." Look at the young kids who started Apple on a shoestring in the late 1970s. Don't forget the two engineers who launched a little company called Hewlett Packard out of a small backyard garage. Mrs. Fields took a cookie recipe -- of all things -- and built it into a national model that is taught in many business schools.Why not you? Yes, you could have the next great business idea, but that alone might not be enough. Ask yourself, do you have the right stuff to launch and run a successful business? Here are five questions to consider before making the big leap from a steady paycheck to business owner.1. Are you a...more
Of the many areas in international business where cultural differences manifest is in the corporate meeting room. International meetings are an area where differences in cultural values, etiquette, interpretations of professional conduct and...more
As a former owner of a National Speakers Bureau, I have learned from several thousand professional speakers "How to Give a Great Speech." Here are some techniques that I share with my coaching clients who want to become paid professional speakers...more
Stories develop themes. The themes chosen to illustrate the possibility of stories are: Relationships, Choice, Creativity, Making a Difference, Celebration. Speakers are ordinarily people, from teachers to grandparents, from mountain climbers to...more
Wanna know a little secret? There is an ingenious method you can use, to pay off your 30 year fixed rate loan, in 23 years or less. It's straightforward, simple, and easy to understand. In this article, we're going to explore this little known...more
Is the Mutual Fund you build yourself! The perfect Mutual Fund you build should have the objective of owning no more than 12 to 15 companies; owning shares in 12 companies would allow the diversity needed to sleep well at night and would provide a...more
Are there any universal laws that most successful people seem to follow? Great question, huh?With that in mind, I began listing some common denominators in order to share them with others. I've been very fortunate to have had some success in my life,...more