Bite Sized Business Tips
2 minute reads for the values-led business leader
Snippets for purpose and values-led business leaders about meeting our responsibilities to our team, customers, owners, communities and suppliers. Context is everything, so these aren't dogma - rather a stimulus for thought. Subscribe below.
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The importance of your not making (all / most) decisions
Almost every company I see where the CEO is too busy suffers from at least one of 3 key criteria not being in place. Missing any of them means that the CEO gets involved in too many decisions, often at FAR too micro a level.
- (For involved, read "making ...
You think you’ve survived …
A number of businesses I meet are dying slowly. Often without knowing it. And it's just like the sunny spell we're enjoying in the UK. I know. It's the summer. Sun's out. And here I am talking about business death, and relating it to the sunshine. Here's why. There was ...
“Who knew that coffee grinds sticking to Teflon would be a thing?” George May, MD of bio-bean
How challenging has it been to get your company going? I think getting a new product to market has to be one of the more challenging businesses to get going. But what if... Your product is a new formulation and needs independent scientific validation for your customers to buy it? ...
Self help and save the planet snakeoil
Watching the promises made at COP26 fritter away brings to mind the similarities between it and most company strategy awaydays and self-help retreats. One of the things that most of the multi-$Bn self-help industry knows is that it's easier to sell a dream than the hard work to do it ...
Marketing has fuelled ill in the world. It can do better.
Marketing has been responsible for sooo many of the ills we're suffering in today's world. Overconsumption is the biggie. Encapsulated in the perceptive statement that "we buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like". Personally, I think in many ways, marketing just ...
Each policy you add is a small nail in the trust coffin
Are you loading up your company with policies? So often I see SMEs feeling like they need to add a detailed policy for expenses, another for travel, for mobile phones, for toilet paper folding, male sandal-wearing and on and on and on. Sometimes, a policy makes sense. But often, sense ...
We don’t find purpose. We create it.
We don't find purpose or meaning. We create them. The beauty and power of that is that it means we get to choose. Admittedly, in some circumstances, purpose is thrust on us. And our context also shapes our thinking. But in the end, we choose. (if we choose to!) One ...
Would you sack your biggest client to keep your team happy? – Richard Clarke of Secret Source
Would you sack your biggest client if they were making your team unhappy? Create a BIG hole in your revenue and profit? Actually put some of your team at risk due to the financial hit? "We want our team to be happy". Pretty much every company says this at some ...
What price your values?
What price for your values? Seriously, if you run a company, and were asked, what price would you put on your values? If you're the CEO or MD of a company, you WILL be called on to put a price. Almost certainly first by your team. Most likely, it will ...
Overwhelm for leaders is real
One of the hardest challenges for CEOs who take their role seriously is the need to continually shine a light, to show a destination, to create hope. And to do that whatever is happening in the world around you. The challenge is that leaders are human too. Yes, vulnerability is ...
Everyone in your company at some level is jockeying for position
Everyone has blind spots, and CEOs are no different. One of the biggies is forgetting that you're the only one at the top of the tree. Even in a company with a flat structure, you're still the one who will be deferred to for the biggest decisions. And usually for ...