Several years ago, a customer came to Promotional Spring asking for point of purchase signage. (Promotional Spring is a company that creates experiences and solutions that help organizations to promote their products and services.) Even though they had asked for a specific deliverable, after further conversation, leaders at Promotional Spring realized the customer had 4 different pain points. Those challenges they [ Read More ]
People picked on my generation. People picked on my fathers’ generation. People are picking on this generation, and I think it’s wrong,” says Scott McGohan, CEO at McGohan Brabender, a company that provides employee benefit consulting, compliance, and health risk management. “We have to understand technology and communication paths that are going to be attractive [across generations], but to pretend [ Read More ]
This Insights post has been updated. For our latest thinking on professional management, see our most recent post here. In the video below a number of small business owners explain—in their own words—how professional management has helped their businesses. Professional management is something that can help you run your business, rather than letting it run you. It [ Read More ]
It's hard enough to define your culture. And it's even harder to align your business to it. Once your culture is defined and aligned, how do you ensure your culture is ready to scale? “When we were a smaller organization, I had a lot more influence on the culture than I do now,” says Sean Kelly, CEO of SnackNation, [ Read More ]
John Werner, President/CEO of White Commercial Corporation, knew something had changed around his organization when, one day, he walked by a conference room and noticed a meeting he was completely unaware was taking place. No invite or no notification—nothing. “We have a big window that you see from the hallway, and it looked like they were really getting work accomplished,” [ Read More ]
What’s one of the biggest challenges in small business today? Keeping employees motivated and productive, says Marty Grunder, President and CEO of Grunder Landscaping Co., in Dayton, Ohio. Knowing how difficult this can be, Marty shared a few lessons on how to create a high-energy, productive atmosphere at work. Lesson #1: Make Time For Individuals to Express How They [ Read More ]
When hiring, LaRosa’s, Inc.’s philosophy is, “Good people know good people.” That’s why they make sure to tap their current employee base to help find additional great talent, says Steve Browne, Executive Director of HR at LaRosa’s. (LaRosa’s is a chain of pizza restaurants located in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee.) “When we have openings, we go to our team [ Read More ]
Sitting on one of the office couches with the garage door open—the light and breeze freely flowing in—Adam Landrum, President & CEO at Up&Up took a moment to take in his surroundings. Adam was sitting in the Up&Up office, located in Greenville, South Carolina. He had designed the space to feel more like a coffee shop and bar rather [ Read More ]
It can be difficult when you lose a great employee. For Tim Rettig, Founder, President, and CEO of Intrust IT, the departure of an employee spurred his decision to put a Holacracy model into place after years of considering it. “That decision was prompted by his departure, and now, he’s actually returned to the company,” says Tim. Tim goes on to [ Read More ]
The morning of September 17, 2004 started like many other days for businessman and entrepreneur Barry Shore. At 55, Barry had just returned from a trip overseas with his 17-year old son. Barry is the Founder and CEO of Dlyte.com and is a successful serial entrepreneur across a variety of industries. Despite waking up physically strong, by the end [ Read More ]
Every business owner has something that’s kept them up at night. For Bernard Dalichau, President of Lavender Home Care Solutions, it was the thought of losing his employees. “I put so much effort into hiring them, and I put so much effort into developing them, the fear of losing people was a huge anxiety point I had,” he says [ Read More ]
“How can you not invest in people?” asks Mark Thompson, a former Business Coach at Aileron. “It’s your only difference,” he says in this video also featured on Forbes. Ed Eppley, Course for Presidents Facilitator at Aileron, agrees that high-performing companies are those that invest in their people. Ed says that it’s in a business owner’s best interest [ Read More ]
