People Need Coaching - Part 1 of 2

There are plenty of programs to help build and develop human resource capital within the organization; things like personal balanced scorecards, emotional intelligence, and the 360 Degree Evaluation. However, trying to implement these solutions is not easy. Additionally, many of these initiatives involve considerable effort with somewhat mixed results. What we need are very informal, straightforward approaches to managing people for higher levels of performance. The answer may reside in coaching. Coaching has been very evident in sports – we've all seen how great coaches can turn a team of players into champions. And now coaching has emerged as a rapid, easy and sure-fire way for managing people.

Lessons from the Shared Economy

The shared economy has become very real and can no longer be ignored by all businesses. According to PriceWaterhouse Coopers, the shared economy is likely to grow from $15 billion in 2013 to $335 billion by 2025. Part of this growth is out of necessity. Cities are becoming very urban and this is where everyone is migrating to; thriving in a world that increasingly is getting very crowded. You can’t continue to add more cars, hotels, and other infrastructure. Instead, people are adjusting and accepting the fact that a better way is to share the infrastructure in highly concentrated environments. Businesses will need to adjust to this new reality and recognize several lessons from the shared economy. 

The New Math for Pricing

It represents one of the most difficult decisions you will make: What price do I charge for my products? Many people, including myself, have always held that pricing should be based on covering all of your costs with some allowance for profits. However, thanks to Robert Dolan of Harvard Business School, there is a new math for calculating price that goes beyond the financial numbers.  

Welcome to a World of Structural Change

It used to be economic change would run in cycles. We would experience periods of high inflation followed by tight monetary policy that led to an economic slow-down. Today, we have cheap money, no inflation and below average economic output that is continuous. Economists and the Federal Reserve are perplexed about a key question: Will we ever experience a full recovery? The answer is No – we are in an age of structural change where there are clear winners and losers. It’s like having an economic boom for some and a depression for others.    

Focus on the Process - Part 2 of 2

The words “business process reengineering” still leaves a negative impression for many in the business world. Years ago companies rushed to reengineer their processes to improve quality and efficiency. However, the end result was less than desirable – new processes were layered on top of existing processes resulting in more work with fewer people. Costs were temporarily lowered benefiting investors. However, other stakeholders in the process, such as employees, were victimized by reengineering.

Focus on the Process - Part 1 of 2

All businesses require processes for the creation of products and services. A process is a collection of activities that consumes resources and adds value to the consumer (in the form of products / services) with some form of benefit paid to the producer. Additionally, all processes have variation – in business we call this risk. As H. Edward Deming, pioneer in the field of quality management, points out – If you can better understand variation in a process, you can plan for it and do things to prevent it.

Machines of Loving Grace

Machines of Loving Grace is the title of a book written by John Markoff. Markoff is a science writer for the New York Times who has followed technology for the last 30 years. In the last few years, we have seen an escalation of technologies, ranging from drones and robots to Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things. This has prompted some of our best thinkers to challenge what is happening. Stephen Hawking has remarked: “the development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.” Bill Gates and Elon Musk have both voiced concerns about the birth of super intelligence or machines that can think.

Why Customer Retention is so Important to Growth

For many businesses, the challenge of growth has become exceedingly difficult. Larger companies seem to grow through acquisition since internal growth above 10% is not possible. One of the keys to good internal growth is through retention. Granted, it’s not easy, but if you can somehow retain your customers and get them to come back, you have created a platform for growth that is much easier to manage then a growth strategy predicated on acquiring other companies. Acquiring and integrating other companies is very challenging and requires expertise that most companies lack, not to mention the very low success rate even if you do have outside help. Therefore, a growth strategy rooted in retention can be more viable and sustainable over the long run.  

Let's Define Best Practices

One of the most overused terms in business has to be: Best Practices. It seems everyone (including myself) is always labeling something as a “best practice.” Thanks to Hackett Benchmarking, a common definition has emerged for best practices. According to Hackett Benchmarking, a best practice must:

1) Place the company in a top percentile ranking within its industry.

2) Leverage and take advantage of technology.

3) Improve quality and speed, and also lower costs.

4) Give management more control and influence.

5) And finally, it has to be working; i.e. it can't be planned but not implemented.

The Three Most Important Skills

It was said some 20 years ago by the Education President, George H. W. Bush that everyone should be able to: Speak, Write and Think. These are the three most important skills everyone should have. Why are these skills so important? Because they are the most transferable skills a person will use throughout their life. These skills also create the widest range of opportunities for people in a world where specific job related skills can become obsolete. And if you don’t think you need transferable skills, then consider that the average American will go through 10 to 14 jobs by the age of 38. One out of every four workers has been on the job one year or less according to the Department of Labor.