What are your top three actions to improving the profitability and productivity of your business in 2012? Next year the business owners from my What If Forums – which are made up of service and product-based companies – are on a mission to increase the turnover and gross profit of every employee. Boosting productivity is [...]
Fears that Britain’s isolationist stance over the eurozone – compounded by the news that the UK economy is to face an even bigger downturn – are enough to send even the most grounded business owner into a tailspin. In today’s torrid climate, when it’s impossible to forecast what’s round the corner, Rudyard Kipling’s pragmatic advice: [...]
Have you taken the necessary precautions to stop yourself worrying about the future of your business – or are you going to continue being fearful and leave things to chance? The words of Roald Amundsen, the famous Norwegian explorer and first man to complete a mission to the South Pole in 1911: “Victory awaits him [...]
I recently wrote in HR Magazine how recruiting staff with ‘mental toughness’ is a top priority with another challenging 12 months ahead – and one in every 160 companies currently going into liquidation. Described by Wikipedia as ‘A collection of attributes that allow a person to persevere through difficult circumstances and emerge without losing confidence.’ [...]
Did you know that plate spinning is a form of juggling that dates back about 2,000 years to the Han Dynasty of China? It’s also a prerequisite in running and growing a business with the myriad of relentless challenges it brings. Like many business owners and managers, do you worry that those plates you keep [...]
What if an entrepreneur like Luke Johnson who, with his business partner Hugh Osmond, powered Pizza Express from 12 to over 250 restaurants and boosted the share price from 40p to over 900p – turned around your business? When I discussed exactly what are the critical steps to turning around and transforming businesses with experienced [...]
You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with If the words of the late motivational speaker and self help guru Jim Rohn are true, then think of the five or ten people you spend most time with and ask yourself: What are these people doing? How passionate are [...]
In these uncertain times the primary responsibility of the business owner and leader is to survive, because without you there is a very real possibility that the business will not survive – or at least in its current form. As a business strategist and executive coach I know that taking care of you is a [...]
You may have temporarily staved off the debt disaster – but with the UK economy growing by just 0.1% in quarter 2, reinforcing that we are still teetering on the edge of a cliff and many customers are reluctant to buy – what is your new call to action for your business? Everyone is looking [...]
Many businesses do not announce price increases according to a recent survey of What If forum members and clients – and those that do give between one to three months’ notice before implementing them. As a business strategist and executive coach I know that, while there is no one “one size fits all” solution, key [...]
