Running my own business produced some of the best days of my life, and some of the worst. I’ve won big deals and then lost them again. I’ve hired the perfect person who would transform my business only to have them accept a counter-offer. I’ve sent an offer out to my list that got a great response,…
Ambient risks have skyrocketed. Economic, social, and public health risks are massively higher than they were last year. This includes the risk of hiring a professional services firm. People hire these experts to reduce their risk of negative outcomes. For example: The money I spend hiring these experts reduces my risk of adverse outcomes and…
If you run a B2B business, this is “go time.” We’re in the playoffs. It’s showtime. Use whatever metaphor gets your juices flowing, but it’s a crucial time to set your business trajectory for 2021. Over the next 100 days, your clients are making plans for 2021. They are setting priorities, creating budgets, and laying…
Neo was happy in the matrix – as long as he didn’t know it existed. But once he took the red pill, he could see the world as it really is. Did that knowledge make him happy? No, it turned him into a revolutionary whose very life was in danger! When we lead our clients,…
2020 started with protests in Hong Kong, then bushfires in Australia. In the US, we had impeachment hearings and an over 1000 point drop in the stock market. Then came COVID and shutdown/quarantine, which sent millions of workers into a long work-from-home (with children “e-learning”) experiment. That was just the first quarter. Since then, we’ve…
Note: It might seem weird talking about reopening offices in the middle of the protests and increased public awareness of racist violence. Honestly, it was a little weird to write it under these circumstances. That said, folks are working on reopening offices and have questions about what to do, and so I wanted to get…
Now that we’ve been away from our office for a couple of months, it gives us a chance to step back and examine; what’s our office for? An office is a place where we store stuff! As someone who recently closed an office, I can tell you about all the stuff that’s left once everyone…
“It’s lonely at the top” is a common expression for good reason — for CEOs, it’s especially true. Sure, you’re surrounded by people and if you’re fortunate — good people. But who do you talk to when you need someone with a similar perspective as you? Family is unlikely to fully understand the intricacies of…
Planning for the future right now is extraordinarily difficult. We know that unemployment is at record high levels. High unemployment is a signal the economy is going to tank. When consumer spending drops significantly (like when lots of folks lose their jobs), the consumer companies get hit first, but pretty soon the whole economy suffers. Worse…
It looks like the US will be reopening slowly, perhaps county by county, but the fact is that where ever you are, your business will eventually get the chance to resume working in the office. When that chance comes, what will you do? At this point, my assumption about the “Level 1” opening is that…