WANTED: The Business Renaissance Man

WANTED: The Business Renaissance Man

Richard Branson once said that his biggest motivation was to “…keep challenging myself. I see life almost like one long University education that I never had – everyday I’m learning something new.” Learning in business, just like learning is school is necessary. At the same time the education and learning that you do, it requires a return on investment (ROI). This ROI is based on getting valuable information in the form of a practical education with real world application – this is the next required step in educational evolution.

The VUCA Business Strategy

The VUCA Business Strategy

Creating a strategy for a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environment.

It is a tough world, one that is changing fast, getting more competitive, plagued with disasters - can you navigate through it? By creating, testing and developing a VUCA strategy, you can ensure survival and sustainability in an otherwise complicated business environment.

VUCA is a military acronym for the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of situations or environments. Each of these elements is necessary to review within a business context in order to view current and future states of an organization. I believe there are core elements which can transform your business strategy into a resistant, VUCA strategy.

Engage Internally On a Daily Basis!

Engage Internally On a Daily Basis!

The New Generation of Employees

“There are only three measurements that tell you nearly everything you need to know about your organization’s overall performance: employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and cash flow. It goes without saying that no company, small or large, can win over the long run without energized employees who believe in the mission and understand how to achieve it.” – Jack Welch, former CEO of GE

Employee engagement is a key metric in any workplace as it is the emotional tie the employee has with the company and the company’s goals.

Engage Externally When Branding Your Product

Engage Externally When Branding Your Product!
Effectively Communicating Your Product Value to a New Generation

“It is not the employer who pays the wages – employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages.” –Henry Ford

Consumers want engaging encounters and companies want to find ways to captivate product consumers. Engrossing customers in your marketing message could make the typical customer experience anything but. To do this your products have to excite your customers. No longer will the one-sided marketing conversation with customers on the “whats” of your products be enough. Customer interactions must advance to the next level, requiring a connection with customers (see Young Professionals – New Employees, Same Problems). Building off of traditional marketing methods, a new form of marketing is required to begin engaging an evolving market. This new counterculture market wants information, connections, customized/personalized experiences and involvement. This market repays this connection with deep loyalty and consumer insight.

How do you engage your customers, convey your product message and market effectively to key customers now?

Grow During an Economic Downturn!

Growing in an Economic Downturn

During an economic downturn organizations have to do more with less. Companies tend to tighten budgets, cut staff, reduce services, decrease quality, contain negative output gaps (spare capacity), minimize effects of rising inflation, manage confidence and investments – but there is an alternative. There are ways for companies to grow, smartly invest and to emerge from a downturn stronger than their competition. As basic as it may sound, an organization’s ability to grow from a downturn lies in its business processes and operational decisions, driven by a company’s business mission and objectives.

Creating That Golden Moment - Value Driven Work

Creating That Golden Moment - Meaning and Value Driven Work

Your career is in a natural state of entropy.

In following the second law of thermodynamics, entropy (the measure of randomness) will never decrease as the number of variables continuously increase over time. With the constant expansion of variability, a sense of meaning can also be lost. This loss of meaning in your work may cause you to only go through the motions at work, while avoiding any negative repercussions. Your job may seem like an endless stream of meaningless busywork which is constantly multiplying and being thrust upon you. Worst of all, you may feel trapped in your job for whatever reason. This may be the case for you, or your employees. Fortunately, through specific actions you can remediate the situation to reengage yourself or your employees.

Young Professionals – New Employees, Same Problems

Young Professionals – New Employees, Same Problems

I am a Generation Y, Millennial, Generation We, Global Generation, Generation Next and Net Generation employee.

Young professionals are called by a variety of names, but one can be certain that the next generation of employees bring a new set of challenges and advancements to the workplace. Much research is being done to characterize and categorize the individuals born after “Generation Xers” in the early 1980’s to the early 2000’s. Investigations are being done to learn the traits and values, the wants and needs and the identity of this group. These studies are targeted to simplify and learn the similarities and differences from previous generations, how to market them, how to inspire them, how to engage them and how to relate to them. I will challenge the central issues identified, offer insight and propose solutions to answer many of the burning questions of this new workforce, the Millennials.

Advancing Change in the Workplace

Advancing Change in the Workforce

In analyzing challenges and obstacles at companies, I noticed that the fundamental issues have revolved, in all or in part, around change. Typically these changes are a shift of focus by management. Whether it is strategic change, operational change, organizational change, management change, product change, focus change or any other kind of change. As change is a typical and even necessary part of business, learning how to adapt to change and improve the change process are imperative in moving an your organization forward.

How bow hunting reinforces my marketing skills

How Bow Hunting Reinforces My Marketing Skills

One of my passions in life is archery and bow hunting. The more I reflect and meld my work-life balance, I can see how my life flows into my work. From one passion, drives another, so in my case, I can see how my bow hunting skills and techniques help and reinforce my marketing skills. All of the skills and steps that I go through, before and during a bow hunt, are all of the skills and steps needed in marketing to bring products to market with the highest degree of success.