Middle managers' engagement key to company success

Middle managers' engagement key to company success: Curse all the trash talk about middle managers. Show them some love, and your company will love you back.

Networking tactics to advance your business

Networking tactics to advance your business: Four tactics that are key to building a robust network.

Effective business tools to help startups keep costs low

Effective business tools to help startups keep costs low: Startups have to get by without much money. Established businesses don’t want to spend much money. Whichever you run, try these tools.

How critical reviews online impact your business

How critical reviews online impact your business: Consumer-review websites like Yelp are the first stop for many shoppers.

7 Ways to Avoid a Poor First Impression in Business

7 Ways to Avoid a Poor First Impression in Business: Entrepreneurs are all about firsts, and the most important is you making a great first impression – on investors, customers, new team members, and strategic partners. Poor first impressions can be avoided, but I’m amazed at the number of unnecessary mistakes I see at those critical first introductions, presentations, and meetings.

Will your company back your new business idea?

Will your company back your new business idea?: "Intrapreneurship" can keep your job and your company interesting and competitive, but it comes with its fair share of obstacles. How to pitch your idea to the powers that be.

Want to Stand Out From the Crowd? 3 Tips on How to Do It.

Want to Stand Out From the Crowd? 3 Tips on How to Do It.: I recently received an advance copy of Lindsey Pollak?s book, the revised edition of Getting From College to Career. Though my college days are long behind me and I?m now on my second career, I find Lindsey?s advice on how to stand apart from the competition to be extremely valuable ? especially as it relates to entrepreneurs.  There are a lot of similarities between those building businesses and those taking the first steps to build their careers. Whether you?re in college looking for a job or trying to get a new venture off the ground, you need to be relentless, proactive, informed and mindful of perception.  You also need to figure out your points of differentiation.

Swagger! 6 Keys to Negotiating Success

Swagger! 6 Keys to Negotiating Success: Every entrepreneur must excel at negotiating. Follow these six tips from a recent book.

How to Get Unstuck

How to Get Unstuck: Are you stuck? Here's how to get unstuck.

Sales compensation plans: How to motivate your employees

Sales compensation plans: How to motivate your employees: Does your sales compensation plan encourage all the right outcomes for your company?

Ten Questions You'd Better Ask Your Boss

Ten Questions You'd Better Ask Your Boss: I once worked on a team that helped produce a nightly television news show. The format didn't vary much, the deadlines were the same every night and my colleagues and I were experienced pros. But our senior producer had a tough time letting us just do our thing. Even though we sat in offices mere feet from the boss, she wanted us to send frequent e-mail updates on our progress. We could've been the most crackerjack TV producers. If we didn't keep the boss in the loop, she thought we were falling down on the job.

Three strategies to build employee engagement

Three strategies to build employee engagement: Wouldn't you love to employ a loyal, turbocharged team that's always in it to win it? Here's how three star employers got theirs.

For entrepreneurs, the greatest challenge is anticipating their own weaknesses

For entrepreneurs, the greatest challenge is anticipating their own weaknesses: The resignation of RIM’s co-CEOs does more than end a troubled chapter in the tech giant’s story. It reminds us how easy it is to make crucial mistakes.

5 Tax Planning Tips for Small Business Owners

5 Tax Planning Tips for Small Business Owners: 1. Do your research or hire an outside consultant.

Seven Ways To Cope With Indecision

Seven Ways To Cope With Indecision: Ever feel that gnawing pain in your stomach because you…just…can’t…decide?

Startups need great personal relationships and friends

Startups need great personal relationships and friends: Getting a little help from your friends is one way to get your startup rolling.

Can Sears Be Saved? Four Strategies For Success

Can Sears Be Saved? Four Strategies For Success: You may have missed it, but during the week between Christmas and New Year's, Sears Holdings announced that it would close up to 120 stores amid bad holiday shopping results.  As Miguel Bustillo and Ann Zimmerman report for The Wall Street Journal, investor and Sears Holdings Chairman Eddie Lampert has a dismal track record with the venerable brand:

Sales at stores open at least 12 months have slid every year since the company was created by the well-known hedge-fund investor in 2005. But its deteriorating condition has accelerated this year—it posted a $421 million loss last quarter—and it said Tuesday that same-store sales for the eight weeks ending Christmas Day dropped 5.2% compared to the year before.

An easy lesson to learn from Lampert's struggles is that investing and operating companies are different skills.  Or that retail chains, like restaurants don't suffer fools gladly.  With one of the nation's oldest retailers poised to close 120 stores, it's fair to ask the bigger question - is there a place for Sears as a brand?   As a department store specializing in hard goods, Sears is battered from one end by Lowe's, Home Depot and Best Buy, from another by Target and Wal-Mart and ultimately must fight Amazon for Internet sales.  All of those companies have clearer brand missions - and some of them have questionable futures as well.  So where does Sears fit?

An engaged employee is a happier, more productive employee

An engaged employee is a happier, more productive employee: The trick is to hire people who are entrepreneurially inclined.

Great Ideas: 4 ways to thrill your customers

Great Ideas: 4 ways to thrill your customers: Lining up financing and writing a marketing plan are among the crucial standard steps that entrepreneurs take to launch or fortify a business.

Are You a Slave to Your Business? Uncover 3 Ways to Break Free Today

Are You a Slave to Your Business? Uncover 3 Ways to Break Free Today: Feels like jail sometimes.

What? Well, owning a business.

On one hand, so much freedom and control; on the other, chained to our desks. I mean, at the end of the day, it falls on us, right? We’ve got stuff to do and sometimes we’re the only ones to do it.

More emails to send. More phone numbers to dial. More decisions to make.

Well, the other day, I said, “Enough.” Here’s the story that woke me up…

What to Do When You've Built It and No One Comes

What to Do When You've Built It and No One Comes: When you have something to sell, being stuck in one place isn't always a winning idea. Fortunately, there is an alternative.

Why Failure Is The Engine Of Success

Why Failure Is The Engine Of Success: Fifteen years ago, I started a business that took 12 agonizing years to fail. I invested $10 million of my own money in BeComm (later called Implicit Networks) to develop a media-rich operating system that in many ways anticipated today’s smartphones and tablets. Unfortunately, the hardware and applications needed to make use of such an operating system didn’t yet exist.

10 Business Plan Words Every Manager Needs to Know By Heart

10 Business Plan Words Every Manager Needs to Know By Heart: If you're starting or running a business, you'll need to know this list of essential business planning words.

Get the References You Need to Get the Job You Want

Get the References You Need to Get the Job You Want: What others say about you is often far more important than what you say about yourself. And that’s especially true for when you're seeking a job.

8 Ways Leaders Can Motivate Employees Beyond Money

8 Ways Leaders Can Motivate Employees Beyond Money: Most successful entrepreneurs will tell you that their primary motivation is to “change the world” and to build something lasting, not to make a lot of money. But the conventional wisdom is that employees work for money, above all else. Yet my own experience, and a recent McKinsey survey, leads me to believe that non-cash motivators may be more effective in the long term than financial incentives.

You have startup, now start planning for your growth

You have startup, now start planning for your growth: The lesson of the long, drawn-out recovery following the great global financial crisis is simple: there's not enough growth to go around.

A Guide to Surviving Today's Business Gauntlet

A Guide to Surviving Today's Business Gauntlet: Make no mistake about it: 2012 will be the year of the Change Agent. Why? Because in today’s ultra-competitive and volatile business environment, no one can afford to be satisfied with anything like “business as usual.”

Can you use humour in B2B marketing?

Can you use humour in B2B marketing?: Think about these two factors when you're considering using humour in your marketing.

3 Easy Ways to Minimize Distractions and Maximize Productivity

3 Easy Ways to Minimize Distractions and Maximize Productivity: For my loyal followers, last week I alluded to distractions in the coming weeks. Sure enough, this week I’m scrambling to keep all the balls in the air. Yesterday I spent the morning on sales calls, spoke at a rally on behalf of PTA in the afternoon, in between scheduling legislative visits in Tallahassee and finally got home to play Candyland with the kids… before getting back to work.

Learn from Australia’s top entrepreneurs

Learn from Australia’s top entrepreneurs: SmartCompany, an Australian business website, has produced an ebook with plenty of helpful tips from the top entrepreneurs Down Under.

Asking for and Getting What You Deserve

Asking for and Getting What You Deserve: The greatest impasse to women asking for and getting what they deserve in business and the professions is their reluctance to self-serve.

Keep it simple: Startup advice for the nervous and confused

Keep it simple: Startup advice for the nervous and confused: Too many rookie entrepreneurs try to figure stuff out for themselves. Turns out the answers are all around you.

How to Reinvent Your Business

How to Reinvent Your Business: The owners of social-buying site Fab.com discuss how they came to the decision to shut down their old venture -- and focus on their new one. Here are their three tips for how to pivot.

B2B marketing: Small changes pave the way for big impact

B2B marketing: Small changes pave the way for big impact: When it comes to implementing a B2B marketing plan, small changes may be more appropriate than one giant shift.

10 Reasons Why Business Action Can Trump Thinking

10 Reasons Why Business Action Can Trump Thinking: I’ve always said that startups are all about execution. Sometimes I encounter self-proclaimed entrepreneurs who have been “thinking” about a concept for many years, and haven’t started yet. Some of these may be visionaries, but none are real entrepreneurs.

15 Ways to Tell If You're on the Right Path

15 Ways to Tell If You're on the Right Path: "I'm unhappy, unfulfilled, and I feel like I'm in a quarter life crisis."

Strategic planning success through clear 'action steps'

Strategic planning success through clear 'action steps': A strategic plan is not complete unless you map out these 'action steps'.

Ownership, Accountability and Peak Performance

Ownership, Accountability and Peak Performance: One of my first experiences in the workplace was sweeping the warehouse floor in my father's industrial supply business. I worked in the warehouse and drove the delivery truck. He was very picky about how he wanted things done, made sure I knew what he expected and would occasionally check to make sure everything was "ship shape". He had spent time in the Navy as a young man and believe me, I had a complete understanding of what "ship shape" meant.

How Committed Are You To Getting The Results You Seek?

How Committed Are You To Getting The Results You Seek?: Many people start off the New Year with good intentions for fulfilling resolutions, but their interest and enthusiasm often wanes away by the end of February. This year, make a difference in your life. Review your habits and past behaviors that have previously not produced the results you desire. Be honest with yourself. Examine your circumstances carefully to determine what part you have played in the outcomes you have experienced. Don’t rely on your employer, market conditions, or your family obligations to dictate what happens to you (or doesn’t) this year. Make a commitment to reach your goals by outlining specific actions to accomplish them.

Is your leadership image helping or hurting your career?

Is your leadership image helping or hurting your career?: Want to improve your effectiveness? Take a good, hard look at the image you project in the workplace because your effectiveness as a leader is tied to your image, according to the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL).

Cash in on Content and Social Media Marketing in 2012

Cash in on Content and Social Media Marketing in 2012: Learn 5 key steps to use content marketing and social media marketing to effectively build your personal or business brand in 2012 and reach your goals.

The Value of Interdisciplinary Thinking -- Even When it's Wrong

The Value of Interdisciplinary Thinking -- Even When it's Wrong: I recently wrote a post about a plan emanating from the University of Maine to put huge wind farms in the deep waters off the coast of Maine—and boy did I get blowback! The high point, for me, was being called an idiot on Facebook. I'm sure it will not

International trade success tips and experiences

International trade success tips and experiences: Business without Borders and its social media group on LinkedIn are great resources for those who wish to maximize their productivity when exploring foreign markets.

4 Tips to Build Your Business for Long Term Success

4 Tips to Build Your Business for Long Term Success: While there are many industries resilient to the ebb and flow of the economy, the majority of small businesses can be defined in some way as cyclical -- or reliant on the general economy. When the economy takes a dive, many small businesses tend go with it.

4 Ways To Improve Your Resume and Get A Job in 2012

4 Ways To Improve Your Resume and Get A Job in 2012: It is 2012. It's time to get focused, and attack the job market.

10 Simple and Powerful Body Language Tips for 2012

10 Simple and Powerful Body Language Tips for 2012: The effective use of body language plays a key role in effective leadership communication. From “The Silent Language of Leaders: How Body Language Can Help – or Hurt – How You Lead,” here are ten tips I’ve learned during the past two decades of coaching leaders and their teams around the world:

5 Core Steps to a More Satisfying Career in 2012

5 Core Steps to a More Satisfying Career in 2012:  As a career coach, I spend a good deal of my time reviewing people’s lives and careers and making sense of the seeming randomness.  With clients who long for career change, I always start by asking them to complete my Career Path Self-Assessment, an in-depth survey which leads them to deeply examine their early selves, their previous jobs, and a variety of other important information.  From this array of data, I uncover core life themes, roadblocks, unique skills and talents, and lost passions.  I put this all together to identify more fulfilling and exciting professional directions.

Startups With More 'Go-To People' Lead the Pack

Startups With More 'Go-To People' Lead the Pack: Go-to people get things done. As an entrepreneur, you need these people, and you need to be one, if you expect your startup to be successful. That may be easier said than done, since resumes do not tell the story, and without real nurturing, they won’t stay around long.

Learning From Brilliant Mistakes

Learning From Brilliant Mistakes: Paul Schoemaker is a rigorous thinker who is not afraid to buck conventional wisdom. His book, Brilliant Mistakes, is living proof that he has no fear when it comes to confronting one of the most basic tenets of big business -- failure is a career killer.

6 Ways to Actually Keep Your New Year's Resolution

6 Ways to Actually Keep Your New Year's Resolution: It’s almost the New Year—the time to reflect on your aspirations and set meaningful goals to improve your health and happiness. Which sounds great, right? But how many of us actually keep our New Year’s resolutions past January?

How CEOs Can Build A Better Work Team In 2012

How CEOs Can Build A Better Work Team In 2012

Employers Can Be Great Resource for Workers with Ailing Parents

Employers Can Be Great Resource for Workers with Ailing Parents: As a parent ages, many adult children are left to pick up the pieces. The parent’s financial and medical needs increase and issues start to take over the adult child’s work time. Employers who can help their workers connect with elder care resources and allow for flexible schedules can retain hard workers and help them through a tough chapter in life.

How (and Why) to Ask for More

How (and Why) to Ask for More: Recently, Susannah Breslin over at Pink Slipped asked the question why women "low-ball" other women.

5 Ways To Free Yourself From A Leadership Rut

5 Ways To Free Yourself From A Leadership Rut: Leaders who are bored, in a rut, or otherwise find themselves anesthetized by the routine have a huge problem - they are not leading. Leadership is a game for the mentally agile, not the brain dead. Sound harsh? It's meant to. While most of the world has succumbed to

Mentors: A Young Entrepreneur's Secret Weapon

Mentors: A Young Entrepreneur's Secret Weapon: Finding a mentor when you're just starting up, can make all the difference. Here are eight tips for finding one.

Want Innovation? Go to a Tradeshow

Want Innovation? Go to a Tradeshow: Next week, as it does early each year, the world epicenter of innovation becomes Las Vegas in the form of International CES, the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow. More than 2,700 companies display their best ideas to more than 140,000 visitors – reporters, buyers, investors and potential business partners – in several cavernous exhibit halls and hotels. No matter the reason, everyone who attends International CES has chosen to invest precious time and money. Their return is more than entertainment; it is business – and an awesome and inspiring display of the future.

4 Tips to Build Your Business for Long Term Success

4 Tips to Build Your Business for Long Term Success: While there are many industries resilient to the ebb and flow of the economy, the majority of small businesses can be defined in some way as cyclical -- or reliant on the general economy. When the economy takes a dive, many small businesses tend go with it.

2012 Success - It's As Easy As 1-2-3

2012 Success - It's As Easy As 1-2-3: A new year brings new challenges.

Quit Yelling and Start Communicating

Quit Yelling and Start Communicating: Have you ever observed an interaction between two people who speak different languages? Oftentimes, they speak louder and louder as the conversation progresses — unconsciously hoping that turning up the volume will cause the other person to eventually get the message.

10 Financial Innovations That Make Your Life Easier in 2012

10 Financial Innovations That Make Your Life Easier in 2012: Put the checkbook down and step away from that Excel sheet.

9 Tips from the trenches: Wisdom from Job Seekers and Job Keepers

9 Tips from the trenches: Wisdom from Job Seekers and Job Keepers: If you’re looking for a job, how do you distinguish yourself from the rest? If you’ve got a job, how do you keep it and get ahead?

The 5 Love Languages: Office Edition

The 5 Love Languages: Office Edition: Like it or not, your job is kind of like a romantic relationship. Your co-workers and clients see you at your best (your presentation to the SVP) and your worst (pulling your hair out at the end of a 70-hour week). You’ve made a commitment to spend every day with them (at least for a couple of years). And, just like marriages, business relationships take work to make them last over time.