Great Product. Now, How to Sell It?

Great Product. Now, How to Sell It?: Getting a new product from the factory to store shelves can be a minefield for entrepreneurs

Six Design Mistakes to Avoid in Your Store

Six Design Mistakes to Avoid in Your Store: Careful planning can head off potential problems with your retail space before it's too late.

How Do You Fix Bad Habits?

How Do You Fix Bad Habits?: What we are fighting for, in the twenty-first century, is the continued relevance of judgment and discovery and figuring out, and the ability to continue to exercise them.
Brian Christian: The Most Human Human
In 1996 in Cincinnati, Drake Stimson sat huddled round a table with a small team of scientists and marketing executives at Procter & Gamble , writes Charles Duhigg in his new book, The Power of Habit, and realized that he had a problem. Stimson was a one-time rising star in P&G’s marketing department. Now he wondered whether he might be fired.

4 Questions Every Leader Should Ask

4 Questions Every Leader Should Ask: Samuel Palmisano, who recently retired from his position as IBM's CEO and is now chairman of the board, is - by all accounts - a good leader.  He leaves IBM in excellent shape, financially and organizationally, and has handed over the day-to-day reins as CEO to Ginni Rommetty, the first woman to lead IBM.  if you wander around the web, you'll see that he's generally held in high regard by those he's led.  I read an article in the NYT last month that focused on how he has run his business over the past decade. I was especially struck by the four questions Palmisano used as a framework, starting just a few months after he became CEO:

• “Why would someone spend their money with you — so what is unique about you?”

Hire Now, Save Later

Hire Now, Save Later: The cautious whispers about economic recovery keep coming, and if your business is starting to pick up, you may be thinking about adding to your staff. The timing could not be better. In March, President Obama signed the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act into law. This new law offers...

Five Steps to Turn Wasteful Meetings into Drivers of Success

Five Steps to Turn Wasteful Meetings into Drivers of Success: At their best, most meetings are a waste of time. Instead of inspiring and enabling, way too many of them actually drain participants’ willingness and ability to do real work. Yet QlikTech has found a way to turn its annual corporate summit into a positive, culture-building and culture-reinforcing event that everyone looks forward to.

Is Your Business Killing You?

Is Your Business Killing You?: A sudden feeling of nausea, shortness of breath and massive head pain had me leaping from my theater seat and rushing to the restroom. The producer, a good friend, had invited me to sit in on a rehearsal to provide feedback. The outing ended when I suffered a minor stroke--and started a journey that...

Five Signs an E-tailer Is Ready to Open a Storefront

Five Signs an E-tailer Is Ready to Open a Storefront: Some retailers find they need a bricks-and-mortar store, not just an online site, to thrive.

David vs. Goliath

David vs. Goliath: How do you take on the established giants? Here are three small businesses that found their niche.

The Big Career Shift: Your Financial Checklist

The Big Career Shift: Your Financial Checklist: If ditching a regular job for meaningful work is part of your ?retirement? plan, then it's time to start taking the financial steps necessary to make that a reality.

Do you know these powerful questions to ask job candidates?

Do you know these powerful questions to ask job candidates?: Here are some suggestions from business consultant John Featherstone.

5 Steps to Making the Right Decisions for You

5 Steps to Making the Right Decisions for You: In a world where you can get your entire network’s opinion on everything, right down to the photos you just uploaded to Facebook, it’s hard not to seek the opinions of others when you’re poised to make a big decision. Whether you’re contemplating what career path to pursue or just debating what to wear Friday night, it’s always nice to have the approval of your friends, family, and co-workers.

Are You Giving Your Web Customers What They Need?

Are You Giving Your Web Customers What They Need?: How do your customers use the web? It's a simple question, but a question many small-business owners forget to discuss when working on their website. Frequently, small businesses get focused on their own technology and not the tools of their customers. From iPads and smartphones to oversized...

Skincare Startup's Lesson for Online Brands: Looks Matter

Skincare Startup's Lesson for Online Brands: Looks Matter: The owner of a skincare line wises up to a basic tenet of packaging and watches online sales take off.

How To Choose Between More Than One Job Offer

How To Choose Between More Than One Job Offer: The prospect of choosing between multiple job offers may seem unlikely these days, given all the talk of joblessness and the real unemployment rate of 15.1% (counting people who have given up looking for work, and those working part-time who wish they had full-time jobs). But career coaches say they are seeing the job market pick up, at least for some workers. “Things are turning around,” says Kate Wendleton, founder and president of national job coaching organization The Five O’Clock Club. Given the slightly improved U.S. economy, some workers who have been unhappy in their jobs for a long time, are making moves. “That opens up a chair,” says Wendleton.

Should you use a customer relationship management system?

Should you use a customer relationship management system?: It depends on several factors specific to your business, some of which we've listed here.

9 Ways to Get Inspired from Your Desk

9 Ways to Get Inspired from Your Desk: Staying constantly motivated at work can be tough when you?re sitting in your office for eight (plus) hours a day. With all that intense and stationary work, it?s no wonder most of us leave the office feeling exhausted and depleted.

5 ways to healthier employees

5 ways to healthier employees: Getting your staff on the wellness track is good for them and good for your business. Here are 5 ideas that companies are already using.

New Thinking. New Staffing.

New Thinking. New Staffing.: We have a tagline! Opportunity Works, Inc. New thinking. New Staffing. I think that sums it up pretty well for a staffing services company with a focus on placing people with disabilities. We can’t find another for-profit company in the country doing what we’re doing. So, that tagline fits. Thanks to everyone who voted!

Mission, vision and clarifying your culture

Mission, vision and clarifying your culture: Someone should make it mandatory for businesses to review their mission initiatives every two to three years.

Turn Your Internship Into Your Job

Turn Your Internship Into Your Job: To begin with, think of it as a months-long job interview.

Make Office Gossip Work For You

Make Office Gossip Work For You: Used right, it's a valuable management tool.

Top Executive Recruiters Agree There Are Only Three True Job Interview Questions

Top Executive Recruiters Agree There Are Only Three True Job Interview Questions: Top executive recruiters agree the only three true job interview questions get at strengths, motivation, and fit.

7 Dumb Leadership Mistakes Smart Managers Avoid

7 Dumb Leadership Mistakes Smart Managers Avoid: Many professionals in business, from startups to multi-nationals, assume that team leader or executive is an appointed position, and the skills come with the title. In reality, leadership is best demonstrated while not in a position of authority, and is a skill that must be sharpened every day of your life.

5 Tests a VC Uses To Turn You Down in 3 Minutes

5 Tests a VC Uses To Turn You Down in 3 Minutes: Peter Bell was CEO of StorageNetworks -- it provided storage as a service -- and took it public in July 2000 -- yielding a peak first-day valuation of  over $9 billion when its shares jumped from $27 to $102.

How to Protect Your Business Ideas

How to Protect Your Business Ideas: Serial entrepreneur Jen Groover on making sure your business ideas aren't stolen as you seek out help and advice for your startup.

Seven Tips for Effective Body Language on Stage

Seven Tips for Effective Body Language on Stage: A few years ago, a group of rising-star executives gathered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to take part in a special competitive event. Each was to present a business plan to be evaluated by the entire group. The best ideas would then be recommended to a team of venture capitalists for final evaluation. Participants saw this as a great opportunity to see how their ideas compared to others in an elite peer group.

How To Empower Yourself on The New LinkedIn

How To Empower Yourself on The New LinkedIn: LinkedIn works well if you are in sales or recruiting but what about the rest of us? How can we maximise the benefit of being up there? With the purchase of Rapportive it looks as though LinkedIn will become more of a social network tool, taking it even further from its origins as a c.v. repository.

Six Tips to Turn Your Passion into Profit

Six Tips to Turn Your Passion into Profit: How Joe Reynolds and Ryan Kunkel parlayed their love of extreme adventure into a $30 million enterprise.

7 Dumb Leadership Mistakes Smart Managers Avoid

7 Dumb Leadership Mistakes Smart Managers Avoid: Many professionals in business, from startups to multi-nationals, assume that team leader or executive is an appointed position, and the skills come with the title. In reality, leadership is best demonstrated while not in a position of authority, and is a skill that must be sharpened every day of your life.

What Are You Willing to Do to Launch Your Business?

What Are You Willing to Do to Launch Your Business?: Sometimes, it's not a question of how brilliant your startup idea is, but what an entrepreneur is willing to do to get through the tough times.

Network Effectively to Reach Your Goals

Network Effectively to Reach Your Goals: Networking is typically the best way to learn about new opportunities, whether it is work related or otherwise. But random efforts produce random results. If you are not getting the results you had hoped for by attending events or ?hanging out? with friends, then perhaps your preparation for those meetings needs a little work.

How to Find the 'Star Performer' in Every Employee

How to Find the 'Star Performer' in Every Employee: Every startup and every big business wishes that all their employees were star performers, but wishing doesn?t make it happen. Some coaches and leaders seem to have the magic for bringing out the best in everyone. Research has shown that it isn?t magic, but a focus on engaging people in their work, so that their work triggers the same emotions as play does for you.

3 Reasons Entrepreneurs Need to Discuss "Work" and "Life," but Stop Talking About "Balance"

3 Reasons Entrepreneurs Need to Discuss "Work" and "Life," but Stop Talking About "Balance": Last Friday, I had the privilege of participating as a panelist at The White House Urban Economic Forum hosted by Barnard College. The event focused on inspiring, funding and providing technical support to women entrepreneurs.

The Worst Cover Letter In The World And How To Avoid Its Mistakes

The Worst Cover Letter In The World And How To Avoid Its Mistakes: His name is Mark. He's a junior at NYU and last month he submitted a truly terrible cover letter in his bid to land a summer position at J.P. Morgan. Never let it be claimed that investment bankers don't have a sense of humor, because apparently his note has been forwarded the length and breadth of Wall Street to a chorus of hearty guffaws. Even the likes of Gawker and Business Insider have seen fit to poke fun at his over-the-top hard sell.

How Signal Stands Out in the Crowded Text-Message Marketing Space

How Signal Stands Out in the Crowded Text-Message Marketing Space: Learn how two friends built their SMS-marketing startup into a web success story -- without a dime from outside investors.

Great Ideas: How to hire winners

Great Ideas: How to hire winners: Even those who bristle at the brutal candour of Kevin O’Leary must admit that he has a flair for a memorable phrase. In Cold Hard Truth: On Business, Money & Life, the Dragons’ Den star and chairman of O’Leary Funds shares one phrase he uses when lecturing students about how to make it in the business world.

The Six Rules of Personal Success

The Six Rules of Personal Success: Of all human abilities, one stands out, the ability to see the Big Picture, the things that are important in life, and not to be distracted by small, trivial, and irrelevant things; the intelligence to separate the message from the background noise.

How do you choose the right B2B marketing tactics for your company?

How do you choose the right B2B marketing tactics for your company?: Selling new products to new customers is rarely the easiest plan.

10 Career Steps To Take After A Layoff

10 Career Steps To Take After A Layoff: In just the last few weeks, three big companies announced three big layoffs. Pepsi is cutting 8,700 jobs. American Airlines is looking to cut 13,000 jobs. Kraft is cutting 1,600. While the overall unemployment figures are trending down, layoffs are still a very real possibility. Here are 10 steps to take if you’ve been laid off:

How do I turn my managers into leaders?

How do I turn my managers into leaders?: Here's a five-step approach to building leadership within your company.

Five Business Tools To Protect Your Online Assets While Travelling

Five Business Tools To Protect Your Online Assets While Travelling: When you're planning your next vacation or romantic getaway for Valentine's Day, the last thing on your mind should be protecting your business. Yet there are people working away right now trying to hack into your online business and steal your assets.

Seven great ways to repurpose your B2B marketing content

Seven great ways to repurpose your B2B marketing content: Don't copy and paste. Repackage content in new and exciting ways.

How to Deal With Really Tough Criticism: Five Steps

How to Deal With Really Tough Criticism: Five Steps: This article is by Christine M. Riordan, the dean and a professor of management at the Daniels College of Business.

Need Inspiration? Three 'Doing Good' Success Stories

Need Inspiration? Three 'Doing Good' Success Stories: We follow up with some of our do-gooders from past columns.

How to create compelling content for social media

How to create compelling content for social media: It's more than just tweaking (or copying) your competitor's winning formula.

How to Nail the Interview -- When You're the Interviewer

How to Nail the Interview -- When You're the Interviewer: Last year, I was tasked with hiring 11 of the best graduates from the class of 2011 for my company, Inflection. We called it ?11411.? We had 350 applicants?and ultimately made 18 offers and hired 17 outstanding graduates from Stanford, Harvard, Yale, and other top schools. And along the way, I interviewed over 100 applicants.

How To Build A Leadership Funnel At Your Company

How To Build A Leadership Funnel At Your Company: The ?Sales Funnel? is one of the most tried and true tools in business today. For every prospect you put into the top of the funnel, only a small percentage will drop out of the bottom of the funnel as a closed sale. Unless the funnel is constantly replenished at the top, it will experience moments when no sales drop out of the bottom. Every CEO, VP of Sales, and sales rep understands the importance of constant vigilance over the funnel ? or else deal with the consequences of dry spots as they go on.

3 Ways Women Can Brag About Their Companies

3 Ways Women Can Brag About Their Companies: Shout it from the rooftops! Tell the world your business is booming and you?re one helluva entrepreneur.

5 Ways to Determine If Your Communication Style is Hurting Your Career

5 Ways to Determine If Your Communication Style is Hurting Your Career: Our communication style and approach speak volumes about how we view ourselves and others.  It also reveals important clues about our sense of worth, power and ability to lead and manage effectively.  Everything we do is communication ? we can?t NOT communicate.

How to Make Better Business Decisions

How to Make Better Business Decisions: In 1999, Michael Schrage wrote Serious Play: How the World?s Best Companies Simulate to Innovate. More than a decade later, the trends he identified ? including the importance of using models, simulations, and prototypes to enhance business performance ? have only intensified. ?The economics of playing with representations of ideas has been transformed,? Schrage told me in a recent podcast interview. ?Today, you can do these things far faster and far better.? So how can you and your company take use ?serious play? to improve your strategy, performance, and decision making? Here are three techniques to consider:

Don't prioritize activity over effectiveness in B2B marketing

Don't prioritize activity over effectiveness in B2B marketing: People find comfort in activity. But in marketing, activity is not always the best tactic.

How Body Language Can Help--or Hurt--How You Lead

How Body Language Can Help--or Hurt--How You Lead: I coach people like you ? successful managers, team leaders, entrepreneurs, and senior executives who are looking for ways to become even more effective in their ability to relate with and influence others.

Suze Orman's Top Five Money Mistakes You Can't Afford To Make

Suze Orman's Top Five Money Mistakes You Can't Afford To Make: ?Here we have a financially responsible woman who made the mistake of being a friend to someone else instead of a friend to herself,? financial expert Suze Orman says about an audience member on the latest episode of America?s Money Class with Suze Orman on OWN.

How To Lead Change: 3 Simple Steps

How To Lead Change: 3 Simple Steps: First the bad news: If you’re not willing to embrace change you’re not ready to lead. Put simply, leadership is not a static endeavor. In fact, leadership demands fluidity, which requires the willingness to recognize the need for change, and finally, the ability to lead change. Now the good news: As much as some people want to create complexity around the topic of leading change, the reality is creating, managing and leading change is really quite simple.  To prove my point, I’ll not only explain the entire change life-cycle in three short paragraphs, but I’ll do it in simple terms that anyone can understand. As a bonus I’ll also give you 10 items to assess in evaluating whether the change you’re considering is value added, or just change for the sake of change…

3 Signs Your Financial Advisor Relationship Isn't Working Out

3 Signs Your Financial Advisor Relationship Isn't Working Out: Finding the right financial advisor is a bit like finding the right doctor. You won't truly know if it's the right one until you've met and worked together.

Five Steps to Generating Better Business Referrals

Five Steps to Generating Better Business Referrals: Your best source of new business is referrals from happy customers or clients. You cannot receive a better lead than one that been sent your way with a strong referral. You cannot have a more motivated prospect arrive in your store or restaurant than someone sent there by a raving fan.

How to Create a Profitable Business Idea

How to Create a Profitable Business Idea: To do so, you'll need to understand the value proposition you're creating. Consider these steps to put your startup idea to the test.

Avoid Useless Business Training Courses

Avoid Useless Business Training Courses: Options abound, from nonprofits that offer free classes to courses that cost thousands. Experienced business owners explain how to vet them

Three Ways to Avoid Short Sighted and Ineffective Financial Decisions

Three Ways to Avoid Short Sighted and Ineffective Financial Decisions: I notice that many people approach their financial decisions like a math problem as if the right calculation will always solve the problem. Maybe it is because we live in such a complex world today and technology, though supposed to help to make things easier, actually can make decision making more difficult.  Look at all the financial calculators and financial planning programs available free of charge on just about every financial website.  Are Americans any better prepared for retirement because of them? No.  Are they any better at meeting their financial goals with the 24-hour financial news cycle?  Probably not.

Five Steps to Generating Better Business Referrals

Five Steps to Generating Better Business Referrals: Your best source of new business is referrals from happy customers or clients. You cannot receive a better lead than one that been sent your way with a strong referral. You cannot have a more motivated prospect arrive in your store or restaurant than someone sent there by a raving fan.

8 Key Elements Make Your Business Transformative

8 Key Elements Make Your Business Transformative: Every entrepreneur has an idea for transforming a market with innovative new technology, or transforming society with a new process. But unfortunately, most of these ideas fail at the execution level, or are not truly innovative. Entrepreneurs who have been really transformative, like Steve Jobs and Walt Disney, seemed to know how to deal with all the right elements.

How to implement blogging at a B2B or technical company

How to implement blogging at a B2B or technical company: Blogging isn't easy. But at my company, we've developed a useful model for creating content.

5 ways to escape middle-management hell

5 ways to escape middle-management hell: Tired of responsibility without rewards? The best way to get out is to strike out on your own.