Diversity In The Workplace

Diversity in most organizations is no longer a matter of counting statistics and attempting to do the right thing, it is now vital to business success. In order for companies to sell locally and globally they need to better understand their target audience mix and include a diverse perspective of their employees. Top executives will also need to better understand cultures in countries around the world. In the article “The New Diversity”, published this month in The Wall Street Journal,...

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Management Is About Human Beings

The brilliant thinker Peter Drucker who invented management as a field of study and research, died today at the age 95. As noted in the Wall Street Journal and in Drucker’s book, The Essential Drucker: Management is about human beings. Its task is to make people capable of joint performance, to make their strengths effective and their weaknesses irrelevant. Because management deals with the integration of people in a common venture, it is deeply embedded in culture. What managers do...

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Spoofing, RBL, Open Relay … And All That Jazz

A question was recently asked: “It seems that someone has been sending out spam and when people reply, the replies are coming to me even though my email address doesn’t appear in the “To” field of the emails. Do you have any idea what is going on and what I can do about it?” Here is the answer and some additional points of clarification: 1. It is quite common /easy for spammers to hijack your email address. It is usually...

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Marketing Statistics

I came across some staggering business statistics on the site of Jay Conrad Levinson, the author of the “Guerrilla Marketing” series of books: A staggering 85% of small businesses destined for failure bite the bullet or go bankrupt during their first five years. The remaining businesses that hang in there only break even: Only 4% of new businesses make a sizeable profit after 5 years. Some years, there are more business closures than business openings. Lack of marketing savvy is...

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The Seven Stages of Innovation

Peter Andrews with the IBM Advanced Business Institute talks about the following reference points for most organizations interested in innovation in his article Roles for innovation – The right people at the right time: 1. Idea/Insight. This is what gets documented in a brainstorming session. It is the first expression of new possibilities, either as a combination or a complete novelty. 2. Research. Here, the idea is actualized. The idea is checked for precedence, put into context, tested and explored...

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Consultant Traits

I came across a great article written by Lois Kelly, a radiant and successful colleague of mine, where she powerfully articulated the following 13 most important traits for a consultant: 1. Expertise that provides real business value 2. Ability to cut to the core of an issue or situation and diagnose causes of the problem 3. Creative thinking to develop pragmatic ways to solve the problem 4. Outstanding oral and written communications skills 5. Responsiveness 6. Perspective 7. Influence 8....

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Email Signature

Email signature is a powerful, easy, and economical way to market your company, products and services. Include a short marketing message with a “call-to-action” that invites your recipient to take an action such as: 1. Subscribe to your newsletter 2. Read your articles and blogs 3. Purchase your products and services 4. Announce a new offering / incentives 5. Visit your web site Also, why not include your demographic information such as address, phone number and extension. This way you...

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Value-Based Fees – 10 Reasons:

I believe that charging based on value and not hours is a win-win situation for all parties. Here are 10 reasons why value-based fees make sense, which were quoted by international consultant, speaker and author Alan Weiss: 1. There is a cap on your investment. You know exactly what is to be spent and there are no surprises. 2. There is never a “meter running.” You do not have to worry each time my help is requested that I might...

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Why have a blog?

Blogs (web logs) are a great way of delivering valuable content to your target audience. Very quickly, you too can start publishing with great ease on the web with virtually no technical knowledge. Here are my top seven reason why you or your organization should consider having a blog: 1. Ease of publishing 2. Central resource place 3. Newsletters archive 4. Increased exposure 5. Interaction with others 6. Market research 7. Web gravity For detailed explanations of the above points,...

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