Mad as #$%^ and not going to take it anymore!

Just back from a trip with a new dose of customer service frustration. I am reminded of the book by Ted Cohn, Why are you making it so hard for me to give you my money? His point isn’t that companies don’t want your money—they just don’t want to serve you to get it. No more …

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Branding done right adds big value

Perhaps, nothing! Perhaps, millions of dollars. The answer depends on how you manage your brand. According to BrandZ, brand value contributes almost 1/3 of the value for Fortune 500 companies, or close to $2 trillion. A brand is defined as “that which gives meaning, recognition and value to your entity.” A brand is often confused …

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Employees or Ambassadors?

In today’s competitive marketplace, companies are only as good as their people. The best companies get that and have unique hiring processes to hire people who are aligned culturally with their company’s brand promise. But, so many companies don’t. How many times do you encounter those in the service profession (such as retail associates, telephone …

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To improve performance, focus on strengths

Most leaders get it wrong. If an employee is doing 70% of their job description really well and 30% marginally or worse, what do you do? If you said, “focus on their strengths,” you were right! Most of us have a tendency to want to “fix” what isn’t right. Here is the downside of focusing on what isn’t working:

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Want to raise the performance bar higher? Hire an “Athlete”.

The first time I heard the phrase “hire an athlete” was early in my career. I was working for Hallmark Cards, Inc. and my boss used the phrase. Coming from a family with a long line of athletes, I naively asked what he meant. Was he being literal? Not at all.

Hiring an athlete simply means hiring a proven performer regardless of their specific industry expertise. It means hiring someone who knows how to win. Time and time again some of the most successful companies prove that formula still works.

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Defying the Forces of Business Gravity

We all get caught up in the gravity of day to day business–the forces that keep us where we are today. We repeat our processes, our systems “lock us in” to doing business a certain way, our training is teaching the same skills and knowledge as last year, and then we wonder why growth is so elusive. We think a good day is no hiccups.

But are we doing a dis-service to our companies if we aren’t our own devils advocate, pursuing a balance between present and future and figuring out how to do something better or differently than everyone else.

What holds us back?

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CEO Interview – John Cerasoulo

JOHN CERASUOLO ADS Security Interview with John Cerasuolo, President of ADS SecurityJohn tell us a little bit about your work background before you came to ADS?I started my career with nine years in the Navy as a nuclear engineer. I enjoyed my time in the military, but left when I started my family, as I …

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Are you settling?

When you stop and think about it, how many of us are settling? Doing something that is acceptable or tolerable because our dream didn’t work out?

But wait, how many of us actually tried to attain our dream? Further, do you know what your dream is?

My experience is there are far too many people who settle because they don’t know they don’t have to. Or because they don’t know how to do anything else.

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Change is not a Choice

This is not a news flash. We have always known that change is not a luxury of choice. Yet, we have never been in the position we are now––facing so much change all at once and at such a rapid pace. We are surrounded by it… technology, health care treatment (not insurance, an entirely different issue), generational transition, buying habits, and on and on.

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6 Ways Leaders Add Value

Leaders have an opportunity and an obligation to add value to their teams and organizations. Size of the organization is irrelevant––a leader is there to “raise the tide so all boats float higher”. When that happens, employees are challenged, feel valued, and are more productive, more innovative and more likely to help the company achieve …

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