Google has an interesting guiding principle. They believe that everything – every product, every process – is constantly in beta. This helps them avoid the all-too-common “paralysis by analysis” that often derails businesses of all sizes. It lets them get products into the hands of customers so those customers can begin enjoying the benefits of […]
Organizational Design
One reason marketers hate math…
A very popular local restaurant offers over 600 varieties of soda pop. My guess is they probably only sell about 20% of those (A partially scientific guess, based on the time-honored 80/20 rule!). This suggests that the return on investment (ROI) on such a broad inventory might not be that high and that a pruning […]
Changing your strategic plan? Not so fast!
It’s that time of year. The execs are sitting around the board room getting fidgity, wondering if they should overhaul their current strategic plan or scrap it altogether. Or maybe just tweak it a little, since they haven’t tweaked anything in a while. Truthfully, and practically, their energy could probably be better spent on other […]
How can you spot a REAL leader? (Hint: It’s NOT what you think!)
Last summer I attended the funeral of a very respected Christian leader. I had the honor of driving my 82 year old Uncle Russell who was a close friend of the deceased. At the funeral we ran into Dr. Phil Lewis and I had the privilege of introducing the two of them. I might point […]
The secret to getting more business?
Want more business? Here’s how you can get it: Do GOOD business! Yep, it’s just that simple. Just commit to consistently doing GOOD business in every aspect of your business. Granted, that’s a lot easier said than done. Simple yes, but easy, well, not so much… But worth it? You betcha. Let advertisers spend the […]
Where does inefficiency come from?
That an organization tends to get less efficient as it grows probably doesn’t come as a great, earth-shattering, revolutionary piece of news to you. But what may sometimes elude our understanding is exactly why it seems to be that as an organization gets larger, growth sometimes comes at the price of efficiency, which in turn […]
Better than a strategic plan?
In previous entries I’ve suggested that a much more ACTIONABLE alternative to long, drawn-out, boring strategic plans is to have a set of guiding principles that give members of the organization direction on how to make decisions. How to take ACTION, which is what strategic plans are supposed to accomplish in the first place. The […]
How Can You Give Yourself A Raise?
Simple Answer: Efficiency! By improving your operations, you get more efficient, which means you better utilize your existing investments and assets. Because there is no additional investment, and because you’re getting higher performance out of what you’ve already got, you automatically widen your profit margins. You can do this without raising prices. How do you […]

