In turbulent times there are the basics that need to be looked after like revenue needs to be more than expenses, but then again that should always happen, but in doing the basics an asset protection policy is always good too, who would like to loose a good performing asset right? but I am seeing […]

In the tumultuous financial crisis and the uncertainty it causes, there is one thing for certain, Change is happening. Sure it’s not a change that organisations implemented, and for many it’s a change they did not have a contingency plan for but it’s happening and if your organisation needs to do something about it, then […]

When tough times strike my heart goes out to those businesses on the edge, and of course instead of talking about daily things that can trip up a marginal business, we are now talking about bigger fundamental global meltdown type trip ups.
So when the going gets tough how many of the businesses on the edge […]

I have just been to see WALL•E the animated film, it was fantastic, the graphics, the story, the whole concept was exceptional. So the environmental message? Yep there was one, and as such I figure on a local basis we can be doing things to prevent a “Wall - E - World” from happening… (hey […]

In the spring cleaning theme… is your leader leading the charge? did they “twig” to the change of season? did they come in the door with a renewed spring in their step? Well if the answer is no, maybe you should take the lead and remind them.
Get them focused - ask them to be flexible […]

Fast thinking and wisdom can work wonders, I saw this today and thought it’s well worth reproducing here, enjoy!
A wealthy old lady decides to go on a photo safari in Africa, taking her faithful aged poodle named Cuddles, along for the company.
One day the poodle starts chasing butterflies and before long, Cuddles discovers that he’s lost. […]

How about this, an organisation has the following core values as part of it’s vision.

Responsibility and Leadership
Achievement and Excellence
Citizenship and Community
Initiative and Commitment

Sounds great, things to aspire to… one problem they don’t do it, well not all of it, here are some points…

Staff are failing to take responsibility, citing they do not have the resources […]

Think in symbolic terms, if you were a warrior or a goddess, then the title of leader can become more, much more. If you imbue your role with this kind of title (perhaps even just internally) you can then develop a model to work with.
Lets go deeper. I have used the terms Goddess and Warrior, […]

In the “game of business” it would pay to know about the important things, what they are. To me my list is fairly short. To you they might be different altogether.

Product and or service - You better have something of value to offer or they won’t buy.
Leverage - Your time, you work hard, then […]

Many of you know I have a business seminars listing service on another site, I have a bunch of events put in there as a service to the wider business community so people can find events in a “one stop shop” approach for aussie businesses.
I list only publicly available events and have done for about […]

“Leadership, why do I need leadership skills?” This is a question I get asked often. So  in quick response to that I often come out with… “Oh you need this for lots of reasons…” and then stumble through some of them… sometimes I even forget some of the gems.
Leadership why you need it.
If you are […]

In business you deal with people and as such they are an important aspect to the business (in fact read that as VITAL to your business!) so vital that without them things don’t get purchased, sold, manufactured etc… So in the scheme of things you need them, and as such the big question is do […]

Getting started in business is one thing, gaining success is another. Many of us will have seen and heard of people who have failed in business even though they felt they had a great business idea and the finances to put behind it to get started… So what went so wrong that it failed?
Lets look […]

Lets say you have done things right and you have a good service or product to sell, and yet people are not buying… What next? Well consider these three interlinked points and see if you can do something with this.
Firstly people start off as suspects, they move to prospect next, then when they buy […]

Here’s a short video from Tom Peters, if ever you wondered what comes first passion or skills, here’s Tom’s answer…
Thanks to Tom and the team at Skill Soft.

Are you burning business bridges and denying yourself possible valuable opportunities down the road? Is it possible that those who matter to you least today, will have value to you tomorrow? It’s worth thinking about.

The weekend has been and gone, and here you are back at Monday, ready to face another week… Firstly are you excited about the prospect of another week? Or is it something you wish would end quickly? Whatever your state of being right now, take a moment to focus.
Grab a sheet of paper, […]

Leaders are an interesting lot, often found wandering, “dazed”, plodding, planning, scheming and making sure everything is in it’s right place for the team to do what the team does best. So in the plodding and wandering the astute leader searches and hunts down exceptional people to be part of the team. They also work […]

The reason people select the wrong person is because they don’t ask the right questions in the interview, they don’t probe to uncover real competencies and capabilities, they don’t explore the person’s true personality and attitude, and they get swayed by enjoyable ‘chats’ that should in fact be probing interviews.
We all like to work with […]

Recently over a very serious business lunch, the matter of grading came up in regards to karate, I suggested in one of those “A-ha” moments, that the same principle could be applied to staff training.
You see the person I was lunching with is a karate ‘nut’ and mentioned his new staff member was like a […]

Think about the leaders you’ve had in your life – that is, the people you’ve respected and listened to, and in many cases followed. School teachers, uni lecturers, people you’ve worked with, mentors, coaches, captains of sporting teams, friends, family.
Why did you see those people as leaders? Why did you accept them as your […]

Just because you select an ideal recruit for your business, doesn’t mean they will automatically want to work for you. Why not?
Many businesses overlook the fact that they have to sell their offer and make it an attractive option for prospective new employees.
If you operate in a competitive environment where good recruits are scarce, or […]

Firstly.. Why be a coach?
You would not expect your favourite sports team to be effective without a coach… nor would you expect the people you lead to be effective without a leader.
To get high-level productivity from the team your role as a leader takes in a great deal of coaching and mentoring skills. Therefore your […]

If you want to run a business that has a team with real power in what they do I have one piece of advice, in fact I will give you a really easy way to take that advice and put it into action… ready?
Coach them… too simple eh? but it works, you be the coach […]

This might seem like the sort of question that might be more suited to a personal development blog or professional development series of some kind, but I felt the issue was of burning intrigue for me so here it is.
It’s of interest to me because I see so many businesses, and as I spend time […]

Your business is all it can be due to a few factors and often it boils down to how people connect, customers to staff, staff to staff and any other stakeholders you may have in the equation.
You see it’s about your values and beliefs and theirs, if you are employing staff it is important for […]

Leadership is it… If you have ever wondered about what makes a solidly compelling and successful company, well check the list and see what you think…
A leader leads by example… If it’s a brilliant business the leader is brilliant and that excellence is passed down with ease. They follow excellently because they were led excellently, […]

carnival of australia

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Welcome to the February 27, 2008 edition of Carnival of Australia.
 Thanks to all the contributors, some great stuff there, enjoy your reading! 
Elias presents The day we said “sorry”! posted at Ramblings of an Australian teacher, saying, “I hope I can still squeeze in the current carnival.” - Yes and No Elias! I […]

In an historic address to the nation today Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said “Sorry” to the stolen generation. He said sorry for the pain, sorry for the ongoing indignation, sorry for previous governments not apologising, for taking indigenous children from their families many years ago.
In essence he is saying we are sorry for the […]

I know it’s a big word, but its an interesting one (anything that big has got to have some merit.)
The thing is it’s all about being (or becoming) dis-interested and for this forum dis-interested in business.
I know what it’s like being in small business, lots of challenges, lots of ways to run astray, simply because […]

On a recent holiday we caught up with a family friend, retired well and truly from business and now taking a well earned lifestyle break from as he put it “All that stuff”.
He got chatting about his fathers business, it turned out he had a couple of retail stores that were really big and his […]

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.
Training to win/win
You and your staff should be trained to make the whole show win, then the customers can win too. A great position to get to and stay in.  For some the idea […]

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.
Upholding great values
People love it when you are on a positive footing and in the values area it’s a great place to start (integrity – honesty, truthfulness etc.).
Start the business with a strong stance on […]

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.
Enjoyable to run
Who wants a business, which is a hassle to run? Who wants to work in a tough field? No one… Make it a joy to be part of for you and staff […]

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.
Creating easily saleable products and services
You want people to buy, not to um and err then walk away, so it should be easy for them to select what they want and then make the purchase […]

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.
Does your business fill a need and or want?
Hopefully it does both. If there is no need for what you have there will be no sales, therefore no business. This is a vital prerequisite for […]

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.
Creating a business that people love!
Customers and staff a like love the business and what it does, heck why have a business that people despise? Go for love, it’s much better. But that’s easy […]

In the race to maintain and or grow their business many business operators find another hurdle that pops up far to easily, and that’s staff turnover. Some call it churn, but whatever you call it it costs the business $$.
Some businesses try to keep their wages above the award rates in the hope it will […]

Many of you will have seen forums where the nasty boss is mentioned and various people have jumped in with numerous stories of how they have had to put up with a lousy boss. The stories are amusing enough, the problem is they are all too common.
In this day and age the idea that a […]

Here’s Jerry’s 3 rules of life, pretty simple… so lets add some business thinking points to it.
Print it, use it, tick things off as you do them, make notes, add to the list, include some of these points in your staff training and see what happens.
Thanks Jerry lets see what happens now…
Bust your ass…

Work hard, […]

In business it’s too easy to fall into the trap of just doing business, then it can become a grind, the details become a blur and the idea of lifestyle enhancement as a value you wanted to chase can become minimal, in fact you may as well have just kept a job.
So where is the […]

This is the eighth in a set of posts designed as a series to complement the initial post… Strengths in your business The aim being to provide a simple “How to” guide for people daunted by the prospect of “how to” as it can be too easy to read and say “Oh yeah that’s it, […]

I have been on about the Guy Kawasaki 10 - 20 - 30 planning device for a while now (since I found it in early 07) Well this week I had the good fortune to use it myself and have created a template to be used in Power Point.
Unfamiliar with 10 -20 - 30? It’s […]

This is the seventh in a set of posts designed as a series to complement the initial post… Strengths in your business The aim being to provide a simple “How to” guide for people daunted by the prospect of “how to” as it can be too easy to read and say “Oh yeah that’s it, […]

I’m on the phone with a salesman from one of my suppliers. He asks me, “So, do you sell to any medical practices?”
“Yeah I do”, I replied. “I have some dentists and a periodontist.”
“Great!” he exclaimed. “You’ll be interested in our new stethoscope covers!”
Really, I think to myself. Let’s see, when was the last time […]