8 Ways to Avoid Litigation When You Sell a Business

Based on recent litigation storm clouds, business owners planning exit strategies better batten down their legal hatches. As a small business owner, your company most likely represents a significant portion of your net worth. That’s why it’s crucial not to let litigation wash it away when the time comes to convert your years of hard work into cash.

The REAL International Gold Standard: The Leadership Talk

Summary: The global economy has been a fact of life for decades now. But the author asserts that most leaders don't understand the right kind of leadership to propel those organizations to great global success. Here is a blue print on how to make your leadership truly effective on an international basis.

Pounding Nails Or Building A Home?

As a leader, are you providing your team with a big picture as to how they contribute to the overall success of the organization?

American Auto Makers Have to Change - So Do We!

The past few weeks have presented nothing but bad news for the formerly world leading American automobile industry. Henry Ford must be rolling over in his tomb. Alfred Sloan, the architect of the multi-division General Motors juggernaut, is a very sad “car guy” in the sky these days. Plant closings, huge employee layoffs, lost market share and horrid fiscal performance indicate that the “big three” (including Daimler-Chrysler) are in big trouble. They must change, and change is not pleasant for huge business complexes, or for employees, suppliers or customers. We live in a global market place. Nothing will change that. If foreign auto companies make better products at a better price we have to confront, and overcome, these market realities. Americans always have in the past, and there is no reason not to foresee a bright, but different future, for every current participant involved in the radical restructuring of our formerly great auto business.

Printing and Promotional Products - How Life Has Changed In Canada and The United States!

Printing and Promotional Products used to be divided into specialties. Boy has life changed not only do you need to be multi-facited but you better be multi-dimensional.

Want to Make Tremendous Gains at Your Healthcare Site? Use Process Mapping!

A short discussion of the process mapping tool used by many manufacturers and service providers to make dramatic improvements in quality, in improving the bottom line, and in finding time to get things done.

Balancing Top-Down and Bottom-Up Change Processes

Managers' behavior is the single most important variable in the success or failure of any organization's change or improvement effort. This starts with recognition that the organization is full of current or potential change champions.

About Gradual And Radical Changes

We all have been involved in changes. A simple move from one house to a new one count as a real experience. What did you most (dis)like about the move; the radical change on the day that you delivered the key and entered the new place, or the long gradual adaptation period afterwards? Each change comprises a time frame, which depends on the scope of the change. The larger the scope of the change, the more difficult to manage...

The Fastest Growing Company in the World Part 2 What is the S-WORD?

The Fastest Growing Company in the World Part 2 What is the S-WORD? In our last article we noted that companies like Microsoft had this S-WORD and some other companies were close or lost it over time. There is another company that has the S-WORD built on tradition. What company is it?

You're the Expert, You Fire Him!

Family businesses are always a challenge. Despite our best intentions, baser emotions often rear their ugly heads, distracting us from what's truly important. One of those emotions is entitlement. In this article, I'm sharing a story about one family and their struggle with entitlement in their business.

Five Steps to a Successful CRM Implementation

For the professional services person, some iterations of CRM may be confusing - many are slanted toward automating customer service operations. But never fear, there is a whole lot more to CRM than fielding service calls. In fact, a new breed of CRM is quickly becoming a powerful solution for professional services firms, especially those with management teams that want to leverage firm-wide intellectual property to grow their client base, improve productivity and maximize profitability.

Buy-In: What Is It? And Why Is It Important?

Buy-in is sought when an adjustment – often for logical, necessary, or profitable reasons - is required within the status quo. It can be a mission statement change, or a new software solution, a new team member, or a new initiative, for example. While the impetus for the change may differ, plans for implementation seem to be predicated on the basic belief that buy-in can be achieved, and a new set of actions agreed upon and carried out, once a logical, congruent case is made for the requested change.

Do You Need a War Room? Life in the Command Center

The War Room or Command Center has its origin in military and technology environments. But businesses, other governmental and non-profit organizations have all adapted the command center concept. This article outlines the key elements of an effective command center regardless of the type of organization or intended purpose.

Attention! Using Projects For Guiding Change - Small Versus Large Organizations

There are many similarities between large companies on one hand and small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) on the other hand. Many concepts that may have been developed for large organizations are applicable for small businesses. Large organization could benefit from (forgotten) methods that are used by small businesses. Especcially when dealing with change.

Turnarounds: From the Oval Office to the Corner Office

The headlines recently have focused on how the replacement of President George W. Bush’s chief of staff may serve to salvage the President’s second term. His new chief of staff has set an agenda, made announcements and started lopping off heads, so to speak, in a very public way. This is not too different from what has happened at corporations during turnarounds. Whether looking at financial institutions, industrial companies, airlines, consumer goods companies or telecommunications giants, the visible dynamics are they same.