Small Business Blog from Atlantic Canada

What differentiates successful businesses from the “also ran” businesses. There are some very important lessons that we can learn from the “world’s most creative corporate playground”: Innovate the Pixar way. Some of the guiding principles of organizations like Pixar: Pursue leadership excellence at all levels, embrace speed is life, foster an inclusive culture, simplify and go, evolve immediately, do the right thing, celebrate remarkable achievements, technology innovation is our lifeblood, don’t take success for granted, earn customer and user loyalty and respect everyday, sustainable long-term and profitability are key to our success, we aspire to change the world

Your cash flow position is a reflection of how well you are doing your job as a leader. It is a measure of the success (or lack thereof) of the execution of your strategic intentions. Hence it is critical that you often put on your financial hat in addition to whatever other hats you wear. Think of cash flow as the pulse of your business. Just as a doctor uses your pulse rate for diagnosis, so should you be evaluating your cash flow frequently to feel the pulse of your business.

The title for this post could very well have been, “How I improved my presentation skills in four easy steps.” I thought my presentation skills very above average. I certainly did not harbor the notion that I was a great presenter. But I thought I was at least above average. That illusion was, however, shattered after I viewed Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple Inc. in action. The desire to see Jobs in action was spurred when I read the book by Carmine Gallo, The presentation secrets of Steve Jobs.

Leading in the best of times has been a challenge. Leaders never have all the information they need to make the decision and waiting for the complete information results in inaction. In Leadership in the era of economic uncertainty, Ram Charan (no relation to me) succinctly puts it: “We will not know when we have turned the corner and we cannot envision the shape and scope of the world that will emerge. What we can be sure of is that this is a time of tumultuous change and with change comes both the danger and opportunity.”

Be it presentations, providing critical feedback, selling, motivating your team or interviewing, “Mastering Communication at Work: How to Lead, Manage, and Influence - Review” offers practical suggestions on how to maximize the return on your speaking time. The book offers insights into how to build trust, credibility and relationships with everyone within and outside the organization. It is written in a conversational style and the authors make effective use of case studies and examples to drive home their point.

The Mawhinney group of companies in Saint John, NB recently closed its operations. While I have not researched it, it probably is a safe assumption that there are number of businesses out there who have ceased to operate. While most leaders cite lack of financial resources, credit crunch, etc., I keep wondering if that is the root cause of their business failures. Is it truly the paucity of funds or is the leaders’ management that forced them to cease operations?

As a business owner or as a member of the management team, how would you encourage innovation in your organization?
If you are a part of a large organization, are you happy with the current processes in place? Do they encourage or hamper innovation?
What do you think?

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Characteristics of a good decision making process:

Understand if there is a problem in the first place. A problem occurs current results are misaligned with objectives; or if there is any deviation from the plan.
Define the problem. If you can’t define the problem, then you have very little understanding of the problem in the first place. [...]

You spend considerable time and resources to hire people. Why not do it right the first time? What are the top three points you look at when hiring?

Dave Prouhet at Business Advice Daily tagged me for My Business Life Lessons. This is going to be a ten part series. When I started this, I didn’t realize it will take this long for me to finish this meme. But developments in the off-line world caused a delay. I should be able to complete [...]