Have you ever thought; “being in business would be so much more fun if I didn’t have to deal with people issues.” Suzanne has. She was referring to a long-term, valuable employee who took frequent smoke breaks, gossiped with other employees, and took two to four days off every month with little or no notice. Time off is covered by the company’s
Does integrity matter?
A Roundtable member, Sarah, is growing her successful real estate business. She recently hired a new member for her team. John was intelligent, energetic, and hungry to be successful, all traits she was seeking. But to Sarah’s dismay, she just learned that John signed up with someone else, and to make matters worse, went behind her back attempting to recruit
What bugs you?
A Roundtable member recently shared the “What Bugs You?” campaign she started in her company. The focus was to encourage employees to be honest regarding what bugged them about their workspace: were there changes that would enable them to work more efficiently? She was amazed at how engaged her employees were in the process. They peppered her with ideas on
My seven expectations of you
Who comes to mind when you think of famous business leaders? Warren Buffett? Indra Nooyi? Bill Gates? Sheryl Sandberg? Each leads a great organization and has changed lives. My vote goes to an individual closer to home. He helped shape the culture at East Central Energy, and his legacy of leadership continues. Steve Shurts was the CEO of East Central Energy for 10 years. When
Business Lessons in Junior High
In seventh grade, I learned one of my most important business lessons: the benefits of clearly communicating a message to an audience. Picture a geography class full of 13-year-olds. Our assignment was to create a diorama about building the pyramids. We were divided into teams, given a shoe box and our assignment. My team was diligently painting and gluing, all
Hello! Hello! Hello! – The echo effect
Have you ever had the opportunity to shout and listen to your voice bounce back at you? Pretty cool! Masters of communication often make good use of this echo effect. They’ve learned that listening and repeating back the words they hear makes people feel more comfortable. This mirroring and clarification of language brings a better understanding of the other person’s concerns
Your first job
Do you remember your first “real” job? The first job where you had to be at work for certain hours, performing certain duties AND you received a real paycheck! Over the years, I’ve employed a number of interns, high school students who want to learn about some of the aspects of office/administrative work. Our latest intern, Emma, with her enthusiasm
So Many Good Ideas-How Do You Choose the Right One?
Sean and Dave are brothers and business partners. They’ve built their company by working hard, paying attention to the numbers, and listening to customers. Their business had been stable and successful for years. But changes in technology along with increasing competition have begun to threaten the status quo.
Having A Grease Gun That Doesn’t Work Is Worse Than…
My husband and I were chatting over dinner about what he’d accomplished that day. He commented, “Having a grease gun that doesn’t work is worse than having no grease gun at all.”