Business Essentials

UGRs or Unwritten Ground Rules, drive people’s attitudes and performance in the workplace - but they’re seldom talked about openly and you may have no idea what’s going on without your knowledge or understanding. Steve Simpson can help. He created the UGR concept and has been telling businesses for years that, good or bad, they’re fundamental to company culture and to success.

Business Essentials Daily is produced by:

SoundCartel
soundcartel.com.au
+61 3 9882 8333

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our preoccupation with making ends meet, paying the bills, the wages, sorting out stock levels and generally keeping the lights on may lead us to overlook the fundamental reasons why people do business with us. It’s our ASSETS, says Author, Trainer, and all-round storyteller Colin Pearce, and he means it in a very personal way.  

Business Essentials Daily is produced by:

SoundCartel
soundcartel.com.au
+61 3 9882 8333

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Don’t have the time or inclination to help develop the people around you into leaders? Think again. As a business owner or manager, you've got an important role to play in helping those around you become leaders too. Your business will benefit! But there will be recalcitrant players among them. Anneli Blundell, co-author of 'Developing Direct Reports: Taking the guesswork out of leading leaders', identifies the 12 derailers to good leadership and how you can help get those tricky would-be leaders back on track.

Business Essentials Daily is produced by:

SoundCartel
soundcartel.com.au
+61 3 9882 8333

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The convenience of listening or reading almost anything from your hand-held device is convenient, simple and it’s big business. Steve Potash is CEO of OverDrive, the largest distributor of ebooks and audiobooks to libraries in the United States. OverDrive began in the mid-1980s by digitising reference books and documents for law firms. Today, as he expands overseas, including Australia, he discusses the success of OverDrive and the business opportunities in new media. 

Business Essentials Daily is produced by:

SoundCartel
soundcartel.com.au
+61 3 9882 8333

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some people come to work full of beans ready to take on the world, while others can’t get going without beans – coffee, that is. Productivity expert Les Watson encourages bosses to take their employees’ chronotypes into consideration when it comes to their peak performance. Early birds work best in the morning, he says, while night owls are better later in the day. Les is a big believer in setting alarms, including one to remind him to go to bed.

Business Essentials Daily is produced by:

SoundCartel
soundcartel.com.au
+61 3 9882 8333

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There’s nothing good about bad bosses. Often, they are the reason a workplace is toxic, they can lead team members to suffer stress and mental health problems, and they’re the cause of staff turnover. However, bad bosses are not necessarily bad people – and they can learn to be good or even great. That’s according to workplace expert, Michelle Gibbings, who shares lessons from her book, ‘Bad Boss: what to do if you are one, manage one or work for one’.

Business Essentials Daily is produced by:

SoundCartel
soundcartel.com.au
+61 3 9882 8333

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The CEO of Hatch Brands, Todd Foot, is carving an impressive niche into the e-commerce landscape. With his focus on acquiring and investing in ‘Mum-and-Dad’ small businesses, particularly those in the homewares space, Todd discusses his strategies to help these businesses thrive in the digital age. He emphasizes the importance of e-commerce and highlights common pitfalls and missed opportunities in social media marketing.

Business Essentials Daily is produced by:

SoundCartel
soundcartel.com.au
+61 3 9882 8333

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What if business owners and managers treated their staff like… humans? Well as far as Mark LeBusque is concerned, not enough workplaces run with humans in mind, expecting a more robotic type response. Mark is a Harvard-trained consultant, author and Founder & Director of The Human Manager. And he has 7 steps to become human managers, with the goal of enabling staff to shine and businesses to grow.

Business Essentials Daily is produced by:

SoundCartel
soundcartel.com.au
+61 3 9882 8333

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What do Kim Kardashian, Miley Cyrus, Serena Williams and Victoria Beckham have in common? Aside from being mega-rich celebrities, they are all fans of entrepreneur Olivia Carr’s brand Shhh Silk. Olivia didn’t have a huge marketing budget when she launched her online marketplace of silk pillow cases; instead, she harnessed the power of public relations. For instance, she flew to Los Angeles to personally gift the Kardashians a box of embroidered pillowcases. And it worked – the Kardashians used them and word spread around the world! Olivia shares the secrets of success from her book, ‘Self-Made: Build a BIG LIFE form a SMALL BUSINESS’.

Business Essentials Daily is produced by:

SoundCartel
soundcartel.com.au
+61 3 9882 8333

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The majority of organisations are too myopic in their sales strategy, pushing monthly or quarterly goals. Sales teams need to understand and embrace the company’s long-term strategy for effective sales. That’s according to Roy Osing, former president of Canadian telco TELUS, who introduced a ‘customer report card’ to refocus sales teams on nurturing the customer rather than foisting pushy sales techniques. Sales people are guided by incentives, he says, so if you shift the incentive to the customer relationship and not the product, your business and your people will thrive.

Business Essentials Daily is produced by:

SoundCartel
soundcartel.com.au
+61 3 9882 8333

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.