I spent some time in an interesting discussion on branding recently that came from an article about branding.  It was an article about a recent talk that Bert Jacobs CEO of Life Is Good gave at an Inc. 5000 conference.
Bert had an specific opinion about branding that centered around your customers' role in the branding process:
“You can’t build your brand. Your customers are the only ones who can.”
That's a pretty strong statement that isn't devoid of truth.
This week's podcast is about where true branding starts in an organization.  I discuss what's right about the above quote and what's wrong with it.  You will get some next steps to think about as you build your brand.  Enjoy.
 

Do you remember Spy Vs Spy from Mad Magazine?  I use to love that comic strip as a kid.  They even made a video game on Nintendo that I used to play frequently as well.  If you aren't familiar with Spy Vs Spy, it's about 2 spys who are constantly trying to outwit and outdo each other.  The comic strip is funny.  In management, too many leaders adopt this mentality with their employees.
A good leadership relationship make the proper distinction in their relationship with your team.  That distinction is all about whether or not your team works with you or for you.
In addition to talking about that paradigm in management, this week's podcast dives into this “for vs with” mentality and how it relates to the “Producer Paradigm” and the “Consumer Condition.”  Also, how does getting this paradigm right allow you to confront your team in a more healthy manner.
Listen to this week's podcast below or subscribe in Itunes.  As always, I welcome your thoughts on this as well.  Enjoy.
 

I posed the above question to a group of business owners recently and I was surprised at the depth of conversation that ensued as a result.  There were some real breakthroughs to be had around this question.
If you manage a group of people, what is your philosophy for how you will manage and lead them?  Are you going to be Lumberg from Office Space?  Jack Donaghy perhaps?  It's important to identify your style and structure your management system around who you are and what you do best.
Today's podcast is about why defining your philosophy is important and some simple tools to identify what you do best.
Enjoy!

When I speak in front of a group of business owners and ask them who their most important relationship in their team is, about half of them will say their employees.  When I ask them if their employees know they are most important, most of the business owners aren't sure.  Today's podcast is about fighting for your team and truly making them the most important relationship in your organization.
As small business owners, you have a lot of demands on your time.  You have are the CEO, manager, finance dept, marketer, etc.  This tends to make us take our team for granted and we cater to their needs last.
In today's podcast, I go through how you can change this mindset to make your team mire of a priority by doing three simple but effective things.
Click the link below to listen or click the iTunes link to the right to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.
 

Flawless execution?  I know those two words put together pique my interest.  In fact they pique my interest a lot.   What if you could create a team that was on the same page and executed projects on time, on budget, every time.
I met today's podcast guest, Stuart Friedman, at a business meeting that I attended a month or so ago and he had the type of content and approach that resonates with business owners.
When it come to falling short in your business, it's usually because you don't execute properly.  It's not that you don't want to execute.  You aren't sure how to execute properly.
This is where Stuart comes in.  Stuart was gracious enough to spend time with me and share the same 4 keys to executing flawlessly that he teaches the executives and business owners that he works with.
Get a pen and paper handy, click the play button below and enjoy this week's podcast.

I will say up front that I am not an Alabama Crimson Tide football fan.  However, I read an article in Sports Illustrated recently about Nick Saban and his approach.  Nick calls his approach “The Process”.  It's so relevant to business owners and their results that I had to share it in this week's podcast.
Since Nick Saban and his team's have won two recent National Championships, you would think their focus was on winning championships.  However, they don't focus on championships.  They focus on the process that gets them the results they want.
The process is all about discipline, hard work, improvement, coaching, etc.   I talk about how you can improve your process on this week's podcast and create the kind of results that you want in your business.
 

In life, we tend to get caught up in achievement.  In America, achievement is everything and our society is always looking to push the bar higher.  These aren't bad things, it's just that we get so caught up into moving forward that we don't take the time to celebrate what's going well.
Ironically, I talked with you yesterday about pessimism in your business.  Today's podcast is about taking the time to stop and smell the roses and celebrate the wins that come up on your business journey.
Are you celebrating the wins in your business?  If you did celebrate them more often, what would that do for your team?  Listen to this week's podcast on how you can better celebrate your wins and what that does for your team.
 

In the context of creating value in your business simply it comes down to control.  There are a lot of external factors that can affect the value of your business; government regulation, new products from competitors, unexpected tragedy, etc.  The good news is that you have a lot of control on the value of your business.
This week I had the pleasure of again speaking with a group of mainly dentists and chiropractors from Freedom FastTrack.  Professional business owners typically get less than 1:1 on their business when they sell it but it doesn't have to be that way.
It starts with the habits of your business.  From looking at your financials to creating the right culture in your business to simple ways to leverage the growth of your bottom line through managing your margins and utilizing a high performing team.
These value increasing tips not only add to your businesses appeal, it also allows the business owner to have the kind of lifestyle that they always wanted when they started a business.
Click below to listen to this week's podcast.  If you have any other value producing tips, I would love to hear those as well so sound off below.

You know what I never hear from business owners?  I never hear business owners say that they have too many resources.  Let's be clear, I never want to hear that either.  The  more resources that you can have in your business, in the form of relationships, ideas and money, the better.  Even though we know that resources aren't always as abundant as we would like, I am always surprised at how little effort we put tapping into the relationship capital that exists within our teams in business.
This week's podcast discusses some specific tools that allowed me to not only tap into the “gold” that I didn't know was there with my employees in the past but also allowed me to connect with my team at a deeper level.
Is there greatness hidden in your team?  Do you want to find out?
Click below to listen to the podcast.  

If there was a problem in your business, would you want to know about it?  What if you didn't immediately recognize there was a problem?  Then you have  blind spot.
Blind spots and working through them is a tricky.  If we knew something was a blind spot, would it still be a blind spot?  Roy Williams in one of his great memos, recently broke down a recipe for happiness that helps you overcome blind spots.
This week's podcast breaks down the 4 areas that go into the recipe for happiness.  Take a listen and let me know what your blind spot is.