Year End Blog

2011 has displayed a very trying year for companies and organizations. High unemployment, Wall Street's obsession with profits and an acrimonious congress has dominated the U.S. business landscape.

From following organizational anthropology and personal experiences, I beg executives, managers and associates (employees) to evaluate your attitude. Yes, I said attitude. Attitude effects all aspects of your life. I end the year, not with pontifications, but self introspective questions. These questions are valid for all organizational levels.

- Do you recognize a connection between people's performance and profits?

- Are your hiring practices inclusionary or exclusionary?

- Do you perform your responsibilities with focus and effort?

- Do you listen?

- Do you discriminate? Think hard about this question.

- Do you have the right people in the right position, doing the right thing?

- Do you accept, deny, encourage or fear change?

- Are you happy? Why or why not?

Lastly, forget 3 or 5 year strategies. What are your goals for the next 3 to 5 months? Repeat: your goals, not the where you work.

You are the difference!

When to Fire Your Client

To keep things balanced on my "When to Fire Your Agency" series, here is the other view of the business. I have had the pleasure of serving on both sides of this industry.

When to Fire Your Client?
Answer: When you lose money on the account.

Explanation if needed:
You should have in place systems to evaluate the profitability of every client.

Better, Faster, Cheaper

On a recent potential client's review, I noticed on their website they said "We subscribe to "Better, Faster, Cheaper." This is a very worn cliché.

I do not subscribe to this cliché. My experience as a services buyer has shown another tired cliché, "Of these three qualities, pick two,"  also needs revision.

The new thought, replacing these clichés, should be, "Improve, Improve, Improve."

1. Improve Customer Service
2. Improve your product
3. Improved profit is the result