10 dreams doomed to fail

10 by 10 on Tuesdays

Whether called a dream, a vision, a goal or whatever… here are 10 that have been held or are currently being held in the minds of clients, colleagues, vendors, family members or yours truly.

And unfortunately, they are doomed to fail.

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Quote of the Week for MLK Day

From our Quote of the Week for January 2:  Lead with intention.

From our Quote of the Week for January 9:  As a leader, you rarely have certainty but you should always have clarity.

Dr. Martin Luther King led with intention.  He led with clarity.  He had a clear vision – he had a dream.

I have a dream - blue background

I have a dream.  Listen to/watch Read more

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10 Ways to Punch This Economy in the Nose

10 by 10 on Tuesdays

It’s about time for somebody to punch this economy in the nose!

That’s our Leadership Quote of the Week which was spotted in the Southwest Air terminal in the Salt Lake City Airport.   Read more about it here:  Quote of the Week from Southwest Airlines.

Besides doing what Southwest Air intended – to buy a plane ticket, grab a bag and go – what can we do to punch this economy in the nose?

Here are 10 suggestions to help each of us with the help of our teams, pack a power punch or two – which by the way will be terrific for morale and productivity -  and for overall performance.

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Special Feature: Inspired by Eve Carson

September 24, 2010 · Filed Under 2 Little Time, Be a Better Manager, Get 2 Goal · 2 Comments 

Eve Carson was President of her high school in Athens, Georgia.  She was valedictorian of her class.

She went to UNC Chapel Hill as a Morehead Scholar, was Phi Beta Kappa and selected as a North Carolina Fellow.    She spent her summers studying and volunteering in Wyoming, Ecuador and Egypt.  She was President of the Student Body during her senior year.

She always had time for people.  Loved to have dance parties.   Looked for the good in everything and everyone.  Fun, fun loving and loved by so many.

With all of these (plus many more) activities, she still had a 3.9 GPA and was scheduled to graduate  in May 2008 with highest distinction in biology and political science.

Two months prior to graduation, she was gunned down in what police called a random act of violence. Read more

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Quote of the Week: Mess in the Middle

This week marks the middle of the calendar year.*    And so our featured quote is one I heard from Rosabeth Moss Canter about 25 years ago.     

This quote has been a valuable tool over the years whenever I’ve found myself in the middle of a project or situation  that started out just fine and then became a mess.   

Has that ever happened to you? 

When it happens to me, I get nervous.  Sometimes panic screeches in.   And then there’s that nasty self-doubt.    Read more

Need More Strength? What About Your Vendors?

February 19, 2009 · Filed Under Managing Tough Times · 1 Comment 

Note from Jan: This is part of a series on managing tough times. For full benefit, I encourage you to read the articles in sequence. For your convenience, here are the links to the first three:

#1 – 4 Musts for Managing Tough Times

#2 – Hunkering Down

#3 – Using All Your Strength.

Hope you enjoy!

Toiling away at your desk. Pouring over page after page of financial statements. Plugging “what if” numbers into spreadsheets. Maybe there is a mistake in the formulas? No such luck. Hopefully the staff will come through with some great ideas.

They probably will.

But while you are worriedly waiting, let me ask you this…..

Are you sure?

Are you sure you are using ALL of your strength?

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Using All Your Strength

January 30, 2009 · Filed Under Managing Tough Times · 6 Comments 

Note from Jan: This is the third in a series on managing tough times. For full benefit, I encourage you to read: 4 Musts for Managing Tough Times & Hunkering Down before reading this article.

So —are you using all of your strength?

The best success I’ve experienced with big budget problems (other kinds as well) came about by involving others.  Staff members always came up with far more ideas than I did on my own (one time we came up with a list of 100 ways to save money!). Plus they were much more committed Read more

Hunkering Down

January 23, 2009 · Filed Under Managing Tough Times · 7 Comments 

This is a follow up to “4 Musts for Managing Tough Times“.  Please read that article before hunkering down to read this one.

PLEASE.  Don’t just hunker down.  It’s important to take charge.  Stay out there.  Act boldly.  AND then just in case… hunker down.

And please don’t read this article until you have set an expense reduction goal. If you are one of many who wants to skip this step, please go back and do this first.  Otherwise you’ll just be burning (your time) while reading.

Got your goal?

Good.

It’s design time!

If your goal isn’t huge and if you haven’t already spent some time searching for them – it may be real easy to spot ways to cut back with little pain and just enough gain.

If not – then another line by line study of each expense category may do the trick if you ask yourself questions like:

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4 Musts for Managing Tough Times

January 15, 2009 · Filed Under Managing Tough Times · 3 Comments 

A group of business owners recently attended a workshop on doing business in a recession. The facilitator told them to cut costs, cut employee hours and raise prices.  When it was all over, many participants asked themselves and each other, “Okay but —- how?’.

As they talked about this, I could hear frustration in their voices. And could see fear on their faces. Or maybe I was projecting my own feelings – re-living some tough times of my own.

Yes - I’ve had lots of experience – not with a recession quite like this – but with major budget crunches. Very challenging ones. Lots of perseverance needed. And creative problem solving. And teamwork. Resulting in lessons learned that I’d like to share here - hoping to help anyone hoping for help.

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