We think of scaffolds as a construction tool, but scaffolding is equally important in business. This post defines business scaffolding and promotes its use as a critical business tool. When I was in Hong Kong several years ago I marvelled at the common use of bamboo for scaffolding – even for ten-story buildings. This went [...]
In my last post, I discussed the value of planning. In this post I’ll describe how to create a simple business plan for your firm. Step one: To quote Stephen Covey, it begins with the end in mind by considering what you want your firm to look like in ten years. Will it be the [...]
“Planning” is not a dirty word. In fact it’s liberating, hopeful, positive and action-oriented. If your firm doesn’t have a carefully considered, documented plan for 2016, you need to read this post. My purpose is to help professional services firms do better. So you’d think that occasionally, my job would entail improving their existing business [...]
It’s easy to throw money into marketing and hope for good results. But strong marketing isn’t about spending money; its purpose is to ensure that a firm accomplishes its business objectives by doing the right things. Determining what marketing actions to take is both an art and a science, and keeps me very busy with my [...]
One wouldn’t think that accomplished professionals lack willpower or discipline. But shockingly, many do. My next few blogs will focus on these obstacles, and how to overcome them. In my executive coaching practice I work with extremely intelligent individuals who have a difficult time with self-discipline. In the book, “Willpower”, by Roy Baumeister and John [...]
I’ve been blog- silent for a month, but not idle. Frankly, work has kept me pretty busy, which is a very good thing when you’re a consultant. But that’s hasn’t meant I could be lazy about business development, so I’ve been equally busy making pitches to various potential clients. Pitching is a part of the [...]
Professionals must be in the top 10% of the intelligence level in this country; so why are so many under-satisfied with their career? The answer is easy: getting to it is the hard part. In my coaching practice, I work with type “A” personalities. There’s almost nothing my clients can’t do. They are smart, hard [...]
In professional services today, the bar for client and target interaction is so incredibly low it’s hard not to trip over it. On the bright side, this provides huge opportunity for those who get it right. As a business person, strategist, marketer, coach and consultant, I am shocked at how low the client service bar [...]
One of the secrets to helping clients achieve successful outcomes through the business planning or coaching process is to support them in understanding their motivators. These motivators aren’t always what you think they might be. For example, it isn’t always money, prestige or amassing things that holds the key to our passion to achieve. Sometimes, [...]
Here’s a secret about coaching: it is both an art and a science and the science side of it is based in large part on NLP or Neuro-Linguistic Programming. As you are probably aware, coaching is about growth and development, and that generally means change. If it feels challenging to break an ingrained habit, that’s [...]