Success in business requires exceptional drive in the face of obstacles. This often means those that rise to the top have certain characteristics in common, not least determination. All too often however, that determination becomes arrogance, so I want to extoll the virtues of humility in business.
Over one third of adults globally are classified as overweight or obese but this figure rises in more affluent countries, reaching 58 per cent in Europe and 70 per cent in the US!
The ability to communicate through speech is one of the defining human characteristics and has helped to drive our development through millennia. In business clear communication is of course vitally important but for a myriad of reasons we seem to have lost (and are still losing) the required skills.
The above question is both as stunning in its simplicity as it is difficult to answer. It is the central concept of the compelling business analysis book "Good to Great" by Jim Collins first published in 2001.
Eight hours a day (if you’re lucky); five days a week (if you’re lucky); with eight bank holidays and four weeks’ annual leave makes 233 working days a year. Assuming a 40-year career that’s around 9,000 days or 30 per cent of your lifetime – more or less.
I am guessing that the answer to that question depends much on your age and level of experience. There are many valid definitions of professional behaviour but one thing is for sure – you know it when you see it!
There’s a saying in business that sales managers typically create budgets using the "this year’s numbers plus 15 per cent" approach. I can say that from personal experience that is sometimes not too far from the truth and applies in companies of all shapes and sizes.
If you have ever attended one of those team building courses chances are that you will have had to participate in the activity where you are asked to close your eyes and fall backwards safe in the knowledge that a colleague will catch you. This is of course designed to illustrate (very effectively) the importance and value of trust.
Partnerships come in all shapes and sizes from mega-alliances to normal distribution networks that most companies use to get products out to market. Whilst all businesses have them, I think that all too often management do not fully appreciate the dynamics involved and in the end how delicate the relationship may be.
"A stitch in time saves nine"’ or so the saying goes and this is true more often than not. It refers to the probability that inaction or insufficient action early on in a situation may result in greater damage and consequently the challenge becoming greater.
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