Part of small business strategy during uncertainty is having the right mindset. Most of my clients – especially those in the B2B tech space – have had COVID-...

I think the Initial COVID-19 Crisis will end the weekend of April 17, or the week of April 20 at the latest.  I don’t mean that the battle will be done – I m...

As I was writing my ebook on Strategy During Uncertainty, I started with the concept of Agility – the ability to flex as needed. And then I thought, the more...

Access my ebook on Strategy in Times of Survival at the bottom of this page Surviving Uncertainty is much simpler than Winning Uncertainty. Surviving involve...

In this previous post, I described the Business Growth Stack.  You’ll notice that Management appears twice. The dual-role that Management has – in the Growth...

There is a lot of conversation these days about Business Operating Systems, which have generated great productivity improvements for many companies. Unfortun...

Small businesses are often dealing with situations in which performance has not met expectations. It’s not really a failure, per se, but there has to be a c...

Picture this… A friend of yours runs a successful Stage 2 business – but is also frustrated that things aren’t going as well as he’d like. It’s your job to ...

My brother is a great guy…and a great investment banker whose boutique firm uses the Haviland & Co brand that our family’s china business made famous.  We ta...

I recently decided to learn how to cook.  This is a huge change for me – since I was raised on cans of Spaghetti-Os and ready-serve packets of creamed chip b...

I have 2 clients who are focused on “accountability” this year, and it’s proving a hard row to hoe for both of them.  Why? Well, first of all, accountability...

One of the first things that I look at when designing a strategic conversation is the horizon in which our decisions will have to produce results. Sometimes ...

Are you in growth mode, or survival mode? I have some clients who are growing, some who are hanging on – and some who are transitioning from one to the other...

One of the precepts of the EOS program is, “The answer is in the room.”  It’s a phrase that’s used to emphasize the importance of discussion in addressing im...

In my work as a fractional CMO, I am often helping small businesses navigate the transition from sales-driven revenue to marketing-driven revenue.  This is n...

What do I mean by prioritizing your priorities?  Why is it important?  Why is it hard? It’s fairly easy for any business to come up with a dozen ideas for im...

I got to spend a couple hours talking about hiring last week with Miche Rayment, who runs The Hire Effect and wrote a book by the same name.  Since we’ve bot...

I recently gave a webinar for the SPARK.grow program on high-potential employees – how companies can identify, foster, and be attractive to high-potential em...

Most people recognize that markets don’t stand still.  Customers, competitors, and technology are constantly changing. Although most people recognize that, m...

Its Valentine’s Day – a day when we celebrate the role that marketing and sales plays in our personal lives.  And in honor of Valentine’s Day, let’s take a l...