Resources to run a better business.

My son is getting ready to go off to college next year. So I recognize that any time I get to spend with him right now is a gift. About 3-4 times a year, we spend time together playing golf. I’m not a great golfer. Neither is Max. We have that in common. Another thing we have in common? Our attitudes determine a lot about our performance.

Join Eric Crews for a free webinar on how to manage conversations surrounding behavior issues, complex dynamics with stakeholders, terminations, and more. You'll learn how to approach sensitive conversations like these with confidence and tact, ultimately enhancing your impact as a leader.‍

I heard this great story from a client the other day. Well, it wasn’t great for him. He was dealing with a significant problem in his business. The story is about seafood, shrink, and scorecards. Here’s what happened.

Once, several years ago, I attended a seminar on business development. This particular seminar was mandated by an organization I was involved in, and it was quite expensive. But I have a philosophy about ongoing education. I try to get just one nugget from everything I see, hear, or attend. And in this case, the nugget has guided my business development ever since.

Making excuses is a response for a perfectly natural, normal, caring individual. You want to protect your team. You want to stay positive. You don’t want to call someone out or make them feel bad. That’s really nice. I mean it. But niceness can be a problem. When you make an excuse for your team, you’re letting them off the hook.

Many of the entrepreneurs I know have a strong sense of urgency. It makes sense. It’s how they will entire businesses into existence. But as the business gets more complex, that sense of urgency can become a liability.

One of the greatest gifts you can give your team is the gift of understanding. Specifically, understanding why your company is doing what it’s doing. It’s annual planning season. That means leadership teams everywhere are putting in tremendous effort to shape the vision of their company for the next 12 months. But your leadership team cannot execute on that vision alone. If the vision is appropriately ambitious, you’ll need every employee to contribute in some way.

Join us for this one-hour webinar where we’ll reveal why a strong HR strategy is essential to maximizing your company’s value—and how to fix common HR mistakes that often scare buyers away.

Q: When should annual planning begin? A: Now if not sooner. Here’s the misconception about annual planning (and most strategic planning, actually). It doesn’t start on the date of your annual planning meeting. That session is extremely important, but it’s a time to align the team and prioritize together. If you walk into an annual planning meeting without a very good sense of what your goals will be for the next year…you haven’t done your homework.