The year is 2020. Full of political debate, a global pandemic, economic crisis, record breaking unemployment and amongst the folks still employed, Gallup reported a historic 20-year drop in employee engagement metrics. 54% of employees reported through Gallup’s employee surveys that they are not engaged. These employees are not actively disengaged, but instead they are […]
Early in my career at Best Buy I worked for a leader named AJ. Everyone loved AJ. He made you feel like you were the most important person in the world, he always knew what was going on in your life, and he actually seemed to care about your personal future and career. I had […]
Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. Matthew 22:37-40 (Emphasis mine) Last […]
What are the key performance indicators (KPIs) for your business? Most executives focus on revenue, revenue growth, margin, net profit, cash flow, employee turnover/employee satisfaction, and net promoter score. But I wonder if these metrics are short sighted? Focusing on them may help with your next quarterly earnings call, but they aren’t eternal metrics. What […]
Shark Tank Investor Robert Herjavec has been answering your questions on Twitter daily and I have collected my favorites to form an entrepreneurship compilation. 1) Will business move more permanently to remote workers or do you think it goes back to normal? “It will never go back to “ normal “ – this disruption […]
All of my troubles were solved and I could finally be my own boss. With one year of savings I ended my career of two decades and moved across the country to start my own business. In this judgement I was completely wrong. My troubles had just begun. Shortly after my friend and mentor Tom […]
For a few years I worked for Tom. He was nearing retirement, but previously held some of the top executive jobs at different retailers. The period I worked for him was at the end of his career when he was leading a single store location. I respected Tom from day one. His experience spoke for […]
When I lead a team at Best Buy I spent a disproportionate amount of time with top performers and hardly any with under performers. I played favorites and I am proud of it. This is unusual because I have observed that most mangers spend their time with the weak team members because they oftentimes are […]
Question from a reader: “As a manager what would you say the most valuable learning resources are (besides experience)?” 1. Be self aware 2. Observe other leaders (The good and the bad!) 3. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes 4. Role-playing 5. Read Books 1. Be self aware Take time to Pause and reflect: There […]
If you manage others you have probably ran into a similar situation to the story I am going to share. You may have handled it differently a with more skill than I, but my hope is that my error will improve the way you handle yourself in situations such as this in the future. A […]