The Corporate 360°® is a unique web-based instrument. It creates an in-depth analysis of the company's Operating Dynamic and presents it in terms of a Balance Sheet and an Income statement. This has never before been possible.  With this information, a company can tailor its innate competitiveness and constantly manage it. By special arrangement, readers of the CEO Refresher will receive a $1,000 discount on this powerful tool. >>Read More

What is a Milkshake Moment? It’s certainly not a full bowl of ice cream, half a glass of milk, and a long spoon. Instead, a Milkshake Moment is a brave individual action, be it big or small, that furthers the cause of growth in an organization. Milkshake Moments materialize when individuals understand the organization’s true purpose, honestly believe it is their job to fulfill it, and are given the tools and the freedom to make it happen.

You might have heard the inklings about the 'Slow Food Movement', pioneered by Carlo Patrini of Italy, whereby the cultivation of appreciation, mindfulness, and awareness is suggested as an antidote to the poison of our frenzied, 'fast food' (and fast everything) culture. The more I read and learned about the Slow Food Movement, the more I realized that it mirrored the principles that I have endeavored to explore and share through Ivy Sea.

Accountability is both the sweet spot and Achilles heel of most leaders. Leaders learn early the importance of holding employees accountable for results. Despite its downbeat reputation, accountability, effectively executed, remains the keystone for trust between leaders and employees, employees and customers.

The old adage, ‘‘Work smarter, not harder,’’ is actually very sound advice for executives. Though the concept resonates with everyone, we often forget to apply it in our daily lives. What is the best use of your time? Only you can answer that question, and it will be different for everyone, and will change with circumstances. Nevertheless, there are some guidelines you can follow to help you identify those activities that should be a priority in your current role.

Smart sales managers focus on developing their Millennial’s people savvy. They understand flexible work roles and create effective virtual teams. They leverage technology that will help Millennials become a valuable asset sooner rather than later.  And, most importantly they meet the challenges of working with, not against, the new Millennial sales team generation.

We have a saying in the fighter pilot world, "lose sight, lose fight." Lose sight for just a second of the ground or aerial target, and chances are you'll lose the fight (i.e. miss the target or get shot down). It takes intense concentration, discipline, and focus to keep sight. Your vision is only as good as how well you see the immediate target.

I challenge any manager to make sure they use their own service anonymously on a regular basis (secret shopper) to experience what they have created. My guess is you will be shocked at the many layers of problems you will encounter created by automated attendants that route people in circles, poorly trained customer reps, badly designed policies and procedures that have somehow gotten out of step with the current world.

Promiscuous prospecting does NOT work. It never has and it never will. Follow these guidelines to get out of the "More is Better" trap which is absolutely ineffective for selling to big companies in today's marketplace. Focus on learning. It's the only way you'll ever get yourself out of the numbers game.

Michael Shenker has written a most engaging and inspiring story of one CEOs journey to enlightenment. Here is Chapter 9 - The Mastermind . Enjoy!

The unprecedented pace of technology growth, adoption, and application particularly over the last five years, has led to a customer experience tipping point. The consumer is now in the driver’s seat with the power to “demand” more than ever before. Brands need to channel this consumer power and influence the direction that is favourable to the brand, yet allows consumers to create their own path. At T4G we view this as delivering on both brand image and brand action, and the user experience is the key.

The agenda that usually inspires the greatest trust, and therefore helps to produce the best results, is the seeking of greatest mutual benefit for all involved.  But in such situations, one must genuinely and sincerely want what’s best for all. Those who recognize the truth that all life is interdependent realize that they must truly seek to discover solutions that build trust, value, mutual benefit and satisfaction for everyone involved in order to best serve their own self-interests.

Our research shows that companies best chance of surviving, and even flourishing during tougher economic times, have more Loyal Customers than their competition. While this may seem intuitive, it is amazing how few have really actively focused on this effort. The best companies have invested the time and resources to build Trusted, Loyal Relationships with their customers. As the economy slows, customers gravitate to these companies because they know they will receive a consistent and repeatable experience.

How many times have you sat through a meeting and bit your tongue when a serious workplace issue was raised - only to engage in a much franker discussion about it with colleagues outside the room? Communication breakdown is a huge problem in the workplace. Call it the "moose on the table": Everyone knows this problem of lack of candour is there, but they don't want to deal with it, preferring to ignore it or pretend it doesn't exist.

Leadership has its own ABC; that is different from the normal ABC. It is not as simple as the letter seems to be, it has a complete depth a new world to explore. Every word for a letter has its own meaning and they define the quality that a leader must have. Each letter has a word of its own and each word has its own meaning with reference to the leadership context.

Organizations are faced with wasteful costs associated with the time spent looking for information, lost customers, slow response times and the worst of “cost” of all, losing knowledge workers who take history, information access and experience with them. A consistent archival location, consistent methodology and universal organizational access are required to be successful.

Project manager and meditation seem to be two opposite sides of the world. The link between these two becomes quite noticeable when work stress breaks something; either a manager a project or sometimes both. This article first discusses areas of work stress, its affect, and finally, steps to prevent it.