Achieving Business Excellence

Over the past several years I have had calls from a number of companies that have requested me to come in and help them with “serious issues and problems.” When I arrive there is typically a group of senior leaders huddled in a meeting discussing what should be done. They will tell me that the problem is costing them tens of thousands… millions… or tens of millions of dollars – and it is a “top priority” to get it fixed as soon as possible!!!!! Continue reading “Meetings do NOT = Results!” »

I sure hope you found value in this video blog. PLEASE pass this link along to anyone you feel might find value in the information I share.  Also, I welcome your feedback and suggestions for future video blogs. Yes, that’s right – I take requests!

Have a super day — I look forward to talking to you again soon – John

A Guest Blog by Jay Forte

Call it a slow down or a recession, the impact is the same – times have been challenging. We now must look with greater attention at what we do, the decisions we make, and their impact on service, performance and profitability. Surviving this (or any) recession is not just about cutting expenses – it is about changing how we think about every aspect of our business. Tough times require us to regroup, realign and redefine our approach to being successful. Continue reading “The Five Principles of Sustainable Business Success; How to Hunt for Opportunities in Any Economy” »

The video I did last week on “Creating a Culture of Accountability” was so well received, I decided to follow it up with another short video on a key business success topic: teamwork. I hope you find this video very valuable and send the link on to any of your friends or colleagues that you feel might enjoy it. Thanks so much – have a super day, John

Lack of disciplined execution and failure to hold people fully accountable… these two issues can cost a business as much as 85% of their potential revenues! This is a HUGE problem that needs to be addressed, so in this video I share some of my best advice for how to greatly increase the level of accountability in your organization. If you find this video helpful I truly hope you will send it on to any of your colleagues and friends that you feel might find value in the ideas I share. Thanks so much — John

I was recently in Seattle where I spent a week working with some of the top folks at Abbott Labs and in meetings with a handful of key managers at Microsoft. The focus of our discussions all focused around leadership and how to keep your best people motivated and highly engaged. When asked what I thought were the top things that motivated “talent” I decided to go right to the source and during a lunch with twelve  “High Potential” employees from Abbott I asked them what they looked for in a leader that they would willingly follow and give 100% of their effort to. Here is exactly what they told me: Continue reading “What Does “Talent” Look For in a Leader?” »

After yeas and years of research and talking to dozens of experts about what truly motivates employees, I’ve boiled it all down to what I feel are the three most essential, core things that every employee… every person… deeply craves. Continue reading “The Three Keys to Employee Engagement” »

About this time last year (Oct 2009) a client of mine in the health care industry asked me to put together a short video on “How to Deal With Change” that they could send around to their nearly 7,000 employees to give them some good, solid information on how to navigate these challenging times and successfully adjust to the “New Normal.” Continue reading “Dealing With CHANGE” »

I was just reading a fantastic post by my good friend Jack Malcolm on his blog Practical Eloquence about what it truly takes to be superb at giving presentations and speeches. His article, entitled “Excellence is Not an Act,” points out that a major factor in gaining superior speaking skills is having the discipline to practice and continually work for incremental improvements. Jack’s post gave me several great ideas that really sparked my thinking about the topic of discipline, so I wanted to share a few key ideas on what I feel it takes to be “excellent” at creating a culture of disciplined execution within your organization. Continue reading “The Nine Steps for Effective Execution” »

I recently posted a blog on “How to Have Better Meetings,” which was actually a link to a fantastic article on Mitch Joel’s Six Pixels of Separationblog. Since then, I have had a number of people ask me how these ideas apply to virtual/remote meetings. Since I spent a number of years facilitating the Global Leadership Development Program for Merrill Lynch and have run several international leadership training classes for Qualcomm and other clients (all of which involved participants from several different countries in each meeting) I have a few ideas I’d like to share on what I believe it takes to run a successful remote meeting. Continue reading “Some Tips on Holding Successful "Remote" Meetings” »