No crying in baseball

February 10, 2009 - Written by Kevin
 

During these rough economic times it’s helpful to remember Tom Hanks’ encouragement to Geena Davis in the movie “A League of Their Own.” It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard everybody would do it.The “hard” is what makes it great.

Minimalist Drucker

February 7, 2009 - Written by Kevin
 

“The bottleneck is always at the top of the bottle.” – Peter Drucker

What’s Your “Profit Per Chicken”?

February 5, 2009 - Written by Kevin
 

Every company should have one key metric. One number to focus on and measure and to drill into everyone’s head. No it’s not profit or sales. It’s the number behind the numbers. …

Sun Tzu on Opportunities

February 4, 2009 - Written by Kevin
 

“The more opportunities I seize, the more that opportunities multiply before me.” -The Art of WarWhen I read this quote I get a mental …

Mantra from Fed Ex

January 29, 2009 - Written by Kevin
 

After FedEx acquired Kinko’s, from CEO Fred Smith:“Operate independently. Manage collaboratively. Compete collectively.”

Woody Allen Beats the Recession

January 25, 2009 - Written by Kevin
 

“80 percent of success is just showing up.” — Woody AllenIt’s amazing how much I’ve been hearing about how the recession is hurting everyone these days. But is it really the recession? In the last week alone:

- …

What You CAN Change

January 21, 2009 - Written by Kevin
 

You can’t always control the market or your sales. But remember, you can always control your expenses. (not to mention your hiring practices, your culture, your strategy, your marketing, your alliances, and about a 100 other things)”God grant me the serenity to accept the …

Lessons from Obama

January 20, 2009 - Written by Kevin
 

I use this blog to record thoughts about business, but it is hard not to acknowledge this historic day as Barack Obama becomes President of the United States. There are of course many lessons from his campaign that could be applied to business, from strong positioning and messaging …

IBM Turnaround Mantra

January 17, 2009 - Written by Kevin
 

“Win. Execute. Team.” – Lou GerstnerWhat’s your mantra for these times?

Classic from Jim Rohn

January 17, 2009 - Written by Kevin
 

“You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.”Want to make more money, be in better health, be a better leader? Who are you spending time with?

The Design of Inauguration Tickets

January 16, 2009 - Written by Kevin
 

Call a client for the heck of it

August 30, 2008 - Written by Kevin
 

Doorbell rang today which doesn’t actually happen that often. Must be Fed Ex guy I assumed as I answered it…”Hey, I’m Mike with Des-Carr Doors!”I said nothing but my face must have said, “Huh?”"We installed your 3 garage doors last month…”I …

Send your client a blank invoice

August 30, 2008 - Written by Kevin
 

I moved into a new house earlier this year and spent a crazy amount with an audio/video company to come out and install a couple flat screen TVs, speakers in every room, Blue-ray DVD players, the works. One day the TV stopped working. The power light didn’t just …

Bad Quicken, Bad

August 26, 2008 - Written by Kevin
 

Today 11am: I discovered that, in order to track my investments a certain way, I needed to purchase an “unlock code” from Intuit to upgrade to a beefier version of Quicken. $70 and 2 minutes later I was done.Today 1pm: I read the back page of Fast Company …

Quick, tell me who your ideal customer is

August 21, 2008 - Written by Kevin
 

Earlier this week I met a casino executive to discuss the possibility of getting a community grant for one of the charities I support, S.A.G.E.During casual conversation he mentioned that the casino’s typical customer profile is a 58 year old woman, but that they proactively target three …