My weekly newsletter started out as The Altruistic Influencer, but as some of you suggested, it’s more about leadership than just influencing. Therefore, I’ve changed the name to The Principled Leader In You. Thank you for being part of the principled community! Olga Brouckova
When It’s Good To Procrastinate
Procrastination is bad… except when it’s not. When you can’t get yourself to do something that you are supposed to do and all you can do is continue to put it off, it’s wise to allow yourself to give in. Unless, of course, the matter is urgent and any delay would harm others or yourself. When …Read More
Case Study: Project Management
Situation A software reseller has doubled staff and acquired many new customers over the past year, but its cash flow difficulties continue. Sales are up significantly over the prior year but the company continues to merely break even. The amount of customer complaints is so high that the CEO spends half of his day on …Read More
Be The One That Customers Want To Engage With On Social Media
How often do you go on Facebook to ‘like’ a company you’ve done business with? Probably not very often. How do you think your customers feel about going on Facebook to ‘like’ your company? And why should they even bother to do that? Yet they do go on social media and spend a great deal of …Read More
Customer-Centric Look At Your Restaurant’s Workflow: Diagnostic Tool
When you are wondering how your customers perceive your restaurant, what’s their experience really like, and what you can do to improve your sales, try the questions below. Important: put yourself into your customers’ shoes and answer the questions from their perspective. When they first walk in, what happens? What and who do they see? …Read More
Spotlight On Your Clients: Diagnostic Tool
This is a quick and dirty 360-degree self-diagnostic tool to get you to take a good look at your clients. You have been in business for a while and have an established clientele, yet somehow, your clients are beginning to irk you, you don’t enjoy dealing with them as much as you used to, they …Read More
How You Know It’s Time To Reposition Your Firm: Diagnostic Tool
You know it’s time to reinvent and reposition your firm if you suddenly start to experience some, if not most, of these symptoms: Your emotions You don’t enjoy driving to work. Your worries, anxiety and stress levels start building up as you approach your office. You catch yourself pretending you are interested in what your …Read More
Lessons Learned From Fido: How Not To Talk To Your Customers
Mobile carrier Fido called me with two questions that left me perplexed. The customer service representative asked: How would you rate your satisfaction with Fido? Your phone is over 3 years old. Are you still happy with it? There would be nothing unusual about this call if “How would you rate your satisfaction with Fido?” …Read More
Where’s All The Healthy Food Hiding?
“Would you like something to eat with it?”, you casually pop the question as the customer is ordering a cup of tea, coffee, cappuccino or latte at your cafe or a restaurant. Yet, if the customer is a health-conscious tea or coffee drinker, chances are they walk out of your store with only a beverage …Read More
Shouldn’t Businesses Get More In Return For Donations?
A lot is expected of the private sector. We want them to be successful so they create and maintain jobs. We want them to make as much profit as possible so they can pay up as much in tax dollars as possible. We also expect them to finance various social and environmental causes. They are rich …Read More
More Customers Through Social Impact: Marketing The Smart Way
Even if you are selling highly desirable products and services, new businesses are coming in as you are reading this, the weaker competitors are gaining leverage, and customer preferences are shifting. Add to this companies based overseas—they are crafting strategies to grab chunks of your market, and you wouldn’t know until it’s almost too late. To …Read More
Personal Branding: What Really Matters And Why
Just as companies brand themselves to differentiate themselves from competitors, so should you as an individual. This is called personal branding—how you present and market yourself to others. Here is what really matters when it comes personal branding: How do others perceive you? What’s the authentic ‘you’? Where are you along the personal growth continuum? Are …Read More
Common Sense Approach To Leadership: The Four Seasons
When you are on a mission to find an effective, accomplished and successful leader for your organization or strive to become one, you typically aren’t looking for the skills, talents and accomplishments alone. Hard skills are only one part of the equation. The other part of the equation is the soft skills, and those are …Read More
A Lawyer’s Biggest Competitor Is Not Another Lawyer
What’s happening in the legal profession these days? According to Toronto lawyer, innovative thinker and writer Mitch Kowalski, this is the most disruptive time in history of the legal profession. Kowalski spent over 20 years in law, most of those with major law firms, and, as he says on his website, he is not happy …Read More
How You Know Your Career Is Due For An Overhaul: Diagnostic Tool
How do you know for sure that you need a change? How do you know that it’s time to act versus spin the wheels for a bit longer, to see where it will take you and make sure that your gut feeling is right? In the later stages, you are so fed up with your career …Read More