Treat Them As You Would Like To Be Treated The best rule of thumb is to treat your client the way you would like to be treated. The size of the company is not relevant — a one-man shop or a national brand — without happy customers, no business can sustain itself in...

Don't Panic The single most important action should be understanding the reason behind the nosedive. Though it sounds elementary, it is surprising how many stakeholders jump to action without knowing what the proper action needs to be. Don't panic – use qualitative...

Define Your Wants And Needs Defining your wants and needs is by far the most significant step that should supersede any other. Without a clear outline of the "what, when, and how," every other action taken is either meaningless or destined to fail. This should be...

Remember What You Can Control The only true difference is the perception of the recipient. One can choose to utilize it or choose to take it personally. We have no control over how someone communicates or their motives. However, we can choose what we get out of the...

Adapting The concept of an "agile leader" is an unfortunate subcategorization that is both vague and conceptually already covered in servant leadership. Agility, in terms of adaptability in decision making as well as process management, has and will be one of the...

Treat Your State Of Mind As a Symptom A negative or positive state of mind is a symptom, not the cause, and should be treated as such. The underlying cause is a matter of world view. Do you choose to see failures as learning opportunities as opposed to a negative...

Refine Skills And Practices Stress in a productivity context is a moot point because it is a symptom of other issues, including time and task management skills, prioritization, and perception. Stress in this setting is almost always addressable via refinement of...

Admit You Don't Know, But Resolve To Find Out Say it with me: "I don't know. I will get back to you on this." This particular phrase is the best friend of any true leader. It is an absurd assumption that someone knows it all. This is also a good way to gauge a new...

Overselling Yourself One of the rather repeated mistakes in self-promotion is "overselling." Self-promotion is one of those propositions that fall in the "under-promise and over-deliver" category. Additionally, it is substantially more desirable for the results to be...

Take A Long-Term View Talent development is a matter of taking the long-term view with the matching resources and patience. Be it in education or the real-world, cultivating human capital in a dynamic and comprehensive way requires appropriate time and resources. Too...

Be Genuine If the intent is to have a long-term "fix," there is really only one sure way: be genuine. There is a mutual self-interest on both sides of the relationship. Your co-worker is likely to be just as interested in a relationship that will help their career as...

Ask If It's Viable Right Now It is not really hard to create additional revenue in most businesses. The real question is if it is feasible or does it interfere with any other aspect of the existing business model? Is the timing correct? Will it cannibalize existing...

Not Being Honest About Concept And Needs Crowdfunding is no different than any other business relationship: folks trusting you and investing money in you and your business. Hence it is important to be authentic—be honest about your concept and needs, be honest about...

Always Comparing To Others Though product and services comparison may work, it is a short-sighted approach. Comparison in a crowded market may, in some cases, even be harmful by providing additional exposure for competitors. A more sustainable approach, however, is a...

When should I stop? In my experience, one of the least asked questions is, when do we reach the dreaded "diminishing returns?" Many entrepreneurs and senior executives incorrectly assume that all things have to consistently improve, which in turn results in some...

Encourage Cross-Collaboration As someone that has worked 16-plus years remotely, the single most important cultural tool is cross-collaboration. Remote teams that integrate cross-collaboration among team members tend to create deeper and more personal relationships....

You're Putting Out Daily Fires Rapid growth entails change, which tends to create friction. That sort of friction tends to manifest in a wide range of symptoms such as quality control issues, customer dissatisfaction as well as internal conflicts. Those symptoms are...