|
Though I only recently began using the term, “audit your time,†I’ve been encouraging my clients to do just that for several years. A few years ago, a CPA client told me it led to the biggest improvement she’d made to her practice in many years. Here are the steps I recommend:
Three people-related strategies to improve profitability in these challenging times.
Effective management of people and their talent is critical to business profitability. Following are three people-related strategies to improve your bottom line during these strange and challenging times:
These strange times have prompted me to revisit stories and experiences that inspire me. (See below to share your stories of resilience and inspiration.)
People's stories feed my soul. They needn't be extraordinary, but Osman's story surely is. Osman (not his real name) was my client nearly twenty nearly years ago, when I managed a project at a major hardware manufacturing site in the southern United States. The facility was being closed and Osman, just 27 at the time, was being laid off from his engineering job. Shortly after our first meeting, Osman told me his childhood hero was a priest, though Osman himself was not Catholic. In the coming weeks, I would learn Osman's story and the role his childhood hero played in it.
None of us knows exactly how life and business will change following this crisis and none of us is immune from worry. Even if we're fortunate enough to be financially secure, we see our families, friends, neighbors and clients struggle. Day after day the news prompts us to wring our hands, but handwringing only exacerbates the problem. Here are five things you can do to not only weather this storm, but emerge stronger than ever. It starts with you:
Antoinette Greene Smith was my Grandma Tony. At about the age of 85, she told me, "When you stop learning, it's all over." It was her mantra throughout her life and I like to think it's mine, but sometimes I forget. Are you still learning? Daily? Following are some ways, from obvious to not-so-obvious, to make learning a daily practice:
It's a great time to re-visit your leadership and make needed changes or improvements. Your firm's success - and yours - is dependent on you doing the following five things well, whether you lead your firm, business unit or team.