Why Startups Should Consider 'The Bakery Model' When Starting Out. Before any startup can hit the ground running, it must answer a series of critical questions: Where and how should it generate funding?
What its initial business model should be? How will it become profitable? The first question seems the simplest to answer, especially with the current entrepreneurial ecosystem full of venture capital funds, crowd funding and angel investors. The obvious way to secure a cash infusion is from one of these capital pots. But even outside of the tech world, the decision to use outside capital to fund a business can have major implications on your ability to succeed. The rush to find investors can push entrepreneurs onto a path of no return that will eventually lead to yet another startup sob story. To Boost Your Business Treat Employees as Well as Your Customers. How well are employees treated in your small business?
Are employees treated as well as your customers are treated? And, are all employees treated well, or are some employees treated better than others? When employees are consistently treated with trust, dignity, and respect, they respond in kind. They care about their company, their colleagues, and their customers. Employees demonstrate that care by serving customers beautifully, solving problems nimbly, performing effectively, and working cooperatively. You can’t expect stellar customer service from employees who feel distrusted and discounted. Related: This Food-Tech Startup's Secret Sauce: Employees First, Customers Second. Does money really motivate? How much does money matter?
5 Ways to Lead with Emotional Intelligence. Today’s Personality Tests Raise the Bar for Job Seekers. The Delaware North Cos., a hospitality company whose customer-service representatives help people plan vacations at national parks, sometimes struggles these days to keep 80 or so seats filled at its call center in Fresno, Calif.
—a city tied for the 9th-highest unemployment rate in the U.S. The company has no shortage of job applicants. But finding the right candidates has gotten tougher since the company started using a customized assessment last year to see how applicants stack up against top call-center workers in such traits as friendliness, curiosity and the ability to multitask. Managers said the new test, administered online, has reduced turnover and allowed Delaware North to more accurately select applicants who best fit the job. “Now we understand better what makes a great reservation sales applicant,” said Andy Grinsfelder, vice president of sales and marketing for the Buffalo, N.Y. In 2001, 26% of large U.S. employers used pre-hire assessments.
Falling costs In February, Mr. How to win an argument every time. Do you have emotional intelligence? It's crucial for great leadership - Philadelphia Business Journal. "Leaders with high emotional intelligence routinely check their behavior," writes Philadelphia leadership coach Kelly A.
Meerbott. Kelly A. Meerbott, Guest Columnist What’s your vision of the ideal executive? Is it someone that loses his temper and yells at his team? Probably not. Emotional intelligence. Win The Talent War By Getting All Your People Using LinkedIn. What makes an effective team? The building blocks of an effective team.
An effective team has a number of ‘building blocks’ in place: Clear objectives. Here's What The Marketing Organization Of The Future Should Look Like. How Big Spaceship fosters creativity through organizational design. The internal structure is the most important thing about an agency, CEO of agency Big Spaceship Michael Lebowitz tells Mashable.
The US West Coast Port Debacle: Porter’s Five Forces at Work. On Friday, the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) announced a tentative agreement on a new five-year contract covering workers at all 29 West Coast ports.
This announcement comes after months of labor negotiations and West Coast port congestion that has caused widespread shipment delays felt across the nation and across industries. Courtesy of Michael Kelley My colleague Chris and I have included ongoing updates on the gridlock in our Friday news posts. This past Friday I referenced a Gizmodo article that included some truly remarkable photos of the congestion at the Ports of LA and Long Beach.
This got me thinking about the longer-term prospects for the stakeholders of the West Coast ports. Michael Porter – The Five Forces That Shape Industry Strategy Existing Competition Among Ports I consider the West Coast ports to be one entity in this situation, since the ILWU is established along the entire coast. AT&T: A Short SWOT Analysis. AT&T, Inc.
(T - Free AT&T Stock Report) stock has plodded along for much of the past year. The shares have largely traded sideways, missing out on the large bull market run many stocks participated in during 2014. Albertsons » Our Mission. Employee monitoring: Do they know you’re watching? - Nashville Business Journal. Nathan Morgan | Nashville Business Journal Rob Bellenfant At its most basic level, employee monitoring is about making sure your team is committed and living up to your company's standards.
This can be easy when you're a small startup, but you might find yourself less aware of each employee's actions as your business scales. When this happens, many companies turn to workplace data monitoring to keep tabs on their staff. However, there are varying levels of transparency when it comes to communicating these practices to employees, raising questions about how much employees know and how they feel about certain practices. The TechnologyAdvice research team recently conducted a nationwide survey targeted at office-based workers between the ages of 25-54. How a 'Romantic' Workplace Culture Brings Out Employees' Best. Are your employees in inner exile or ready to exit?
Only 13 percent of employees worldwide are “engaged” at work, according to a recent Gallup poll. And even when they are, loyalty is fickle since talented professionals have become the serial daters of the job market: A Georgetown University study showed that millennials switch jobs some 6.3 times between ages 18 and 25. Interview of Sheryl Sandberg.