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Business Insights from Andrea Hill

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The Value (and the point) Is in the Process

Commitment to continuously improving the processes of the business IS a commitment to results, but it brings with it the possibility of evolution and innovation. Here's why you should focus on process over results.
  • Radical Inclusiveness - the Competitive Edge

    In a business climate where competitiveness and innovation are everything equality and diversity in the workforce are important keys to success.
  • Outstanding Customer Service is a Culture Thing

    The question of how to deliver the outstanding customer service consumers expect is easy to answer but harder to implement.

    Ethics

    Integrity is A Russian Doll

    An integrity-infused business is all-or-nothing. You’re either feeling it or you’re not, and if you’re not feeling it, it will bite you in the bottom line.
    Merchandising

    In it to win it: Don't let generic retailers and pricing models drag you off your designer strategy

    You already know being in business for yourself is hard work. But working this hard for no money? Differentiate.
    Marketing

    Still Playing Dress-up in Your Parents' Clothes?

    Most people don't know where to start with branding. They're not even sure what it is.
    Retail

    In it to win it: Don't let generic retailers and pricing models drag you off your designer strategy

    You already know being in business for yourself is hard work. But working this hard for no money? Differentiate.
    Branding

    Resolution #3: I Will Figure Out My Brand Story

    Unlike a dream, your brand story has a destination - an ending that's clear to you from the beginning. Everything you do must be part of your brand story.

    Leadership

    We Are Our Own Tragic Villains

    Too often, rationalizing is an unhappy accident that leads to loss of market share, loss of profit margin, loss of jobs, and loss of a business. Unintended consequences are expensive.
    Management

    Who Says Purgatory's Just for Catholics?

    Tips on how to make meetings more powerful, to develop strong facilitators, and to become more effective as a management team.
    Management

    The Rudiments of Engagement

    Getting a management team engaged is both financially and personally rewarding. The concepts described here will help get you started.

    Tell Better Stories

    It's not enough to sell a product or a service any more. You must also be able to tell the story. The Pip Storytelling Deck is a tool we use at the Werx Brands to construct and tell better stories. You can be a master story-teller too!

    Management

    All of the Responsibility, None of the Authority

    Here are some of the key structures that are absolutely necessary when converting to a more team-based organization.
    Management

    You Can't Tell Me What to Do!

    When I consult for entrepreneurs I invariably encounter some version of this problem. The entrepreneurs who have hired me like the idea of enhanced planning and communication, but they always balk when they realize that they, too, must use the systems that are being put in place.
    Management

    Caution! Don't Try This at Home

    The truth is, nearly every manager demonstrates a little FETCH once in a while.
    Management

    Change Mismanagement

    The types of changes you should – and should not – make during a recession are the same types of change you should consider during a strong economy.
    Management

    Cinderella Teams and Giant Killers

    Small businesses have a distinct advantage that large businesses do not have, and one of the things we must do is exploit this advantage to the maximum extent. What is it? Our ability to be flat, networked, and flexible.
    Management

    Don't Let This Industrial Revolution Pass You By

    Do you have enough information to analyze your business from product to price to timing to turns?
    Management

    Diddy or The Donald? What Should One Expect from an Employer (and what should we expect of ourselves?)

    We all owe ourselves and all our present and future employees something very important – a commitment to excellence and continuing knowledge development in our chosen fields of endeavor.
    Management

    Lead Like a Woman

    When female leaders are tough, they make the gossip sheet. When male leaders are tough, they call it news. But women are better leaders, and shouldn't emulate male leaders to fit in.
    Management

    Make Time to Plan

    Making time to plan is the most important thing you can do.
    Management

    Integrity is A Russian Doll

    An integrity-infused business is all-or-nothing. You’re either feeling it or you’re not, and if you’re not feeling it, it will bite you in the bottom line.

    Video

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    At the end of the day, we all have to fight our demons alone. And I think that's the source of loneliness. If you spend your whole life insisting there are no demons to fight or hiding your demons or determined to fight them in private, you end up existentially alone.

    Hmm . . . my favorite new term-of-the-week: Ratlicker
    "A person who refuses to wear a mask, or take any of the basic precautions to help society prevent an air born illness during an epidemic. ( In reference to the bubonic plague being spread by rats. )"

    Maybe the reason its so hard to remain in quarantine is that it's hard to outrun sadness when you're forced to be still.

    Taking a knee ... Long the choice of peaceful, PRAYERFUL resistance.

    "Millions of items of the outward order are present to my senses which never properly enter into my experience. Why? Because they have no interest for me. My experience is what I agree to attend to. Only those items which I notice shape my mind.”
    William James

    I suspect the fear of being afraid is the most destructive fear of all.