Up to 45% of the manufacturing workforce, 37% of retail workers, 25% of the workforce in hospitality, and 10% of the education workforce could be displaced by automation/artificial intelligence in the next six years, according to the McKinsey Global Institute.... Read More
“Features tell, benefits sell” is a very appropriate phrase in the sales and marketing cycle. One of the basic principles of business growth is to continually strive for improving your product or service. If you lose touch with your market as it changes, your customers will leave you behind.... Read More
About thirty years ago, Eli Lilly and Co., the Indiana-based pharmaceutical company, was conducting clinical trials for a potential blockbuster drug called Alimta for treating lung cancer. The upside was one of huge potential for Lilly. The downside was one of losing millions in research dollars if the development of the drug was unsuccessful. Long story short, the drug failed at first, but Lilly scientists and management, true to their Indiana heritage, failed forward in a way which resulted in yet another blockbuster success for the company.... Read More
Setting goals should be nothing new for the successful business owner or manager. But how you go about achieving those goals can be critical in their success or failure. Consider trying a new approach for goal setting.... Read More
Basketball phenom Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors is no stranger to losing, much less failure, even though he is one of the most successful professional basketball players of today. His record-breaking career has had countless ups and downs.... Read More
"Two guys walk into a bar" is how the joke usually starts, but this time they sit down at the bar and do not say anything; they take out their phones and just stare at their screens. That is the age in which we live. The next time you go into a restaurant, make your own observations and see who is actually talking to someone else, versus looking at their phone or some other digital device.... Read More
“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change,” Charles Darwin is known to have said. One thing is constant; that one thing is change. How you, as a leader, adapt, adjust and re-align your approach is critical for the growth of your firm.... Read More
In the movie Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt as coach Billy Beane, data-based decisions were shown to work out very well for organizations. Beane used certain performance metrics to try and predict success for the Oakland A’s baseball team, as well as minimize his costs for hiring players. Long story short, it worked.... Read More
“Do what you have always done and you’ll get what you have always got,” Sue Knight is quoted as saying. Product or rate pricing is one of, if not the leading issue for the ongoing success of your company or firm. If it is too high, you will lose clients; if it is too low, it might be difficult to keep up with the demand and/or you might not make a profit. If your price/rate is somewhere in between, your business is fortunate. Yet, prices are dynamic, not static.... Read More
Professional service firms in consulting, insurance, accounting, law, marketing, engineering, and medical billing have traditionally been limited in growth due to the direct relationship of their labor costs to revenue. In other words, if you wanted to grow your top line, you had to hire more people. In the services sector of today, however, technology can play a huge role in helping to reduce those costs.... Read More
