When was the last time you wrote a special check or bought a high-end dinner for an employee or a department who went the extra mile? Do you celebrate birthdays and work anniversaries? Is there space in those gatherings for recognizing significant achievements? If ever there were a time for senior management to make sure that everyone knows how muc...

Don’t worry about what might happen, worry about what you need to make happen for your customers. They are your lifeline, your future, and they need you. Stay focused on what you don’t know that you should know and what you need to do better and can do better.

Let’s all meet next year and do a better job of listening and becoming more proactive with our customers and their challenges. Let's find inflection points to elevate our associations’ leadership and vision while supporting our treasured publishers who put their economic welfare on the line with the rest of us, committed to serving their sponsors.

At a recent CEO Peer Group Session, Members were comparing their Key Performance Indicators. Each Member had a different set of KPI’s. A question, seemingly important during discussions --- was posed: “Which KPIs do you use to guide your pursuit of future business you want to develop…to improve your company’s performance….?”

Most customer organizations want fewer suppliers. They want suppliers who provide resources and solutions with talent, creativity, and proactive thoughtfulness. This pandemic is loaded with opportunities if you’re asking, “Who’s crying in pain and wants solutions to previously unsolved needs and pain?”

Some of us are old enough  to recognize how “dumbed-down” our great industry has become. Blame it on software, a younger generation that expects to be “spoon-fed” or have someone else on the team pay the early-on price for success from Innovation. Last week I reviewed the effectiveness of a Sample Library with our Plant Managers Peer Group...

How hard do we work to avoid creating and capturing a new opportunity? Are we teaching our front-line key personnel to be alert to opportunities by a public acknowledgment of their accomplishments to their peers? By what means do you plan to accomplish what you need to accomplish?

Individual P & L's were reviewed on a recent CEO Peer Group Call. One member after another compared their 2020 vs. 2019 numbers, including how they got there and what they were working to improve. Almost without exception, one member after another reported lower employment, with equal-to-higher revenues per employee in 2020 vs. 2019.

We are now approaching the annual “Snooker The Boss” season in the middle of Covid-19. It’s budget time for next year. What are we going to sell next year, by quarter, and by a customer? Is there a sense of urgency in your business development team in their efforts and decisions?

Some businesses need to improve on how to develop and better serve their customers. More than any other year in memory, this year represents a world that is changing radically and quickly. The old world we used to recognize, “Do you have something you need a quote on?” and “Quote and Hope,” represent a formula for inevitable disaster.