Articles
Ideas are Worthless
Most small business start with a great idea – it may be a revolutionary product, a service that meets a currently unmet need, or a small twist on an existing business that opens up a whole new market. There are businesses being founded every day on ideas that have the potential to change the world.
But then again, most small businesses also fail.
Writing Future-Focused Job Descriptions
Most job descriptions I have seen focus on two areas: the responsibilities of the position (the present), and the experience or credentials required (the past). But the best candidates are not looking to repeat past accomplishments – they are looking for new challenges and opportunities to grow and advance (the future). If you want to attract the best and brightest talent, you need to focus on what the candidate can expect in the future should they accept the position, not just what is involved on day 1.
Selling IT: Don't Talk Tech
If you work in an Information Technology department, there will inevitably come a day that you have to "sell" some sort of technology to your business. Whether it's a new product or system, a major upgrade to an existing system, or a replacement for something that exists, you and your team will at some point feel it is important to make an investment in something that hasn't specifically been asked for by your business users.
Management and Motivation Part 3 - Exceptions and Special Circumstances
This article might be described as a great big disclaimer to Management and Motivation Part 2 - 7 Motivating Factors. In that article, I described several basic motivational factors I have observed in people over the years.
Reality, however, is rarely that simple. Here, I hope to add some texture to that discussion by describing some exceptions and special circumstances where people are motivated differently than they might be otherwise.
Management and Motivation Part 2 - 7 Motivational Factors
In my last article, I explained that motivating people is a personalized task that has to be tailored to the individual you are working with.
Here are 7 different ways that people are motivated. These are certainly not exhaustive, and there are probably variations of each one that could be discussed further. But these are some of the more common motivational factors that I have seen:
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