Are You Burned Out?
The “fire in the belly” entrepreneur is legendary in business – the person whose enthusiasm and belief in his or her enterprise carries them through the tough times, undaunted and head held high. But anyone who’s taken a ride through the Business Storm Cycle knows that nobody comes through it unscathed. If you’re in business, you’ll experience it more than once [...]
Forget the Band-Aid…This Is Serious
We’ve all seen the heartbreaking news photos of people standing in the rubble of their homes or places of business after a tornado has passed through. While the devastation wreaked on your enterprise by the Business Storm Cycle phase we call the Tornado – that period of hypergrowth and tumbling margins—is more fiscal than physical, it can leave you and [...]
Better, Faster, Smarter
These days, those three words – better, faster, smarter - have become the goal for all sorts of businesses. Do a Google search and you’ll see them applied to banking, car manufacturing, data analysis, urban design, government, transportation, and even things like shoe design, cocktail making, and cleaning out horse stalls. Clearly, every business in every industry needs to be [...]
Taking Stock When The Storms Subside: How to Utilize The Consolidation Phase
So, you’ve weathered the hyper-growth phase of the Business Storm Cycle we call the Tornado, suffered thru the Avalanche phase of shrinking margins, and you’re now in the consolidation phase, looking around at the devastation these storms have left behind and wondering how to begin to put things back together. During the consolidation phase, your job as the leader will [...]
Resistance to Change? It’s Human Nature
So – your company has gone through its first Business Storm Cycle, and come out the other side. You survived the Tornado of hypergrowth and booming sales, and all the chaos that created. You experienced the pendulum swing of the Avalanche, your downturn phase where your costs kept rising and your margins were shrinking. Now you’re in your consolidation phase, [...]
How Do You Define “Start-Up?”
How do you define “start-up?” Think about your answer, because that definition can impact your business in a big way, for better or worse. If you ask most business owners, they’ll tell you that the phrase refers to that period when a new business first introduces its product or service, and begins to sell. I disagree, because I find that [...]