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Writing a Business Plan: Part 1

Do you find crafting a vision statement for your small business or department a challenging exercise? Many clients I work with find this one of the most difficult aspects of writing a business plan. Part of the reason is that it addresses the concept of WHY. Why we are in business and Why our clients or customers choose us rather than our competitors.

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Millennials Will Change the World

Oh to be young again! When I watch Ted Talk videos by Millennials who are smart, confident and know what direction they want to take with their lives, I wish I were 30 years younger to share in that future. WOW! I mean, really, WOW! These young people like Stacey Ferreira have it together. They…

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Cutting Jobs Creates Leadership Vacuum

Cutting jobs can create a leadership vacuum and reduce morale. Consider creative cost-cutting instead.

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Change Can be Challenging for Some

Every project you take on, regardless of size or scope, creates a change in the status quo. That kicks off several stages of change that result in a series of predictable emotions and behaviors.

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Strategy Execution is Key to Success

We’ve heard it time and again – the area where most companies fall short is in strategy execution. They spend countless hours up front planning and engaging their staff in providing solutions and getting their input on the key strategies. But then when they begin to implement them, they usually fall short of plan. Why?

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Vocational Training Teaches Entrepreneurship

If Congressional Bill H.R. 610 is about dismantling the public school system, vocational training is an answer to ensure all youth get an equal education. It may not be focused on reading, writing and ‘rithmatic exclusively, but this movement is teaching youths real world skills to build a future for themselves. Across the U.S., a growing…

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Thinking differently produces new possibilities

“We keep looking so hard in life for the ‘specific message’, and yet we are blinded to the fact that the message is all around us and within us all the time. We just have to stop demanding that it be on OUR terms or conditions, and instead open ourselves to the possibility that what we seek may be in front of us all the time.”

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Cultural Awareness Often Overlooked

Cultural awareness is often overlooked despite the drive toward building a multi-racial workforce. The focus on culture often does not address ethnicity. More and more both organizational culture and ethnic culture are intertwined as companies hire more multicultural staff to better serve their communities. What happens too frequently is that little thought is given to…

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Top Chef Yields Innovative Ideas

By Jeri Denniston, Chief Marketing Strategist, Denner Group International Takeaways: Innovative ideas come from unrelated areas. Chefs stretch their creative thinking to invent unusual and flavorful dishes. Consumer Trend Canvas stimulates innovative solutions. As I watched a recent TV episode of Top Chef, I thought about how two chefs in particular stretched themselves pairing unusual…

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How Does Systems Thinking Improve Organizational Agility?

Systems Thinking offers simplicity, and therefore the possibility for agility both in the development and the implementation of strategies. Looking at an organization as a group of systems within a series of external systems is clearly a good start for creating agile strategies. Further, applying a practiced evaluation of the organization by identifying INPUTS-THROUGHPUTS-OUTPUTS with…