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Guy Kawasaki has a great post on how to fire someone. I was conflicted by one point that he makes: his dismissal of the idea that you should fire someone quickly. He says you should give them a second chance.…

The biggest mistake is often thinking you know something. This is a bit paradoxical because you can't be successful in business without an over abundance of confidence. So you have to be confident and questioning at the same time. This…

I don't usually write about big companies because the stuff is not applicable to us small-frys. But, as you may have heard, Bill Gates is leaving the day to day work at Microsoft to devote more time to philantrhopy. It…

An effective schedule is composed solely of Routine, Rocks and Reserves. You should be able to look at your calendar and see them. Routine. This is missing from most entrepreneur's schedule. It's the routine meetings and regular times you review…

The job of a manager is not to control people. And it's not to cut costs. It's to set up an environment that allows people to do their best. By environment, I don't mean cushy chairs, beautiful artwork, free food…

Systems that support, not hinder what people do, and allow them to do it better. Most of us don't think of systems that way. Instead we feel they hinder the "real" us. But, as Seth Godin says here, "If process…

When you hire a accountant or a lawyer or someone who charges by the hour, do you really want those hours? Does it make sense that if you ask a question they don't know, and need to research you should…

What's considered "newsworthy" by the business press is either about trends that have a very broad appeal, or what Hugh McLeod calls business porn. The reason any kind of porn has any appeal at all is that it's a fantasy.…

Work is defined as moving objects at or near the surface of the earth, or telling others to do so. The first is uncomfortable and ill paid, the second is more enjoyable and better paid. ~ Old Joke (which isn’t…

I'm barely a third of the way through this book and already want to recommend it. Don't wait for me to finish - get reading. Porportedly based on habits that Harnish learned from reading about John D. Rockefeller (say what…

I saw a commercial last night on TV. A guy was pasting up billboards of women dressed in swanky clothes. As he turned away to get the next poster, the women in the ones he'd already posted winked and waved…

You've heard that before right? Well, it's not always so easy. I think one thing that sets big companies apart from small companies are how they use measurement in their decisions. Big companies get it wrong because: A) they measure…

When work is physical you need time & motion studies. Frederick Taylor pioneered this around 1900. He found out, for example, that a guy (it was always a guy then) could shovel more stuff in a day if he didn't…

Not all your customers are good to have. Some are great. Some actually cost you money. Some are just so-so. Dharmesh Shah has some good ideas on ranking your customers. His post is geared toward software companies. For other types…

While we're on the subject of customer service, let me tell you about my BBQ grill. I got my first Weber at a garage sale. It served me for several years. When it finally rusted out I decided to buy…

The war analogy doesn't work because business is not a zero sum game. A great business makes the pie bigger for everyone. And in war, you're focused on the enemy (ie your competition) but in business you're supposed to focus…

What do you call a person who speaks two languages? Bi-lingual. What do you call a person who speaks three languages? Tri-lingual. What do you call a person who speaks only one language? An American. - Old Joke. Numbers are…

Most people don't think - they just think they think. Here are some interesting ideas about how decisions are made. (The first three come from a book about web site design by Steve Krug called 'Don't Make Me Think'). People…

I actually believe most small companies have too few meetings. As a result effort is wasted, ideas aren't shared, mistakes take too long to correct, and the cost is high. The problem is that most meetings are run so poorly…

The Real Question is "Why?". I was talking to Cory Long recently. He's been around small business since he was seven. As an adult, he took over the family firm (selling industrial paint) and tripled it in four years. Then…

The Essential Drucker : The Best of Sixty Years of Peter Drucker's Essential Writings on Management (Paperback) by Peter F. Drucker. Almost everything that needs to be said about business management was said by Peter Drucker before anyone else. He…