How well do you know your company’s brand? Mission. Vision. Motto or defining value. Slogan. Tagline. Dominant selling idea or positioning statement. Does every person at the company know it thoroughly? Whether it is the owner, a C-Suite leader, a middle manager or a rank-and-file employee — from the receptionist to the top decision-maker — every person that works at a company should understand the identity of the company’s brand much the way you’d know the details about a best friend, child or life partner. Name, occupation, character, personality, values and qualities. So how well do you know yours? If you were given a grade on your brand knowledge, would you get an A or an F?

Take our Brand Quiz to see how well you score. Continue reading →

What companies often have in abundance is managers. What they often lack is true leaders. Leadership is different from management. It is not only more rare, it is also more valuable. While there is a glut of ideas and approaches to leadership being touted by educators, pundits and the media, one of the most effective is Servant Leadership. That is because the Servant Leader is the antithesis of how so many people in positions of power lead. Here’s how they are different and the top 10 qualities needed to be a Servant Leader. Continue reading →

Are you a Servant Leader? Should you be? Is that leadership approach more effective than others? What does it even mean? While the term Servant Leadership sounds like a contradiction in terms, this leadership philosophy — first popularized in modern business management circles in the 1970s — actually dates back hundreds if not thousands of years and has been adopted by many highly successful people across a multitude of industries and sectors. Here’s the scoop on what a Servant Leader is and why it can revolutionize your business. Continue reading →

Do you work at an established, highly-respected company that controls a substantial part of the market, has tremendous name recognition and enjoys deep good will with its customer base? Is this business considered a leader in the industry? Beware. A high level of confidence and pride often causes an organization to underestimate the competition. And underestimating any opponent can be risky business. When a company is doing great, how does the leadership celebrate the team’s successes while also keeping everyone humble and focused? That’s the challenge. Here’s how. Continue reading →

So you’ve decided to custom design and develop a website. This approach is more time consuming, expensive and complicated than creating a templated website, but for most established businesses, this is the right approach. Templated websites simply lack the functionality customers now expect from vendors. But, while it is the right decision, it is also a more challenging process, even for companies creating the content, design or development in-house. And for those hiring a digital agency to do the job, it can be even harder. It helps to understand up front what to expect. Here is basically what’s involved. Continue reading →

Creating or updating a website is often a tough process for small or mid-sized businesses. It is always time-consuming, often tedious and frustrating, and almost never quick or easy. There is so much to consider. But for today’s business owners or leaders, regularly updating the company website is a necessity because it often directly affects sales, customer service and brand reputation. The first question for small and mid-sized businesses, then, is whether to save money with a simple, easy templated website or go with a more expensive, custom-designed website. Seems like a trick question. It’s not. Continue reading →

In 2000, a business with a comprehensive, well-designed website was notable, but not essential to do business. By 2010, a comprehensive website was a business necessity. If a business didn’t have a website, people wondered if it was legit. Today, not only is a website an absolutely essential part of business, it must look up-to-date. If the design is outdated, people wonder if the business is asleep at the wheel. Given that spectrum, where is your company’s website? Is it fresh, outdated or nonexistent? Is it time to create or update? If so, here are a few things to consider when choosing a digital agency to work on a tech project. Continue reading →

No one relishes trouble. No one wants problems. When misfortune strikes, no one thinks “Yay, I’m so glad this is happening to me.” Hard times are endured, not revered. Even long after it has passed, we seldom look back on tough times and think “that’s the best thing that ever happened to me”, but maybe we should. It is in times of adversity that people grow and develop most. Perhaps those who are serious about 2020 being a year of great growth and improvement should roll out the red carpet for trials and tribulations. Continue reading →

Mahatma Ghandi once said “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” With a new year and decade approaching, it is not only a good time to write resolutions, make plans and set goals, it’s also a particularly propitious time to look within. Think about not only what you want to achieve, but also what type of individual you need to be – professionally and personally – to get there. No one can do this kind of internal self-assessment for you, but here are some thoughts to get you started. Continue reading →

Business leaders in most developed nations embrace speed, agility, creativity and fierce competitiveness as essential components for success in business today. That is because, for the last 30 years, that approach was highly effective, generating amazing results and returns. However, that “crash and clash” approach to business innovation is expected to become less and less effective over the next 30 years. Why is that? And, what approach will business leaders need to take to be effective in the fast-approaching post-digital world?

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