8 Ways to Become Everyone's Favorite Boss

Adam Fine

Contributor

It’s easy to understand why the motto “Work hard and be nice to people” is so popular. Not only is it short and memorable, but it reminds us how valuable often overlooked traits like diligence and kindness are in the workplace. With that in mind, I’ve created a detailed guide corporate leaders can follow to become bosses valued and liked by their employees. It’s not always easy -- this sort of leadership requires a light touch and the ability to put out fires without burning bridges -- but the following eight tips are a good place to start.

1. Don’t try to be the “cool boss.”

Appearing authoritative but down-to-earth can be a hard balance to maintain, and so boundaries are critical. While there are any number of ways to distinguish yourself as a leader, symbolic or superficial gestures mean little. Don’t get caught up in dressing more formally, reserving a parking spot or having luxurious lunches catered. Instead, opt for more substantial differentiators such as being the first in and last out and exhibiting relentless enthusiasm. At the same time, resist the urge to relate to your employees by casually dropping in “just to chat” or by asking to join them for lunch. Let these relationships develop naturally and don’t worry about whether you’re seen as a friend or confidant. That’s not your job.

2. Remember your workforce is not your family.

You and your staff are teammates, close friends even, but you’re not a family. Every company benefits from a healthy culture, but don’t liken it to the intensity and obligation that comes with the word “family.” This doesn’t mean you can’t have inside jokes, but try not to introduce and enforce too many mottos or die-hard rules. Corporate culture and human capital strategies are vital, and they definitely needed a reboot from their stodgy 1980’s Wall Street roots. Some culture is good and can prevent negative chatter, but too much culture can have the opposite effect.

3. Invite and embrace criticism.

This can be a more difficult rule to follow for leaders than for the rest of the company. I’ve seen plenty of well-meaning bosses try to implement an environment that welcomes constructive feedback, only to lose focus and snap at the first well-meaning employee who critiques their own performances. Give your team a format for addressing issues they may otherwise be too timid to mention, and show them their honesty and commitment to improving is appreciated by accepting criticism gracefully.

4. Don’t be a target.

As a leader, you have the ability to choose your degree of visibility. There’s a happy medium to be struck here: be around just enough to give people tangible things to like about you, but be absent enough that they can’t find anything to dislike. Whenever possible, deliver good news, interesting developments, cool new hires, etc. at company-wide meetings. Try and take a few questions, maybe ones you’ve screened via email first. Carefully regulate your presence, but also pay close attention to the tone of your interactions. Even if you are funny, don’t be tempted to be the funny boss. Remember-- if a joke lands, it will probably offend someone, and if it doesn’t land, it will offend everyone.

5. Use competitors as motivators.

If you ever sense a rumbling in the halls, a dip in morale or general discontent, diverting attention to an external 3rd party can be a great way to mediate tension. Spend a month talking about a competitor and how each of your employees can enhance your company’s competitive edge by embracing their killer instinct and desire to win. Do you have an upcoming product launch, conference or public appearance? Focus on that external deadline and create a narrative that hones employees’ desire to meet it. This is a sound motivational technique, as teams often perform better when they can rally against an external force. People tend to see their lives in terms of simple plot structures with a cast of heroes and villains; give them the right villains, and you’ll improve your chance of being a hero.

6. Give out free perks.

Free stuff moves mountains. People love gifts and the people who give them, so take advantage of the opportunity to be a source of joy and generosity. This practice goes beyond handing out company t-shirts and other forgettable swag. Give your employees something they’ll remember. For those of you that already pay for employee meals, snacks, booze, and raffles, you’ll probably have to think outside the box on this one. Even if your employees are spoiled, an unexpected freebie is invaluable for its ability to stimulate psychological attachment and loyalty. When in doubt, who doesn’t love freebie tech gadgets?

7. Ask for small favors.

Everyone wants to feel needed. Approach your employees off-the-cuff and ask them to do a quick job that they can easily accomplish but that doesn’t make you appear petty for asking. You can do this with every employee whose job title you actually understand. Jim in IT would be happy to spend 30 minutes looking into the most sophisticated voice-to-type apps for you, and doing so will subtly ingratiate you to him. Be sure to stipulate that your requests shouldn’t take too long. That way, people will be more likely to let you know if the task you assigned was unintentionally difficult.

8. Publically apologize for your mistakes.

Fallibility is an important quality, but more important is the emotional currency earned from a public and sincere apology. Apologies are powerful and bely a sense of empathy, virtue and corporate responsibility. Once again, you’ll need a mild touch here. Don’t out yourself by apologizing for a massive, reputation-scarring mistake, but don’t try and apologize for not restocking the snack supply in a timely fashion (you’ll appear ridiculous). Focus on medium size mistakes, and craft your apology accordingly.


culled from:entrepreneur.com

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Pro Tips for Hitting the Pricing Nail on the Head

Robert W. Bly

Contributor

In The Marketing Plan Handbook, author Robert W. Bly explains how you can develop big-picture marketing plans for pennies on the dollar with his 12-step marketing plan. In this edited excerpt, Bly outlines the five factors you need to take into account when pricing your product or service.
What should you charge for your product? Are you looking to create a low-priced item you can sell as a loss leader to bring in new custom­ers? Or are you looking to create a high-priced back-end product to sell to your existing customers?
To me, it’s more rewarding to command a higher price, charge premium fees, and get paid very, very well for what you sell. Especially if you're in a service business, competing on price means you work harder to earn less. Who wants that?
But in a competitive world where many other businesses seemingly offer products and services similar to yours, how do you command a premium price? There are five factors you can control or exploit to enable you to charge a much higher price than your competitors in virtually any field -- and have more customers than you can handle waiting in line, cash in hand, to pay it.
The first factor is supply and demand. According to simple economics, the greater the demand for something and the more limited the supply, the more the seller can charge and get paid for it. Since you’re not OPEC, you probably can’t control the supply of your product or service, so what you have to do is create an overwhelming demand for you, your product, or your service. Perhaps the easiest way to do this is to position yourself as the pre-eminent expert or authority in your field. If people view you as the guru in property taxes, hazardous waste cleanup, or whatever your field is, they'll come to you first, knocking each other over to hire you instead of your lesser-known competitors.
The second factor you can control is your market niche. As a rule of thumb, the narrower your market niche, the more you can charge. Specialists can always charge more than generalists. If you're a marketing consultant handling any small business clients you can get, you have lots of competition and great difficulty commanding a premium fee. On the other hand, if you specialize in the marketing of accounting practices, accountants will pay a premium to get your advice because it applies to their own situation.
The third factor you can control is value. If your competitors all sell audiobooks with six CDs for $79, and you want to charge $300 for six CDs on similar topics, why should the buyer pay it? You could include a CD with related software programs (e.g., if the album is about time management, the CD could contain a personal day planner). The material cost is only a dollar or so per CD, but the perceived value of software is easily $100 or more, enabling you to charge a premium price for your package. And that’s the trick: to add extras that have high-perceived value but don’t cost you much.
In addition to high-perceived value, look for premiums that are unique. The Sovereign Society, a newsletter on offshore investing, had great success offering new subscribers an unusual premium: their own Swiss bank account.
The fourth factor you can control is ROI. If you design your product or service so it generates a large ROI that's easy to see and measure, it'll be much easier to sell at the price you want to get. For example, $200 for a high-tech thermostat may seem like a lot of money, but not if the manufacturer can prove that installing the thermostat will save the homeowner $300 to $1,000 a year in heating and air conditioning costs.
The fifth factor you can control is customers’ concern about whether they'll be satisfied with your product. You can control this by offering a money-back guarantee. Guarantees overcome sales resistance. If you guarantee customers will be happy and you'll refund their money if they're not, they'll be more willing to pay your price, no matter what it is.
The best guarantees are:

• Fair
• Generous
• Long-term
• Unconditional

Most people won’t take unfair advantage of your guarantee. If you sell a quality product, accurately described in your marketing, at a price that’s fair in relationship to its value, your return rate will be low -- probably less than 5 percent.
That still means 1 in 20 will ask for a refund. Give them back their money promptly and with good cheer. Few things will cause more customer dissatisfaction and ruin your reputation faster than being difficult, adversarial, and uncooperative when people believe what you said in your guarantee and take you up on it. Don’t get angry with these folks. Returning the product is their right -- and part of your cost of doing business.
And there you have it. Increase demand for your product or service, target a vertical market niche, add value, generate a good ROI, and guarantee satisfaction, and customers will gladly pay your price, even if it’s 50 to100 percent or more above what your competitors charge.

culled from:entrepreneur.com

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Hiring Overqualified Employees Might Be Good for Your Business

By Chad Brooks

Despite common beliefs, hiring overqualified employees isn't always harmful to your business, new research suggests.

Although it has long been accepted that hiring overqualified employees is detrimental to an organization, new research finds that there are ways to negate the negative impact, according to a study recently published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.

The key to seeing benefits from overqualified employees is hiring them regularly, rather than making their hires a rare occurrence, the study found.
The study defines overqualification as an "employment situation in which employees feel that they possess surplus qualifications relative to what a job requires.

"When individual employees feel that they are not the only 'big fish in the pond,' and when overqualification becomes a norm rather than exception within the group, they tend to have more favorable reactions toward their own overqualification status and perform better," the study's authors wrote.

The research was based on interviews and studies of 351 employees and their supervisors from 11 information technology companies in China over a six-month period. [Now Hiring? Leadership Language to Look For ]

The study's authors found that when working with co-workers whose average overqualification level was high, employees who felt overqualified perceived greater task-significance, felt that they fit in better with their peers and demonstrated higher levels of performance.

"Managers may benefit from understanding that as overqualification becomes normalized in the workplace, it exerts a more positive influence over such behaviors as job performance and citizenship," Jasmine Hu, one of the study's authors and an assistant professor at the University of Notre Dame, said in a statement.

To ensure overqualified employees know they aren't alone, organizations should recognize employees' qualifications when they are first hired and point out they are in good company by emphasizing that they will be working with a highly qualified group, Hu said.

"Managers could also encourage more interactions among members to build team spirit, emphasizing the importance of benefiting others through one's work, and highlight the interpersonal compatibility within a group to promote the positive influence of overqualification on employee attitudes and behaviors," Hu said.

The study was co-authored by Kaifeng Jiang, an assistant professor at Notre Dame, and Berrin Erdogan and Talya Bauer, professors at Portland State University.

culled from:businessnewsdaily.com

The study defines overqualification as an "employment situation in which employees feel that they possess surplus qualifications relative to what a job requires.
"When individual employees feel that they are not the only 'big fish in the pond,' and when overqualification becomes a norm rather than exception within the group, they tend to have more favorable reactions toward their own overqualification status and perform better," the study's authors wrote.
The research was based on interviews and studies of 351 employees and their supervisors from 11 information technology companies in China over a six-month period. [Now Hiring? Leadership Language to Look For ]
The study's authors found that when working with co-workers whose average overqualification level was high, employees who felt overqualified perceived greater task-significance, felt that they fit in better with their peers and demonstrated higher levels of performance.
"Managers may benefit from understanding that as overqualification becomes normalized in the workplace, it exerts a more positive influence over such behaviors as job performance and citizenship," Jasmine Hu, one of the study's authors and an assistant professor at the University of Notre Dame, said in a statement.
To ensure overqualified employees know they aren't alone, organizations should recognize employees' qualifications when they are first hired and point out they are in good company by emphasizing that they will be working with a highly qualified group, Hu said.
"Managers could also encourage more interactions among members to build team spirit, emphasizing the importance of benefiting others through one's work, and highlight the interpersonal compatibility within a group to promote the positive influence of overqualification on employee attitudes and behaviors," Hu said.
The study was co-authored by Kaifeng Jiang, an assistant professor at Notre Dame, and Berrin Erdogan and Talya Bauer, professors at Portland State University.
- See more at: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/8672-overqualified-employee-benefits.html#sthash.uhHi5bTl.dpuf

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3 Oddball Interview Questions And How To Answer Them

Peggy McKee

Sometimes, you’re in a job interview and out of left field comes a question so bizarre that you have no idea how it could possibly apply to this job. Why do interviewers ask oddball interview questions? Almost always, it’s because they are trying to get at your true personality. They’re trying to surprise you into an answer that comes straight from the heart, because you haven’t (and couldn’t have) prepared or practiced for it.

If you get asked an oddball question, remember that it’s OK for you to stop and think a moment about your answer (not too long, but a moment). Don’t pop off with something that could end up hurting your chances at the job.
Here are three oddball interview questions with some ideas for how to answer them:

If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?

Here is the Most Important Rule about any ‘what would you be’ question: Always choose QUALITIES about the thing (whatever it is) that apply to you and your fit for this job. Do not answer it by naming things that you like about it (i.e. “I would be an apple tree because apples are my favorite fruit.”)
It’s always a good idea, as part of your interview prep, to think about what qualities you have that would be good for someone in this job. If you’ve done that, it may be easier than you think to come up with an answer to a personality question like this on the fly.
What trees are ‘good’ trees? The oak tree is a tried-and-true answer—it’s strong and doesn’t bend in the wind (otherwise known as pressure from others). On the other hand, a palm tree could be a great answer because it’s so flexible it can stand up to hurricanes. If ‘productive’ is an adjective that applies to you, you could choose a fruit tree or a sugar maple tree (it produces maple syrup).
Trees NOT to choose: Cottonwood trees tend to be a nuisance because they release a lot of floating ‘cotton’ structures that carry seeds, so that may not be a wise choice. Neither is a sad, weak Weeping Willow. (I personally love both of those trees, but remember—it’s not the tree, it’s the quality the tree represents.)

If you were an animal, what animal would you be?

Always keep cultural perceptions in mind when you answer this question. For instance, some people think of cats as independent, but others see them as lazy and standoffish.
Animals with better PR are usually ones like:

• Horses (strong, smart, and able to work alone or on a team)
• Eagles (soar above other birds, able to see the big picture)
• Elephants (strong, intelligent, loyal, unstoppable)
• Monkeys (quick learners, agile, help others)

How many basketballs could you fit into a limousine?

This is more of a brainteaser question, designed to get you to demonstrate how you think and solve problems. This kind of question takes many forms:

• How would you move a mountain 1 foot over?
• What would you do if an airplane landed in our parking lot?

Whatever the question is, here’s what to do:
Start thinking through the answer out loud. They want to see how you think. Reason it out. Use a pen and paper to solve it if you need to (a productive person uses the resources necessary to solve a problem).
Say something like, “Well, a basketball is about one cubic foot, so I would find out the average cubic feet of the inside of a limousine and I’d have my answer.”
If they’d filled the limousine with marbles or tennis balls or jelly beans, you could say, “I could get a one foot cube, fill it with jelly beans, count those, and multiply that by the average cubic feet of a limousine.”
You don’t have to arrive at an exact right answer to deliver a good answer (I bet they don’t know how many basketballs you could fit into a limousine, either).
Remember, you may not get asked these exact questions. The goal is to help you think about how to think about these kinds of questions so that you know what to do if you are surprised by one in the interview.
Get the best answers to 101 job interview questions and crush your interview!
Best of luck.

culled from:careerealism.com

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8 Reasons Why You Should Start Eating Asparagus!

by Brian Wu

One of the earliest signs of a new growing season is the presence of asparagus at the supermarket. Asparagus is a tall plant from the lily family whose shoots are edible and considered a health vegetable that is perfect for almost any diet. There are many reasons why everyone should be eating asparagus. Let’s take a look at exactly why you should make this tasty vegetable a part of your diet.

1. Asparagus is Loaded With Nutrients

Asparagus is loaded with nutrients your body needs such as fiber, folate, vitamins A, C, E and K. It also contains chromium, a mineral that helps improve insulin’s ability to remove glucose from the body’s cells, meaning it is great for diabetics.

2. It Will Keep You Regular

All jokes about the smell of your urine after you eat asparagus aside, this little veggie is a natural diuretic due to the presence of the amino acid asparagine. This increased urination will help your body shed excess salts, which is particular beneficial for anyone that retains too much fluid in their bodies.

3. Asparagus Can Help You Shed Excess Weight

At only 3 calories per spear, asparagus is a great vegetable to add to any diet, and especially good for those that are looking to lose weight. You can easily snack on these at any time without having to worry about the extra calories. Just think of it as a guilt-free snack.

4. It Helps Prevent Cancer

Asparagus is a great source for glutathione, a known agent that can help your body break down and remove carcinogens from your body. This means that it, in effect, can help prevent cancer from forming and growing in your body.

5. Naturally Organic

Asparagus is one of the fastest growing of all the spring vegetables. Because of this fact, there is very little need to continually spray them with pesticides to protect the crops. While some are still used, asparagus has some of the lowest concentrations of any non-organic crop on the market. Of course, you can still buy organic to support the cause, but you have less to worry about it when you purchase asparagus.

6. Great Food for Bacteria

Remember, not all bacteria are bad. In fact, there are many types of bacteria living inside each and every one of us as we speak, and without them we couldn’t survive. Asparagus contains a unique carbohydrate known as Inunlin. This carb is great for those bacteria living inside you as it promotes healthy growth and activity of these bacteria.

7. Natural Aphrodisiac

Admittedly, more research needs to be done in this area, but it is a long held belief that asparagus is an aphrodisiac. Whether you are male or female, there is a long held belief that it can help improve your sex drive and it has even been used to increase pregnancy chances and to treat many of the symptoms of menopause.

8. It Tastes Great

I admit, taste is a rather subjective subject. However, when it is prepared correctly, asparagus tastes great and can compliment almost any meal. There are many ways you can prepare it. You can steam it, roast it and even grill it. No matter which method you choose, you will have a wonderful side dish perfect for almost any meal.
To steam asparagus, place a steamer basket in a saucepan and add water filling the saucepan to just below the basket. Bring the water to a boil. Add the asparagus to the basket, reduce the heat and let it simmer for 3 to 5 minutes covered until the asparagus is somewhat tender yet crisp.

Who Should Eat It

With very few downsides to asparagus, it is really a great vegetable for everyone to enjoy. When you do eat it, make sure you cut off the very bottom of each of the stalks, as they tend to be difficult to chew. Some people who are following a strict diet for other health reasons should always consult with their physician before adding asparagus to their diet.

Conclusion

Asparagus is a great tasting vegetable that is good for your health in many ways, making it the perfect side dish for any meal or even a great snack idea to help get you through those hungry times. With all its health benefits and its great taste, it’s perfect for anyone looking to live a healthier life. So why not steam some asparagus today and start reaping all the benefits it has to offer.


culled from:lifehack.org

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5 Tips For Teaching Leadership Skills

By Nicole Fallon Taylor

It's often said that it takes a certain type of person to be a great leader. These individuals exhibit qualities like passion, integrity, a take-charge attitude and the ability to inspire others. Employers and executives recognize this, and these "born leaders" are often first in line for promotions to leadership roles.

But people with leadership potential don't simply become leaders overnight. It's up to existing leaders to train the next generation, showing them how to guide a group of people toward a specific vision or goal.

Whether your company has a structured training program or you simply teach by example, here are a few key things to keep in mind when you're training future leaders. [5 Simple Ways to Become a Better Leader]
Choose the right people

While certain individuals may seem like shoe-ins for a leadership position based on their personality or their current role within a company, it's crucial to take all performance and experience factors into account before determining their leadership candidacy.

"Before you start teaching and enhancing the skills of a leader, you have to start with the right person," said Brian Sullivan, a vice president at sales and management training firm Sandler Training. "This person should have a track record of success [in their current role] and have already exhibited leadership traits. Not everything they'll be doing as a leader is necessarily something they've done before, but these two fundamental items are the springboard for any type of training."

Sullivan also told leaders not to allow favoritism to come into play when choosing a successor, and make a decision based solely on a candidate's qualifications.
Make sure they understand the business

A good leader must always be training the next generation of leaders, said Stephen Sheinbaum, founder of financial technology company Bizfi, which provides alternative finance for small businesses. To do this, leadership candidates need to be well-versed in where your business is headed, and what kinds of people and skills will be needed to make that happen.

"If a greater use of technology is going to be key to the future growth of your company, then you've got to make sure that your leaders understand that technology and its importance in your industry," Sheinbaum said. "They may not be the ones writing the code, but they have to know how to hire, communicate with and guide the coders that you will need."
Build their listening skills

One of the most important skills a leader can acquire is how to listen. A true leader always takes his or her team's feedback into account when making decisions. This skill can be taught by being a good listener yourself.

"Always listen to the input you receive, and act on it," said Guryan Tighe, a partner at Speakeasy Strategies public relations firm. "If you have only your own agenda in mind, you can't truly hear others' input and potentially, the next great idea. Make sure your business is set up to stimulate people around you to create and take initiative. For example, ask the trainees about their training experience, as this encourages an environment focused on growth and development."
Help them craft a future vision

"Vision" is a word that is commonly thrown around in reference to leaders, but what does it really mean? Denise Brosseau, CEO of Thought Leadership Lab, believes it involves the ability to inspire others to see a future worth striving for.

"[Leaders should] focus on crafting a compelling vision of the future that they will work to bring about," said Brosseau, author of "Ready to Be a Thought Leader?" (Jossey-Bass, 2014). "This future must be something they are passionate about, but they must also have the credibility and experience to make progress toward achieving it."

Teaching leadership candidates how to create and articulate their own future vision will help them when it comes time to actually execute plans to get there.
Look at their motivations

If a leadership candidate seems more excited about being "the boss" who's in charge of others, he or she probably isn't the best person for the job. A good leader knows that his or her job is working for everybody else, said Dale Falcinelli, chairman of the advisory council at Lehigh University's Baker Institute for Entrepreneurship.

"Leadership is an executive club, and it shouldn't be taken for granted," Falcinelli told Business News Daily. "Leaders aren't caught up with the notion of people working for them. They'll have the passion and drive to get where they need to go, and they'll know that to get there, they have to work for and through other people."


culled from:businessnewsdaily.com

It's often said that it takes a certain type of person to be a great leader. These individuals exhibit qualities like passion, integrity, a take-charge attitude and the ability to inspire others. Employers and executives recognize this, and these "born leaders" are often first in line for promotions to leadership roles.
But people with leadership potential don't simply become leaders overnight. It's up to existing leaders to train the next generation, showing them how to guide a group of people toward a specific vision or goal.
Whether your company has a structured training program or you simply teach by example, here are a few key things to keep in mind when you're training future leaders. [5 Simple Ways to Become a Better Leader]

Choose the right people

While certain individuals may seem like shoe-ins for a leadership position based on their personality or their current role within a company, it's crucial to take all performance and experience factors into account before determining their leadership candidacy.
"Before you start teaching and enhancing the skills of a leader, you have to start with the right person," said Brian Sullivan, a vice president at sales and management training firm Sandler Training. "This person should have a track record of success [in their current role] and have already exhibited leadership traits. Not everything they'll be doing as a leader is necessarily something they've done before, but these two fundamental items are the springboard for any type of training."
Sullivan also told leaders not to allow favoritism to come into play when choosing a successor, and make a decision based solely on a candidate's qualifications.

Make sure they understand the business

A good leader must always be training the next generation of leaders, said Stephen Sheinbaum, founder of financial technology company Bizfi, which provides alternative finance for small businesses. To do this, leadership candidates need to be well-versed in where your business is headed, and what kinds of people and skills will be needed to make that happen.
"If a greater use of technology is going to be key to the future growth of your company, then you've got to make sure that your leaders understand that technology and its importance in your industry," Sheinbaum said. "They may not be the ones writing the code, but they have to know how to hire, communicate with and guide the coders that you will need."

Build their listening skills

One of the most important skills a leader can acquire is how to listen. A true leader always takes his or her team's feedback into account when making decisions. This skill can be taught by being a good listener yourself.
"Always listen to the input you receive, and act on it," said Guryan Tighe, a partner at Speakeasy Strategies public relations firm. "If you have only your own agenda in mind, you can't truly hear others' input and potentially, the next great idea. Make sure your business is set up to stimulate people around you to create and take initiative. For example, ask the trainees about their training experience, as this encourages an environment focused on growth and development."

Help them craft a future vision

"Vision" is a word that is commonly thrown around in reference to leaders, but what does it really mean? Denise Brosseau, CEO of Thought Leadership Lab, believes it involves the ability to inspire others to see a future worth striving for.
"[Leaders should] focus on crafting a compelling vision of the future that they will work to bring about," said Brosseau, author of "Ready to Be a Thought Leader?" (Jossey-Bass, 2014). "This future must be something they are passionate about, but they must also have the credibility and experience to make progress toward achieving it."
Teaching leadership candidates how to create and articulate their own future vision will help them when it comes time to actually execute plans to get there.

Look at their motivations

If a leadership candidate seems more excited about being "the boss" who's in charge of others, he or she probably isn't the best person for the job. A good leader knows that his or her job is working for everybody else, said Dale Falcinelli, chairman of the advisory council at Lehigh University's Baker Institute for Entrepreneurship.
"Leadership is an executive club, and it shouldn't be taken for granted," Falcinelli told Business News Daily. "Leaders aren't caught up with the notion of people working for them. They'll have the passion and drive to get where they need to go, and they'll know that to get there, they have to work for and through other people."
- See more at: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5818-leadership-training.html#sthash.4PXCF2Hv.dpuf

It's often said that it takes a certain type of person to be a great leader. These individuals exhibit qualities like passion, integrity, a take-charge attitude and the ability to inspire others. Employers and executives recognize this, and these "born leaders" are often first in line for promotions to leadership roles.
But people with leadership potential don't simply become leaders overnight. It's up to existing leaders to train the next generation, showing them how to guide a group of people toward a specific vision or goal.
Whether your company has a structured training program or you simply teach by example, here are a few key things to keep in mind when you're training future leaders. [5 Simple Ways to Become a Better Leader]

Choose the right people

While certain individuals may seem like shoe-ins for a leadership position based on their personality or their current role within a company, it's crucial to take all performance and experience factors into account before determining their leadership candidacy.
"Before you start teaching and enhancing the skills of a leader, you have to start with the right person," said Brian Sullivan, a vice president at sales and management training firm Sandler Training. "This person should have a track record of success [in their current role] and have already exhibited leadership traits. Not everything they'll be doing as a leader is necessarily something they've done before, but these two fundamental items are the springboard for any type of training."
Sullivan also told leaders not to allow favoritism to come into play when choosing a successor, and make a decision based solely on a candidate's qualifications.

Make sure they understand the business

A good leader must always be training the next generation of leaders, said Stephen Sheinbaum, founder of financial technology company Bizfi, which provides alternative finance for small businesses. To do this, leadership candidates need to be well-versed in where your business is headed, and what kinds of people and skills will be needed to make that happen.
"If a greater use of technology is going to be key to the future growth of your company, then you've got to make sure that your leaders understand that technology and its importance in your industry," Sheinbaum said. "They may not be the ones writing the code, but they have to know how to hire, communicate with and guide the coders that you will need."

Build their listening skills

One of the most important skills a leader can acquire is how to listen. A true leader always takes his or her team's feedback into account when making decisions. This skill can be taught by being a good listener yourself.
"Always listen to the input you receive, and act on it," said Guryan Tighe, a partner at Speakeasy Strategies public relations firm. "If you have only your own agenda in mind, you can't truly hear others' input and potentially, the next great idea. Make sure your business is set up to stimulate people around you to create and take initiative. For example, ask the trainees about their training experience, as this encourages an environment focused on growth and development."

Help them craft a future vision

"Vision" is a word that is commonly thrown around in reference to leaders, but what does it really mean? Denise Brosseau, CEO of Thought Leadership Lab, believes it involves the ability to inspire others to see a future worth striving for.
"[Leaders should] focus on crafting a compelling vision of the future that they will work to bring about," said Brosseau, author of "Ready to Be a Thought Leader?" (Jossey-Bass, 2014). "This future must be something they are passionate about, but they must also have the credibility and experience to make progress toward achieving it."
Teaching leadership candidates how to create and articulate their own future vision will help them when it comes time to actually execute plans to get there.

Look at their motivations

If a leadership candidate seems more excited about being "the boss" who's in charge of others, he or she probably isn't the best person for the job. A good leader knows that his or her job is working for everybody else, said Dale Falcinelli, chairman of the advisory council at Lehigh University's Baker Institute for Entrepreneurship.
"Leadership is an executive club, and it shouldn't be taken for granted," Falcinelli told Business News Daily. "Leaders aren't caught up with the notion of people working for them. They'll have the passion and drive to get where they need to go, and they'll know that to get there, they have to work for and through other people."
- See more at: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5818-leadership-training.html#sthash.4PXCF2Hv.dpuf

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Why Sending a Deck to an Investor Before a First Meeting Is a Bad Idea

Alex Iskold

Contributor

Here's a typical exchange between a founder and an investor:
Founder: Hi! Would LOVE to meet you and talk to you about what we are doing.
Investor: Do you have a deck?
Founder: Sure, here it is. When can we meet?
Then, after about a week or two:
Investor: Sorry, doesn't look like I could help. (Or even worse: I am pretty busy now, let's reconnect in a month.)
So why do investors ask for decks? To avoid a meeting. Most founders don't get strong introductions. They just get any introduction they can get. Investors ask for decks to get an idea if the business is a fit for them. But that's not quite true. Investors are really just looking for the team slide and the traction slide. They want to know if the team has experience in the space, and what progress they have made.
Investors will make a decision to pass on your business based on your deck. Investors pass immediately if the team doesn't have relevant experience and there is no traction. Once they decide to pass, it will be difficult to get another look.
Your business isn't your deck. You are not your deck. Don't let the deck represent you.
This is as simple as I can put it.
Once an investor gets the deck, there is little urgency to act. It can sit in his or her inbox for days. It feels like work to look through.
All decks are different. Some are really long and not standard. Investors hate those. They flip through a slide or two and stop. I know that because I often struggle to get through the decks I get.
Then there is the danger that if you liberally send out your decks, you will quickly find that your competitors have it.
But, you say, everyone asks to send the deck. How could I possibly say no? What do I do?
To solve a problem, let's understand its cause. The cause is that you are actually too early, don't have traction, don't necessarily have background in the space, are coming to the investor via a not-so-warm introduction and asking for a lot of time.
Flip this on its head. Don't go after investors until you have traction. Get a warm intro from someone who knows you and can attest to your progress and who knows the investor. Find a person who the investor actually trusts and respects -- most likely another founder he or she backed or a person he or she worked closely with in the past.
Instead of the deck, send a two-paragraph introduction. Be sure to include progress on your traction thus far, how you are different from competitors and why you are working on this business.
Ask to get feedback via a 15-minute Google Hangout session. This way, you can still make a connection with the investor, because in the worst case you will get a call, and in the best case the investor will actually be impressed and ask you to come in for a meeting.
Two well-written paragraphs should be easy enough for the investor to decide if it makes sense to engage with you. Those two paragraphs are easier to understand than a deck. You are saving the investor a lot of time. You are also making sure your deck is not parading around the Internet.
If you want to up your game, shoot 60 seconds (no longer) of video to give the investor more background on you and the business. I love seeing these in Techstars applications. Video is way better than the deck. The investors can actually tell a little bit about you as a person. Awesome video increases the chance of investors saying yes to a meeting.
While sending the deck before the meeting is generally a bad idea, you do need a deck, and it needs to be awesome. You will use the deck when formally raising money from venture-capital firms. Typically you will need the deck to walk investors through your business during the second and the third meeting.


culled from:entrepreneur.com

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5 Tips to Prepare You and Your Business for the Holidays

by Joshua Sophy

The holiday season often brings the busiest time of the year for small businesses and increasing demands from the owners’ family and friends.
By being well prepared, owners and their families increase their chances for a happy holiday season — and a happy and prosperous new year.

Staying Ahead of the Competition

Let’s face it. Yours isn’t the only business out there that’s hoping to take advantage of the busy holiday season. So it’s important to stay a step ahead of the competition.
These five tips will help prepare you and your business for the holidays.

1. Track Inventory

A lot of a business’s success this holiday season will depend on what it’s able to offer its customers when they want it. That starts with inventory.
By looking at last year’s sales, owners can gauge the products that resonated best with customers — and what didn’t do as well. Remember, it can be just as bad to order too much of a product as it is to run out of product that’s in high demand. Having shelves stocked with inventory that’s not moving is a loss.
If sales figures from last year don’t provide much help with purchasing inventory this year, put a plan in place to track sales this time around. This will not only help in the current holiday season, but also better prepare for planning in the year to come.

2. Minimize Back Office Work

High volume sales and extended hours are likely to keep owners from managing the back end of their business in a timely manner. It’s the customer first, everything else later.
Small businesses today should be taking advantage of the myriad technological advancements that ease the burden of handling tasks like accounting, billing, collecting customer data and presenting and automating business transactions.
“It’s important that small business owners understand how to use technology to help manage the needs of their business,” said Laura Miller, president of Ink app from Chase. “These technologies can quickly and easily provide small business owners with more time and flexibility to focus on growing and maintaining the business.”

3. Stay On Top of Sales and Expenses

During this time of the year, things tend to move at a more frenetic pace, which can make it more difficult to stay up-to-the-minute on the daily business tasks. This also means spending more time than usual trying to reconcile checks and balances when you do finally get to it.
This is where automation and technology become a small business owner’s best friends. A product like the Ink app from Chase (available to Ink app from Chase) gives instant notifications of sales and purchases made whenever the card is used.
“It’s important that business owners have the proper tools in place to help support the ongoing needs of their business, since slowing down to tackle these is the last thing today’s small business owners have the time to do,” Miller said.
And for those unexpected, last-minute expenses, the Ink app allows users to snap photos of receipts so they can be tracked by accounting software and not accidentally thrown in the trash or lost amid the shuffle.

4. Develop a Marketing Strategy

It’s important for businesses to stand out among the endless marketing gimmicks and promotions used to entice customers. Instead, small businesses should focus on offering holiday promotions specific to their products and services. Once owners have special loyalty offers in place, they need to figure out how to get them in front of potential customers. Here are a few options.

• Email marketing still proves to be the most effective with the highest conversion rate for owners with a robust email list.

• Social media is also an obvious first step. Initial promotion is free and there are paid options to promote products and services on these sites. Companies may also want to consider ad campaigns through major search engines like Bing and Google. And brick-and-mortar shops should consider offering local in-store promotions.

• Gather customer data to keep them aware of future promotions and offerings. Consider a promotion that offers a discount in exchange for an email address to build an email list and repeat customer base.

5. Maintain Momentum

Preparation for the holiday season hopefully leads to less clean up after it ends. There should be no penny unaccounted for at the end of the season. Organization, proper tracking and planned strategies prepared in advance are important to a successful and fruitful holiday season.
Chase for Business has many products and services that can help prepare you and your small business for the holidays to compete successfully.


culled from:smallbiztrends.com

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