I get asked this by virtually all business owners I meet. How do I get my employees to think and act more like business owners rather than just employees. It is a difficult question to reply. First of all, the culture context does not help. Many employees are short sighted enough to think that they …
Common root causes of issues in Family Businesses
I have been advising and working with Family Businesses, long enough, to know that the root causes for the multiple issues and problems faced by family businesses are always the same. As a business leader of a family business, you may think that the issues you face are somewhat unique - the context may be …
Continue reading Common root causes of issues in Family Businesses
Mandating the Vaccine
This is most probably the mother of all controversial and thorny subjects, at this precise moment. However, now that the FDA has fully approved Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine, I strongly believe that businesses and society at large need to take all steps necessary to normalise the act of getting vaccinated. Vaccine hesitancy is and has been …
Use the data!
Although virtually all SMEs gather a good amount of data, my experience has shown that few use it or use it to its full extent, to drive decisions within the business and to capture opportunities and minimise risks. Many SME business leaders feel that driving their business with data to allow their business to grow …
Change or Perish
Notwithstanding all that we have been through, with the advent of the pandemic, I still see businesses and business leaders struggling with the adaptation to change. Some seem to be hoping for a post-pandemic era which will revert to the same reality of the pre-pandemic era. All indications are that increasing volatility, complexity and rapid …
Under performing Family members
When it comes to Family Businesses, this is one of the thorniest problems to deal with, but there are ways to nip it in the bud. In family businesses, leaders sometimes make hiring and staffing decisions based on relationship and obligation as much as on competence and experience, if not more. After all, one purpose …
Toxic Employees
One of the recurrent themes and situations business leaders talk to me about is how to handle toxic employees. The tell tale signs of a toxic employee are very common - they never have anything positive to say, they irritate other team members and make working life miserable for all. The main issue with toxic …
When are you “at work”?
After nearly a year and a half from the advent of the pandemic, I believe we must redefine what it means to be “at work.” While digital technologies like email and smartphones have always blurred the distinction between being at work and being out of the office, for many white-collar workers, the pandemic has eliminated …
On what basis do you take your decisions?
I am still amazed when I see how business owners or leaders take their decisions. Many just tell me they take such decisions based on their experience....this is when I normally reply that their experience is a filtered understanding based on circumstances that are surely different from today's turbulence. So is your experience a real …
When Family Hurts the Family Business
Results from an analysis that combined 204 academic studies covering 3,880,267 businesses across 30 countries was recently published. When it comes to family businesses these were distinguished based on family’s involvement as owners, managers or both. This is an important distinction. Various studies have shown that family owners, on average, improve the performance of the …
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