Commentary – North San Francisco Bay Area, Sonoma, Marin, Napa counties

Building a Business: Creating a culture where people take responsibility

March 8th, 2010

”Nine-tenths of life’s serious controversies come from misunderstanding.” –Louis Brandeis
The Turnaround Corner: When selling a business, do your due diligence

March 8th, 2010

When contemplating the sale of your business, make sure you have handled your side of the due diligence correctly to avoid costly disputes and litigation.
Commentary: Knowing your ’soft skills’ vital to your career

March 1st, 2010

Before you even think about applying for your next position you should take some time to take inventory of your natural skills, traits and characteristics.
Commentary: Well-planned workplace health programs can reap many rewards

March 1st, 2010

Workplace health programs aren’t just a feel-good proposition. They can have a positive effect on a company’s bottom line. At a time when businesses are trying to do more with less, fostering a total-health culture that improves employee health, job performance and morale can give you a competitive edge.
Sales Moves: If you want to motivate your sales staff, reward achievement

March 1st, 2010

At the corporate sales meetings where I give presentations, I am often asked to participate in giving out sales awards.
Business Journal Editorial: A Greek tragedy that holds lessons for rising U.S. debt

February 22nd, 2010

People know intuitively that the story of excessive debt always ends badly. That is why so many are alarmed at the inability of local, state and — especially — federal bureaucracies to the rein in their profligate spending.
Building a Business: Creating a company culture where accountability prevails

February 22nd, 2010

“When is it no longer my responsibility to get people to complete their assignments … and where does their responsibility to perform begin?” a North Bay CEO asked me recently.
Commentary: Regulation is killing California manufacturing

February 22nd, 2010

For all the rosy talk, California’s new “green” jobs now account for less than 1 percent of the state’s work force. Certainly we need these jobs and should be doing everything we can to nurture them. But pretending that they alone will pull California out of our current economic bog is naive. Growing thousands of green jobs while driving away hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs won’t recapture our state’s economic glory. We need both to reignite our economy.
Commentary: Effective networking critical to career success

February 22nd, 2010

In this unprecedented time of career and business change it’s important to learn and apply proven techniques. As a career strategist I have researched and developed networking concepts to assist with relationship building for profitability and results. Networking is the consistent, organized system of connecting with new and formerly known individuals where you both contribute to and support one another in accomplishing your goals.
Sales Moves: The right way to compete: Be the best, have the best reputation

February 15th, 2010

Here’s the challenge: How does a salesperson address the issue of the competition in these times? I wrote about it in “The Sales Bible” in 1994, revised it in 2002 and revised it again in 2008’s new edition. But that was before the bottom fell out of the economy.