As we stand before the vast, impenetrable forest that is human emotion, the different types of empathy serve as our tools for exploration, guiding us through the complexity and beauty of the human experience. Cognitive Empathy is like a map of the terrain. It lays out the paths, the landmarks, the cliffs and valleys of …
You want your core values to motivate the actions and behaviors you intended when you opened your business. After an inspiring meeting with the team, you distill all your beliefs down to a clever acronym. For a few months, you revisit your core values religiously. Then you get busy. Distracted with the day-to-day. You put …
You went into business for a reason. It was more than the money. You can make good money working for someone else. Let them take on all the risk and brain damage. At some point, you felt you could do better if you did it yourself. So you opened up shop and got to work. …
You see them everywhere. Customer-centric aspirations that feel nice. Dang. That sounds like a nice place to do business with. They seem nice. I bet they’re nice. Nice. I call shenanigans. Hear me out. If a company’s purpose is to serve customers at the highest level, then how do they do that? If you’re like …
My friend Aaron had just tanked his plumbing business. He was sleeping on his mom’s couch with his little boy, freshly divorced. He had no money, no prospects, and even owed a bunch of people either money or time. But Aaron wasn’t a quitter. Aaron asked his sister for help to pay for his plumbing …
Before we hop on to discuss what a Level 5 leader is, humor me by answering a question first. What makes a great leader? Is it any of the following? Courage to face adversity Business acumen and knowledge Unrivaled expertise Organizational skills Charisma and leadership Perhaps you answered, “all of the above”. After all, great …
Let’s step into a nightmare. You’re in the kitchen and decide to go for a snack. You are reaching for the cookies when your boss enters the room and says, “Don’t eat those. They’re for the staff meeting.” Your boss quietly but quickly turns around and leaves the room. You stick your hand into the …
CORE Principles are universal truths founded on a proven pattern of success. This means you can’t bring all of your employees into a room and shout out what you think makes you successful and hope it works. The exact same mistake is made when using psychometrics tools to select employees. DiSC® profiles, for example, are …
According to Freshbooks, we spend about a third of our lives at work. Naturally, your employees should be punching in every day expecting encouragement and growth. A proverbial home away from home. But for many business owners, the work environment they provide is the stark opposite. Instead of warm milk and fresh cookies, you’re serving …
Your branding strategy can be as powerful as Thor’s hammer, but it is nothing without a thriving company culture. The most established companies can be toppled when their culture is weak, and the most innovative startups can fizzle out if they don’t have a clear brand identity. Together, both elements need to fill the bill …
