Succeeding in today's hypercompetitive, fast-changing environment is no easy task. Qualities like perseverance, resourcefulness, and consideration are musts. Two that are especially important today are optimism and enthusiasm.
With the media constantly inundating us with negative messages, it was refreshing to listen to someone like Bert Jacobs speak on Monday. The cofounder and chief executive optimist of Life is Good, a $100 million privately held t-shirt and apparel company, talked to an audience at the National Retail Federation to provide life lessons that we can all translate into business lessons. "Your life isn't there to grow your business; your business is here to serve your life," he explained.
Warning: Default decisions and actions, although seductive when chosen and not always easy to recognize, can be lethal to your success.
First, perhaps it's best to define default. It occurs when you have chosen--operative word, chosen--not to make a decision or take an action that would help you move forward in achieving what you want in business, in your career, or in your personal life.
Many companies lose market viability because of a default mind-set that results in default behavior. Individuals lose out on career and personal relationships, due to default behaviors. So, how do you recognize this lethal-to-your-success choice of behavior? Here are some examples:
Continue reading "Guest Blogger Arlene Johnson: Choosing Default Can Take You Down" »
I constantly hear from B2B executives that it's a challenge to develop strong relationships between the B2B sales staff and clients. But it doesn't have to be.
The greatest cost to our economy in the present recession may not be the evaporation of wealth in the stock market or real estate deeds. It may be the shrinkage, violet-like, of any willingness to take a risk - any risk - even a good one. No venture in love, intellect, or business carries a guarantee. The difference between occasional smart, calculated failures and the kind we've seen lately in the headlines is the difference between doing one's homework, exercising good judgment based on data, expertise, diverse input, and experience versus jumping into a short-term payoff that simply holds no one accountable for the long run.
