Business
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How Do You Recover From a Devastating Incident?
- October 25, 2017
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Leadership
No CommentsRegular readers of this blog know that I’ve had to fire a lot of people over the years, usually related to performance issues. But in the 21 years I was president of the company, I never had a layoff. That was one of my precepts of managing a business: I believed layoffs were really a
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How Do You Keep Up Company Morale?
- October 18, 2017
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Leadership, Management, Measurement
Company morale can have more dramatic rises and falls than a roller coaster. You’ll have your seasonal ebbs and flows, highs before a big product launch, lows after a major crisis or periods of poor performance, as well as the occasional holiday-related highs. But you can also have pockets of high and low morale throughout
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Do You Have a Disaster Plan for Your Manufacturing Company?
- September 6, 2017
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Management, Manufacturing, Safety
With Hurricane Harvey passing just a couple hours southeast of me, and Hurricane Irma hitting Florida, I have been wondering what businesses in the affected area have done to protect their data and information from disaster. I’ve heard stories of businesses that have had to shut down because they lost their financial and client data
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Treat People Fairly, and They’ll Be Fair With You
- August 9, 2017
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Leadership
I’ve always tried to treat people fairly, even going above and beyond what’s expected of me. I’ve been in more than a few situations that I didn’t need to do this. I wouldn’t have done anything wrong, and I could have received a small benefit to myself in the end. But by treating the other
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If You’re Going to Do Something, Do It Right or Don’t Do It
- July 27, 2017
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Management
A few months ago, after I left Robroy and started my own consultancy, I received a very nice note from an old manufacturer’s rep named Jack, and it brought back a lot of memories. David, I keep up with you through Brian C. and John S.. I’ll never forget you calling me when you got
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Hire Slow and Fire Fast to Avoid Workplace Toxicity
- July 19, 2017
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Management
Toxic employees can have a negative effect on company morale and production. Their bad behavior doesn’t just limit them and their accomplishments. It spreads like a sickness to the people who work around them, causing all kinds of internal strife and dissatisfaction. Even your star employees, who are probably pulling the weight of the toxic
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Learn From the Past So You Don’t Repeat It
- May 31, 2017
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Innovation
The further backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see. I’ve always been a big fan of Winston Churchill, and as I was growing up, I adopted several of his quotes as philosophies to live by. This month, I’ll discuss four quotes that have guided me over my professional career. Being
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Move From Failure to Failure With a Smile
- May 24, 2017
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Manufacturing
Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm. I’ve always been a big fan of Winston Churchill, and as I was growing up, I adopted several of his quotes as philosophies to live by. This month, I’ll discuss four quotes that have guided me over my professional
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How to Be Perfect: Improve and Change Often
- May 10, 2017
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Measurement
To improve is to change, so to be perfect is to change often. I’ve always been a big fan of Winston Churchill, and as I was growing up, I adopted several of his quotes as philosophies to live by. This month, I’ll discuss four quotes that have guided me over my professional career. I’m a
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Forever to Build, Lost in a Moment
- May 3, 2017
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Management
“To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day.” I’ve always been a big fan of Winston Churchill, and as I was growing up, I adopted several of his quotes as philosophies to live by. This month, I’ll discuss four