Leadership
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How Do You Fight the Status Quo When Leading a New Company?
- January 30, 2019
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Leadership, Management
No CommentsIt’s an exciting time to walk into a new job at a new company and know that you get to set the tone for that company’s vision and performance. If it’s a brand new company and you’re an energetic leader, you’re starting with a clean slate, so you get to create the culture. But if
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Bob Blair: Understanding the Difference Between Leadership & Management
- December 12, 2018
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Leadership, Management
I recently had a chance to ask some of my old friends and reps to contribute a guest article to my blog. “What do you want us to write about?” they asked. “How about something you’ve learned in our years working together?” I said. This one was written by Bob Blair, an industrial engineer I
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Kris Kumnock: Win Hearts With Iconic Events
- December 12, 2018
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Leadership
I recently had a chance to ask some of my old friends and reps to contribute a guest article to my blog. “What do you want us to write about?” they asked. “How about something you’ve learned in our years working together?” I said. I’ve been in the “iconic event” business for several years, helping
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The Time There Was Nearly a Knife Fight on My Factory Floor
- November 7, 2018
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Leadership, Management, Safety
You run into all kinds of problems when you’re managing a factory and running a business. I’ve had to fire people for sleeping on the job. I locked my own son out of a meeting for being late. And I once had to talk a naked guy down out of the rafters. So it shouldn’t
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Leaders Shouldn’t Have to Motivate Others
- October 31, 2018
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Leadership, Management
I recently read an article on LinkedIn about how leaders shouldn’t have to motivate others, and I had a bit of an “amen!” response. To me, motivating someone means applying some kind of pressure to get someone to do something they might not otherwise do. As author Maurice Evans said: Motivation has to do with
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Top Skills I Looked for In My New Hires: How Important is an Executive Résumé?
- October 24, 2018
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Leadership, Management
When I was hiring executives, I wasn’t always concerned with the issues that the human resources department thought was most important. For example, I often didn’t care whether someone had a degree in their field unless it was absolutely required. I’ve met some PhDs who were absolute idiots, and I’ve met people with nothing more
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How I Handled Interpersonal Conflict Between Employees
- October 17, 2018
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Leadership, Management
It’s inevitable that you’re just not going to like someone at work. They’ll rub you the wrong way, get under your skin, and generally irritate you with everything they say and do. Don’t worry, they feel the same way about you too. But even if this is the case, I never wanted — or allowed
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How Can You Retain Good People After Investing So Much In Them?
- September 5, 2018
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Leadership, Management
With unemployment being as low as it is, it’s difficult to keep employees around because they can afford to be more mobile. People are more transitory. They often change companies to make more money, take a higher position, or even just because they want a change of scenery. They’ll even move from city to city
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How to Earn Loyalty of Your Associates and Partners
- August 22, 2018
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Leadership, Management
I shake my head sometimes when I hear executives complain about the lack of loyalty from their employees, and yet they never hesitate to lay off a bunch of them just to keep their shareholders happy. They treat their employees like replaceable cogs in a machine but are surprised when their employees leave for another
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Tom Hodges: The Importance of Discipline and Going Big or Going Home
- June 20, 2018
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Leadership
I recently had a chance to ask some of my old friends and distributors to contribute a guest article to my blog. “What do you want us to write about?” they asked. “How about something you’ve learned in our years working together?” I said. This week’s article is from my friend, Tom Hodges. I’ve always