Blog

In my 27 years of experience, I’ve deduced that succession planning starts in one of four places, if it actually starts at all. They are: Kitchen table Board room Emergency room Funeral home As you can imagine, the last two places aren’t very good. In fact, the National Post published an article I wrote on … Continue reading Six Hour Succession Planning

I’m sharing this length newsletter today because it’s an excerpt from my upcoming new book, The Four Roads to Business Wealth, and I wanted you to have access right away. The key point is this: Don’t sell to your customers, help them. Today, we are going to continue our discussion of the Six Hour Strategy® … Continue reading Six Hour Strategy, Step 2: Analyzing your Customers and Competitors

One of my core principles for accelerating mid-market company growth is to think and act like a bigger company. By doing this, you’re creating a larger future for yourself and growing into it, like stretchy pants, instead of being an awkward teenager who is rapidly outgrowing his or her too small pants. I recommend that … Continue reading How to Write a Letter to Shareholders

The first step in formalizing your business strategy is not a SWOT analysis, it’s not looking at your competitors, and it’s not a five percent increase over last year’s results. The first step in setting your business strategy is to ignore your current reality and talk about your ideal future state. By that, I mean … Continue reading Six Hour Strategy – Step One: How to Create Your Ideal Future Business Strategy

Someone recently asked me why I give away so much of my content for free. My answer is for the same reason great photographers share their tips online on how they took the photos. Great photos are a combination of artistic talent and technical skill. Those are the same skills involved in strategy development and … Continue reading Six Steps to Grow Your Business in One Day: The Six Hour Strategy® Model

The most powerful business concept that I’m aware of is speed. Speed is why my daughter pre-orders her Starbuck’s beverage, prepays, walks in, and picks it up. Speed is why many people are addicted to social media and the almost instant feedback and likes they receive on their posts. Speed is how Amazon is changing … Continue reading Six Hour Strategy® to Grow Your Business

In my 27 years of advising privately-held business on growth and wealth, I’ve observed three critical laws for successful growth. They are: The Law of Leadership The Law of Strategy The Law of Resources The Law of Leadership Every organization’s success relies firstly on its leaders and secondly on its industry. Founders often create the … Continue reading The Three Laws of Business Growth

What do some of the most successful and productive people in the world do every week that ensures their top performance? They proactively focus on their goals and review their progress towards those goals. Specifically, they stop, think, analyze what happened, learn, and then plan their next week’s goals. Based on the works of a … Continue reading The President’s Weekly Review to Grow Your Business

Congratulations to Mark McMorris, our local snowboarding super-hero, on his Olympic bronze medal in the Men’s Slopestyle competition. This event takes the highest single run score from the finalists’ three runs to determine the winner. It encourages big performances and big risks which are very entertaining for the audience and pushes the athletes to step … Continue reading The Olympics and Why Mark McMorris Deserves Gold

A few years (decades!) ago when my parents and aunt and uncle owned Clear Lake Lodge, I was left in charge as the general manager, also known as “Mom,” had to attend another commitment. This was a big responsibility in a 22-room hotel. I wanted to create a success and make a good impression on … Continue reading Customer Wealth