Before we get to the main topic, here are a few things to get you thinking or smiling:

1. My Biz Quote of the week:
   “With higher wages, more benefits, increased staff turnover and generally higher operating costs, your only hope for profitability is to develop world-class operational efficiency in every part of your business.  Who’s in charge of that?”
   …Donald Cooper.
    
2. AMAZING  OFFER!   (This is the last week for this offer)
   ‘Improve clarity, commitment & accountability in your business’…for just $600!
   

   Lack of ‘clarity, commitment & accountability’ is one of the biggest problems in many  businesses today…and I can help solve that problem in just over an hour.    

   I’ve just delivered several 90-minute Zoom Sessions on this important topic for  several clients in the Canada, USA and Europe.  The response has been extraordinary!

   This Session delivers some of my powerful and transformational management insights and, now that it has been successfully ‘test driven’ on both sides of the Atlantic, I’m doing something radical.  I’m offering to deliver it, virtually, to business teams or Associations (to offer to their members), in January or February, for just $600 per Session. Given that my speaking fee for live-session Keynotes is $9,800, plus travel, this is a ‘hot ticket’!  Call it a ‘legacy move’ by a guy who’s been at this for a long time!

   The package includes:

   1. 4 insightful ‘Homework’ assignments that will take you and your Team about 24 minutes to complete before my Session. If you won’t do the ‘homework’, don’t waste your 600 bucks.
   2. My 1-hour Zoom Session, plus all the ‘straight talk’ Q&A time required to address your questions and to discuss what your ‘next steps’ should be.
   3. A step-by-step ‘Implementation Guide’. I send you the master file and you print a copy for each attendee, before my Session.
   4. Free access to my complete set of copyrighted ‘Business Assessment and   Management Implementation Tools’ that have transformed 100s of businesses.
       

   How to make this happen:

   1. You contact me at donald@donaldcooper.com to book a date…and pay $600.
   2. You send the Info Package, the 4 pre-session ‘Homework’ assignments and the ‘Implementation Guide’ to each attendee one week before the Session date.
   3.  You set up the Zoom Session for the agreed day and time and send me the link. We test the link the day before to make sure everything works properly.
       

3. Quick Biz Tip:
   How good is your ‘Follow-up System’?

   A big part of your job, and your effectiveness, as a leader or manager is how consistently and effectively you ‘following up’ on the dozens of assignments and projects (commitments) that your team is working on. 

   First, you create clarity as to what is to be done, you give your people the resources and empowerment to get it done…and you get their commitment as to outcomes that will be delivered and by when.  Then you follow up.  ‘The world is run by those who follow up’.

   This is how you create a culture of clarity, commitment and accountability.  This is how things get done, effectively, on time.

   So how good is your follow-up system…and how diligently do you use it?  “Businesses don’t die from a single shot to the head. They die, slowly but surely, from 1,000 uncompleted tasks!”
    

4. The average cost of air travel in Canada shot up by 41.5% in 2022.
    
5. The average hourly pay that an Uber driver in Toronto earns (after costs) is $7.90. This is almost half of Ontario’s legal minimum wage of $15.50.

Now, to this week’s important topic:

Will you be the best boss your employees ever had?

At this point in my life, I spend way too much time attending funerals.  We had almost 3,000 employees at Cooper Canada and, sadly, many of them are getting to end of their life journey.  Even though we sold ‘Cooper’ many years ago, one of us remaining ‘Coopers’ tries to get to as many of these funerals as possible.

I recently spent an hour with the family of one of our most wonderful and treasured employees who had just passed away. This incredible lady came to us as an immigrant woman, started as a sewing machine operator, then a Lead Hand, then a Department Manager and eventually became our ‘VP of Industrial Engineering and Plant Design’.  And she was a class act all the way.

Here’s what her son told me, “My mother was an extraordinary lady, but she achieved such great heights because she worked at a company that was committed to mutual respect, engagement and a culture where hard work and creativity was appreciated and rewarded, regardless of  the employee’s education, rank, ethnic background, or gender.”

Anna worked for a number of other companies after we sold the business, but her son told me his mother always said there was no place like Cooper Canada. 

So, what will your employees say about you at the end of their life journey?  Will they think back on how you provided them with the learning, respect, confidence and opportunity to be extraordinary?  Will they even remember you?

Clients frequently tell me, “You can’t get good staff anymore.”  To which I reply, “The best people have to work for somebody, it’s just that you have to deserve them.”   What are you doing to deserve the best people…and to be the best boss they ever had?

That’s it for this week…

Stay safe…live brilliantly!       

Donald Cooper 

Donald Cooper speaks and coaches internationally on management, marketing, and profitability.  He can be reached by email at donald@donaldcooper.com in Toronto, Canada.