(Time to read this Blog is about 3 minutes)
Before we get to the main topic, here are a few things to get you thinking or smiling:
- My Biz Quote of the week:
“Companies often say that their employees are their most important asset. But many of those same companies treat their employees as if they’re ‘disposable’. If you treat them as if they’re disposable, they’ll behave as if they’re disposable.”
…Donald Cooper.
- Quick Biz Tip:
People don’t resist change.
People don’t resist change…they resist loss. Loss of revenue, loss of time, loss of prestige or power, loss of safety or health, loss of opportunity, loss of respect, loss of access to ‘the boss’, or loss of something else of value to them. When implementing change in your business, how can you make it a ‘win’ and not a loss?
- The cost of the Pope’s Canadian ‘apology tour’. Last summer Pope Francis toured Canada to apologize for how the Catholic Church treated aboriginal kids in ‘Residential Schools’ from 1870 to 1997. To be fair, the Catholic Church was not the only player involved in this forced separation of native children from their parents for the purpose of ‘un-indianizing’ them. The Anglican, Presbyterian and other churches, along with the Canadian Government were also deeply involved. But the Catholic Church bore the brunt of the intense criticism.
So, Pope Francis agreed to come to Canada to officially apologize for the church’s role. The cost to Canada for this 6-day ‘apology tour’? $56 million dollars. That’s almost $10 million a day! ☹
- If you or your Industry Association have a Conference this Fall, perhaps we should talk. As a thought leader on management, marketing, staff engagement and profitability, I can bring real bottom-line value to your next Conference. Our most requested topics are:
- “Accelerate Your Business…the ‘straight goods’ on how to sell more, manage smarter, grow your bottom line…and have a life.”
- “Winning the Talent Wars…8 essential steps to attracting, developing, leading & engaging a top-performing team.”
- “Vision Critical…how to manage, innovate and thrive in a very different tomorrow!”
- “Succession Planning & Exit Strategies…preparing your business and yourself for the most important financial transaction of your life!
Most clients have me deliver 2 sessions, or one extended ‘Super Session’ at their event, which makes me very cost-effective in both speaking fee and travel cost, as I take the place of 2 speakers.
All attendees receive free access to my complete set of copyrighted ‘Business Assessment & Management Implementation Tools’. These tools & templates have helped 1,000s of clients focus on where their business is now, where it needs to be…and specifically how they’ll get ‘from here to there’. This is huge take-away value!
While not ‘on stage’ I deliver a series of 20 minute 1-on-1 mini Business Coaching Sessions that are always a huge hit with attendees. They love the individual attention! It’s my belief and experience that some of the most important value is delivered ‘off the platform’ in these quiet and confidential 1-on-1 conversations.
To quote one recent attendee, “This was the most insightful, truthful, helpful and entertaining management session I’ve attended in my 30 years in business!”
If you’d like to chat about ‘possibilities’, I’m easy to reach at donad@donaldcooper.com.
- The happiest country on the planet. The World Happiness Report has named Finland as the world’s happiest country for the 6th Coming in second and third are Denmark and Iceland.
At the bottom of the ranking are Sierra Leone, Lebanon and Afghanistan.
Now, to this week’s important topic:
The simple truth about ‘Benchmarking & Best Practices’:
‘Benchmarking & best practices’ is a hot subject in business today. You can pay $1,500 to attend a 2-day workshop on this subject. I’ll save you the time and the money. ‘Benchmarking and best practices’ means finding out who does it best…and copying them. That’s it! How do they stretch that out for two days?
The easiest way to improve your business is to learn from the best. Do you know who does it better than you, anywhere in the world? Better design, better service, a more amazing customer experience, better packaging, more effective management, more efficient systems & processes, better machinery, quicker response time, better policies, more effective marketing or promotion? What are they famous for and how do they do it? Have you studied them? Have you even checked out their website?
Who in your industry attracts, engages and retains top performers…and how do they do it? How is their culture better than yours?
Who in your industry, in the entire world, has the lowest price? Are they making money? How do they do it? What can you learn from them about efficiency, logistics and process?
Who in your industry charges the highest price? What do they do to justify that high price? Are they making money? What can you learn from them about creating extraordinary customer experiences, adding value, marketing and brand positioning?
Who are the ‘disruptors’ in your industry…those innovative upstarts who may change ‘the game’ completely and make your business model obsolete? Don’t dismiss them or write them off. They may be the future.
Who are the legends, the ‘celebrities’ in your field? What are they famous for and how did they get there? In every industry there are ‘commodity’ suppliers who are undifferentiated and, usually, struggling. Then, there are the ‘experts’ who are known, respected and sought out for their knowledge and ability to deliver. They get more than their fair share of the business and often command a premium price for their products or services. And then there are the ‘celebrities’. Those few brilliant operators and tireless marketers who have mastered the art of becoming famous. Customers rave about them, text and tweet about them. The media talks about them and makes them even more famous.
So, what will you do to learn from the best…then do it even better…and become the new best? Could you take it to a whole new level and become a ‘celebrity’ in your industry? Now is a good time to start.
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.
Comment *Gotta be careful getting off-brand Don, with your “The Cost to Host Pope Frank” rant and others I’ve seen on past newsletters. My comment has nothing to do with religion, whether I’m pro-Catholic or anti-this or whatever. Stick to what you do best and don’t get sucked in to what everyone else is doing. When I see your emails I open them right away because I am looking for something away from the crap we all read on the internet. Get back to your core mission, lest we press ‘delete’ before even reading.
There are no such things as ghosts. There are no such things as gods. There are no such things as demons, devils, heavens, hells, or angels. No one has psychic powers. No one has telekinesis. No one can walk on water. Virgins cannot get pregnant and remain virgins, you cannot multiply fish and bread by wishing it so. You can respect someones right to believe in whatever they wish without the notion that, as an idea, I must respect that belief, and bear your cost of it. People deserve a measure of respect, beliefs do not. What we need to do is realize how to have a calm rational discussion about a difficult topic. Particularly when it comes to taking money out of the pockets of people in the form of taxes to coddle someones god when that forced donation is a donation to a belief they don’t hold, or believe in a different god altogether. It’s simply insane to expect everyone else to sit idly by while funds that could be used for the preservation of life here in our country be used to host some grand wizard’s apology that should be funded by the person that frankly messed up and committed genocide against indigenous people. The Catholic church is the wealthiest not for profit organization on planet earth…
Ethical finance is part of effective management. If someone were to suggest that Bell Canada employ a Catholic Priest on staff to help with peoples existential crises you would think that was an insane expense, why is this any different.
[…] “Do you know who does it better than you, anywhere in the world? Better design, better service, a more amazing customer experience, better packaging, more effective management, more efficient systems and processes, better machinery, quicker response time, better policies, more effective marketing or promotion? What are they famous for and how do they do it? Have you studied them? Have you even checked out their website?” he asks on his blog. […]