Leadership Archives – Page 6 of 14

11 Jul 2013

Everyone Is In Customer Service – Just Do It!

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T11:27:28-06:00July 11th, 2013|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Dream Teams, Leadership, Marketing, Sales|

We've all heard it.

"Everyone in your company or organization who interacts with a customer or provides a product or service to a customer is in customer service."

The same is true for marketing. Or branding.

If you extend this to include everyone inside your organization who could impact the reputation of your organization; you pretty much include everyone.

Zappos starts everyone out in their call center. I read that WestJet expects employees and spouses flying for free or on discounts to help clean the plane.
Business person overwhelm help keeping up […]

3 Jul 2013

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff – Attitude Matters

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T11:27:35-06:00July 3rd, 2013|Categories: Current Events, Doug's Blog, Leadership, Mindset and Motivation|

Yesterday could have been a bad day.

An Apple A Day

I lost all of the contacts on my iPhone. I got distracted while connecting the phone to my computer to restore from backup and missed cancelling the automatic Sync and backup process.

I went to restore the contacts and the only options were backups from a few minutes ago with the corrupted data.

Not good.

Brief Rant: Seriously Apple, you should allow me to set how long I want to keep backups for (at least a week); I have lots of hard drive space. People don't always notice the problem right away and aren't technically […]

17 Jun 2013

Entrepreneurial Time Estimating Learned From My Father

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T11:27:55-06:00June 17th, 2013|Categories: Doug's Blog, Leadership, Mindset and Motivation, Software Development|

With Father's Day just past I was reflecting on what I learned from my own father. Actually, I learned it from observation because I am pretty sure he was not intentionally passing on his wisdom.

If fact, like most entrepreneurs of the visionary bent, he was extremely optimistic in estimating effort for new ventures.

It usually went something like this.

"Doug, I am replacing the stairs on the deck and could use some help for an hour or so."

Deck construction time estimating business Now if he said […]

11 Jun 2013

Using Your Super-Powers for Market Feedback

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T11:28:04-06:00June 11th, 2013|Categories: Doug's Blog, Leadership, Marketing, Sales|

I was looking for wording on a new motto for myself the other day. So I asked some people on social media (Twitter) for feedback on:

"If you can't be funny, at least be odd."

After listening to feedback from my friends around the world on Twitter, I changed it to:

"If you can't be funny, at least be different."

Parrot, humor, business, core values

After thinking about it, even the Monty Python crew used to say "and now for something completely different", even […]

6 Jun 2013

12 Success Attributes for an Ideal Coaching Client

By Doug Wagner|2017-06-07T21:12:45-06:00June 6th, 2013|Categories: Doug's Blog, Go-Giver Coach, Leadership, Mindset and Motivation|Tags: business advice, Business Coaching, business strategy, business success, Coachable, Coaching, Coaching Client, Continuous Improvement, entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Go-Giver Coach, Ideal Client, Ideal Clients, Ideal Coaching Client, Learning, self-awareness, small business owner, success, Trust|

Are you a business coach wanting to find better clients or working with a coach and want to get more from the deal?

I was thinking about what an ideal coaching client would look like. Then I realized that the attributes of the ideal coaching client are that exact same attributes for:

Personal Success
Career Success
Sales Success
Leadership Success
Business Success

Yes, coaches want to work with clients who REALLY want to win, take action and apply what […]

21 May 2013

Embrace Optimistic Pessimism for Business Greatness

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-04T15:50:50-06:00May 21st, 2013|Categories: Books and Courses, Doug's Blog, Leadership, Mindset and Motivation|

For a while I thought I was a bit of a pessimist. When I am
presented with new things or risk I immediately think of all the things that can
go wrong.

But then I realized that I also dream fairly big. I always have.

And continue to do things despite the fear or risk. Try to figure
out how to get past all the things that can go wrong. Rewrite the rules if required.

Because I understand the risk, and choose to do it anyways,
I don’t tend to quit when things go a bit sideways. I knew what I was getting
into.

[…]

2 May 2013

I Think You Have An Attitude Problem

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T11:29:23-06:00May 2nd, 2013|Categories: Doug's Blog, Leadership, Mindset and Motivation|

Your attitude is the most powerful force in your arsenal to give you the life you want. The good news is that for most people, attitude can be influenced and even controlled by… you.

"Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude." Zig Ziglar

Chances Are

Bad Attitude Construction Worker Attitude is your Choice If you are not happy in your job or role chances are your attitude is the cause.

If you are waiting around for someone to motivate you, chances are your […]

23 Apr 2013

PhD Essential for Business Success

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T11:29:35-06:00April 23rd, 2013|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Leadership|

After well over 12 years in business I have noticed that one key ingredient is absolutely essential to business success.

In fact, every single time we've run into problems (and I assure you we are not perfect either) I can trace it back to this cause.

Focusing your business on the things that matter most does not happen by accident.

Ensuring that your company stays on course to execute on its vision is not a once a year event.

Ensuring adherence to your core values and culture is not a part-time job.

Delivering your value promise to your customers each and every time is not […]

26 Mar 2013

Human Emotions Are A Key Part Of Business

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T11:31:14-06:00March 26th, 2013|Categories: Doug's Blog, Dream Teams, Leadership|

Your strongest memories are tied to your strongest emotional experiences. How you will initially respond to events in the present is tied to those memories.

This is not just about your childhood. These memories are being formed today.

At work. In your business. By everyone on your team.

The Strap

Back when I was going to school in rural Manitoba they still used "the strap". I got the strap 3 times from grade 1 until grade 4.

By today's standards, what I did to get the strap would seem trivial. Kids do those things all the time now. Back then, kids that finished their […]

12 Mar 2013

5 Questions to Avoid The Cost of NOT Thinking

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T11:31:48-06:00March 12th, 2013|Categories: Doug's Blog, Dream Teams, Leadership|

I recently came across two distinct examples of corporate wastage that could have been prevented fairly easily.

Two companies leaving money on the table and not even adding any extra value by doing so.

Actually they are eroding perceived value AND wasting money. Two cardinal sins of business.

The thing is, the solutions are obvious.

Nesting Eggs

Nesting eggs business wastage employee training

I opened up a big bubble wrap envelope today. Inside were four more bubble wrap envelopes.

Inside each bubble wrap envelope was a cardboard […]