Lesson from a Bee Hive

The Kingsford Team, June 13 2019

Click image to play The way bees operate in their hive can provide an useful lesson that we should think about in our businesses. And while we are talking about bees: World Bee Day is celebrated on 20 May each year (since 2017) in honour of Anton Jansa who was born on that date in 1734 and who is recognized as a pioneering beekeeper.  World Bee Day...

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Meeting Mayhem and Magic

Graham Birkenhead, June 5 2019

I was invited to observe a meeting with a client last week. Ten of the invitees arrived on time but the meeting didn’t start on time because a couple of ‘key’ people were missing.  And then, when it finally got underway, I realized that most of the attendees weren’t sure what the meeting was all about. As the conversation progressed, one or two peo...

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The 5 Golden Rules of Pricing

Andrew Penny, May 28 2019

An area that people get wrong all the time is pricing. Some people price high based on the profits they hope to achieve. Some base it on some sort of average industry “cost plus” rule.  Some are afraid to charge too much. Still others simply add a few percent to last year’s price. So before you set your next price or quote your next deal here are A...

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Feeling Cluttered?  Prune!

Graham Birkenhead, May 22 2019

Have you ever tried to find something in your garage or storage cupboard? You know what you are looking for, you know where it is, but to get there you have to wade through loads of other stuff? Stuff just accumulates, little by little; you hardly notice it – in fact, most often you don't notice it at all – until you are looking for something. So,...

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Why strategic advice from professionals can be sub-optimal for business owners?

Andrew Penny, May 14 2019

At a recent event organized by Peter Jaskiewicz at University of Ottawa and the Ontario CPA, the above participants each weighed in on a family business case study to provide succession advice based on their expertise. And while each piece of advice was excellent, I couldn’t help thinking about the old adage of  ‘when you have a hammer – everythin...

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What Should I Tackle Next?

Graham Birkenhead, May 8 2019

You have at least 10 projects sitting on your to-do list grinding away at you every day. Whatever you do, you feel you should be doing something else instead.  So, which one should you do next? There are only so many hours in a day, only so many people to help you get things done, and yet so much to do.  A question that crops up regularly from clie...

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The New Globalisation

Andrew Penny, April 23 2019

Globalization doesn’t mean (necessarily) that you have to sell globally but it does mean you are now competing with companies from all over the world. So, how are you going to stand up against competition that’s coming in from Germany or Turkey or China or Chile or anywhere else in the world? Many of these companies are competing globally with a si...

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One Rule and one Tool

Graham Birkenhead, April 9 2019

For having more productive discussions ... I was an observer at a workshop and conference recently. As happens at these events, people were split into various groups to consider specific subjects. Lots of interesting discussion was generated and many good ideas came out of it. By the looks on their faces, the participants felt like they had made go...

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The Great Unemployment Opportunity of 2019

Andrew Penny, March 26 2019

For this instalment of the accelerator we are going video.  Let us know what you think. Bottom Line:  If you find ways to help your clients reduce their labour needs, you can charge more, differentiate yourselves and create deeper customer relationships.

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Building the Culture to Accelerate

Graham Birkenhead, March 12 2019

Acceleration is all about going faster, and then going even faster, and then faster still.   If you look at a graph of acceleration – it shows that over time, your speed, or size, or revenue doesn't just get larger in a nice straight line, but it’s a line that curves upwards.  Now the thing is with acceleration, as opposed to a nice steady linear g...

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