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Member You - Overcoming Greater Odds Than Ever: The 2006 Best Bosses
You've decided to launch your advertising campaign but you have no idea what would inspire others to buy from you. Or maybe you've already run some ads to no avail. How do you make your ad the one that stands out? After all, consumers receive thousands of marketing messages everyday. What makes what you're offering so special? In today's highly competitive marketing environment, chances are your ad will get overlooked. Meanwhile, some other entrepreneur is making money and developing a highly effective ad campaign. The people that are successful in this area have spent considerable time going over their ads. And with enough effort, any business owner can achieve similar success. In general, most ads will begin with a headline. And it
Yet, this year’s honorees are weathering those obstacles with more than just a can-do attitude – they’re creating and honing best practices designed to equip their workforces with the knowledge and insight needed to perform at consistently stellar levels. The result? Motivated workers, high customer service ratings and increased productivity that improves the bottom line. Consider: The average growth rate for the past year among our 2006 winners was 40 percent.
Paal Gisholt’s organization, Massachusetts-based SmartPak Equine, a retailer of horse and small animal products, leads this trend. While adding 20 employees to the 50
"In business, the competition will bite you if you keep running. If you stand still, they will swallow you." -WILLIAM NUDSEN JRYour online business gives you the opportunity to sell products/services cost effectively anywhere in the world but your competition has the same opportunity. You should be forward thinking always seeking to improve on your strength against the competition. Seek out new opportunities and devise strategies to take advantage of these opportunities so that your online business will stay ahead.Attract prospects/customersOnline customers have so much choice of websites,products,services and suppliers this is why you should spend some time,effort and money to attract customers/prospects.One of the most effect
This year’s 18 Best Bosses were selected by a panel comprised of academics, two previous Best Bosses honorees and Winning Workplaces board members and staff. The 2006 winners are:
• Richard Caturano – President, Vitale, Caturano & Company
• Linda Dunkel – President and CEO, Interaction Associates, Inc.
• Mike Faith – President and CEO, Headsets.com, Inc.
• Paal Gisholt – President and CEO, SmartPak Equine
• Henry S. Givray – Chairman and CEO, SmithBucklin Corporation
• Megan Glasheen – Managing Member, Reno & Cavanaugh, PLLC
• Mellody Hobson – President, Ariel Capital Management, LLC
• Dan Hoffman – President and CEO, M5 Networks
• Jeffrey A. Hollender – President and Chief Regeneration Officer, Seventh Generation, Inc.
• Keith Jacob – President, St. Louis Staffing
• Timothy P. Keenan – President and Founder, High Performance Technologies, Inc. (HPTi)
• Michael Lacey – CEO/President, Digineer, Inc.
• Carl La Mell – President, Clearbrook
• David M. Pierce – CEO and Chairman, ENA
• Pete Snyder – CEO, New Media Strategies
• Nicolas Thomley – President and CEO, Pinnacle Services, Inc.
• Graham Weston – Chairman and CEO, Rackspace Managed Hosting
• David Williams – President and CEO, Merkle Inc.
In my editorial on last year’s Best Bosses, I spoke of the challenges of the economic landscape. These include fierce competition and evolving recruitment methods to land top talent, rising employee health care costs and developing staff to serve the organization’s needs in increasingly dynamic ways. These challenges have only grown more multifaceted in the past year – perhaps one reason that the National Federation of Independent Businesses, a leading small business advocacy group, recently reported that small business owners are, on the whole, the least optimistic that they’ve been in over three years. In other words, small businesses – the backbone of the American economy – are feeling challenged.
Yet, this year’s honorees are weathering those obstacles with more than just a can-do attitude – they’re creating and honing best practices designed to equip their workforces with the knowledge and insight needed to perform at consistently stellar levels. The result? Motivated workers, high customer service ratings and increased productivity that improves the bottom line. Consider: The average growth rate for the past year among our 2006 winners was 40 percent.
Paal Gisholt’s organization, Massachusetts-based SmartPak Equine, a retailer of horse and small animal products, leads this trend. While adding 20 employees to the 50 a
Let’s say you have an auto business up and running and you are looking to make more money, but adding on new services. You are not sure what you want to do, but you have a pretty good customer base and you want to provide a service that people want and that they are willing to spend top dollar for. Well, let me suggest auto detailing type concepts.Once you are up and running with a co-brand, business opportunity, independent business or franchise fixed site or mobile unit then what; what can you add to your set of services which will be an easy sell to your current customer base? Where do you go from there? Luckily in the detailing business your possibilities are truly unlimited. If you own automotive repair shop you can go mobile without takin
• Richard Caturano – President, Vitale, Caturano & Company
• Linda Dunkel – President and CEO, Interaction Associates, Inc.
• Mike Faith – President and CEO, Headsets.com, Inc.
• Paal Gisholt – President and CEO, SmartPak Equine
• Henry S. Givray – Chairman and CEO, SmithBucklin Corporation
• Megan Glasheen – Managing Member, Reno & Cavanaugh, PLLC
• Mellody Hobson – President, Ariel Capital Management, LLC
• Dan Hoffman – President and CEO, M5 Networks
• Jeffrey A. Hollender – President and Chief Regeneration Officer, Seventh Generation, Inc.
• Keith Jacob – President, St. Louis Staffing
• Timothy P. Keenan – President and Founder, High Performance Technologies, Inc. (HPTi)
• Michael Lacey – CEO/President, Digineer, Inc.
• Carl La Mell – President, Clearbrook
• David M. Pierce – CEO and Chairman, ENA
• Pete Snyder – CEO, New Media Strategies
• Nicolas Thomley – President and CEO, Pinnacle Services, Inc.
• Graham Weston – Chairman and CEO, Rackspace Managed Hosting
• David Williams – President and CEO, Merkle Inc.
In my editorial on last year’s Best Bosses, I spoke of the challenges of the economic landscape. These include fierce competition and evolving recruitment methods to land top talent, rising employee health care costs and developing staff to serve the organization’s needs in increasingly dynamic ways. These challenges have only grown more multifaceted in the past year – perhaps one reason that the National Federation of Independent Businesses, a leading small business advocacy group, recently reported that small business owners are, on the whole, the least optimistic that they’ve been in over three years. In other words, small businesses – the backbone of the American economy – are feeling challenged.
Yet, this year’s honorees are weathering those obstacles with more than just a can-do attitude – they’re creating and honing best practices designed to equip their workforces with the knowledge and insight needed to perform at consistently stellar levels. The result? Motivated workers, high customer service ratings and increased productivity that improves the bottom line. Consider: The average growth rate for the past year among our 2006 winners was 40 percent.
Paal Gisholt’s organization, Massachusetts-based SmartPak Equine, a retailer of horse and small animal products, leads this trend. While adding 20 employees to the 50
Turning your passion into a paycheck is the ultimate dream right? Who would not like to spend most of their time doing something they absolutely love and get paid for it?Even just reading about people who are following their passion, as I just did in a great article I read in Outside Magazine this weekend, gets me fired up.There are so many possibilities out there for work and one of the greatest things I do all day is help people to open up their minds to all of the possibilities out there for them. So often people are trapped by old ways of thinking and by the expectations of other people and society that they fail to see how great they could really have it.So, the next time you wake up on a Monday morning dreading the week ahea
• Keith Jacob – President, St. Louis Staffing
• Timothy P. Keenan – President and Founder, High Performance Technologies, Inc. (HPTi)
• Michael Lacey – CEO/President, Digineer, Inc.
• Carl La Mell – President, Clearbrook
• David M. Pierce – CEO and Chairman, ENA
• Pete Snyder – CEO, New Media Strategies
• Nicolas Thomley – President and CEO, Pinnacle Services, Inc.
• Graham Weston – Chairman and CEO, Rackspace Managed Hosting
• David Williams – President and CEO, Merkle Inc.
In my editorial on last year’s Best Bosses, I spoke of the challenges of the economic landscape. These include fierce competition and evolving recruitment methods to land top talent, rising employee health care costs and developing staff to serve the organization’s needs in increasingly dynamic ways. These challenges have only grown more multifaceted in the past year – perhaps one reason that the National Federation of Independent Businesses, a leading small business advocacy group, recently reported that small business owners are, on the whole, the least optimistic that they’ve been in over three years. In other words, small businesses – the backbone of the American economy – are feeling challenged.
Yet, this year’s honorees are weathering those obstacles with more than just a can-do attitude – they’re creating and honing best practices designed to equip their workforces with the knowledge and insight needed to perform at consistently stellar levels. The result? Motivated workers, high customer service ratings and increased productivity that improves the bottom line. Consider: The average growth rate for the past year among our 2006 winners was 40 percent.
Paal Gisholt’s organization, Massachusetts-based SmartPak Equine, a retailer of horse and small animal products, leads this trend. While adding 20 employees to the 50
Everyone is familiar with the 3-R’s from school – reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic. This was our first introduction to an effective performance model. As proficiency increased in each R, performance was further enhanced. Effective performance models by their very design are a continuum that automatically raises performance to the next level.Today’s businesses have their own 3-R Performance Model. This model hasn’t really changed since the early of origins of business enterprises. No matter what the latest business guru advocates, good business practices and most importantly the “bottom-line” always appear to return to these basic 3-R’s. For without Relationships, Referrals or Revenue, today’s businesses will not achieve current goals nor grow.
Yet, this year’s honorees are weathering those obstacles with more than just a can-do attitude – they’re creating and honing best practices designed to equip their workforces with the knowledge and insight needed to perform at consistently stellar levels. The result? Motivated workers, high customer service ratings and increased productivity that improves the bottom line. Consider: The average growth rate for the past year among our 2006 winners was 40 percent.
Paal Gisholt’s organization, Massachusetts-based SmartPak Equine, a retailer of horse and small animal products, leads this trend. While adding 20 employees to the 50
If you've been asked to write an annual report for a nonprofit organization, here are seven tips to get you on your way.1. Focus on accomplishments, not activities. We want to know what you did, but more importantly, we want to know why you did it. What were the results? Why did you spend your time the way you did? What difference did it make?2. Jettison the administrative minutiae. Getting a high-speed connection in the office and new accounting software may be big accomplishments from where you sit at your desk, but they have nothing to do with your mission. Inspire donors with accomplishments related to your mission in your annual report and leave all the administrative items for your board report.3. Include ph
Yet, this year’s honorees are weathering those obstacles with more than just a can-do attitude – they’re creating and honing best practices designed to equip their workforces with the knowledge and insight needed to perform at consistently stellar levels. The result? Motivated workers, high customer service ratings and increased productivity that improves the bottom line. Consider: The average growth rate for the past year among our 2006 winners was 40 percent.
Paal Gisholt’s organization, Massachusetts-based SmartPak Equine, a retailer of horse and small animal products, leads this trend. While adding 20 employees to the 50 already on the payroll over the last two years, he guided his workers to increase sales by a whopping 177 percent. Gisholt was able to do this not by telling his people to hit certain sales targets, but by inspiring them to want to hit those targets – and not just for the company, but for themselves. Practices like employee stock ownership and open book management serve as standalone tools to constantly realign employees with the firm’s core values. “I have become a believer in letting our culture serve as the primary mechanism to generate alignment of goals within the organization,” he says.
At Ariel Capital Management, the Chicago-based investment management and mutual fund company of winner Mellody Hobson, people-centered best practices include all-company staff meetings, tuition reimbursement and free breakfast on Thursdays. “People are everything,” Hobson recently told the Chicago Sun-Times. “Unless you figure out a way to create a culture that excites and motivates people, you won’t have a good business.” Hobson’s people return the value she and the management team place in them in spades. Case in point: When the company relocated its offices downtown, everyone voted.
Of course, effective or innovative use of best practices is not the only thing that defines a great leader. Sometimes, surviving and thriving against overwhelming odds defines the executive’s path. In the case of Virginia-based information technology firm HPTi, President and Founder Timothy Keenan weathered the storm every leader hopes passes by his or her company: the death of a staff member. In 2003, Keenan – then COO – took the reigns of HPTi after its CEO, general counsel and accountant were killed in a plane crash. After the tragedy, Keenan resolved to demonstrate to both his customers and his employees that it would not impact HPTi’s viability. That same fateful year ended on a positive note, turning out to be one of the company’s most profitable.
While their locations, industries, budgets and talent pools vary widely, this year’s 18 honorees do share some common ground – they have each embraced the core principles of a winning workplace:
• Trust, Respect & Fairness
• Open Communications
• Rewards & Recognition
• Learning & Development
• Teamwork & Involvement
• Work/Life Balance
With the above-mentioned challenges – and countless others – defining today’s sometimes rigid, always shifting economic landscape, America’s innovative and creative small business leaders serve as the foundation holdin
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