The National Debt
By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
Today’s post on the National Debt will be short and to the point. While I could easily digress and reduce this discussion to a partisan political diatribe, I promise to resist the temptation. This post is written for every American citizen regardless of political affiliation, or socioeconomic status. Every American, as well as future generations of Americans, now share the burden of our rapidly mounting financial obligations. While I could throw figure after figure at you about the ridiculous hole we have dug for our children and grandchildren, nothing is as powerful as taking a few minutes to study the national debt clock. So the only thing I ask of anyone reading today’s post is this: to study the clock and make known whatever your feelings are in a very loud and public fashion. Unless America unites its collective voice about our current levels of deficit federal spending, and forces the government to stop the madness, we all will face a much tougher road than is necessary.
What drives your internet strategy? I’m always amazed that in today’s digital world where web based technologies reign supreme, at the number of companies that still don’t get it…It is not at all uncommon for me to find corporate internet strategies that are at best cobbled together if they exist at all. It is as if digital marketing and branding initiatives are the corporate version of the “hot potato,” such that everyone wants to have their say, but no one wants to take responsibility. Rarely do I come across corporate internet strategies that are aligned with the core business strategy. In an earlier post entitled “
Today’s Myatt on Monday’s question comes from a CEO who asked: “Our employee turnover is higher than I would like it to be. If you had to point out one factor that drives employee churn, what would that be?” Few things in business are as costly and disruptive as having the proverbial revolving door for employees to exit from. Even worse is not knowing how to stop the door from turning. While an “employers job market” can certainly help slow the churn, it will not stop it. The harsh truth is that there are many secondary and tertiary items that can influence an employee’s decision to leave, in today’s post I’ll address the primary item; the one single factor that constitutes the overarching reason which drives a person’s decision to leave their employer.
Accountability and transparency are hot topics today, and rightly so…Given this new found popularity, I felt that a piece delving into the topic of accountability would be both prudent and timely. Frankly, considering what the lack of accountability has done to our nation’s economy and political structure we should all be spending more time on the topic. However the truth is that few people really like to hear the “A” word applied to their individual circumstances, choices, decisions, and performance. Regrettably, this is precisely why we are embroiled with many of the daunting challenges facing our country today. Nothing keeps personal and corporate train wrecks from occurring more than a solid framework of accountability. In today’s post I’ll examine the many reasons for why accountability should matter to all of us…
What do I mean by “culturally savvy“? I am not addressing the topic of being politically correct, rather I want you to focus on the importance of simply being cognizant that there is a larger cultural impact on how business is conducted today than ever before. Cultural differences often exist within the same companies…they certainly exist between different companies. Without question there are different cultural business practices in different cities or regions within an individual country. These differences are almost exponentially complicated when you start doing business on a global basis. For purposes of this post we will address how to best blend and manage your internal cultural characteristics with those of your vendors, partners, suppliers, customers and investors who may be located in foreign countries.
Because risk management as it applies to executive decisioning is a subject that is not adequately addressed in the educational world, it is often left to lessons of experience. As such, learning how to recognize, understand, quantify and manage risk is one of those lessons that often comes at a very high price. While each individual has a different tolerance for risk, it is how a person chooses to manage risk that will have a direct correlation on their ability to succeed in the world of business. In today’s post I’ll examine the relationships between fear, risk, failure and success.