Archive for category leadership
An Audience of One: This Letter is For You
Posted by Elizabeth Kraus in 2013 business marketing ideas, 2013 marketing calendar, 2013 marketing ideas, employee relations, leadership on November 29, 2012
This letter isn’t for you. This letter has been written for a specific person and purpose. You’ll know that you’re the one if you are on the brink of discouragement. If your staff don’t seem to care and you feel like you’re the only one fighting for the health and well-being of your business (and […]
Loose Bumpers, Branding and Business Momentum
Posted by Elizabeth Kraus in branding, CRM, customer experience, customer perception, customer satisfaction, employee culture, leadership on July 11, 2012
And as I popped my camera out to take a photo of this mini-van while on vacation, driving from St. Charles, Illinois to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, my husband and kids rolled their eyes when I told them it was going on my marketing blog. Undeterred, while winding through the mostly rural countryside, from small […]
Excuses, Regrets and Other Wastes of Time
Posted by Elizabeth Kraus in employee culture, employee engagement, employee incentives, employee relations, leadership on May 30, 2012
I have to admit right off the bat that I have made excuses in the past, some legitimate, some more for the purpose of covering my own – well – you know. And as a people-pleaser (can you say “enabler?”) I have often accepted the excuses of others for shortcomings, mistakes or outright failures more […]
Leadership on a Leash
Posted by Elizabeth Kraus in employee culture, employee development, employee relations, employee satisfaction, Job satisfaction, leadership on April 22, 2012
The weather in the Pacific Northwest having finally cooperated, relenting from a pattern of gray cold drizzle to a more moderate and at least semi-sunny schedule of days enabled me to get out of the house and into the neighborhood to walk my dog several times this week. This is a dog that’s new to […]
7 Leadership Takeaways from A Management Coup on NBCs ‘The Office’
Posted by Elizabeth Kraus in change management, employee culture, employee development, employee incentives, employee relations, leadership on March 17, 2012
Most of the executives in NBC’s comedy, The Office, exemplify the kind of leadership you should absolutely avoid. This fictitious sales-centric company has more than its share of exaggerated dysfunction in any given episode; nevertheless, every once in a while, one of these over-the-top personalities does something to be funny that deserves serious analysis. The […]
How to Identify Potential Leaders by Mistake
Posted by Elizabeth Kraus in employee culture, employee relations, leadership, management on March 16, 2012
Today I read an article titled, When Critiquing Others, Try Critiquing Yourself, Too by way of @Efficient CEO on Twitter where author Richard Walker shares a great leadership learning moment. While making some notes for suggestions that would help a colleague, he suddenly realized that the notes he was making applied to himself, too. I […]
Forget what I said, Your Business is Awesome
Posted by Elizabeth Kraus in continuous improvement, employee relations, leadership, long range plan, marketing ideas, marketing plan, strategic planning on February 29, 2012
Forget what I said before, your business is awesome. There is a trait shared by nearly every business that I have come into contact with as a consultant, and even in most of the roles that I held working for companies in the past, and it’s this: you want me to tell you that your […]
The Doctor is In! Symptoms, Diagnosis and The Leadership Cure for Your Business
Posted by Elizabeth Kraus in leadership, small business marketing on February 7, 2012
One of the questions that I ask clients when working on brand identification is, “If the brand of your business were a person and walked into the room, what words would you describe it?” The point of the question is to help identify what type of brand personality the organization has and how they want […]
How do you measure up against these traits of good leadership?
Posted by Elizabeth Kraus in employee development, Job satisfaction, leadership, management on February 6, 2012
Everyone wins in an organization characterized by good leadership, but people can talk a good game and spout leadership quotes and clichés all day long. And leaders both good and bad will tell you the right things to get you on board, get you to go above and beyond the call of duty, do more […]
Little White Marketing Lie #5: We’re Just One Great Idea Away from Success
Posted by Elizabeth Kraus in 2012 marketing calendar, customer experience, customer satisfaction, customer service, leadership, marketing on October 18, 2011
Little white lies are falsities we tell people (and sometimes tell ourselves) that we believe to be benign, harmless. But there are little white marketing lies we tell all the time that may be hurting our businesses: Little White Marketing Lie #5: We’re just one great idea away from overnight success. Most of the time, […]
