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This site is about leadership and vision in business - especially the small business.

Some people running businesses are tied into jobs they hate - trapped - energy and life draining away...   How do you stoke up the fire and keep it going?  Running a business should not be a Life Sentence.

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Archive for the ‘Business leadership’ Category

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STOP doing everything – Praise

By on Thursday, September 22nd, 2011 | Comments Off

Skilling up, Trusting and providing the Opportunity for your second in command to fulfil their potential is all part of developing your business so that it is no longer a Life Sentence.  Praise is the oil that keeps things rolling.  One of the sad things of course is that as the Owner/MD of a business, [...]

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STOP doing everything – Opportunity

By on Wednesday, September 7th, 2011 | Comments Off

Listen to the audio version [Audio clip: view full post to listen] So you have taken some steps towards freedom from the Life Sentence of running your business.  You have identified or recruited a good second in command. You have clarified what Skills that person has or will need to develop in order to play [...]

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Trust your second in command

By on Thursday, August 25th, 2011 | Comments Off

Listen to the audio version [Audio clip: view full post to listen] You’ve identified the areas, tasks and responsibilities that your second in command will focus on. You’ve discussed it and clarified your expectations with them. You’ve invested in training, developing and possibly coaching them so that they have the skills they need. So why [...]

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STOP doing everything!

By on Monday, August 15th, 2011 | Comments Off

Listen to the audio version [Audio clip: view full post to listen] I know. It’s your business. You started it and nobody can really do it how you do it. You have the contacts, the knowhow, the experience, the passion. Or at least you did have the passion. It’s a bit frayed at the moment [...]

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Fire your employees!

By on Thursday, June 16th, 2011 | Comments Off

Listen to the audio version [Audio clip: view full post to listen] Sometimes… just sometimes… Maybe you find yourself with a ‘Chief Sales Prevention Officer’ in your sales team, or a ‘sociopath’ on your customer service team, or a ‘bully’ supervising your production people, or a ‘self-serving bore’ on your Board. How did that happen? [...]

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The one thing worse than a failing business…

By on Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 | Comments Off

…is a successful business. Well of course on one level that is absurd. We all strive for a successful business – SME or Corporate. Success, however we define it, is the key driver – growth, higher turnover, increased profit, stronger balance sheet… But here’s the thing, success can be a killer. It can blindside us [...]

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What you focus on increases

By on Friday, April 8th, 2011 | Comments Off

It’s one thing to have a vision, a bright, positive vibrant vision that connects with your very being and gives you a powerful sense of purpose. It’s another thing to communicate that vision effectively with people who sometimes are in a very different emotional place or mindset. You can put it in the newsletter. You [...]

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Who are you?

By on Thursday, March 31st, 2011 | Comments Off

Listen to the audio version One thing that the CEO of a small business becomes aware of very quickly is just how much difference a mood can make – both ways. I’m sure that this is true for the leader of any organisation, of any size. The ripples may take longer to spread out to [...]

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Leadership Qualities No 6

By on Monday, March 28th, 2011 | Comments Off

The last of these six outrageous leadership qualities is ‘Impassioned and obsessive communication’ because, after all, the best and most vivid vision will remain a personal dream unless it is clearly and effectively communicated. By impassioned I mean the communication should have a sense that it really does matter…this thing…this vision thing. The leader doesn’t [...]

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Leadership Qualities No 5

By on Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011 | Comments Off

I have a couple of my own to add to Tim Brighouse’s list. The first is ‘Laser-like Vision’. The leader has to have a vision – a view of where the organisation is going – a clear and precise picture of what it will be like. Why ‘laser-like’ vision? There is some ambiguity here. The [...]

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    Steve Hoggar

    Steve Hoggar has run a small business for the last 20 years. During that time he has discovered how important a clear organisational vision is - and why it is so vital to get everyone to buy-in to it. He now offers that experience to Company leaders who really want to grow and develop their organisation and their people. Steve is still involved in his business but now only goes in one day a week. The rest of his time is dedicated to helping others to get all they want from their own businesses