Business Mastery

Do You Have Enough Leaders?

Bill Prater — Wed, 04 May 2011 23:13:35 +0000

You’ll find the key for establishing leadership skills in your self within this article. Enjoy the material. We have found that most people equate managing and leading. They often interchange the terms managing and leading. Of course, in order to be an effective manager you have to be a leader. However, the opposite is not [...]

Is Responsibility Enough?

Bill Prater — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:16:41 +0000

One of my prospective clients had scheduled a brand-new restaurant opening day last week. But, it did not happen. All the employees had been hired and trained and showed up for their first day to serve customers. Hordes of anxious new patrons were lined up outside the front doors. The local press had sent a [...]

Why Is Running A Business So Tough?

Bill Prater — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 01:27:01 +0000

Several of my clients have asked me recently, “why do so many businesses fail?” I’m certain you know at least 80% of new businesses fail within the first five years. My own observations are the percentage is likely to be optomistic. I certainly know that the number of people who have tried and failed at [...]

How Are Trust And Oxygen Related?

Bill Prater — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 19:46:43 +0000

With an old friend and partner of mine used to comment that trust was like oxygen. The meaning is when either one leaves the room, people suffocate. Trust is becoming more and more important in business today. It is generally connected with the ease of information gathering. Over the last several years the Internet has [...]

Managing Right

Bill Prater — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 22:46:09 +0000

One of the most important things each of us can do as managers is to maintain a high level of consistency. And, one of the most important things we do as managers is doing the right thing for every level of performance we will get from our employees. Here is a very top-level view. In [...]

Supercharging Your Top Line

Bill Prater — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 00:01:55 +0000

Revenue covers up a lot of sins. Even more revenue covers up a lot more sins. Now, I’m not saying you should put up with a lot of sins, errors and omissions within your business. I’m making the point that increasing revenues certainly helps make them less obvious and hurtful. The last couple of years [...]

Do You Run A Country Club Or A Prison?

Bill Prater — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 01:59:18 +0000

One of the primary responsibilities of any team leader is the establishment of the team’s culture. Think of culture as being the rules of behavior. The easiest way to think of this concept is to draw a horizontal line on a piece of paper. Put “Jail” at one end of the line and “Country Club” [...]

SWOT On Steroids

Bill Prater — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 21:17:01 +0000

A major part of the Leriot System of Management is the periodic use of the Analysis phase of the system. If your goal is to continually maintain a highly effective and well oiled business operation, you’ll need to conduct periodic analyses of your environment. Generally, the tool we’re going to be discussing can be used [...]

Develop Everybody Every Year

Bill Prater — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 17:54:38 +0000

The last several years have been difficult in many ways. Perhaps your business is not performing at the level you are used to or the level you’ve hoped for. Frankly, you probably shouldn’t be blaming it totally on the economy. Often, failure to develop every single staff person every year can be a major contributor [...]

Position Descriptions

Bill Prater — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 23:54:07 +0000

Position descriptions and job descriptions are slightly different. Let me explain. A position description reflects the duties, goals, compensation, reporting structure, and other matters relating to a specific position. There is no person connected with a position description. A job description relates to the duties performed by an individual person. Think about this way. Many [...]