Growing Fast? Here’s What’s Likely To Kill Your Company
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Growing Fast? Here’s What’s Likely To Kill Your Company

BySonya Shelton

If your goal is to grow your business fast, you need a positive cash flow cycle or the ability to raise money at a feverish pace. Anything less and you will quickly grow yourself out of business. A positive cash flow cycle simply means you get paid before you have to pay others. A negative…

5 Ways To Get Your Business To Run Without You
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5 Ways To Get Your Business To Run Without You

BySonya Shelton

Some owners focus on growing their profits, while others are obsessed with sales goals. Have you ever considered making it your primary goal to set up your business so that it can thrive and grow without you? A business not dependent on its owner is the ultimate asset to own. It allows you complete control…

Have you fallen into The Mile Wide Trap?
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Have you fallen into The Mile Wide Trap?

BySonya Shelton

If your company’s revenue has stalled after a period of rapid growth, you may have fallen into The Mile Wide Trap. Consider the case of Kim (not her real name) who runs a public relations firm. Kim studied marketing at school and went on to work for a big advertising agency where she spent ten…

Thinking Vs. Doing: The Owner’s Dilemma
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Thinking Vs. Doing: The Owner’s Dilemma

BySonya Shelton

There’s a steady breeze from the northwest, which cools the warm Caribbean afternoon. Framed between a palm tree and the turquoise water, you notice a man reading. He appears to be working, which seems strange given his appearance: shaggy blonde hair, linen shirt, surf shorts and flip-flops. You squint and realize the man is Richard…

The Power of Consistent Evaluation
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The Power of Consistent Evaluation

BySonya Shelton

Evaluate every aspect of your organization on a regular basis. To ensure focus, productivity, efficiency, and successful results, everything from your people to your processes to your systems to your priorities to your projects needs to be consistently evaluated. Think of it like giving your organization a regular check-up to make sure it’s performing at an optimal level. Many executives focus on…

3 Steps to Solve Problems More Effectively
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3 Steps to Solve Problems More Effectively

BySonya Shelton

You can tell the effectiveness of a leader by the size of the problems they tackle. More responsibility brings greater problems and bigger decisions. If the problem was easy to solve, someone else would have already solved it. As a leader, you already understand the value of solving problems. Now it’s up to you to help others solve problems more effectively….

How Executive Leaders Make Tough Decisions
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How Executive Leaders Make Tough Decisions

BySonya Shelton

Making clear decisions is a critical factor to effective leadership. However, many executives suffer from decidophobia, the fear of making tough decisions. Decisions take courage, and courage means taking intelligent risks to move the organization in the direction of the vision. It’s important to gather data and perspectives, and you can use several decision-making models to help you do it well. However,…

Executive Leaders Model Growth and Potential
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Executive Leaders Model Growth and Potential

BySonya Shelton

The speed of your success is dependent on both your own growth as well as the growth of those on your team. They will never grow further or faster than you do. Most people think success comes from luck and appears in an instant, like winning the lottery. They see the results from their perspective from that moment in time. But…

Executive Leaders Encourage Dialogue
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Executive Leaders Encourage Dialogue

BySonya Shelton

  Often, great ideas come from healthy debate. When team members exchange ideas and opinions, new ideas can emerge. Working collaboratively always produces better results than working competitively. When people compete within an organization, they don’t support each other toward the shared vision. This creates a culture of self-interest, rather than organizational interest. Competition is healthy for competitors, not for team members. Imagine…

3 Steps to Measure Your Progress
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3 Steps to Measure Your Progress

BySonya Shelton

To ensure you realize the vision, you need to have the right measures in place, and they need to be institutionalized. How you measure success can make or break whether or not you achieve it. If the strategies and objectives your team has created aren’t producing the desired outcome, you want to know as soon as possible. First, you need to…