Business Navigators

07/15/2024

If you were sent a friend request within the past few days. Ignore it! been hacked.
Got new password.

Thanks for letting me know

12/23/2023

Toledo topped Gobankingrates.com's list of the 50 cheapest places to retire in the US.

12/23/2023

This is from Maggie Sullivan regarding the article about Toledo. "Maggie Hogg Sullivan
It's about time!!! The cost of living is amazing and you begin adding the other amazing things and who could ask for anything more? The MetroPark system is adding parks to the system every year, offering an ice skating rink, cabins on stilts, on and on!! Very creative!! Thanks for posting this article, Louise!! And can you believe I know people who have NEVER been to The Toledo Museum of Art, Our Museum is internationally known and is highly ranked in this country!! The University of Toledo has to be added to the list of attractions! The several family owned restaurants continue the Toledo tradition of "enough restaurants to sink an army"!!! Getting the idea????

12/15/2023

Some guys have all the luck!

Tom was part of our sales group and would say, “I thrive on rejection because every ‘no’ I receive is one step closer to a ‘yes’.

Every time he was told ‘no’ he thanked the person.

In the early 90’s we would go to a drinking establishment with a dance floor. The bar was on the west end of the room, in the center was the dance floor and on the east side there were several six top tables.

The men would congregate near the bar and the woman would sit at the six tops.

They would stare at the women who would ignore them. If a woman looked back one of the guys would saunter over to her table and ask, “Hey, would you like to dance?” She replied, “No, not really!”. He would stagger back to the bar and drink until close.

When Tom and I would enter the bar, he would throw me a twenty and say, “Get me a mich lite and whatever you want”’

He would go up to the first six top and ask one of the women, “I’m Tom, I’m Irish and a lot of fun would you dance with me?”

She’d say, “No, not really!” and Tom would say to the woman seated next to her “I’m Tom. I’m Irish and a lot of fun would you dance with me?”

As he received each “no, not really” he’d thank them and then go to the next one until he had asked all at table #1.

Then, Tom would move to table # 2 and repeated his sales pitch.

By the time he reached table # 4 he’d get a yes.

After the dance finished, he would walk the lady back to the table, thank her for the dance, kiss her hand and go back to table #1.

He’d say, “Now that you’ve seen the product, would you like to dance?” by the time he got to table # 3 he’d get a “Yes”.

Later in the evening Tom would stand in the center of the dance floor. Raise his arm and say, “Next!”

Tom didn’t miss a dance and he and the ladies who danced with him had a wonderful time.

The guys at the bar would say, “Some guys have all the luck!”

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12/13/2023

Look at everything first.
Before you start to act.

12/11/2023

“Don’t stick your head up or you’ll lose your job!”
The 2-beer lunch.

12/05/2023

Marketing is….
One snowman at a time

12/04/2023

‘Shoot the mule!”
Patton, WWII Mule on Bridge wouldn’t move.

12/01/2023

I’ve read a lot of books.

Some with interesting methods for improvement in business or self.

When I find a book that you should read, I’ll share.

Here is one.

The Great Game of Business
Jack Stack

The world is full of mushroom managers. They believe you should treat company employees like mushrooms. Keep them in the dark and feed them s**t!

But Jack Stack doesn’t believe that works very well.

He believes in “Open Book Management”. In fact, he started the concept in February 1982 when he and twelve other managers bought, Springfield Remanufacturing Company with $100,000 in their own money and $8.9 million in loans.

In 1983 the single share stock price of SRC was $.10.
In January of 2015 the single share stock price was $199.00.
In 1983 there were 119 employees.
Today there are 1,600 employees in 17 divisions.
‘Mushroom Management’ or ‘Open Book Management’
There is no question.
I first read this book in August of 1995. Five and a half years after I started Business Navigators.

Now, I help most of my clients share Profit and Loss statement monthly with all employees.

In only 252 pages Jack reveals the important aspects of ‘Open Book’.
Let me share a couple of his thoughts.

“The whole idea of open-book management, after all, is to create an environment in which people can continuously learn and grow. If you stick to it, if you keep educating and challenging people, if you knock down the barriers and make sure they stay down, you can’t help but get better and better at the Game as time goes along.”

The Higher Laws of Business
1. You get what you give.

2. It’s easy to stop one guy, but it’s pretty hard to stop 100.

3. What goes around comes around.

4. You do what you gotta do.

5. You gotta wanna.

6. You can sometimes fool the fans, but you can never fool the players.

7. When you raise the bottom the top rises.

8. When people set their own targets, they usually hit them.

9. If nobody pays attention, people stop caring.

10. As they say in Missouri: S**t rolls downhill. By which we mean change begins at the top.

I especially like # 8.
Jack provides an effective and practical approach to success. I know it works because I’ve been offering to my clients for 33 and a half years and I’ve watched it work.

Send a message to learn more

11/30/2023

Being authentic!
A reflection - Sugar on Business Navigators ‘Servant Leader’ retreat

11/24/2023

I’ve read a lot of books.

Some with interesting methods for improvement in business or self.

When I find a book that you should read, I’ll share.

Here is one.
Now Discover Your Strengths
Marcus Buckingham

Of all the tools I use to help those in organizations, for and not for profit, this book and the test are the most useful.

From the introduction, "Guided by the belief that good is the opposite of bad, mankind has for centuries pursued it's fixation with fault and failing. Doctors have studied disease to learn about health.

Psychologists have investigated sadness to learn about joy. Therapists have investigated the causes of divorce to learn about happy marriage.

And in schools and the workplaces around the world, each one of us has been encouraged to identify, analyze, and correct our weaknesses to become strong.

This advice is well intended but misguided. Faults and failings deserve study, but they reveal little about strengths. Strengths have their own patterns."

This focus on strengths is the result of over thirty years of study from the Gallup Organization and involved over two million interviews.
The result is this excellent tool.

In order to use this tool, it is helpful to understand some of the patterns of strengths and that is what Buckingham does in this book's fine linear organization. Each chapter is a building block leading us to the test and the application of managing those with clearly defined strengths.

From looking at "The Anatomy of a Strength" to "Discovering the Source of Your Strengths" and through "Put Strengths to Work" this excellent book leads us to a revolutionary approach to helping people get better at what they do.

And it's entertaining, with wonderfully illustrative references to, Tiger Woods, Bill Gates, Cole Porter, The Investor, The Director, The Skin Doctor, and The Editor to mention a few.

Gallop has identified thirty-four strengths and has provided a test where a person can identify their five top strengths.

You buy the book and in the dustcover’s, spine is a series of letters and numbers which are a key you can use to take the test on the internet.

Chapter four identifies each strength with a descriptive paragraph and follows with clarifying examples which show what that strength "Sounds Like".

For those of us dedicated to helping the leadership team of a company become more effective the strongest tool in the book begins on page 176 the second part of Chapter 6 "Managing Strengths". This powerful section is called 'One by One' and what it does is to answer the question, "How do I manage a person strong in ... (one of the 34)?"

Wow! Practical, useful and it works.

If you are or know a person who would like to improve in helping others this is a wonderful book.

In fact, if you discover your five strengths you could learn how to better manage yourself.

What a concept.
Here are my five top strengths.

• Maximizer

• Strategic

• WOO

• Self-Assurance

• Ideation

If you read this book, you might learn how to better manage me.

Send a message to learn more

11/22/2023

Brian Stack reflects on how our “Reverse-Flow” meetings help employee involvement