Business Archives

How to Be a Good Leader in Business & Stay True to Yourself

What’s the key to being a good business leader? Why is sticking to your core purpose and values essential for leadership? Identifying your core purpose (what Bill George calls your “True North”) and ethical principles is essential for becoming an effective leader. These two factors will help you stay grounded and humble during your time as a leader. Keep reading to learn how to be a good leader in business, according to Discover Your True North.

Trust in Marketing: The Basis of Profitability (Seth Godin)

How important is trust in marketing? How can you concretely build it and keep it? In Permission Marketing, Seth Godin discusses two approaches: Interruption Marketing and Permission Marketing. Both owe their profitability to the fact that they built customer trust in a brand. However, Godin asserts that Permission Marketing builds trust in a far more cost-effective way. Read more to learn about building customer trust through Godin’s permission model.

John List’s The Voltage Effect: Book Overview & Takeaways

Is your idea scalable? If so, what’s the best way to scale it over time? In his book The Voltage Effect, John List uses the word “voltage” to describe the power and momentum of scalable ideas. He lays out a framework for building and preserving your idea’s voltage as you scale. Continue reading for an overview of John List’s The Voltage Effect.

Get It Right: The Importance of Accurate Data in Market Research

Are you skilled at knowing when data is misleading? Can you recognize false positives? When you test your ideas in various markets, you get data that can be invaluable. But, inaccurate data will send you off in the wrong direction. In the context of market research, economist John A. List discusses the importance of accurate data and shares strategies on how to recognize false positives. Read more to learn how to get more accurate data in market research.

Seth Godin: A Marketing Strategy Based on Permission

What’s the best way to approach prospective customers? What’s the most profitable level of permission you can get from customers? In Permission Marketing, Seth Godin establishes the broad basics of his approach: Make long-term investments in your customers, and personalize offers for each individual. Then, he gets more specific and outlines the steps you can take to set up and profit from a permission marketing campaign. Keep reading to learn the basics of Seth Godin’s marketing strategy as presented in Permission Marketing.

Warren Buffett: ROE, Owner Earnings, Profit Margins, & $1

How does Warren Buffet determine whether a company is financially sound? What’s his “one-dollar test”? If you want to figure out whether a company is on solid financial ground, here’s what you need to evaluate, according to Warren Buffett: ROE (return on equity), owner earnings, profit margins, and the “one-dollar test.” Robert G. Hagstrom discusses Buffett’s analysis of these factors in The Warren Buffett Way. Continue reading to learn how Buffett assesses a company’s finances before deciding whether to invest in it.

What Is the Spillover Effect? Unintended Consequences of Scale

What is the spillover effect? How does it impact your ability to scale an idea? In The Voltage Effect, economist and professor John A. List provides advice on how to figure out if a particular idea will scale. In order to do this effectively, you must understand the spillover effect, recognize it when it’s happening, and manage it well. Read more to learn how to deal with the unintended consequences of scaling your idea.

The Top 5 Bad Leadership Qualities: Avoid Doing These Things

What are bad leadership qualities that can ruin your business? What is the common theme in these toxic behaviors that destroy a leader’s potential? Bill George’s book Discover Your True North claims it’s important that you identify your core purpose and ethics to become an effective and resilient leader. To illustrate the importance of having these guiding principles, George identifies the five qualities that commonly cause leaders to stray from their core purpose and ethics. Keep reading to learn why these bad leadership qualities are a leader’s worst nightmare.

What Philip Arthur Fisher Taught Warren Buffett About Investing

Beyond its financial statements, what indicates a company’s health? How can you evaluate the subjective qualities of a company? If you learn investing from Warren Buffett, you indirectly learn a vital principle from Philip Arthur Fisher. Fisher taught that, when you consider whether to invest in a company, you must look beyond its quantitative factors; you must also assess its qualitative factors such as its potential and management. Keep reading to discover what Warren Buffett learned from Philip Arthur Fisher.

How to Control Costs as You Grow: Advice From an Economist

What causes runaway costs? How can you keep your costs from spiraling out of control as your business scales? Managing costs is vital as your organization grows. When scaling up, you can take certain precautions to stay on top of overhead costs and per-unit expenses and keep them at a level that allows for sustained profitability. Continue reading for tips from economist and professor John A. List on how to control costs over time.