Do you ever sit back and wonder what kind of leader you are? Are the people who work for you inspired by you or are they there with you because you are the only game in town? Would they stay with you if another very similar company opened up across the street? Think about that, […]
If We Don’t Work Together, We May Not Work At All
We have a problem in this PCB industry of ours. We are so focused on beating the other guy, that we don’t spend much time working on how we can make our own companies better. In fact, we are always so focused on disrespecting our competitors that we would rather see them fail than succeed. […]
Dare To Be Great
We are all so busy running our businesses that we seldom have time to do what really needs to be done to move our businesses forward, to take them from “good to great” to use that old but true cliché. I know that all of my friends who own board shops are always so occupied […]
Producing The Greatest Products Possible
Laurene Powell Jobs was once quoted as saying that her husband Steve and legendary Apple designer Jony Ive would spend hours discussing corners, yes that’s right corners. I also read that Apple had an entire Quality department dedicated to boxes including a device that would check how those boxes would open and close. How many […]
Sometimes Playing It Safe Is The Wrong Decision
I view business like this: If you are not growing, you are dying. If you are not constantly trying to find ways to make your company more attractive to your customers, you will die. I personally know of some companies who have shrunk themselves out of business. They have literally cut costs to the point […]
The Future of The North American PCB Industry Is Up To You
No matter what happens in the world, success is up to you There are about 230 boards shops left in North America and out of those about 175 of them are at $10 Million or less and out of those about a 100 are at $5 Million or less and out of those 25 are […]
How Many Times Do I Have To Tell You? Stop Talking And Start Listening
I’ve been concentrating on listening lately. I mean really listening, not doing what I usually do, which is to wait for the person I’m talking with to finish talking so that I can tell him all the great thoughts I was formulating, while he was talking. It’s not easy to listen, we are all so […]
The “We’re Behind Quota Already!” Emergency Crash PCB Sales Plan
So the year has started badly. You thought all that start of year pent up demand would have you rocking. But sales are thin and the funnel is pretty darn dry. You’re beating on your outside sales team and they are doing everything they can with their customer base. Or worse yet you don’t even […]
Leaders Never Lie!
Must have Leadership Qualifications Are you the kind of leader who can inspire his troops to follow him through hell? Or the kind of leader that couldn’t get his people to follow him across the street to a free buffet? I have had both in my life and believe me the former is always better […]
Is You Company Customer Focused?
When was the last time you sat around with your team talking about how you could produce better products and services for your customers? I mean doing things better, making the customers experience extraordinary and putting the “wow” factor in your products. I would guess never. We are all so busy just trying to meet […]