Six Unique Traits Biz Owners Look For in Potential New Hires

As a business owner always looking for exceptional talent, and as a mentor to emerging entrepreneurs seeking guidance on how to hire great people, I’ve learned that there are six definitive traits that great potential new hires share. These apply to candidates in all positions, in every sector, at any level – from intern to senior management.

If you’re in the market for a new position, if you’re charged with scouting for new talent in your organization, or if you’re a business owner trying to make those essential first hires, consider these characteristics or behaviors.

10 Ways to Lose Prospects as Soon As They Hear your Voice

If you pick up the phone and start making calls without thinking about your approach, habit and the phrases you’ve picked up from telemarketing calls you have received over the years are going to dominate what you say. Surprise, surprise: that’s not the most effective way to make calls. You may be committing age-old blunders without even knowing it. These strategies were written by one of my Mastermind group members, friend, and trusted advisor Bill Cates, also known as The Referral Coach.(http://www.referralcoach.com/). Bill is THE EXPERT for anyone who wants to know how to build a thriving referral-based business.

Here’s a quick checklist of classic telephone prospecting mistakes. Are you making any of them? If so, take action to rectify your approach!

Goldman Sachs Exec: Leaving Due to “Toxic Culture.” Three Lessons for All of Us.

This past week, veteran Goldman Sachs employee Greg Smith submitted his resignation via the New York Times, due to the “toxic culture” that now permeates the organization. “I believe I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its identity. And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it…. The firm has veered so far from the place I joined right out of college that I can no longer in good conscience say that I identify with what it stands for,” he said.

Smith’s resignation cost the company more than $2 billion.

I Challenge You to Ask Yourself: Where are You on Your Ladder of Learning?

It occurred to me this weekend after I attended Yanik Silver’s (http://www.yaniksilver.com/) Underground 8 Online Seminar that one of the primary reasons I am SO FIRED UP about my future is because I am on the LOWEST RUNG of what I call my Personal Learning Ladderâ„¢ (PLL). I can’t remember the last time I learned so much in such a short period of time…. Learning opportunities are all around us. We have unprecedented access to knowledge, people, and information that previously was unattainable. What are you doing to continue your learning and growth?

Creating a Culture of High Engagement – And a Future That is Bigger and Better than Your Past

How engaged are you in building a bigger and better future for you, your company, your family, our world?

That was one of the questions I pondered as I absorbed every word that Matthew Kelly delivered at a recent Entrepreneurs Organization (www.eonetwork.org) event. Kelly is a master organizational consultant to several Fortune 500 organizations on the issue of employee engagement. He is also the author of the New York Times Best Seller “Off-Balance” and “The Dream Manager.” Kelly led 125 entrepreneurs through the thought-provoking exercise of questioning our own engagement, as well as the engagement of those around us, such as our employees.

Preserve, Destroy, Create: Your Only Path to Breakthrough Growth

“If it’s not broken, why fix it?” We’ve all said that as a justification for not moving forward with a difficult situation or decision. The question is, what if the status quo is broken and we’re just ignoring the need for repair? What if we lack the awareness, clarity, courage, or strength to take painful action to get to a better place? Business activity falls into three buckets: Preservation, Destruction, or Creation. To move to the next level, a business must go through all three phases.

Are You The Gatorade of Your Market? “No one else has the ability or right to do what we do in our market.”

When you hear “Gatorade,” what do you think? While the name may conjure up seemingly simple ideas such as “sports drink” or “flavored water,” the science behind the Gatorade brand is actually very complex, and is focused on something much bigger, bolder, and specific.

Sarah Robb O’Hogan, North American President of Gatorade and Global Chief Marketing officer of Sports Nutrition for PepsiCo, shared how Gatorade’s brand weakened during the bloated economy, and how the recession brought the brand back to its core consumer. Gatorade’s global mission is “to be the world leader in innovative sports nutrition.” Says O’Hagan: “No one else has the ability or the right to do what we do in our market.”

As an Entrepreneur, I Am Thankful

It’s always the right time to live life from a place of gratitude. With Thanksgiving just around the corner, today I reflect on what it means to be thankful as an entrepreneur.

Joining the Club: Five Strategies for Selecting Networking Organizations & Communities That Deliver ROI

Do you ever feel like a lazy slacker because you’re certain you’re the only person not attending various networking events, or not a member of an organization? It’s easy to get sucked into the networking vortex.There are so many events that you could attend a breakfast, lunch, dinner, and reception event every day of the week and still not make the rounds to every event out there. Wherever you reside, you have to choose wisely.

It is time to activate your most joyful life.

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