In a tough economy where your sales number could be taking something of a hit, it's more important than ever to make sure your clients pay up. Here are a few ways to do it. * Stop offering credit. Ask your bank for a merchant agreement and take credit cards. Many businesses skip billing the customer directly and let the credit card company do it. Explain to … [Read more...]
Check out these dead CEOs and how they operated
War heroes, long after they pass on, live on in the movies. The life and exploits of sports heroes are retold in books. Sixty years after his death, we still know Babe Ruth. Stars of the business world may be less well-remembered, but their daring feats qualify them as heroes just the same. Dead CEOs still have a lot to teach. In New Ideas From Dead CEOs, author Todd G. … [Read more...]
How unknown and improbable events shape our history
Nassim Nicholas Taleb calls his new book The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. (It was the discovery of one black swan that invalidated the theory that all swans are white.) His work continues the theme of his previous book Fooled by Randomness, which is about the role chance plays in life. It's not just forecasters who take a chance on predicting the future, … [Read more...]
How excellent calls made companies successful
Book Review Now you can be an insider. In a couple of hours, you can know the facts about how great leaders turned troubled companies around and led them to success. Sometimes you will be surprised, sometimes impressed, and at other times, you'll think their decisions were exactly what you would have made yourself.       In their new book Judgment: How Winning Leaders … [Read more...]
Alan Greenspan and the 'extraordinary half-generation'
He had great credentials when President Ronald Reagan nominated him to be chief of the Federal Reserve in 1987. Just 69 days into Alan Geenspan's term, however, the Dow dropped by 508 points and 22 percent (if the stock market average dropped 22 percent today, the Dow would lose about 3,000 points). The financial system was close to a financial panic, but that didn't happen, … [Read more...]