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Clint Greenleaf

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The Art of Firing

Clint Greenleaf

The Art of Firing

The art of firing is much like the art of throwing a hand grenade -- it's rarely done right, and even when it is, the results include some chaos. When it's done wrong, a lot of good people can pay the price. (All this said, sometimes, only a grenade will do.) There have been countless articles written on the steps to take when firing (I'll save everyone the time of rehashing them here). I think that there are a few issues that need to be addressed in firing, though, that most

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New Year's Plans For Everyone

Clint Greenleaf

New Year's Plans For Everyone

Every new year, we re-evaluate our plans for the next 12 months. I took a look at my past lists and pulled the best five that I thought would be good for everyone. 1) Be funnier. This applies to my family, my work life, and this blog... Life is more enjoyable when you can make others laugh. So I promise to try to make my wife, my children, my employees, my vendors, my clients and you laugh more. 2) Treat your staff well. You can't play with your food, but no one says you can'

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Revenue: The Mighty Measuring Tool For Entrepreneurs

Clint Greenleaf

Revenue: The Mighty Measuring Tool For Entrepreneurs

Although I don't admit it when out in public, I'm a CPA. Luckily, I'm married to a woman who is okay with the fact that her husband dorks out over numbers. (To be fair, though, she doesn't admit that I'm a CPA in public either.) Since I left public accounting to start my company, friends and advisors have told me that the conflict between the "entrepreneurial" and "CPA" ways of thinking would drive me crazy. I hate to admit it, but in some senses, they're right. Take revenue,

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Can The Truth Set Your Profits Free?

Clint Greenleaf

Can The Truth Set Your Profits Free?

Current events give us daily examples of the toxicity of dishonesty in politics, sports, entertainment--and the business world bears high-profile examples of the same. So what is everyone missing? Clearly, broad discussions of ethics and morality haven't done the trick, so I propose that we skip the mushy-squishy stuff and go straight to the bottom line. Here are five ways to use honesty to drive profits: 1. Honesty increases customer retention and sales. Customers who feel l

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4 Mistakes Companies Make Working With Vendors

Clint Greenleaf

4 Mistakes Companies Make Working With Vendors

We work with many vendors in the book industry, and we've seen all sorts of personalities, styles, business practices and policies. Sure we've seen our share of bad eggs, but in most cases, we have had great relationships with our vendors. This has given us many advantages over other publishers -- not the least of which are low prices, superior information, and great customer service. Our strong vendor alliances are no coincidence -- we've learned over the years how to cultiv

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Stay On Top of Things

Clint Greenleaf

Stay On Top of Things

We're all busy. I've got a few plates spinning at any given time family and friends take up what little time is left when I leave the office. People often ask how I stay on top of everything. (Usually not family and friends, who think I work too much). I guess my answer is that I'm hardwired to multitask and generally require less sleep than most people. Good old-fashioned hard work aside, there are three important lessons I've learned to help keep me one step ahead of it all

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Everything I Needed to Know About Being A Dad I Learned From Being a CEO

A Reading List

Clint Greenleaf

A Reading List

It seemed natural to, at some point, blog about great books. I am, after all, a publisher. In order to make this list credible, though, I have not included any of the books we have published, or even books by authors whom I know or I have met. So, then, if I have published your book, or if I know you, please do not be offended that your book is not on this list. What follows is a list, in no particular order, of 10 great books that every entrepreneur or employee of an entrepr

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New Year's Plans For Everyone

Clint Greenleaf

New Year's Plans For Everyone

With the new year just a few days away, it's time to think about our plans for the next 12 months. I took a look at my list and pulled six that I thought would be good for everyone. 1) Be funnier. This applies to my family, my work life, and this blog... Life is more enjoyable when you can make others laugh. So I promise to try to make my wife, my daughter, my employees, my vendors, my clients and you laugh more in 2008. 2) Treat your staff well. You can't do it with your foo

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Keep It Short

Clint Greenleaf

Keep It Short

In Hamlet, Shakespeare said "Brevity is the soul of wit." Winston Churchill said, "Say what you have to say, and the first time you come to a sentence with a grammatical ending -- sit down." There are about 20 other good quotes that speak to this point, but I'm trying to make a point here, so I'll stop at two. Keeping to your message, and making a short, quick point, is incredibly powerful. Just about anyone who graduated from high school can make a long, boring argument abou

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Clint Greenleaf

5 Things You Can Learn From Warren Buffett

This was my second year in Omaha for the most famous annual corporate meeting in the world. Berkshire Hathaway has been an American icon for years, and the recent drama surrounding David Sokol made this year's meeting, held on April 30, extra special. I found the event fantastic and walked away with some great pearls of wisdom. Warren Buffett, the "Oracle of Omaha" and Berkshire's legendary chairman and CEO, and Charlie Munger, Buffett's deputy, were on their A-games and did

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Rich vs. Poor

Clint Greenleaf

Rich vs. Poor

Much of the rhetoric we’re hearing in the media today talks about the huge gap between rich and poor. Politicians of all parties discuss this issue, but none get to the root of the problem. It’s true that the gap between the richest 10 percent of the country and the remaining 90 percent is growing, but from that point on, most politicians get it wrong. The gap is increasing because all sides are making more money. Yes, the top 1% are getting richer, but that also means the e

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Gifts That Really Say Thanks

Clint Greenleaf

Gifts That Really Say Thanks

My dad is a bright guy -- he's been feeding me good business ideas for a long time. One of my favorites is something I adopted years ago and has worked incredibly well for me ever since. That idea? Give Thanksgiving gifts to your clients and vendors. (Don't forget your vendors -- check out my blog articles on working with vendors if you need a refresher.) In the past, I’ve given mugs, specialty coasters, and staplers. One year, I sent everyone jalapeño plants with my company

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R-e-s-p-e-c-t

Clint Greenleaf

R-e-s-p-e-c-t

There’s a great lesson in self-discipline that every company can learn -- one that can result in improved morale, increased customer service, and better client relationships. I can boil it down to one word: respect. We all remember the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It’s simple enough in theory, but I know I’m not alone in having to remind myself of its importance from time to time. If you’re like most companies, you may find yourself with a s

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Are You Missing Good Opportunities?

Clint Greenleaf

Are You Missing Good Opportunities?

GM once threatened to shut down Saab as the deal to sell the brand to a Dutch car-maker languished. I'll leave it to others to debate whether this is a smart negotiating technique. In the meantime, I'd like to address a more personal issue: I used to own a SAAB and was very happy with it over many years. One day, I received a letter from my local dealer. As I opened it, I guessed that it would tell me to keep the faith in the Saab dealer's service department in spite of the p

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My (Thoughts on) Apologies

Clint Greenleaf

My (Thoughts on) Apologies

When public officials or famous people make a big mistake, it is often followed by a public apology. They do a big news conference to supposedly bare their souls and apologize to everyone. All too often, it's a scripted, unemotional speech with poorly coached theatrics, and it rings hollow and disingenuous. Most important, it's too little, too late. Two poorly executed apologies that come to mind were those offered by South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford and Tiger Woods. Afte

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You Need Help

Clint Greenleaf

You Need Help

It's hard to ask for help. Pride isn't necessarily admirable, but our smarts and hard work helped us get here... and admitting that we need help might make us look weak, right? Wrong -- in fact, just the opposite is true. I have a good friend named Mike Robbins. Mike played baseball for the Kansas City Royals organization before becoming an author and professional speaker. Mike is known as an expert on appreciation, and his take on asking for help is simple but brilliant. Hi

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Clint Greenleaf

The Power of Forgiveness

Tony Alessandra, the author of The Platinum Rule, is a hall of fame professional speaker, a bestselling author, and is close friends with many of my friends. The first time we ever met was over the phone, when he called to let me know that I had quoted his book without his permission. Yikes. At that time, I owned a publishing company -- I should have know better. A bit of history. In 2000, I wrote a book called A Gentleman’s Guide to Etiquette. In the book I mentioned “The Pl

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Babies, Business and the Bottom Line

Clint Greenleaf

Babies, Business and the Bottom Line

My wife is a trusting woman. She is very smart, and yet when our oldest child was an infant, for some reason she still thought it would be OK for me to take care of our child for four days while she was out of town. On Thursday morning, she left, and I was in charge for the next four days... Fortunately, we already had help arranged during the day on Thursday and Friday. On Friday night, after our daughter went to bed, I thought I was halfway done. The easy part was over -- n

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Clint Greenleaf

Ditch Your Elevator Pitch

Elevator pitches are good in theory -- take a complicated concept and distill it into a short message. Most of the time, however, they don't make sense, and all too often they include trite buzzwords like "synergy," "maximize," or "Web 3.0." The problem is, most pitches are very forgettable and don't encourage further discussion. Most things can -- and need to be -- boiled down to short, concise comments. But how do you keep them short, make them memorable, and open the door

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