How To Run Great Meetings
There is no question in my mind that the executive who involves his managers in the decision-making process by running meetings that are open, candid, and informal will achieve more and suffer fewer setbacks than the employer who is all output and no input. That said, it must be acknowledged…
The Fastest Way To Become A Millionaire
In “The One Minute Millionaire,” the authors tell us that you can get your first million faster (and surer) by following this simple three-step approach: Step 1. Create a “millionaire mindset,” they say, by developing self-confidence and allowing your burning desire for wealth to grow. I’ve talked a lot…
It Pays To Help Your Competitors
Most books on the subject treat business as war. Your competitors are your enemy. Beating them out of market share is your goal. If you can get them to go out of business completely, you’ve triumphed. I don’t share that view. And I’ll tell you why. War is a terrible,…
How To Handle Irate Customers
Only after an angry customer believes that you understand his problem and sympathize with his plight will he be willing to believe that you really mean to help him. This is especially true if he’s been run through a customer-service drill that resulted in nothing happening. One way I’ve found…
Pay Attention To Your No. 1 Job
According to most “serial business builders,” bad hiring and firing decisions are among the most important mistakes entrepreneurs make. These include: 1. not spending the time and energy to recruit the very best employees 2. not paying close enough attention to an executive’s performance 3. waiting too long to…
When You Shouldn’t Fire Your Weakest Link
As an executive working for a business I didn’t own, I fired employees right and left. It was clear to me that my primary duty was to the business — and when someone working for me couldn’t cut the mustard and could be replaced rather quickly by someone better, I…
Promise #9 for the New Year: To Become Wiser by Reading ETR Every Day
You are a very busy person. And so I appreciate the fact that you take the time each morning to make reading ETR a priority. The single most productive thing I do each day is the work I do writing ETR. It’s energizing because it gets me thinking positively first…
Become Healthier with Healthful Exercise
Keeping yourself healthy should be a priority in your life, even if it isn’t your topmost concern. To accomplish your other life goals, you need a working body and an energetic mind. You have to be able to get up early — the earlier the better — and work with…
Resolution: Increase Your Income
Let’s start with some simple arithmetic. Joe Ordinary is 25 years old, makes $28,000 a year, and gets ordinary 3% to 4% yearly increases. Over a 40-year career, he makes approximately $2.3 million. Elwood ETR is not satisfied with ordinary. He follows the advice he gets here every morning and…
A Productivity Tip You’re Not Going to Like
“Formal learning can teach you a great deal, but many of the essential skills in life are the ones you have to develop on your own.” – Lee Iacocca (Iacocca: An Autobiography, 1984) If you’re lucky enough to have an assistant, one of the tasks you’re probably tempted to…
Thanksgiving: The Right Time to Count Your Blessings
Your health: You have aches. You have pains. You may have illness and infirmity. But you also have time every day when you can enjoy yourself and the company of the people you love and are loved by. Be thankful for that. Your wealth: You haven’t hit the Forbes list…
Productivity Secrets from the NBA: How To Do Everything Better and Quicker — And Make A Lot More Money in the Process
Did you ever notice how many professional basketball games are decided in the last 10 minutes? Plenty. It’s a curious thing. Ten guys jump around like madmen for 50 minutes, the score seesawing a few points this way and a few points that way. Then — halfway through the last…