Business Coaching

B2B Stories

Resolutions and predictions for 2023

As someone who has written a regular column for more than five years, I have learned that certain topics are expected at certain times of the year. At the start of the year, readers often expect to see columnists provide resolutions and predictions. I will not let you down. Let’s start with the resolutions, and more importantly, how to keep them. Like many of you, I have probably not succeeded with all my resolutions. So, why should you listen to me? As Thomas Edison once said, “I have not failed.

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B2B Stories

Thoughts from the General: How About Some Good News

It is important to be aware of bad news, and more importantly, to take steps to deal with it. However, recognizing, celebrating, and enjoying the good news should be part of everyone’s life journey. A favorite expression in our family is “Don’t Postpone Joy” Here is some good news list from far and wide. The strength of the dollar. For the first time in twenty years, the dollar is worth almost as much as the Euro (the other important currency in the world). This news is mostly positive. It indicates

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B2B Stories

Good things come to those who plan

Let’s just go ahead and preface with this: I fell into entrepreneurship and therefore leadership. And riding a bull is about the equivalent of being a business owner; perhaps you can relate. There are tremendous ups and downs, spins and ejections. So, keeping that in mind, I wanted to talk about questions that continually come up for me while I am out in the community: “How do you do all the things you do?” “I see you everywhere! Do you sleep?” “Do you have a clone?” “I didn’t expect you

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B2B Stories

Ebenezer Scrooge still provides lessons for modern-day business owners

Each year around this time, one of the world’s wealthiest fictional characters receives a lot of attention. That, of course, is Ebenezer Scrooge, the miserly and bitter character created by Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol and retold in a number of movie versions. But just how wealthy was Scrooge and how did he earn all that money? Dickens’ novel, published in 1843, doesn’t say for certain, but obviously Scrooge was extraordinarily wealthy for the time period. Various people have ventured guesses at Scrooge’s wealth. Forbes listed him as the

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B2B Stories

Mondays with Rick: Reflecting on 2022 to prepare for 2023

  Dr. Rick Franza, Dean of the Hull College of Business, discusses a different, timely business topic each Monday in this column. This week, he talks about how to review the past year to prepare for the new year. The interview has been edited for clarity and impact. ABD: 2022 is almost in the history books. The end of the year seems like a good time for business leaders to review the past year. Should we just breathe a sigh of relief at having made it through it and move

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B2B Stories

A gift of sage advice to young entrepreneurs in the CSRA

This story started as a question for business leaders in the CSRA who have found success: What advice would you give your younger self? To some extent, this 411 is incorporated into the stories ABD offers every day – the “how to” of putting together a strategic plan, marketing your business or dealing with a possible recession. The interviews are with those who’ve walked the walk and the advice isn’t just for professionals looking to stay on their “A” game. Whether you are a seasoned business owner, an employee or

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B2B Stories

Mondays with Rick: The lucrative business of sports

  Dr. Rick Franza, Dean of the Hull College of Business, discusses a different, timely business topic each Monday in this column. This week, he talks about the business aspects of sports. The interview has been edited for clarity and impact. ABD: As fans, we generally think of sports as a form of entertainment (or life-and-death, depending on how into it we are) but behind the scenes, sports is a business. How should we, as fans process that? Rick: It depends on how you as an individual treat it. If

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B2B Stories

How to Spend Your End-of-Year Vacation

As we move through the first full week of December, we can begin to anticipate the end of the calendar year. Since Christmas Day and New Year’s Day fall on Sundays this year, many businesses are giving their employees the last week of the year off from work. In addition, most are also off on January 2, and many are taking days off in the week leading up to Christmas, particularly with Hanukkah running from December 18-26. Therefore, many of us have anywhere from one to two weeks away from

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B2B Stories

Mondays with Rick: The upcoming economic forecast for 2023

  Dr. Rick Franza, Dean of the Hull College of Business, discusses a different, timely business topic each Monday in this column. This week, he talks about the upcoming Economic Forecast breakfast. The interview has been edited for clarity and impact. ABD: On Thursday morning you’ll be hosting the 15th annual Economic Forecast breakfast at Augusta University with your economist, Simon Medcalfe. What can we expect from this event? Rick: This is endowed locally by Wells Fargo and is more community oriented rather than AU-oriented. We already have more than

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B2B Stories

Thoughts from the General: The thirteen “Cs” which help define extraordinary leadership

I believe there are 13 “C” that make a great leader: Compassion, Creativity, Confidence, Consistency, Consideration, Courage, Charity, Competence, Communication, Courtesy, Comedy, Curiosity, and Collaboration. Compassion. Medal of Honor and Carnegie Medal recipients can be our guides. In many cases, these people acted heroically because of the compassion they felt for those in grave danger. Throughout the CSRA, thousands of folks are deeply compassionate as they provide care for others. Creativity. There are four aspects of creativity: Being creative yourself; recognizing creativity in others; operationalizing novel ideas; and protecting creative people from their bad

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