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Business Solutions BLOG Setting End Goals Mission Statement" > People with goals succeed because they know where they are going. It's as simple as that."- Earl Nightingale Goal Setting > Success or failure as a human being or a Corporation is not a matter of luck, circumstances, fate, or any of the other tiresome old clichés. Those are only excuses. The power to achieve the life of your dreams is in your hands—and the first step toward activating it is identifying the specific goals that will make your dreams real. After all, it’s much easier to get what you want out of life or activities when you know where you’re going. "Plan for the future, because that is where you are going to spend the rest of your life." Leadership Communication - Four Fatal Assumptions of Executive Communication ; 1. Do they understand what was said, 2. Agree with what was said, 3. Care about what was said& 4. Know how to act on what was said. Click here for the WEB Link to this book, The Leader’s Voice by Ron Crossland. Leadership & Management Development – i) Embrace responsibility, ii) Accept Accountability, iii) Develop others, iv) Create a top team, v) Keep Strategic, vi) Value Meetings, vii) Advocate for Others, viii) Positive Approach, ix) Maintain Support, x) Treat Employees as Adults, xi) Open up !!! Click here for the WEB Link to the Leadership BLOG site of Dan McCarthy. Qualities of Leadership > Good leaders make people feel that they're at the very heart of things, not at the periphery. Everyone feels that he or she makes a difference to the success of the organization. When that happens people feel centered and that gives their work meaning. Leadership is an art and a science. A good leader knows when it is time to change shape because they are highly attentive to those around them. Coming from a position of strength, a great leader takes risks by freeing up the creative genius in their followers to build their capability and multiply the talents of the organization. This leads to community and greatness. By powerfully communicating a vision that animates, motivates, and inspires followers, a great leader is able to transform his or her organization. A good leader needs to be able to laugh; a great leader needs to be able to laugh at oneself. What kind of leader are you being? Where is your organization in relation to your vision?
Strategy Climate change action requires supply chain Management. Executives concerned about changing market conditions & Climate Change will have to look to purchasing & supply chain management. Click here for the WEB Link for the McKinsey Quarterly Management Newsletter. Business Strategy Sales Training "All great achievements require time." Train for a week, and you can run a mile. Train for a few weeks, you can run a 5K race. Train for a few months, and you can run a marathon. Most of us — in our careers and our achievements — aren’t marathoners. We focus on one thing until it becomes good, yet abandon it before it gets to great. The truth is, there is no clear line that separates good from great. And you may be much closer to great than you think. Richard Koch presents the secret principle behind becoming a marathoner in life. Motivation & Focus Action steps: Forget About Resolutions - What's Your Mission? By Success Skills Coach Jim Rohrbach © 2007 Nightingale-Conant Corporation
Here's a process you can use right now to create a Mission Statement for personal success in your career or business. Get out a pen and some paper, or if you'd like to do this online, go to http://www.nightingale.com/mission_select.aspx. Success Skills Coach Jim Rohrbach, "The Personal Fitness Trainer for Your Business," coaches business owners, entrepreneurs, and sales professionals on growing their clientele. He has helped hundreds of individuals to achieve their goals since he developed his first coaching program in 1982. Warren Buffett's ANALYSIS PHILOSOPHY Easy-to-Understand Businesses More importantly, it's easier to forecast future results for companies with straightforward and uncomplicated business models. Buffett always strives to look into the future when he invests, searching for businesses that he feels will still look solid at least 10 or 20 years down the road. In short, if you can't fully explain a business and why you should own its shares in just a few, coherent paragraphs, then you should walk away. Low Debt Levels "Good business or investment decisions will eventually produce quite satisfactory economic results with no aid from leverage." -- W. Buffett By looking through his previous success stories like Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), The Washington Post Co. (NYSE: WPO), and Moody's (NYSE: MCO), it is clear that Buffett carefully examines a company's balance sheet, and prefers to invest in those with relatively modest debt burdens. During the 1990s, investors largely ignored debt levels and focused instead on growth metrics. However, to his credit Buffett has never wavered in his focus on debt. In his 1987 letter to shareholders, Buffett eloquently noted that: "Good business or investment decisions will eventually produce quite satisfactory economic results with no aid from leverage." In the years since, adhering to that policy has kept Berkshire shareholders out of trouble. When it comes to funding future growth, Buffett prefers companies that can meet their requirements through internally generated cash, as opposed to raising capital by taking on debt or issuing more stock. Companies that can grow using only their existing cash flows are more or less internally financed. In other words, these firm's aren't dependant on securing loans to stay in business. By contrast, companies with large debt loads are usually reliant on external financing -- in most cases this means the capital markets -- to keep growing and operating. There are risks to these external financing sources. We all know that conditions in the capital markets can shift on a dime. Back in 1999, for example, a tech company could get showered with cash by simply listing its stock for public trading. However, by 2001 a bear market in technology stocks essentially closed that window. The same can be said for the bond market -- interest rates rise and fall and bond investors' perception of risk sometimes changes overnight. Of course, a credit downgrade can make it much more costly to secure financing, and higher interest payments tend to eat into profits. When measuring a company's reliance on debt, it's usually helpful to begin by examining its debt-to-equity (D/E) ratio. D/E can be easily calculated by dividing a particular company's total debt load by its shareholder's equity. Both of these key figures are located on the balance sheet. There's no hard-and-fast rule for evaluating this metric, but as a broad average for non-financial companies, it's usually wise to look for firms with D/E ratios below 0.50 (50%). High Profitability and Return-on-Equity "Time is the enemy of the poor business and the friend of the great business." -- W. Buffett If there's one single piece of financial data that's more often associated with Buffett than any other, it's return-on-equity (ROE). The calculation of ROE is relatively simple, and this metric can be found on just about every financial website. Simply divide a company's net income -- defined as total profits after interest, taxes, and depreciation -- by its shareholder equity. This ratio measures how much profit a company produces relative to shareholders' investment in the firm. Earnings growth is fine, but that growth always comes at a price. That's where ROE comes in. This extremely informative figure tells us how efficiently a company is using the capital at its disposal. As a rule of thumb, it's often best to stick with companies showing ROE of 15% or higher. But don't assume that you can invest like Buffett simply by running a screen for stocks with very high ROE. There are a couple of additional points to keep in mind. First, looking at the current figure in isolation only tells part of the story, so check to see whether ROE has been falling, rising, or stable over time. Also, if a company has a particularly strong year, then its net income figure can be inflated, which can cause ROE to be exceptionally strong. Such one or two-year blips have a tendency to fade quickly once the business environment becomes less favorable. Therefore, it's always important to examine ROE performance over a five or ten-year period. Proven Managerial Expertise "The managers at fault periodically report on the lesson they have learned from the latest disappointment. They then usually seek out future lessons." -- W. Buffett As we said earlier, not all of Buffett's investing criteria is objective. Case in point: Buffett seeks out firms with highly competent management teams. When Buffett makes an investment, he believes that he is buying a management team, as well as the business itself. In fact, when Berkshire makes an acquisition, the existing management team usually remains in place after the deal is completed. Typically, this has often meant getting to know a management team on a personal level. A great example of that is Clayton Homes, as detailed in Berkshire's 2003 annual report. In a letter addressed to Berkshire's shareholders, Buffett explained how he became interested in and ultimately acquired Clayton Homes, a manufactured home builder. In this case, Buffett first became aware of Clayton Homes in the 1990s when he bought the distressed, junk-rated debt of Oakwood Homes, an investment that got wiped out when Oakwood declared bankruptcy. The problem with the manufactured home industry, according to Buffett, is that overly generous consumer-lending practices often lead to a buildup of non-performing loans, and in severe cases, high default rates can eventually lead to bankruptcy. Buffett was first attracted to Clayton because the company's management team was well known in the industry for its conservative lending practices, which included larger down payment requirements and shorter-term loans. Ultimately, he contacted the company's CEO, Kevin Clayton, and was impressed with the way he described the company's risk-management style. Buffett also attributed a great deal of his knowledge about the company to a biography he read on Clayton Home's founder, Jim Clayton, the father of the CEO. It is unlikely that the average investor will be able to precisely mimic Buffett's approach to understanding corporate management teams, or have the opportunity to interview them personally. However, there are still plenty of important lessons to learn here. Chief among them is the fact that Buffett prefers companies with capable, experienced, and trustworthy management teams -- particularly if they have an economic stake in the business. In short, a company is only as strong as its leaders, so ask yourself these questions before investing: Do leaders candidly admit mistakes? Are the incentives of a company's managers aligned with the interests of rank and file shareholders? Does the stock have relatively high insider ownership? Has the firm made rational decisions with its retained earnings? Is management committed to delivering long-term shareholder value, or does it destroy value by employing tactics designed to meet arbitrary short-term earnings targets and appease Wall Street analysts? Attractive Valuation and Measurable Margin of Safety "The more vulnerable the business is...the larger margin of safety you'd need." -- W. Buffett At the end of the day, we all invest with one goal in mind: to buy a stock at one price, and then later sell it at a higher price. Therefore, the price we pay should always be the first and most important consideration. On that front, the related concepts of intrinsic value and margin of safety form the core of what is considered value investing. Buffett's use of both intrinsic value and margin of safety were heavily influenced by the teachings of mentor Benjamin Graham. As opposed to P/E ratios and other similar valuation tools, which only tell us how expensive one stock is relative to another stock, intrinsic value attempts to capture the true worth of a company, and by extension, its share price. Of course, investors often take different approaches when attempting to estimate a firm's intrinsic value. As a result, you'll often see wildly different assessments of what a particular stock is worth. However, most estimates incorporate many of the same variables, including the value of a firm's real assets, its current and future earnings, and the value of intangibles like brand names. Graham focused mainly on a company's current assets and book value -- the actual numbers that can be found on the balance sheet. Buffett, however, tends to lend more credence to intangibles and potential growth in a business, and his analysis of intrinsic value focuses on key fundamentals like revenues, assets, cash flow (see below), and projected growth. In other words, Buffett believes that a company's valuation is often driven by its long-term earnings power. However, nobody can precisely project a company's future earnings exactly, so it is important to leave some room for error -- or a margin of safety. In essence, the idea is to give yourself room to make mistakes when assessing intrinsic value. After all, if you overestimate the value of a business, then you're likely to overpay for its stock. However, if you require a large margin of safety before making any investment, then you'll reduce the chances of making a poor decision. For example, paying $45 for a stock with an intrinsic value of $50 might be okay if everything goes according to plan -- but what if the company's growth rates began to miss the mark? By refusing to pay any more than say, $30 for that same stock, you would have substantial room for future downward adjustments to intrinsic value. In other words, if the company's results stray off target or some unexpected problem pops up, dropping the intrinsic value to $40, then the stock would still have $10 of upside potential. Graham would not invest in a stock unless it was trading at a minimum 25% margin of safety. Likewise, Buffett looks for companies that are trading at steep discounts to his calculation of their intrinsic value. Sustainable Economic Moats "The key to investing is ... determining the competitive advantage of any given company and, above all, the durability of that advantage." -- W. Buffett It has long been one of the most fundamental axioms of basic economics: success invites competition. Think of a medieval castle surrounded by a moat full of water. The wider the moat, the more difficult it is for invaders to successfully attack and conquer the castle. So, how does this concept apply to the financial markets? It's simple -- companies that have wide moats are better insulated from competitive threats and fluctuations in the business cycle. Because Buffett is always thinking down the road, this concept is central to his investment philosophy. Some economic moats are easily spotted. For example, stringent SEC regulations and oversight have long thwarted new companies trying to enter the credit ratings business, and that barrier to entry has dug a wide economic moat for established players like Moody's (NYSE: MCO). A strong brand name would be another example. Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) is one of the most widely recognized names in the world, and that valuable brand gives the firm significant pricing power, as millions of consumers are willing to pay premium prices for Coca-Cola beverages. Not surprisingly, both Moody's and Coca-Cola are long-time Berkshire holdings. However, there are many other competitive advantages that are not easily recognized. For instance, a powerful retailer might have tremendous bargaining power over suppliers, and thus be able to negotiate favorable purchasing terms -- a firm like Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) springs to mind here. The network effect is another intangible, but very real competitive advantage. Just think of online auction giant eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY). Millions use eBay to sell items because of the large number of potential buyers the site reaches. Meanwhile, millions of buyers shop on eBay because of the high number of sellers offering a variety of products. As the site's membership continues to grow, the benefit to both buyers and sellers grows as well -- further strengthening the company's position in the market. Consistent Free Cash Flow and Owner Earnings "Calculate owner earnings to get a true reflection of value." -- W. Buffett Due to the nature of accrual accounting, a company's net income often bears little resemblance to its true net cash profits in any given period. Therefore, it is usually a good idea to also keep track of free cash flow (FCF) -- or operating cash flows less capital expenditures. Free cash flow measures the cash available to shareholders after a company has paid all of its bills in full. Buffett relies heavily on a similar metric that he dubs "owner earnings." One way to gauge a firm's cash flow production is to examine its free cash flow yield. This is calculated by dividing free cash flow by market capitalization, or the inverse of the Price/FCF ratio. A firm with a free cash flow yield of 10%, for example, generates 10% of its total market value in cash each year. That cash, in turn, can be used to pay dividends or fund share buybacks -- items that enhance shareholder returns. Buffett alway This guest post is by Paul Thornton, an author who contacted me about a new book he's written. Positive Energy for Your own Thinking, Personnel Issues & Ideas Think positive and change Your outlook !!! "We forget the chains we wear in life"…… Charles Dickens Consider these suggestions..
Communication >> Each of us is graced with the most powerful gift. With it, we are able to make people soar out of orbit with happiness, or plummet to the earth with despair if we are careless. What is this almighty gift? It is the gift of words and the ability to communicate Truth >> Imagine how much good the ‘Art of Integrity’ can put out into the Universe. Providing a positive, truthful comment, helping someone turn a bad mood into a good mood, and speaking to ourselves with only love will have an incredible affect on many lives. Remember the Laws of Attraction are at work at all times. Watch your words and speak only of what you would want to have in your world. Freedom >> Freedom is available to you at any time … even now. When you decide to pursue a lifestyle full of freedom, you make a commitment to be successful in your life dealings to W-I-N at all you endeavor. Like everything, it begins with you. The ability to attract wealth is the starting gun in the freedom race. Why wealth? Because while money does not guarantee happiness, it does pave the way over the bumps that cause many to stumble. It helps eliminate the stress and worry associated with bills and debt, and takes away the should's and musts that accompany thoughts of lack. What follows wealth? The freedom of Time. Does just the thought make you sigh? Imagine the time to do what you would like to do, not what you feel pressured to do. To have the time to pursue a hobby, spend unlimited amounts of time with your loved ones, or to go on a trip or for a walk for the sheer enjoyment of the experience? To have the chance to pursue your passions because you no longer come from a place of not enough money or time? Are you beginning to feel the energy of freedom? Intoxicating, isn’t it?Next there is health. While good health is vital to the pursuit of freedom, without money to ease stress and time to put good healthful practices into place, the ability to achieve the best possible health is often impossible. Would you enjoy the freedom to have a home gym and the time to devote to training for a marathon? Or the ability to schedule childcare for a session with a personal trainer or to hire a dietary nutritionist for meal planning and cooking lessons. Health freedom when coupled with wealth and time is the most valuable form of freedom there is. To have the freedom to do the best that you can for yourself for the rest of your life, and to help those around you do the same. What about spirituality? The time to explore your beliefs, pursue them and integrate them into your life. Beliefs, no matter what they are, are important. It’s one of the things that many never have time to pursue due to daily demands and pressures. Something that lives in hearts, but is not allowed to blossom outside of the person. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to embrace and unleash your spirit too?When one has the freedom of wealth, time, health and spirituality, one has what the One Minute Millionaire describes as “Ultimate Freedom”. What does this term mean to you? Close you eyes and imagine a life with all of these freedoms already present. Can you feel it and embrace it? Are ideas for new projects, experiences, and concepts bursting forth? Are visions of happy faces and feelings of contentment filling your heart? Ultimate freedom provides you with all of the core tools necessary to propel you towards your passion and destiny. Make the commitment today. Put your Laws of Attraction to work and take the first step towards wealth freedom with ultimate freedom being your eventual goal. It’s not elusive at all. You can soar to freedom. About How to Stay Motivated Drive >> A single word can change your life! Do you want to make more money? This word can help you create vast amounts of it. Do you want to be famous? This word can make you a big star. Do you want to be an effective leader, with influence over large numbers of people? This word can bring you more prestige and respect than you ever imagined. How is it possible for one word to bring a person so many good things? How is it possible to reduce all the complexities of “making it” in life down to a single word? Simple. This word is the cause of every achievement men and women have ever made. Let me explain by giving you an example: A reporter once asked Arnold Schwarzenegger how he was able to reach the top in bodybuilding and as a Hollywood actor. Without hesitating, Schwarzenegger replied, “DRIVE!” That was all he said. In fact, throughout history, the people with the most DRIVE have accomplished the most, earned the most money and respect, had the most luck, and garnered the most power. The driven person always finds these things, even in the face of “insurmountable” obstacles. In fact, he or she often finds them immediately after overcoming such obstacles. Since you’re reading this letter, I believe you’re already more driven than most of the population. Most people would have carelessly tossed this letter aside. But you’re reading because you’re smarter than they are - and more driven to succeed. There are nuggets of gold in this letter - nuggets so valuable they can literally transform your life. If you have the right mind set, you’ll find each and every nugget. About Mastering Influence EASILY and AUTOMATICALLY persuade people to do what YOU want them to do! Whether it’s landing a client, closing a sale, whittling down your to-do list, or even just enjoying some peace and quiet, most of the things you want to achieve in life depend in some part on the actions or decisions of other people. Once you’ve mastered the power to influence, you will know — instinctively and automatically — how to create win-win situations for everyone you encounter. And when you can do that, there is literally NO LIMIT to what you can achieve. Then... Whether you’re competing for a job, a candidate, a contract, a client, or anything else of value, there’s nothing more critical to your success than your ability to stand out as a uniquely qualified, valuable, appealing individual — someone whom other people really want to work with, work for, know, and help. And nothing will set you apart, make people notice and remember you, and get you what you want like the unmistakable mark of class. Class acts are a rare breed. You can spot them right away. And you never forget them. The 80/20 Principle
You, Inc.: Creating Your Life as a Free Agent
The Longevity Solution
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