TWO AFFORDABLE METHODS OF CREATING CUSTOMER INSIGHT BOARDS By Laura Patterson Here are some eye-opening statistics on customer loyalty and why customer retention can drive financial success: 98 percent of dissatisfied customers never complain Customers rarely leave because of the product Most customers switch companies because they didn’t feel appreciated 85 percent of dissatisfied customers [...]

ARE DECISION-MAKING FUNDAMENTALS BYPASSED IN SOFTWARE INVESTMENTS? By Keith German CEOs and their leadership teams make tough, important decisions every day. Many of these decisions come after extensive consideration, often requiring the application of skilled planning efforts. Why are so many companies and non-profits straining valuable resources in the software purchase process? Surprisingly, many executives [...]

WHY STRONG MESSAGING AND STICKING WITH IT IS VITAL FOR ANY EXECUTIVE By Katie Gardner Harvey Chief executives often find themselves in front of the public as the face of an organization. Sometimes the CEO has a role in an organization’s marketing, like J. Patrick Doyle of Domino’s Pizza or Gary Kelly of Southwest Airlines. [...]

RECRUITMENT OF EFFECTIVE BOARD MEMBERS DEPENDS UPON MUTUAL RESPECT By Kent Burress It’s board member hunting season in our little corner of the non-profit world. We have a strict tenure policy, so every year about this time we recruit a few new board members. It’s a good policy that guarantees a renewing flow of ideas, [...]

GROOMING WOMEN EXECUTIVES FOR BOARD ROOM SUCCESS By Melisa Denis Three years ago, I started investigating the qualifications to serve on a corporate board. As a senior partner in one of the big four accounting firms, I had plenty of experience working around C-level executives and corporate board rooms. As a female in the business [...]

STOP DYSFUNCTION AND START ANALYZING THE “TRUE INFLUENCES” FOR BOARDROOM SUCCESS By Tom Hughes, Keith Owen, and Tim Gohmann This is an example of a board of directors which pulled themselves out of the doldrums of mediocrity by their “own bootstraps.” The board was engaged in a never-ending struggle to achieve their organization’s mission and [...]

HOW MILITARY LEADERSHIP CAN SHAPE AND BENEFIT YOUR BOARDROOM By Gen. Donald “Don” Cook, USAF, Retired For the past six years, I have been fortunate enough to serve as a director on private, public and non-profit boards. When I began this ‘second career’ I had some misgivings that I could make meaningful contributions to the [...]

WHY PUSHING QUARTERLY SALES DOESN’T ALWAYS YIELD REVENUE INCREASES By Bill Harrison Some sales organizations are organized, goal-oriented, and process-driven – most, however, are fairly disorganized and unfocused. An easy way to tell great sales organizations from average sales organizations is to measure where managers spend the majority of their time. Is it at the [...]

THE QUALITIES AND EDUCATION OF AN EFFECTIVE LEADER, POST SARBANES-OXLEY By David Preng Over the last decade, corporate boards have undergone a marked change. Pre-2000, board members were often friends that were trusted.  They were people who went to school together, whose wives played tennis together. They would go to the same churches and see [...]

WHAT YOUR C-SUITE NEEDS TO KNOW, PLUS A PREVIEW OF 2013 By Royce Poinsett Texas business leaders feel a certain sense of dread every two years as the Texas Legislature convenes, and in January 2011 that fear was particularly acute. The media issued troubling reports of an impending budget shortfall first estimated at $15 billion, [...]

6 “RIGHTS” TO DEVELOPING AN EFFECTIVE EARLY-STAGE BOARD By Hal Shear After the money’s in – be it angel, VC or self-funding – and the dust settles, early-stage companies can create a path to success by establishing winning governance practices. Best practices in corporate governance represent not only those practices that comply with the letter [...]

WOULD YOU RATHER BE RIGHT OR GET WHAT YOU WANT? By Gigi Sage Several years ago I was hired by a large energy company to work with 80 of their top executives who were struggling to advance their careers within the company. I found that the executives had a mindset of competition and conflict with [...]