Here’s a great quote from Ray Kroc, the entrepreneur who took over the McDonald’s corporation in 1954 and built it into the most successful fast food operation in the world. Ray said, “I didn’t invent the hamburger. I just took it more seriously than anyone else.”

Right now, countless companies, including our clients, are thriving in these challenging times. They're building buildings, managing money, manufacturing goods, fixing computers, running restaurants, managing properties, distributing goods, and providing services. The list goes on.

These companies excel despite numerous competitors, tough economic conditions, and pricing pressures. Why? Because they take their businesses seriously and run them very well.

One of the biggest and fastest impacts you can have on your organization in terms of better communication, accountability, team health, and results is to hold a weekly meeting with your leadership team. Your weekly meeting should focus on making sure everything important is on track and that you’re solving all relevant issues for the week and removing all obstacles and barriers for your people.

My client was mad. I could read the body language in the room, and it was not good. It was plain to see she’d been hurt deeply by some unspoken slight from one of her team members. The two of them were sitting there with their arms crossed, facing away from each other. The rest of the team was fidgeting or wriggling in their chairs and not looking at anyone.

It was obvious there was an elephant in the room that all seven of them knew about, but were refusing to acknowledge. Knowing that a healthy team is critical for our success, I called out the issue.

Did you know that the most important part of your annual planning session isn't planning? If you're like many companies, your leadership team skips the most critical component of your annual planning. And it negatively impacts your team's creativity and goal setting for the coming year.

Business leaders of entrepreneurial companies are so hard-charging, so busy, and so overwhelmed, that they tend to see only the gaps ahead of them. These are the goals, ideals, and accomplishments they haven't reached yet. When you're feeling overworked from the previous year and start looking at all the gaps you have yet to cover, it can put you into the wrong frame of mind for moving forward.

As entrepreneurs, sometimes we can be our own worst enemies. We can get easily bored, leaving us with a need to “stir things up” to make things exciting again. For me, this stems from an intense desire to make things better. Whatever the motivation, this need for change and excitement can cause a crisis in our business.