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Making A Difference – Thoughts, Observations and Opinions
This is Dave Brock’s Blog.
It offers my views on a variety of business, sales, marketing, and leadership topic. My goal is to make a difference for you, the reader, in both your professional and personal lives.
Latest Posts
The Giant Wake Up Call
I’m spending the slow time of the Holidays catching up on neglected reading. I just read (or rather re-read) Peggy Noonan’s opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal: Who We (Still) Are…A Little Perspective For The Pessimistic “Age Of The Empty Suit.” It’s a great piece, you should read it.In reflecting on the article, I agree with her. Despite the litany of bad news from so many sectors, we have so much to look forward to. In the past weeks, I’ve noticed a change in talking to friends, colleagues, and even strangers. I’ve noticed a much greater thoughtfulness. There’s been […]
Remembering Deming’s Lessons—Always Important, But Somehow More So Now
Art Petty reminds us in Management Excellence, about Deming’s lessons and their continued currency–particularly in light of the crises in leadership we face. Every time I read Deming, it seems that he is speaking of issues that are critical to leaders and organizations at this very moment, yet the work comes from many years ago. While many other business guru’s come and go like the latest fashions, Deming’s teachings are always important. There is so much of his work that one can cite in a post. Art mentions his theory of Profound Knowledge and 14 Points as good starting points. […]
What Have You Learned Today?
Nina Simosko wrote a great post at the Slow Leadership blog. She addresses the issue of “can you ever have learned enough.” Somehow, the answer to the question seems obvious, but as she implies, unwittingly, many seem to have stopped learning. There are all sorts of excuses, probably the most dominant is “I’m too busy,” the arrogant ones: “I have such deep experience.” The list can go on. Nina points out: “…thinking that you know it all is a sure sign of troubles to come….” As a consultant, unfortunately, many of the problems I see organizations have is they (and […]
What’s Your Question To Comments Ratio?
Great post at Art Petty’s Management Excellence Blog. It speaks to the issue that too many leaders — and I would expand that to business professionals, tend to talk too much and question—listen—probe too little. The Question To Comments ratio concept is fantastic! Take the time to read and practice his advice!
Vicious Disqualification Is Critical For Sales In A Down Economy!
Yesterday, I spent time with the sales management team of a large corporation reviewing their funnel. I noticed something very important, the quality of the deals in the funnel had declined significantly. It seems, as things were getting tougher, management was pushing sales to “go out and get more deals!” In an effort to keep their funnels full, the sales people were chasing bad deals. They were deals in which the customer had no real interest, urgency, or funding to go forward with a project. Deals in which my client’s solutions were marginally competitive. Deals that were the wishful thinking […]
A Night Sleeping On The Floor At Houston Intercontinental, Gate B85
It’s 6:20 am, Central Time, I’m in the President’s Club in Terminal B at Houston Intercontinental. The trials of winter travel started for me last night. I barely made my connecting flight to the East Coast last night. We finally left the gate, 90 minutes late. Six and a half (that’s right 6.5) hours later, still sitting on the tarmac, along with dozens of other planes waiting to be de-iced by one of Houston’s 2 de-icers, the pilot turned back, we had burned through our fuel. Turned out to be the same plight of dozens of other planes. My guess […]