Category: Leadership

The Growth Paradox

Posted by Phillip Wilson | Jul 29, 2016 | Leadership

Everyone wants growth.

We want growth in our personal lives, as parents, and in our friendships. We want to grow in our professional lives, as business leaders, entrepreneurs, and front-line employees.

The desire for growth lies deep down in each of us. It just makes sense that it is a key goal for most businesses. But growth, in and of itself, is not without its challenges. Chris Zook, partner at Bain & Co. and co-author of The Founder’s Mentality put it this way:

“Growth creates complexity, and complexity is the silent killer of growth.”

Employee Engagement and Leader Approachability: New Gallup Research

Posted by Phillip Wilson | Jul 25, 2016 | Leadership

New Gallup research proves the relationship between leader approachability and employee engagement.

If you want to improve engagement there is really only one place to look – your supervisors. Gallup’s most recent report, State of the American Manager: Analytics and Advice for Leaders, found that:

“Managers account for up to 70% of variance in engagement.”

And there’s the rub.

How Dollar Shave Club Taught a $1 Billion Lesson in Disruption

Posted by Phillip Wilson | Jul 22, 2016 | Leadership

Earlier this week, Unilever purchased Dollar Shave Club for $1 billion.

Here’s a quick background on the two companies.

Unilever is the owner of big name home care, food, refreshment, and personal care brands like Dove, TRESemme, Vaseline, Lipton, Ben & Jerry’s, the list goes on. Employing over 172,000 people, it is the third-largest consumer goods company in the world. The beginnings of the company date back to the early 1870s when two family businesses were just getting up and running. One in the exporting butter business. The other in the homemade soap and grocery store business. In 1929, the two businesses merged to create what we now know as Unilever.

Dollar Shave Club began operations in 2011, but they didn’t really start gaining steam until they released this video in 2012.

Why You Should Celebrate More with Your Team

Posted by Phillip Wilson | Jul 14, 2016 | Leadership

Yes. Celebrate.

High fives. Atta girls. Good job milkshakes. 4 o’clock happy hours.

It can be anything. What matters is that you celebrate. Celebrate the great work your folks do every day. Tell them often. It’s so simple but we don’t do it. Instead we take our terrific employees for granted. Not always, of course. When we do take time to think about it, we find ourselves being grateful for the incredible work everyone does. The problem is we’re busy. It’s hard to find that moment to sit back and just be grateful. And even when we do, we forget to mention it to the employees we’re feeling grateful for. Then we’re singing a Joni Mitchell ballad…

“….You Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone)…”

But forget about turnover. Just think about production.

Here are four reasons you should be celebrating more with your team.