Do Business Well

Each manager’s routine was different, reflecting his or her unique style. Nonetheless, hidden within this diversity we found four characteristics common to the “performance management” routines of great managers.

First, the routine is simple. Great managers dislike the complexity of most company-sponsored performance appraisal schemes. They don’t want to waste their time trying to decipher the alien terms and to fill out bureaucratic forms. Instead they prefer a simple format that allows them to concentrate on the truly difficult work: what to say to each employee and how to say it. Continue Reading »

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Your credit record is your financial reputation. If you want to rent an apartment, buy a house, get a phone hooked up, get a credit card, take out a loan, buy a blimp, or start a business, you need a good record.

A company that wants to check your credit can call other companies that have done money deals with you in the past, or they can get a report from a credit reporting bureau. But if you’ve never been granted credit in the past, you don’t have a credit record. Where do you start?

Fortunately, you don’t always need a credit record. Some credit grantors realize that no record is better than a bad one. If you don’t have one, they’ll look more carefully at other information on your credit application: Continue Reading »

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2. Investors. Investors are most interested in factors that can help predict growth, because growth is essential for them to get an attractive return on their investment. These factors include the market’s likely future, the management team’s experience, evidence of fast-growing sales, and so forth. They want to see their investment go into marketing rather than R&D expenses. The existence of tangible assets is less important to investors because they aren’t as concerned with being “repaid” in the same way. But investors do want to see a concise plan—preferably 40 pages or less. Continue Reading »

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