Archive for the ‘Risk’ Category
Be Prepared: Continuity Planning
When was the last time you and your team planned for an emergency? If you’re like most entrepreneurs, your answer is “We’re far too busy to plan…” or “We’ve already taken precautions to prevent emergencies…” or “We aren’t at risk…”.
Well, the truth of the matter is that all you have to do is open up a newspaper to find instances of business leaders just like you who have suffered great personal and professional losses from not having a current, relevant and flexible continuity plan (i.e. business disaster plan).
That’s why in BusinessCast episode #133 — Be Prepared: Continuity Planning — we reached out to get the most current insights about how and when leaders in growth companies should plan for emergencies. Our guest is American Express’ VP and General Manager, Howard Grosfield. Howard shares with us the results from American Express’ recent cross-Canada research of growing companies’ current state of continuity planning.
Listen to BusinessCast episode #133 and you’ll understand how your emergency planning stacks up against your competitors. At the same time, you will find practical tips for helping you determine how and when to cost-effectively develop a relevant continuity plan for your company.
Privacy for Business Success
Privacy is such a fundamental part of business success, that it often goes overlooked. And that can be a serious problem given the negative repercussions of not properly meeting your obligations — and customers’ unspoken expectations — about how their private information is to be managed.
That’s why for BusinessCast episode #129, Robert and I sat down with Dr. Ann Cavoukian, the Ontario Privacy Commissioner along with the two co-authors of an exciting new privacy toolkit — aimed squarely at helping entrepreneurs.
Listen to BusinessCast episode #129 and you’ll get a quick grasp of the privacy issues that are relevant to you and get a sneak peak into a practical tool that will help you transform privacy practices into good business.
**Also check out the ThinData-authored Marketer’s PIPEDA Checklist which instantly provides you with three easy-to-use tools to ensure that you comply with Canada’s Federal privacy laws when marketing online.**
Business Success: It’s About Time!
One of the many things that all successful entrepreneurs have in common is an insatiable need to bring their innovations (i.e products, services and/or processes) to the market. But, a key question that often gets trampled in the midst of entrepreneurs’ enthusiasm is “When is the right time?”
Because short- and long-term success depends so much on timing, for BusinessCast episode #128 Robert and I sat down with Steve Taylor, President of Resolver Inc. to gather his insights about evaluating the right time to launch/grow a successful business.
Listen to BusinessCast episode #128 to get a clear sense of some of the key timing considerations and how you can ensure your success by increasing your state of business readiness.
Business Crisis? What Crisis?
No-one likes a crisis. That’s why it’s far too common for even the most successful entrepreneur to overlook crisis planning. The challenge is that once you’re in the middle of a true business crisis, you rarely have the time or the resources to deal with it as well as you would want to.
After all, you could find yourself thrown into a very tense situation — trying desperately to deal with members of the media, angry clients, disenchanted employees, wary investors, intrusive regulators and other critical stakeholders.
It’s an emotional time and all it takes is saying ONE wrong word and your business can suffer. That’s why in BusinessCast episode #123, Robert and I “pick the brains” of one of the Nation’s leaders on crisis communications. Dr. Allan Bonner and his team have advised Canada’s most senior business leaders, political figures and sports figures to successfully avoid a crisis, deal with a crisis and turn around a crisis to their advantage.
Listen to BusinessCast episode #123 and get some practical insights on how you can make sure that you’re prepared when a crisis hits your business.
Looking after Your Wealth
We’ve all seen businesses rise and fall. But, why do some businesses implode while others flourish? We’re fascinated to find the different answers to this question which has perplexed entrepreneurs since the onset of commerce. That’s why Robert and I are constantly exploring the critical components and conditions that make entrepreneurs and their businesses succeed.
It turns out that one of the fundamentals to determining success or failure hinges on an often unspoken assumption: entrepreneurs equate business success with their wealth. But, what happens when that isn’t the case? What happens when an entrepreneur’s long-term wealth is hampered by their very own life’s work (i.e. their business)?
In BusinessCast #117 — Family. Business. And, Wealth – Robert and I explore how entrepreneurs can ensure long-term wealth by sitting down with Thomas Deans, author of the widely-acclaimed book: Every Family’s Business. Thomas takes a truly practical — and sometimes controversial — approach to ensure that entrepreneurs can build and sustain the wealth they’ve worked so hard to build…even if that means drastically changing their relationship with the business that’s been in their family for generations. While that might sound sacreligious to many, his disciplined approach and rationale is a wake-up call to every entrepreneur.
Whether you’re managing a family business, selling a family business, investing in a family business or purchasing a family business, you’ll want to listen to Thomas’ insights in this episode of the BusinessCast podcast.