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How to become an “A” Player

Most of us think we’re good drivers. Spend any time on the highway and you’ll see this just can’t be true. Is being an “A” Player kinda like that? Are you an “A” Player? How do you know? If you want to become one here’s how…

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by brianhquinn

The most powerful word in goal setting

From the archives… I wrote this post in January of 2021 when I set a goal to write a blog post each week for a year. I made it 50 weeks. Effort: check. I thought I could get to 1,000 subscribers. Result: unchecked. I’m not there…yet. How about you with your 2021 goal(s)? If you aren’t there yet, let’s re-up and go another lap around the sun.

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by brianhquinn

Career advice for beginners

The greatest benefit I got out of college was figuring out exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. SIKE! In fairness, I got plenty out of higher education, but I can’t say career clarity was tops on the list. Here are three lessons I’ve learned since graduation day that can help if you’re just starting out.

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by brianhquinn

The secret to good execution

Your team invests oodles of time, energy, and resources into a project. At the moment, it’s 80% done and 0% usable. Sound familiar? All of a sudden a new priority emerges. Resources are redirected and the initiative gets put on the back burner. Yet some leaders still find a way to execute and complete the project. What’s their secret?

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by brianhquinn

How to make hiring easy

Want to make hiring easy? Follow these can’t-miss steps, and I guarantee you’ll build a dream team that would make Captain America jealous… or at least put the Staples Easy Button on notice.

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by brianhquinn

The best meeting advice I ever received

I spend most of my day in meetings and talking on the phone. How about you? There are repeatable elements to a great meeting: Have an agenda, take notes, assign action items, instill accountability. All of that stuff is good. But none of it is better than a piece of advice I received early in my career. I call it the golden rule of meetings.

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by brianhquinn

The hidden treasure in companies today

Are you in a commoditized industry? Haggling over price? Seeing growth slow? Does your product or service look a lot like the next guy’s? No, this isn’t a pharmaceutical ad, although I am here to tell you – you are not alone. Still, some of these companies are winning big. Want to know why?

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by brianhquinn

Why Prospects Aren’t Calling You Back

In February of 2011, I started my career in Sales. I was hungry. I hit the phones…hard. I left voicemail messages. One, two, three, four, or more messages… for the same person. You could run but not hide…or so I thought.  I’d ask myself constantly…”why don’t prospects ever call me back?” But that was the wrong question.

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by brianhquinn

Why We Sometimes Mess Up the “Vision Thing”

Pick up any book on business and you’ll read about the importance of having a Vision for your company, your team, or your project. What better future are you working towards? Vision is a prerequisite for effective leadership. No doubt. But still, many of us kinda get it wrong… Why?

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by brianhquinn

How To Find The New Year’s Version of Ourselves

Back in January, I wrote that the most powerful word in goal setting is the word “yet.” If you haven’t reached your goal yet, then good news. You’re like the rest of us. Like Christmas in July, let’s take a mid-year reset. That January version of ourselves is still out there waiting for us.

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by brianhquinn

A New Definition of Productivity

One day a C-level mentor and one of the hardest workers I know said to me “My productivity is actually motivated by extreme laziness. Believe it or not, I’m a very lazy person.” Could it really be? I thought. How is this possible?  The comment disturbed me. Then I realized, what if our definition of productivity is all wrong?

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by brianhquinn

You Are An Innovator

Since you likely don’t work for Apple, Google or Amazon you might not think you are that innovative. If you aren’t in products, software engineering, or strategy maybe you don’t think you’re an innovator either. But you are. Curious how I know?

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by brianhquinn

The Cure To The Achiever’s Curse

The achiever’s curse is running rampant. It seems to be targeting men, women, and now children between ages 5 and 60. How do you know if you’ve caught it? You have the achiever’s curse if you feel like you’re constantly behind.

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by brianhquinn

How To Get Better At Networking

True story alert! Last year a friend of mine lost his job on Valentine’s Day. This isn’t a sob story though. 2 weeks later he had 3 job offers and started his new gig in enough time to double-dip on severance pay and salary from his new place. How did he do it?

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by brianhquinn

How To Stand Out At Work

In the old days, you stood out by being productive. Nowadays, being productive will get you your annual 3%, but it won’t help you stand out. Want to stand out? Come check this out…

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by brianhquinn

Why New Business Strategies Fail

Many of the business strategies your company launches won’t work. But you guys aren’t alone. According to Forbes, a third of all business strategies fail. We’re all pretty smart people. Why don’t our companies win more often?

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by brianhquinn

Advice for High Performers

It’s no longer perform in your role, and wait your turn to be promoted. It’s now perform and advance. Advance to the next assignment, challenge, or opportunity that the company is chasing. If you’re a high performer, you’re going to get asked this question: “What do you want to do next?”

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by brianhquinn

The next strategic BIG thing

What if you could reconfigure your products and services to drive more value for your customers, more profit for your shareholders, and something cool for your sales team to talk about?

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by brianhquinn

Planning Your Strategy: How To Have It All

Much of today’s strategy development is about eliminating risk and reducing uncertainty. Maximize upside and minimize downside. Heavy emphasis on minimizing the downside. But what if we shifted our thinking to maximize upside by maximizing downside? There will always be a downside. What if we used it?

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by brianhquinn