2025

article thumbnail

What Companies Succeeding with AI Do Differently

Harvard Business

In 2021, researchers at MIT and McKinsey teamed up to ask more than 100 companies how they were using AI in their operations and to learn what separated the highest-performing companies from the rest. They conducted a similar survey in 2023 to see what had changed. They found that the gap between leading companies and the rest had widened; that the payback-period for AI investments was much shorter; and that leading companies were better at identifying and implementing use cases that delivered p

Company 246
article thumbnail

Leadership Styles and Accountability: How Different Styles Influence Team Accountability

Effective Managers

Introduction Leadership style significantly influences how accountability is perceived and enforced within teams. Different styles can foster varying levels of transparency, empowerment, and commitment to organizational goals. This blog explores various leadership styles and their impact on enforcing accountability among team members, drawing insights from concepts discussed on www.effectivemanagers.com.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Ten Ways to Boost Cash Flow as an Independent Consultant

Successful Independent Consulting

This article was written by Gabrielle Fontaine , PB, ASBC, and the founder of BookkeepingDirect, an accounting and business consulting firm for small businesses. Founded in 2003, BookkeepingDirect helps small consulting firms achieve freedom from financial stress so they can do their best work. As a solopreneur, youre undoubtedly familiar with the feast-or-famine cash flow rollercoaster that most small businesses face.

Cash Flow 195
article thumbnail

Consulting Website Content: 6 Pages For A Lead-Generating Website

Consulting Success

So, you want to build a lead-generating consulting website. What do you actually put on it? What should your consulting website content be? Here’s my hot take: as a consultant, your websites messaging and structure is far more important than your website’s aesthetics. Aesthetics are important. Dont get me wrong. But a busy executive isn’t.

article thumbnail

What Your Financial Statements Are Telling You—And How to Listen!

Speaker: David Worrell, CFO, Author & Speaker

Your financial statements hold powerful insights—but are you truly paying attention? Many finance professionals focus on the income statement while overlooking key signals hidden in the balance sheet and cash flow statement. Understanding these numbers can unlock smarter decision-making, uncover risks, and drive long-term success. Join David Worrell, accomplished CFO, finance expert, and author, for an engaging, nontraditional take on reading financial statements.

article thumbnail

A Zero-Cost Way to Boost Your Consulting Firm’s Capacity

David A Fields

Ron Cherry Top Ronson, CEO of HunkaChunk Chocolate Company, wants to hire your consulting firm to work your magic, but youre hesitating. Why? Because youre already busy. Beyond busy. As a firm youre running flat out and working overtime. On one hand, you fiercely want the HunkaChunk project. Heck, youve been courting ol Cherry for … Continued The post A Zero-Cost Way to Boost Your Consulting Firm’s Capacity appeared first on David A.

More Trending

article thumbnail

Top 15 Portfolio Management Tools for Your Business in 2025

Epicflow

Efficient portfolio management is essential for business success in todays competitive landscape. Managing projects, aligning them with goals, and optimizing resources can be challenging without the right tools. Project portfolio management software, also known as a PPM tool, simplifies planning, execution, and monitoring. This article highlights the top 15 portfolio management tools for 2025, showcasing their innovative features and ability to streamline workflows and collaboration.

Tools 130
article thumbnail

Big Ideas, Bad Results: Avoiding Strategic Uselessness

Tom Spencer

Imagine spending months crafting a detailed, data-driven strategy , only to watch it gather dust on a shelf. This scenario plays out far too often in the corporate world. In a rapidly shifting business landscape, with advances like AI, quantum computing, advanced robotics, blockchain, and gene editing, spending valuable time and resources developing a strategically useless plan may be more damaging than having no strategy at all.

article thumbnail

What Do You Do When Employee Engagement Sucks?

Leadership Planning with Liz Weber CMC

Ugh. You just received the results of the latest employee engagement survey, and its not good. In fact, its worse than you expected. You know morale is low and turnover is high, but jeez, you didnt think your team was this unhappy. What do you do now? Is there a way out of this? What […] The post What Do You Do When Employee Engagement Sucks? appeared first on Weber Business Services, LLC.

Survey 98
article thumbnail

25 ideas to help you set good goals in 2025

Halo Psych

12 minute read Whether youve already set some goals for 2025, or youre still thinking about it give yourself the best chance of success by tapping into what psychology and behavioural science tells us. Create an action plan and make it as vivid and concrete as possible Research suggests that vowing to achieve a goal doesnt work. What works is making a vivid, concrete plan.

Journal 103
article thumbnail

State of AI in Sales & Marketing 2025

AI adoption is reshaping sales and marketing. But is it delivering real results? We surveyed 1,000+ GTM professionals to find out. The data is clear: AI users report 47% higher productivity and an average of 12 hours saved per week. But leaders say mainstream AI tools still fall short on accuracy and business impact. Download the full report today to see how AI is being used — and where go-to-market professionals think there are gaps and opportunities.

article thumbnail

How to Write A Strategic Planning RFP - A step by step guide

Strategic Planning and Management Insights

What to consider doing before strategic planning (stakeholder engagement) If you need research & benchmarking, consider doing it first rather than within the same RFP/vendor (this is a very different area of expertise than strategic planning and facilitation) Things that arent essential within a strategic plan but that can be done before, alongside or afterwards (but will add to the time, budget, scope) such as scenario planning, competitive analysis/P5F, benchmarking, etc.

article thumbnail

Don’t Let Growth Muddle Your Company’s Strategy

Harvard Business

Companies often undertake investments or make decisions that slowly erode their original unique strategy or dilute the sharp boundaries that gave the firm its original clear identity. This happens because its not always clear to decision makers that the decision will dilute the core differentiation, there are many decisions that combine to dilute the differentiation, and managers are often motivated by short-term incentives to look for growth and profit opportunities.

Strategy 222
article thumbnail

Cross-Functional Accountability and Authority: Enhancing Organizational Effectiveness

Effective Managers

Introduction Cross-functional projects and teams are important mechanisms for success, but also create challenges many organizations face. Properly understanding and implementing cross-functional authority is essential for ensuring smooth operations and effective collaboration. This blog delves into the six types of cross-functional authority defined in my framework, The Effective Point of Accountability, and explores how they enhance workflow and project success.

Policies 265
article thumbnail

How to Pay Less Tax as an Independent Consultant

Successful Independent Consulting

Tax season is probably the most important time for independent consultants to think like business owners. You want to pay as little tax as possible without triggering an audit so that you keep more of what you earn. Ask yourself (and your accountant) this question: As a business owner, how can I lower my tax bill? The short answer is to maximize your tax deductions this year and take steps to reap tax-saving benefits every year.

Insurance 195
article thumbnail

PowerPoint Best Practices for Creating Stellar Presentations

Mastering data visualization in PowerPoint will help accelerate your career because it positions you as someone who can present data that drives business decisions forward. think-cell's PowerPoint Best Practices eBook was created specifically for professionals aiming to master the art and science of data-driven storytelling. What’s inside: Practical Insights: Uncover valuable tips for crafting engaging and persuasive presentations.

article thumbnail

Content Marketing For Consultants Made Simple (Guide + Examples)

Consulting Success

What if content marketing for consultants wasnt just another business expense but the difference between constantly chasing clients and having qualified prospects line up at your door, already convinced of your expertise? Imagine your consulting business as a lighthouse on the shore. Traditional marketing means rowing your boat out to each passing ship, waving your.

Examples 243
article thumbnail

A Relationship Building Opportunity Your Consulting Firm Shouldn’t Miss

David A Fields

There are a few things you know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, about the process of generating revenue for your consulting firm: Are there times or situations that are particularly ripe for building relationships, for avoiding skepticism and for sending chocolate? Yes there are. They can be neatly wrapped up in the pithy saying … Continued The post A Relationship Building Opportunity Your Consulting Firm Shouldn’t Miss appeared first on David A.

article thumbnail

Soft Skills Training in the Digital Age: Strategies and Best Practices

Clarity Consultants

Soft skills separate a competent employee from a great one. Communicating, managing conflict, and adapting under pressure isn’t optional; it’s essential. Yet many organizations still struggle to develop these skills at scale, especially in remote or hybrid environments. Here is where soft skills training becomes important. Unlike hard skills, soft skills such as active listening, emotional intelligence, and critical thinking can’t be mastered through static content alone.

Training 130
article thumbnail

Top 15 PMO tools for your business in 2025

Epicflow

An effective Project Management Office (PMO) in an organization is a must nowadays. It helps standardize project management practices, ensure alignment with organizational strategy, and provide oversight to deliver projects successfully. Still, effective project management requires more than profound knowledge and expertise: it demands the right tools to streamline processes, enhance team collaboration, and enable efficient decision-making everything you need to reach your companys strategic go

Tools 130
article thumbnail

Savings Consultants Are Needed in Today's Market More Than Ever

Savings Consultants are needed in today’s market more than ever. With an increase in expenses, businesses are looking for opportunities to save. Often unknown to businesses are savings in expense reduction, specialized tax savings, specialized savings including medical underpayments, health benefits cost reduction, zero cost processing, and more. Blue Coast Savings, with over 20 years in business, assists Savings Consultants in helping these companies move toward more profitable businesses.

article thumbnail

Leadership Edge: Your Soft Skills Set You Apart

Tom Spencer

In my career, I’ve often seen technical expertise what we call hard skills acclaimed as the cornerstone of professional success. While this is true to a degree, Ive learned that its not enough. The ability to navigate complex challenges, influence stakeholders, and inspire teams requires something more: soft skills. Skills like effective communication, emotional intelligence, adaptability, and resilience are often the deciding factor in whether someone thrives or stalls in their career.

article thumbnail

How to Optimize Team Potential: A 7-Step Guide for Managers

LSA Global

How to Optimize Team Potential: A 7-Step Guide for Managers High performing team managers optimize potential by unlocking their teams collective capability. They do what it takes to get their team to fire on all cylinders by effectively holding people accountable to clear roles and responsibilities, aligning skills and strengths, closing gaps, and building strong partnerships with key stakeholders.

article thumbnail

The Two Most Powerful Prompts to Transform Your Future

Chad Barr

What if you could design your ideal life and then create a clear, actionable path to make it a reality? Too often, people drift through life, hoping success, fulfillment, and happiness will happen someday—but someday never comes unless you intentionally design it. The key is to ask better questions—ones that shape your vision with clarity and force you to take real action.

article thumbnail

Why “Living Intelligence” Is the Next Big Thing

Harvard Business

AI is merely one facet of a sweeping technological change underway, and companies that fail to recognize the importance of other converging technologies risk being left behind. Two other technologies advanced sensors and biotechnology are less visible, though no less important, and have been quietly advancing. Soon, the convergence of these three technologies is going to underpin a new reality that will shape the future decisions of every leader across industries.

article thumbnail

TOOLS and METHODOLOGIES for developing DECISION SUPPORT PACKAGES

This White Paper targets opportunities for Management to develop proficiency in the Decision Framing and Analyses element of input to Decision, & Risk Analyses for Major Project Funding Decisions.

article thumbnail

When Your Coworker Loses a Home

Harvard Business

What are the right things to do or say when your colleague loses a home in a disaster? You may worry about having the right words, but staying silent leaves a void. While theres no perfect answer every time, the authors, both of whom have experienced catastrophic damage and home loss, offer four recommendations: 1) Do reach out but dont expect a response; 2) Do offer direct help and expertise; 3) Do you research on ways to donate; and 4) Dont forget them in a month or even a year.

Research 218
article thumbnail

What the 2024 CrowdStrike Glitch Can Teach Us About Cyber Risk

Harvard Business

Despite advances in cybersecurity solutions, the number and impact of cyber incidents continue to grow, with the average cost of a data breach in 2024 reaching $4.88 million and the number of confirmed data breaches hitting a record high. The July 2024 CrowdStrike incident demonstrates the need to develop capabilities to assess the downstream business impact of cyber events, establish appropriate cyber resiliency objectives, and ensure effective communication for better cyber risk management dec

Data 214
article thumbnail

Research: When CEOs Use War Metaphors, Analysts Worry

Harvard Business

Corporate executives often use war metaphors like declaring war on the competition to project strength and confidence in their strategies. Research reveals that these aggressive metaphors may provoke negative reactions from a critical audience: financial analysts. After analyzing nearly 1,000 acquisition announcements, the authors find that war-related language tends to trigger negative reactions from analysts, who see it as a sign of excessive risk.

Research 228
article thumbnail

What DeepSeek Signals About Where AI Is Headed

Harvard Business

Rather than understanding DeepSeeks R1 as a watershed moment, leaders should think of it as a signal of where the AI landscape is right now and a harbinger of whats to come. They should consider five lessons: 1) were moving from models that recognize patterns to those that can reason, 2) the economics of AI are at an inflection point, 3) the current moment shows how propriety and open source models can coexist, 4) silicon scarcity drives innovation, and 5) in spite of the splash DeepSeek made w

234
234
article thumbnail

Why You Need to Use Case Studies in Sales and Marketing (and How to Start Now)

Case studies are proof of successful client relations and a verifiable product or service. They persuade buyers by highlighting your customers' experiences with your company and its solution. In sales, case studies are crucial pieces of content that can be tailored to prospects' pain points and used throughout the buyer's journey. In marketing, case studies are versatile assets for generating business, providing reusable elements for ad and social media content, website material, and marketing c

article thumbnail

5 Mistakes Managers Make When Giving Negative Feedback

Harvard Business

Confronting direct reports about performance issues can feel overwhelming, especially for first-time managers, who may worry that sharing critical feedback could damage their relationship with the employee. But performance conversations, especially where you need to give critical feedback, dont have to be scary. There are a few common mistakes to avoid when giving critical feedback.

article thumbnail

Research: How Companies Can Support Managers They Send Abroad

Harvard Business

Common wisdom goes that the success or failure of an expatriate manager an employee sent to a new country to handle their companys initiatives there depends on their possession of certain personal traits, like cultural intelligence and adaptability. But new research suggests that companies organizational structures may be better predictors of employee success.

Research 203
article thumbnail

Fit to Role: Aligning Skills and Job Requirements for Optimal Performance

Effective Managers

Introduction The alignment of employee skills with job requirements is not just beneficial, it is essential for maximizing employee engagement and the resulting productivity. This blog explores the importance of fit to role and how organizations can effectively match individual capabilities with job demands. Understanding Fit to Role Fit to role refers to the degree to which an employee’s skills, experience, and abilities match the demands of the job.

Analysis 244