Business Builders

LET’S BEGIN BY LOOKING at how one gains knowledge. We gain knowledge by either: taking action based on what we feel should be done (i.e. firsthand experience), learning from others directly through observation or instruction, or learning from others through written...

FOR FANS OF CLASSIC MOVIES, there’s a great final scene from “Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid” where the Peruvian army is bearing down on the named protagonists. Pinned down, Paul Newman (Butch) turns to Robert Redford (Sundance) to ask if he’s seen the lawman,...

FOR AS LONG as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated with the inner workings of businesses and how they can be made more efficient. From one of my first jobs in a pizza restaurant, where I developed a process to get servers clocked out sooner, to my current role at...

IT SEEMS THAT EVERY Minnesota business — big and small — has some level of social media presence today, and for good reason: Hootsuite’s 2019 Global State of Digital report states that there are nearly 3.5 billion active social media users worldwide. If you’re not...

REMEMBER WHEN you were a child and adults asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Inevitably, the answers were lofty, even a bit silly: A police officer; a teacher; or a caped super hero with the ability to fly. Children have little trouble dreaming up vivid...

Will the Federal Reserve raise interest rates again this quarter? Over the past three years the Fed has been steadily raising rates to push a return to “normal” after nearly a decade of almost zero percent rates. 2018 was no exception, it saw a hefty increase. At the...

MINNESOTA IS HOME to one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, a statistic that has many local job seekers beaming with confidence. For businesses, a low unemployment rate suggests a tight hiring market where skilled workers are harder to find and...

APART FROM A PUBLIC relations nightmare, the single biggest obstacle in the path of a growing company, particularly a small one, is the prospect of a lawsuit. This is particularly true if the lawsuit is brought against you, because you have no ability to simply make...

IN JUNE 2018, the unemployment rate nationwide dipped below 4 percent and it has hovered below that point ever since. The situation is even tighter in Minnesota. Because we’re overachievers in the Bold North, our unemployment rates are nearly a full percentage point...

WE’RE LIVING AND conducting business in a time of unprecedented technological revolution, with exponential change happening at breakneck speeds. So how do we as business leaders stay savvy in a changing environment, and more importantly, lead our organizations with...