Richard Walker

Refuse to Participate in Negativity

"Unfortunately, in this case, talking about the problem only made the employee more frustrated." The other day I listened to one of my employees complain for a few minutes about a customer issue. Sure, I could relate to how challenging that customer ha... Read >

Save Time by Using Your Fingers - Not Your Mouse

"If you learn all of these, you could save yourself 60 minutes a day." ALT+F4? ALT+F+X? CTRL+W? CTRL+F4? What are we talking about here? Maybe it will make more sense if I said: Close Program, Exit Program, Close Window, Close File. These are all diffe... Read >

The ABC's of Sales - Always Be Confident

"Always be confident and your sales will take care of themselves." I have never liked being 'sold' anything. The pressure of the other person's need to get your money, to win your deal, is a sure-fire way to dissolve the good will that is initially ext... Read >

The Reason You Did Not Buy a Technology

"...we're talking about improving your business so the onus to find value in technology is actually on you!" I just read Joel Bruckenstein's 2009 Software and Technology Survey on Financial Planning's website (read the article). It's a great article an... Read >

Was Cash For Clunkers Efficient?

"That means over 1,200 trees were used in order to run a program that only lasted a few days." By most accounts, the Cash For Clunkers government program was a big success. The government funded the exchange of over 690,000 vehicles and the claimed imp... Read >

What Do You Want From Your Business Or Career?

"Money! Fame! Respect! Sure... those are nice goals but they're not very specific." How much money? What kind of fame? Whose respect do you want? Setting specific objectives will help guide your path towards your dreams and goals. I was reminded of thi... Read >

What Does It Take To Change The World?

"Don't discount the power of butterfly wings (even paper ones)!" If the business world can be summed up as "chaos theory" then I am striving to implement the "butterfly effect". Let's address a reality: the business world runs on paper. For all of o... Read >

When the Right Decision is a Tough Decision

"...You can rest assured that you made a decision that enables your company to continue moving forward." This past September (2009) I was faced with a tough decision, the kind of decision nobody wants to make but the CEO must make: layoffs. To prepare ... Read >

What is Responsibility?

"The worst part was I had to admit to my boss that I couldn't do the project on my own!" Whether you are the boss or follow someone else's lead, responsibility is a concept that many of us misinterpret as performing a task. Growing up all I ever wanted... Read >

Why Servant Leadership is Ideal For the Millennial Generation

"...which means they'll quit their job if you don't treat them right." Over the past few weeks I've been learning a lot more about the Millennial Generation (Gen-Y). This is the generation after Generation X, and they seem to be quite the opposite. Whe... Read >

The Fine Line Between Confidence And Arrogance Is Humility

"A confident person doesn't tell you that they're confident." This is going to be a tricky article to write because the last thing I want to do is come across as arrogant, or as though I know everything. How do I show you my confidence without being ar... Read >

How Do You Build Confidence?

"Confidence is knowledge of yourself." Here's my definition of confidence, which leads to how you can build your confidence: "Confidence is knowledge of yourself". When you have done something well a hundred times you have built knowledge in your abili... Read >

How To Communicate Right The First Time

"The hard part is making sure what you said was truly concise, direct and understood as you intended." This may be a silly question, but have you ever talked to a dummy? I'm talking about a real dummy, like the ones used to display clothing. You can tr... Read >

Why Am I Out Of Time?

"Actually, my entire company is getting more done because I work fewer hours." Busy. It's a word I find myself using quite often and have been using for a long time. I'm ready to change that word to: Productive. For the past four years I have been work... Read >

How Fast Can You Go?

"My days FLY by and suddenly the week is over like it never started." I'm wondering how fast a person can go in their business and in their daily activities. Since implementing some of the suggestions in the "Four-Hour-Workweek" book, I find that I'm w... Read >