Most of my clients’ companies, whether large or small, want to treat their customers well. They know that they don’t always succeed. They make mistakes. And they aren’t always aware of how they are perceived by customers and prospective customers.

Why does qualifying for a small business loan have to be such a mystery?

Functional leadership means readily admitting that you don’t know everything. It means understanding that the more questions you ask, they more you’ll find out. And the more you find out, they more you can accomplish.

It’s Monday, and one of your staff members has called out — again. While it’s not all that frequent, the lost days are starting to form a pattern, and not a good one. So what’s the best way to handle the issue?

If your business has graduated from spreadsheets to a CRM (contact relationship management) system, congratulations. You’ve made great strides in managing relationships with prospects and customers. However, there’s another crucial piece of the puzzle your business might be missing. In our hyper-connected digital environment, you have a huge opportunity to take action on the valuable data stored in your CRM.

Deere was the top-ranked company in the engineering and manufacturing category and ranked 19th overall in the 2016 results released by Forbes.

Why is it that one of the management tasks that is easiest to provide is also one of the most frequently neglected?

John Deere has been named to the Forbes magazine list of America's Best Employers. Deere was 38th among 500 companies included in the recently-announced ranking.