After Bud Light’s misstep of spotlighting a transgender spokesperson, you’d think that most corporations would avoid making the same mistake. But recently, Doritos headed down the same path. Doritos Spain featured a transgender singer who supposedly had made past inflammatory and sexualized comments that were offensive to many Doritos customers. The backlash was swift as many conservative posts called for ...
Surprisingly, there’s one thing Republicans and Democrats agreed on recently; the impact small businesses have on America. When research firm, Gallup, asked about which institutions have the greatest positive impact on American society, small businesses won hands down. 85% of survey respondents named small business as having the most positive impact on society, beating out churches, the military, and large ...
Rick is an entrepreneur in Arizona who struggled in business for years. Then God took Rick through a significant health challenge that drove him to rely on God more than ever before. Upon recovery, Rick decided to apply that same reliance on God for his business as well. When he did, God revealed that the root of sales and profitability ...
In our changing culture, there are growing risks for the brands of our small businesses. When someone sees our brand images, they tie it to whatever messaging is attached. Recently, someone emailed me from an organization I was involved with decades ago. The signature line in her email had her name, title, then under her title it said, “she/her/hers,” then, ...
My friend owns a chain of car dealerships. Due to the chip shortage, getting cars to sell has been a challenge. However, the limited supply has caused car prices to skyrocket. My friend’s peers are selling cars far above sticker price. As his team discussed this opportunity, they decided to take a longer-term view. In fairness to their local ...
Kathy and I were visiting a new city and wanted to experience local food. The hotel concierge recommended and called a restaurant for reservations. At first, the restaurant refused to take our reservation. Our concierge pressed on until we were finally promised a reservation at precisely 6:45, not earlier or later. The next night we were excited to try ...
In this series, we’re discussing preparing for economic storms. With inflation and interest rates soaring and the stock market crumbling, the storm clouds appear to be rolling in. One of my favorite indexes is the National Federation of Independent Business Optimism Index. Because it’s a survey of small business owners’ perceptions, it has helped predict economic storms. In ...
In this series, we’ve been discussing advantages for small businesses. Our fifth and final advantage is local products and services. For example, in Kansas City, many companies have tried to identify their brand with the Kansas City Chiefs football team. People are often fond of their hometown. If potential customers feel you are part of their community, rather than outsiders ...
In this series, we’ve been discussing the advantages of small businesses. The fourth advantage is personalized service. Commercial lending to small businesses used to be a personalized service. Then, large national banks began looking for ways to make small business loans more profitable. This led to decisions and loans being made by people who never met the customer. Jesus emphasized ...
I’ve worked in large corporations and in small businesses. Both have advantages and disadvantages, but I personally prefer working in small businesses. In this series I want to unpack some of the advantages small businesses can leverage. The first advantage is local decision-making authority. When I worked in banking, nothing frustrated customers more than to be told their loan request ...
Equipping Others to Do Work Differently
