Completely commit to your company. Be passionate about your work. If you truly love what you are doing and you continually try to do your very best, every day, everyone around you will see your effort and passion. They will then share in the passion and develop the same commitment. They will want to get on the bus.


You can’t fix what you don’t know is broken. The more you know about your company, good or bad, the better equipped you are to deal with whatever issues you may face. Figure out ways to get everyone who is involved with your company, at any level, to talk about what is going on. Listen to everyone. From the people who make your products to the customers who buy them. This open environment will allow any issue to become visible, therefore correctable. It will also foster a responsible workforce and instill a quality effort from the bottom-up. They will want to take care of the bus.


Each and every day, try to exceed everyone’s expectations, especially your customers. If you do, they will come back. Give them not just what they ask for, but a little extra. Stand behind everything that you do. Make good on all your promises. Fix any mistakes quickly and do not make excuses, make apologies. Demand excellence of yourself and strive for perfection. Others will follow your example and will want to get on the bus.


Your workforce gets a paycheck, your vendors get paid for their goods and the customer gets the finished goods. An honest wage, invoices paid on time and quality goods delivered on time can earn you one kind of loyalty and only for periods of time. We all like being told how much someone appreciates what we do for them, especially when it is for something we are really proud of. No matter how small. Nothing can substitute a few well chosen words of praise at the right moment. They don’t cost you anything and you will reap their benefits forever. And never throw anyone under the bus. Thank You.


Celebrate even the smallest of successes. Rejoice in the little things that seem to go right and find some measure of good in the things that go wrong. Remember that you are only human and humans will make mistakes. Failure is a dirty word. Loosen up and have fun. Doing so will become contagious. If you truly “Commit” & “Exceed”, it will all eventually come out in the wash.


If your expenses are lower and you only require a fair and reasonable profit, you will always beat the competition providing you have the better product and service. Be efficient. Trim the fat. Get LEAN. Put in place the necessary standards, (procedures, rules, specifications), that guide and focus your efforts in a constructive manner. This will help remove a lot of the waste, (time, material, processing), and therefore increase your profitability. Once you establish the standards, measure them and demand that everyone on the team follows them.


From the top-down, your team is the heart that keeps the company alive and gives it the ability to succeed or not. Constantly seek the brightest and energetic self-starters you can find. Build a team that works together and for each other to make the team better and not the individual. Get the right people on the bus, and then put them in the right seats.


Develop a killer plan. In order to completely succeed and continue to maintain that success, you must become the very best at what you do. Second or third won’t cut it. You do not have to be the biggest, just the best. If necessary, re-invent yourself. Ignore conventional wisdom. If necessary, go in the opposite direction. Be steadfast in your vision, even if those from the outside are telling you that you are going the wrong way. You must find a niche, be different and be the best at it. Now we know what direction the bus is going.