Tough love for bad business ideas: How to advance the extinction of innovative, but unevolved, business ideas

There’s been a lot of sadness communicated over a list of 25 ideas about to become extinct with examples ranging from the US Post Office to milkmen. Luckily, apple pie missed the list. Commentators on the fates of these dying species mourn the loss and wonder how business leaders could have seen the hand just before the plug got pulled. Business Genome views the extinction differently–as a wake up call for business leaders who are avoiding the sometimes unpleasant task of constructing a gallows for their current corporate initiatives that are leading nowhere.

Business Genome offers a 7-step checklist to guide corporate leaders through the task: How to Pull the Plug on Bad Business Ideas. The key to avoiding extinction is not to mourn when it’s too late, but to stick to a discipline of facing facts before the fate is sealed.

Toughen up, stop the bleeding, and move on.

And, do it with a smile. Because after shedding dead ideas, the Phoenix rises, bringing better business ideas.

Con artists get a bad rap: How to become a master “corporate pro-artist”

How to develop a leadership message that rallies the troops in times of economic crunch? Is it ethical to become a mega-cheerleader when you’re in the midst of rough seas? What can business leaders learn from the wink and nod attitudes of con artists that would instill the type of optimism in their employees that would lead toward upticks in business results? What messages work?

The Business Genome’s rules for How to Be a Master Corporate Pro-Artist provide the guide on the side advice for leaders trying to climb out of the downward spirals of business performance.

Business heroes, oxymoron, or not: How companies can (and do) change the world

The age of the Business Hero is upon us. Despite numerous examples of corporations with less-than-stellar records related to doing the right thing, there is an emerging new American hero with a 2-pronged punch: 1. the business leader is being viewed as an agent to fundamentally change the products and services that their companies produce, 2. the business leader’s influence is beginning to be seen as an agent for social change, by changing the lives of their employees and the customers they serve. Years ago, Ralph Nader predicted that the key to world change would be for corporations to use their vast resources to make a difference in the world–for example, Coca Cola could insert nutrients in their soft drinks to address world hunger. At the time it seemed like an absurd notion. Yet today, there are numerous examples of this new business hero (for example, Walmart is spearheading global sustainability standards.)

Horses that (do they really?) count: How to ask better business questions

Strategic business research requires a talent for framing great questions. Questions that will lead business leaders to opportunities. There are new tools available to mine information in new, more powerful ways. And, the Business Genome Guide to Great Questions provides a perspective on knowing what to ask.

5 to 9: Where you work matters to how your work works

Business leaders need to pay attention to the world of “not work” to attract and keep top talent…invest in life from 5 to 9.