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The man (or woman) in the mirror is the title of a famous pop song by Michael Jackson. It goes something like: "I'm starting with the man in the mirror, I'm asking him to change his ways..if you wanna make the world a better place..Take a look at yourself and then make a change..". Well, of course, we all want to make the world a better place but before we can get to the position of being able to help others, we have to help ourselves first.

You've all heard the expression 'cobbler's children' meaning that you provide an excellent product or service to your customers, yet are not providing the same excellence for yourself. I was reminded today of a similar expression, 'an excellent plumber with a dripping tap at home'.

Some of the howlers I see are quite frankly breath-taking. I can only assume it's because of this old adage, business owners are so busy fixing other people's businesses and helping clients succeed that they fail to see their own, let alone start to repair them.

They do themselves and their clients and customers a great injustice, because customers want suppliers and partners who are healthy, ship shape, robust and able to prosper in fair weather or foul storm.

If there is a business issue which you feel is affecting your ability to achieve the full potential of your business, call me or email me with your issue and I will offer you a free half-hour discussion.

Many companies rely on targets to drive their workforce/company. Some are Production, some Financial others, such as HR could involve measuring absenteeism, accident free days etc., in other words there are virtually no areas of a company that cannot be targeted and therefore measured in their % of success.

However, regardless of the subject how often are the results analysed? At the end of the week, trading month, quarter or season? Financial targets are, of course, accurately reflect overall performance from a (profit and loss) P/L perspective and as such impact commission and salary levels, marketing initiatives/spend and even product development. Basically if the financial performance is below target there is nothing in the ‘pot’ to pay for anything other than essential elements to ensure the organisation continues to perform; is that necessarily correct?

Should I/Shall we? Coming to a cross-roads in your business life. This is not intended to be a To Do list about setting up a business or changing direction. It is more about the frame of mind you need to get into before you make the decisions that will have an enormous impact on your life.

Gurus, trendsetters, market leaders, business ‘oracles’, coaches, mentors. These are all contributors to the pseudo-science of Business today. When it comes to advice there’s plenty of it around but usually we make the best decisions we can based upon the resources we have at our disposal and can afford. Or do we?