Guest post by David Siteman Garland, founder of The Rise To The Top. Trust. One of the most underused words in business. But, perhaps the real question is: Are you a trusted resource or are you a product pusher? There is a big difference. You know the product pushers. They are always trying to get you to buy, buy, buy. In real life, they throw business ... Read More

Guest post by Les McKeown, president and CEO of Predictable Success. Last weekend I tossed out six boxes of techno-junk. Six boxes! I’m talking BlackBerries, iPhones, old Nanos and Shuffles, computer keyboards, a Bamboo tablet, a Logitech I/O Pen (what on earth was that?), speakers, headsets, and more cables than I would need in three lifetimes – and that was in just one of the boxes. ... Read More

Perhaps it’s because we’re working night and day on the beta version of “Project Jack Bauer” (stay tuned for information on that!) or perhaps it’s because we’ve always been in a client service business and I think a lot about ways to make our process even better, but I’ve been thinking a lot lately about customer-centric and customer-centered organizations. Beth Harte and Anna Barcelos describe the ... Read More

Guest post by The Young Turk. Additional editing and amplification by his mom, Sarah Robinson. A note from the author’s mother: My son, The Young Turk, is all about ruling the world. It is one of the many reasons Gini Dietrich thinks he is awesome. So when we were asked to write a guest post for Spin Sucks, I asked the YT for the top five ... Read More

Guest post by Frank Dickinson of Huckleberry Media Connection. Not where you want to be in life or business? Tired of that sickening feeling in the pit of your gut? Do you find yourself blaming others? The Company. The Pay Plan. The Job. The Wife. The Husband. The Childhood. The Money Problem. The Kids. Have you ventured out and been slapped back? Ready to quit? DON’T ... Read More

I have Bears season tickets so Jeannie Walters, Mr. W., Mr. D, and I made our way to Soldier Field last night for the game. Fully expecting a disappointing night, I felt like I was going to throw up with anticipation. Sure we’d won against the Lions in the season home opener (a gift, really) and we stunned the Cowboys last week, but I had more ... Read More

Last week we conducted a mini poll to see how many of you have skunkworks teams at work. Turns out, with the exception of one, none of us formally have skunkworks teams, or a team of people whose sole job is to come up with new and innovative products or services. The reason I wanted to know is because I’ve been reading a lot about skunkworks ... Read More

This was first published on Mark Schaefer’s blog, Businesses Grow. So if you’ve already read it there, it won’t hurt my feelings if you ignore me today. Ah…the American dream. We all want to work for ourselves, in some fashion. If we work for The Man, it’s to have autonomy to do what we think best for the company. If we work for ourselves, it’s to ... Read More

Guest post by Abbie S. Fink, vice president/general manager of HMA Public Relations. As Jewish people around the world welcome the year 5771, I thought I’d take this opportunity to share with the readers of Spin Sucks seven questions to reflect on in the New Year. I know, I know, it’s September. But the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, took place last week. The High Holidays, ... Read More

I’ve been reading a lot recently about skunkworks teams and why they don’t work. If you aren’t familiar, according to Wikipedia, “skunkworks is used to describe a group within an organization given a high degree of autonomy and unhampered by bureaucracy, tasked with working on advanced or secret projects.” In other words, it’s a formal group of people who work solely on innovation – coming up ... Read More