Managing | Business Made Simple

How to Apply Peter Drucker’s Management Theory

October 11, 2019 AKHAD SUNARTO

Peter Drucker was a world-famous management consultant whose visionary management theories form the bedrock on which corporate America was built. Knowledge work, corporate social responsibility and organizational culture are just a few of the modern management concepts he conceived or propagated in the pages of his 39 beloved books.

To be clear, Drucker did not invent managers. By most accounts, however, he did invent management. When he began developing and disseminating his famous ideas in the 1940s, the “father of modern management theory” commenced a decadeslong journey during which he orchestrated a fundamental transformation of business leadership from a reactive to a proactive stance. Before Drucker, managers’ highest priority was supervising. Now, thanks to him, it’s strategizing.

“Drucker felt that all businesses need and deserve to be managed well,” said Drucker disciple Bruce Rosenstein, author of two books about the management guru and his theories: Create Your Future the Peter Drucker Way and Living in More Than One World: How Peter Drucker’s Wisdom Can Inspire and Transform Your Life. “Part of that, he believed, was thinking about the future … He recognized that even if you’re really successful now, you will fail later if you’re not thinking about the future.”

In Drucker’s own words: “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”

It’s just one of many insights Drucker left behind for businesses of all sizes, in all sectors. For business owners and managers who take the time to learn about them, his life and work can yield many more.

Who was Peter Drucker?

Peter Drucker was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1909. He attended college and graduate school in Germany in the early 1930s, where he witnessed – and vocally opposed – the Nazis’ ascent to power. He subsequently fled to England

How to Be a Better Leader

October 10, 2019 AKHAD SUNARTO

“If you want to change somebody, don’t preach to him. Set an example and shut up.” – Jack LaLanne

No matter who, how, or why you lead, being a leader means eyes are on you: you’re looked to for answers, accountability and decisiveness. At the executive level, leading means both day-to-day and strategic decisions, but it also means existing as a symbol of your organization’s values. When you make a statement, decision or display of the values, mission, or policy of your company, these actions exist through the filter of your words, deeds and presentation.

In other words, effective leadership begins with aligning your message with your expression. Do what you say, say what you do.

I’m not saying anything radically new here; I’m simply bringing these principles of leadership to mind because effective leadership is a unique challenge when your values include digital well-being.

Leadership and JOMO

I’m in the business of joy: helping people find it, reclaim it, and keep it. The JOMO movement is centered on the essential principle of moving toward what brings joy, and moving away from what doesn’t (the “missing out” part). I’m especially excited when I have the opportunity to work with large companies or other organizations, because it represents a chance to bring this incredibly positive message to a greater number of people by transmitting it effectively to the leaders of those companies. Sometimes, the organization is small enough (or its management generous enough) that I can run workshops and presentations for each and every team member; more realistically, though, I’m presenting this information to top-level leaders, with the hope that they’ll be able to disseminate it throughout their structure and achieve the goals of greater well-being, productivity and team satisfaction.

Digital well-being is at the center of JOMO, because tech consumption

How Edtech Will Improve Employee Training

October 10, 2019 AKHAD SUNARTO

Edtech, like many other industry-specific offshoots of technology, has been disrupting the complex and diverse world of education, changing the way learners and their instructors interact in the process. First embraced by schools, colleges and universities, edtech, short for education technology, has gradually found its way into the corporate world, perhaps as a testament that learning and self-development don’t often stop on graduation day.

As office workers spend an average of 1,700 hours in front of computer screens every year and millions of others are highly dependent on their tech devices, it only makes sense for business owners to integrate technology into every aspect of their operations, including training. Thus, learning through edtech provides a uniquely efficient and convenient platform for businesses that are looking to train their employees.

While most companies are already using edtech in some form, the popularity and implementation of those facilities are set to grow at a rapid rate over the coming years, generating significant improvements that will ultimately lead to greater efficiencies and enhanced bottom lines.

There are four key reasons why edtech will change business training for the better:

Edtech satisfies the demands and expectations of the new generation.
Edtech boosts data absorption within the organization.
Edtech promotes teacher-student dialogues and feedback.
Edtech allows businesses to map out staff progress.

Here’s more on each of these key areas of improvement.

Edtech satisfies the demands and expectations of the new generation.

The working world is currently undergoing a clear generational shift as Baby Boomers retire and are replaced by the first waves of Generation Z workers, who are now in their late teens and early twenties. Consequently, companies need to invest in technology and modern approaches to training because the vast majority of new candidates entering the workplace are youngsters that have grown up

How to Resolve Sales and Marketing Conflicts

October 9, 2019 AKHAD SUNARTO

You know the cycle. Your B2B marketing team generates leads for your B2B business. Your sales team takes the leads, works their sales magic and hopefully closes the sale.

Since your sales team drives all the revenue and your marketing team drives all the leads, they go head-to-head over who is more important and who is doing their job correctly. The sales team complains about poor leads and your marketing team complains about low close rates.

On and on it goes.

But having your sales and marketing teams bicker about their value isn’t productive. In fact, it can build animosity and a toxic work environment. Further, when your two teams don’t work together effectively, your revenue is on the line.

What’s a savvy business owner to do? Know that conflict between sales and marketing teams is common. Here are eight tried-and-true methods for getting your teams working together again.

Are your sales and marketing teams at war?

The war between sales and marketing has been so pervasive that even The Harvard Review has written an article on the matter. It seems to be a tale as old as time: sales and marketing teams arguing over which tasks are most important and who does them best.

Perhaps you’ve seen the signs already. Passive-aggressive emails. Bickering in your Slack channels. Disagreements about marketing, lead nurturing and sales practices. A war is brewing.

Potential areas of conflict between sales and marketing teams

Why the conflict? Here are some possible reasons why your two teams aren’t seeing eye to eye.

Lack of communication. If your sales and marketing teams exist as stand-alone departments, it could be that their issues come down to lack of or poor communication. When there’s not much overlap between departments, it can be hard for teams to communicate, collaborate and

6 Steps to Build a Winning Company Culture

October 7, 2019 AKHAD SUNARTO

Our world is quickly evolving, and this is especially true when it comes to running a successful business. Over the last decade, I have seen firsthand how some companies rise and thrive while others crumble just as they start growing. With business digitalization taking over, there’s got to be a way to make your business crumble-proof, right?

There is, and you’re just about to find it out.

I’m well known as an expert in the financial services space as well as a top customer-generator globally. I co-founded a team that drives more than 1 million customers annually. Just for facts, we’ve helped to recover over $100 million in debt for Americans. There’s so much I could say about my team’s achievements, but it’s not the focus here.

Today I’ll be sharing some tips I have learned over the years to make sure your business remains relevant for a long time. By the end of this read, you’ll have learned how to build a winning culture and team for your business.

1. Define your company values.

Setting your company values is the first step to building a winning culture. This will give your company the right platform by clearly stating what you stand for as a business. Let each of your colleagues and/or employees have these values at their fingertips.

To get started on your company values, you need to ask yourself these three questions:

Why does my company exist – why do we do what we do?
What does my company believe in – what do we stand for?
What is my vision for the company?

According to Buildium CEO Michael Monteiro, answering these questions puts you on the right track to build a winning culture, especially for startups. If your business is up and running but you missed out