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“Sandpaper” Leadership – The Importance of Grit in Business
Accomplishing anything worthwhile in life requires determination and tenacity. But is there another level of “courageous persistence” that can offset a lack of pure talent? The characteristics of grit and resilience have been getting a lot of attention in business and in education. Recently, some of our international clients have made resilience a focus of…
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The Dummy’s Guide to Risk-Based Capital
Too Big To Fail, Risk-Based Capital, SIFI, ORSA, Solvency Ratio. These terms and acronyms really get your blood moving, don’t they? Or maybe not… At PriSim, we work closely with several leading insurance and financial companies and are thus actually interested in financial risk. We’ve put together a brief description below of 5 commonly used…
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It’s The End of Accounting As We Know It… (and we feel fine)
If you never liked your accounting classes, you’re in luck. According to a new healthcare book, summarized in an article in the Wall Street Journal, it’s The End of Accounting as we know it. But the end is not actually near – it should just look different. The authors argue that current accounting practices are…
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Want to Succeed at Something? Try Failing First.
No one likes to fail. But if you’re serious about achieving success, then get ready to fail – maybe a lot. The key is to “fail well” so that the rewards outweigh the risks, as discussed in a recent Fool article about Amazon’s Fire Phone. If a company truly wants to innovate, it has to…
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Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank – Top 10 Rules for Success
Great leaders can offer us valuable insights and advice. As such, we strongly encourage you to watch this 10-minute video of Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank’s Top-10 Rules for Success. Click here to view it on YouTube. We’ve summarized his list below, but we recommend you watch the video to hear the story behind each…
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Farewell to Impulse Buying?
“Peapod” – while the name may sound innocent, the company is helping to destroy a lucrative component of retail sales: the impulse buy. Popular online shopping services such as Amazon and Peapod increase the “intentionality” of shopping behavior and reduce the temptation of impulse buying. The dynamic is a contemporary example of one of Porter’s…
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Business Competition Between Master of Engineering Management Programs
We don’t often do public service announcements but here’s one we really believe in – the Master of Engineering Management (MEM) degree. If you’re an engineer thinking about getting an MBA, we recommend you look into the value of an MEM degree as another option. The degree combines advanced engineering classes with business and management…
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Dividends and Buybacks – A Symptom of Short Termism?
Is the dividend/buyback glass half-empty or half-full? Defenders of dividends and buybacks point out the value returned to shareholders when there are few other investment options. Critics argue for using the cash to build a stronger business for the long term. A recent study by the Boston Consulting Group supports the critics’ viewpoint. Their research suggests that…
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Innovation Clairvoyance
We’ve all heard it – innovation is the lifeblood of any business. Innovation may be hard to manage (as discussed in Forbes), but it’s not impossible. Companies have to choose wisely when spending time, money, and resources on innovation. This may even mean saying “no” to great ideas in order to focus on the best…
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Be Comfortable Being Uncomfortable with your Competitive Advantage
Be Comfortable Being Uncomfortable with your Competitive Advantage Competitive advantage – once you attain it you’ve completed your task and your business is set for the long-term. Right? But as we discuss in our classes – you don’t “arrive” and you’re never “there”. It’s a constant process. Markets change, customer needs and wants evolve, and…