What I learned from my Dad

My father turns 94 this year. Over the years, we have shared many wonderful times, including being in business together during the 1970s. Because of his advanced age, I have been thinking about what I learned from him. Some of these lessons were intentional. The most important ones where observed.

1. Dad taught me how to sell. When I was 17, I had an industrial accident that resulted in a number of stiches in my index finger. Afterward, he told me, “It’s time you learned how to sell.” He gave me a copy of “The Greatest Salesman in the World” by Og Mandino. (What a privilege it was to develop a personal friendship with Og twenty years later.) He also taught me that the most important sale is always to yourself. “If you don’t believe in what you’re selling, quit!” Read More

The Key to Increasing Sales—Behavioral Selling

By Whit Mitchell

“Any salesperson who is not selling behaviorally is, at best, only 25-50% effective.”

I heard this quote during a seminar given by Judy Suiter. It certainly caught my attention and pushed my interest to discover what selling behaviorally meant.

No matter whether you sell a product or a service, it’s pretty much a given that all salespeople are looking for ways to increase their sales. And company growth usually relies upon sales success. Companies often train their salespeople on closing techniques, yet research shows us that the sale is won or lost early in the sales process.Read More

How to Use Mindfulness to Improve Emotional Intelligence

Said another way, mindfulness can be thought of as bringing one’s attention to experiences occurring in the present moment. It is a skill that can be developed and sharpened over time with practice, focus and repetition.

Mindfulness can be achieved in countless ways, a few of which include meditation and yoga, to name just a couple. While those things are not for everyone, all people can certainly benefit from mindfulness. So if you’re not into yoga or chanting quietly to yourself, how do you achieve mindfulness in our fast-paced, high-stress world? And what is the goal of achieving it? Read More

5 Ways to Recruit Top Talent During Historically Low Unemployment Rates

If I had a nickel for every time we were asked “do using personality tests make hiring more difficult,” I’d have a small fortune. Since this question is commonly asked by users of our products, we’ve decided to answer the question.

This question warrants clarification. We prefer the phrase “multivariate assessments” in place of personality tests. Our assessments measure multiple dimensions of an individual and are very specific in terms of the aspects of “personality” that are measured. Read More

Not Just Another Assessment
A Quick Introduction to the Benefits of DISC

By Whit Mitchell

I first used DISC was when I was working with Kodak, about 30 years ago. At the time it was a one-page, self-scoring concept that we used as an icebreaker to help people learn more about each other. I didn’t see it again for 15 years until I became a distributor with TTI. By then it was a robust and scientifically developed tool that gave insight into a variety of behavioral traits. When I began using the expanded version of DISC with clients, it greatly increased the degree of change and satisfaction within the leaders and teams I was working with. They were thrilled with the results, and so was I. Read More

How Much Should Leaders Know?

By Dr. Francis Eberle

Clients have asked me how much they really need to know about leadership. This is not a simple question, and usually I share one of my favorite quotes by Henri Poincaré, a late 19th century French mathematician: “Science is built up of facts, as a house is built of stones; but an accumulation of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house.”

The point is, what we do with our knowledge is just as important, if not more important, than the knowledge we possess. Being an effective leader requires knowing many things, such as the company’s ideas, strategies, practices, plans, culture and people, but that isn’t everything leaders need to know. Read More

Price Associates Certifies Applied Axiologists

Price Associates conducted its third Applied Axiology-Trimetric HDTM Certification Course the week of April 16-20, 2018. Business leaders and executive advisors from across the globe attended the 5-day training, completing over 40 hours of study, testing and certification work. The training was conducted by Certified Master Axiologist Ron Price. It is the only training of its kind in the world. Thirteen business leaders were certified, including two members of the Price Associates core team: Dr. Evans Baiya and Andy Johnson.

Applied Axiology provides a deeper understanding of the academic foundations of value theory and its practical application in a variety of settings. Axiology is to the social sciences what mathematics is to natural sciences. Read More

9 Ways to Stop a Bad Hire From Infecting Good Talent

There are times when we hire someone who looked great on paper, sounded great in their interview but they turn out to be a bad hire. What’s even worse is if they turn out to be a bee in our organizational bonnet.

Typically, this happens for one of three reasons: the person we hired either lacks the skill, the will or the fit to be in his or her role.

It’s critical for managers to claim responsibility and prevent the bad hire from infecting the good talent already in the organization. One of my friends calls this the “ain’t it awful” game, where the person becomes an organizational black hole and sucks productive employees down with him (or her). This little game costs an organization in multiple ways, including productivity and profitability. It simply can’t be tolerated. Read More

Be Aware of Premature Judgement in Innovation

by Dr. Evans Baiya and Ron Price

Every idea has potential, so if right now you have a single idea, that is a start. In many cases, the full potential of an idea is not evident and may not be fund in the original problem it was intended to solve. This means you cannot put restrictions on the ideas; understand and acknowledge each idea and its potential without limiting its application.

A common mistake that kills potentially great innovations is the abandonment of ideas or projects if the desired outcomes are not met the first time after implementation. In other cases, innovative ideas are prematurely judged to be abandoned based on past experiences. Past experiences do not always guarantee current or future failures since the times, circumstances, team compositions, market conditions, etc., keep changing. Read More

Why Communication is the Key to All Successful Business Interaction

Communication is the key to all successful business interaction. And, it’s not always everyone’s strong suit. Sometimes a leader may identify their communication shortfalls while other times they may not even be aware these shortfalls exist. Identifying, then improving communication can improve the overall productivity within an organization.

Houston, We Have A Problem

Three business partners that owned a physical therapy company were having a hard time communicating with each other since Tyler made the challenging transition from worker to partner. For many reasons and on many levels, communication was one of the biggest obstacles they faced as partners. And it was starting to become a real disruptor for their business. Read More