Tim Eckstrom Archives - Price Associates

Is Your Team Functional: Part 1

Patrick Lencioni is founder of The Table Group, which is a management consulting firm that specializes in organizational health and executive team development. He has written a number of books that I think every business executive should read. One of my favorites is entitled “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team”. In it he describes what a healthy team looks like and, on the flip side, what a ‘dysfunctional’ team behaves like. The 5 characteristics of a dysfunctional team are:Read More

Do You Know What You Really Value?

It is pretty clear from a myriad of research studies that a high percentage of people in our country really struggle to stay engaged; both on the job and in their personal lives.You have probably found it true in your own ‘informal study’, talking with your friends, neighbors and co-workers about their jobs. Finding someone who really loves what they do is not a common occurrence.Read More

Do Your Employees Know Why You Are In Business?

The Gallup organization annually surveys the workforce in the United States to determine how ‘engaged’ it is. The past several years have NOT been encouraging. An engaged employee can be defined as someone who loves what they do and is striving to do their very best and continues to grow.Read More

Hiring the Wrong Person is Costly

You don’t have to look very far to find someone who is not very happy in their place of employment or chosen occupation. Maybe that someone is you! If you aren’t sure, ask yourself this question, “Do I get up in the morning looking forward to whatever challenges and opportunities my job presents?” Or “Do I get up in the morning dreading the same old thing?” I don’t know what the latest statistics are related to job dissatisfaction, but I do know one thing; they are far too high!Read More

Team Without A Clear Goal?

I love baseball; always have. I grew up playing it every spring and summer. I looked forward to the first day of ‘spring training’ and regretted the last day of the summer season. I was fortunate enough to play it at the college level. I watch it regularly from the professional level to the Little League World Series.Read More

Focusing Your Company Growth

80% of startup businesses fail in the first 5 years. Of the 20% that ‘survive’, another 80% of those will fail in the next 5 years. That means that only 4 in 100 new businesses will make it beyond 10 years. No entrepreneur starts a business thinking that he or she is going to fail. Every one of them believes that they are going to be in the 4%. The same is true of people who purchase existing businesses or those who take positions as CEO’s of established companies. So how do you make sure that you are in the 4%?Read More

Post Fathers Day Reflections

I really LIKE my kids.

I have three of them. They are all adults now; 31, 29 and 23. We were together over the weekend for some BBQ and game playing. Our family is pretty much addicted to board games. There is always a new one to learn.Read More

Finding the Job You Love

I recently had a conversation with a very good friend of mine who admitted to having lost his way vocationally. Several years ago he was in a place where he was doing pretty well financially and quite busy in his chosen area of business. But with the economic crunch that began in 2008, business began to dwindle. Opportunities were still out there, but he allowed discouragement to get in the way. Instead of tackling the challenges that he was facing, he froze!Read More

Invictus: An Example of Leadership

Many of you have seen the movie “Invictus”, starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon; the story of how the South African rugby team won the world cup in their home country during the period of time when Nelson Mandela was serving as President. It is a moving, inspiring movie; one that I think Morgan was born to star in. I finally got around to seeing it this past week.Read More

Looking ‘Up’

I had a chance to see the animated movie ‘Up’ a couple nights ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. It had a lot of great humor in it and was very well written. Without giving too much of it away, it is the story of a boy who meets a girl. She is a girl full of life and adventure. He is instantly attracted to her and mesmerized by her dreams. In fact, they promise each other as little kids (and cross their hearts!) to go on a great adventure together.Read More

OUR THINKING