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272 Resources for

steve tobak

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BNET Author Biography: Steve Tobak is a marketing and strategy consultant based in Silicon Valley. He's a 20-plus year high-tech industry veteran and former senior executive of a number of public and private companies. He also wrote the popular blog Train Wreck for CNET. When he's not airing corporate America's dirty laundry and...; more about Steve Tobak »

BNET Resources

Don't Make Your Customers Deal With Your Problems: Some small businesses almost effortlessly put customer's needs and problems first, while others let their drama and dysfunctions dictate how they do business. Like it or not, customers get dragged along for the ride. In a competitive market, that's no way to get repeat business. by Steve Tobak; Tags: Steve Tobak; Blog posts 2009-11-06
Retirement's For Old People: In 2003 I retired from the corporate world. Everybody was happy except for my wife since I was about to invade her space at home like a horde of marauding Huns. But my retirement wasn't to be like my father's. I consult, write, work as hard as I did before....; Tags: Retirement, Steve Tobak; Blog posts 2009-07-02
7 Signs You're Creating Your Own Workplace Stress: Quick, by a show of hands, how many of you have workplace stress? Almost everybody, great. Now, how much of that stress do you think is self-imposed? What, no hands? Well, I'm not surprised, but you may be in for one. You see, most people make their own stress. Not...; Tags: Sign, Workplace, Recruitment & Selection, Human Resources, Workforce Management, Steve Tobak; Blog posts 2009-07-02
The 2009 Halftime Report: The good news is I'm still alive and well and finally going Mac after 20 years of Wintel oppression. Aside from that, the only positive thing I can think of to say is the second half has got to be better. Here's my 2009 Halftime Report: 10 Random Impressions ......; Tags: Wintel, Steve Tobak; Blog posts 2009-06-30
Real Managers Don't Make Excuses: When dogs screw up, they hang their head and tuck their tail between their legs in admission of guilt. When wild animals screw up, it can be fatal. No excuses. It's human to make excuses, but nothing is more success and career limiting. Great managers and successful business people don't...; Tags: Excuse, Professional Development, Career, Steve Tobak; Blog posts 2009-06-30

Madoff Gets 150 Years: Is Fraud Worse Than Murder?: From a Madoff victim: Dante recognized fraud as the worst of sins, the ultimate evil, because it violated God's gift to mankind: love and trust. Is Madoff's fraud worse than violent crime? Is fraud of this magnitude finally being prosecuted and adjudicated as it should have been all along, and...; Tags: Fraud, Madoff, Litigation, Business Operations, Steve Tobak; Blog posts 2009-06-29
How to Give a Great PowerPoint Presentation: Itâ€™s hard to imagine your career going anywhere unless you can deliver an effective presentation and everyone uses PowerPoint. Unfortunately, most managers have no idea how to use it effectively. It's just as important as present skills, and if you follow these tips, you'll wow your audience instead of confusing...; Tags: Microsoft PowerPoint, PowerPoint Presentation, Microsoft Office, Professional Development, Office Suites, Software, Career, Steve Tobak; Blog posts 2009-06-26
What's More Important: Strategy or Execution?: All the best run companies have processes for both, but there are times when one - strategy or execution - is indeed more critical than the other. Recognizing those times and knowing which one to focus on is the key. Here are some examples ... by Steve Tobak; Tags: Execution, Strategy, Management, Steve Tobak; Blog posts 2009-06-25
Did Apple's Board Break SEC Disclosure Rules?: The short answer is yes, I think Apple's board failed to manage the disclosure of material information in a manner consistent with their responsibilities and SEC rules. And make no mistake, a Steve Jobs liver transplant for whatever reason is material information. They broke the rules and they should be...; Tags: Board, SEC, Apple Inc., Corporate Governance, Business Operations, Corporate Law, Steve Tobak; Blog posts 2009-06-24
Is Microsoft's Monopoly Over?: If there was a metric for the amount of time people spend on devices that can access the Web, I think you'd find the percentage of time they spend using Microsoft software is declining. It's too early to call Wintel's demise, but there is a confluence of factors that, when...; Tags: Microsoft Corp., Steve Tobak; Blog posts 2009-06-23
The Little Things Count in Big Ways: Everyone - your boss, coworkers, employees, customers, family - everyone appreciates the little things you do for them in a manner that's way out of proportion with the effort. I don't know why, but it's true. And the more complicated the world gets, the more competitive the marketplace, the more...; Tags: Coworker, Proportion, Steve Tobak; Blog posts 2009-06-23
Will Steve Jobs Remain Apple's CEO?: According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple CEO Steve Jobs had a liver transplant in Tennessee about two months ago, his recovery is going well, and he's expected to return to Apple at the end of June. But the big question is what will Jobs's role be when he returns?...; Tags: Steve Jobs, Apple Inc., CEO, Steve Tobak; Blog posts 2009-06-22
Will Obama's Regulation Overhaul Work?: Will Obama's response to the financial crisis - a historic overhaul of regulatory power - prevent fraud, crises, and bubbles, or just be a royal pain in the you-know-what that taxes every company, hinders our competitiveness in an increasingly global market, and does little to protect investors ... like Sarbanes-Oxley?...; Tags: Sarbanes-Oxley, Regulatory Compliance, Regulations, Taxes, Litigation, Financial Accounting, Free Trade, Government, Finance, Human Resources, Policies And Procedures, Financial Planning, Business Operations, Steve Tobak; Blog posts 2009-06-18
Waiting for the Phone to Ring? Recession Survival Tips: Whether you're looking for a job or in a struggling business, sometimes it feels like you're just waiting for the phone to ring. I know that's not all you're doing. You sell, market, network, have meetings, whatever. You stay busy. But you know what you're waiting for; here are a...; Tags: Phone, Tip, Recession, Telecom & Utilities, Steve Tobak; Blog posts 2009-06-16
Underlying Principles of Business Communications: There've been quite a few BNET posts on how to present, speak, and email. Remember the old proverb: "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime?â€ It's the same with business communications. There are...; Tags: Business Communication, E-mail, Online Communications, Steve Tobak; Blog posts 2009-06-15
The Chief Everything Officer Phenomenon: Remember when you could run an entire company, no matter how big, with just a chief executive officer, a president, a chief financial officer, and a bunch of vice presidents? Now we've got chief everything officers? When did everybody become a chief and what does all this title inflation mean?...; Tags: Officer, Currency & Foreign Exchange, Finance, Steve Tobak; Blog posts 2009-06-12
How to Derive a Value Proposition: What do you do better than anyone does? What does your company offer that competitors can't match? Why would customers buy one companyâ€™s product or service as opposed to anotherâ€™s? These are all definitions of a critical business concept called "value proposition." Here's a litmus test and five-step process. by...; Tags: Value Proposition, Steve Tobak; Blog posts 2009-07-29
The Value of Stick-with-it-ness: Stick-with-it-ness is one of those qualities that isn't on anybody's short-list for successful managers and business people, but it should be. I'm not sure why that is. Maybe because it's difficult to define. More likely because it's such a rare quality. Regardless, it's a pretty good indicator of business success...; Tags: Quality, Stick-with-it-ness, Steve Tobak; Blog posts 2009-07-07
Five Great Product Positioning Success Stories: Product positioning strategy is critical in today's hyper-competitive marketplace where everybodyâ€™s competing for the same shrinking budget and differentiation is hard to come by. Here are five success stories, including three write-ins from readers in response to Destroy the Competition With Product Positioning by Steve Tobak; Tags: Positioning, Product Positioning Strategy, Branding, Marketing, Steve Tobak; Blog posts 2009-07-07
Sarah Palin's Polarizing Leadership Quality: Clearly Sarah Palin has extraordinary leadership qualities that resonate strongly with certain people and elicit near vitriolic hatred from others. In the corporate world, we see all kinds of leaders, but rarely are they so polarizing. How do you think she'd do in the corporate world? by Steve Tobak; Tags: Sarah Palin, Leadership, Management, Steve Tobak; Blog posts 2009-07-28