When solving problems or making changes, people often attempt to create the most sustainable solution possible. But nothing is permanent. Finding and implementing a permanent solution is not always a good use of resources.

Don’t Be Afraid to Use Quick, Temporary Solutions

Both the problem and the solution are likely to evolve over time. Solving the problem quickly is often more important than creating a sustainable solution.
– The Startup Daily

When solving problems or making changes, people often attempt to create the most sustainable solution possible. But nothing is permanent. Finding and implementing a permanent solution is not always a good use of resources.

Don’t Be Afraid to Use Quick, Temporary Solutions

Both the problem and the solution are likely to evolve over time. Solving the problem quickly is often more important than creating a sustainable solution.
– The Startup Daily

When solving problems or making changes, people often attempt to create the most sustainable solution possible. But nothing is permanent. Finding and implementing a permanent solution is not always a good use of resources.

Don’t Be Afraid to Use Quick, Temporary Solutions

Both the problem and the solution are likely to evolve over time. Solving the problem quickly is often more important than creating a sustainable solution.
– The Startup Daily

When solving problems or making changes, people often attempt to create the most sustainable solution possible. But nothing is permanent. Finding and implementing a permanent solution is not always a good use of resources.

Don’t Be Afraid to Use Quick, Temporary Solutions

Both the problem and the solution are likely to evolve over time. Solving the problem quickly is often more important than creating a sustainable solution.
– The Startup Daily

At times we are too smart for our own good. We attempt add value to situations by adding unnecessary complexity. This can be a great way to demonstrate our intelligence, but it’s rarely the best solution to the problem.

Complicating a Situation Doesn’t Usually Make it Better

When things seem to be getting too complicated, cut through the fog by bringing things back to the most basic functionality and obvious facts.
– The Startup Daily

Most marketing budgets are spent almost entirely on the acquisition of new customers. Meanwhile, the costs associated with serving existing customers are squeezed.

The result is that once a customer commits, their level of service drops significantly. Promises made during the sale are not kept, and trust is eroded.

In Most Businesses, the Majority of Revenue Comes from Return Customers

Yet the employees that interact directly with those customers, and have the greatest impact on the customer’s experience, are often the lowest paid and least trained.

Investing in improving the experience of existing customers pays better dividends than investing in acquiring new customers.
– The Startup Daily

Discount customers are almost always the wrong customers. At best they can provide some cash flow, but the hidden costs make them more trouble than they are worth.

You Cannot Build Relationships with Discount Buyers

They are not buying you or the quality of your work. They are buying your price. As soon as someone else offers a lower price, they will be gone.

Charge what you are worth, and you will attract customers who value what you do, not how little you charge.

Most markets are not as price-sensitive as those who serve them believe. Customers find it easier to tell you that your price is too high than to say your product isn’t very good. Pricing is often the excuse, but rarely the real reason.
– The Startup Daily

That is a lot of business books making a lot of promises. Figuring out which ones are likley to be worth your time is no easy feat.

First published five years ago, The 100 Best Business Books of All Time by Jack Covert and Todd Sattersten remains one of the best resources available for navigating the business book landscape. This book was an incredibly helpful starting point for me while I was conceiving the Startup Daily, and it continues to guide many of my selections today.

An updated edition of The 100 Best Business Books of All Time was recently released in paperback and for the Kindle. If you are a business book lover, this book is essential.
– The Startup Daily

Failure can be good. After all, it’s how we learn. But failing for its own sake is never the goal, it’s only the first step.

To Learn from Your Failure You Must First Identify the Cause of the Failure

Failure of Skill
The lesson here is simple. Get to work developing that skill, or partner with someone who already has.

Failure of Concept
The idea simply wasn’t as strong, or compelling, as you thought it was. Try again with a bigger idea.

Failure of Judgement
You left something in, or out, that you shouldn’t have. Did you trust your instinct? Or did you give in to pressure from others? Great artists are willing to be regarded as tyrants to keep their vision intact.

Failure of Nerve
The fear of looking foolish prevented you from fully exploiting your idea. The only solution is to face your fears head on. It requires courage, although experience helps. The older we get, the less afraid we become of looking foolish.

Failure by Denial
This is the most difficult to identify. Something was not working, and you were not able to acknowledge it. Repeated exposure can make it harder to see. Continuously changing things around is your best defense, since it forces you to constantly re-examine what’s working, and what isn’t.

Being honest about the cause of your failures is what separates those who learn from failure from those who are doomed to repeat it.
The Starup Daily

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All great relationships require productive conflict to thrive. Unfortunately, conflict is often considered taboo in the workplace. The higher up the management chain you go, the more people try to avoid the kind of passionate debate that is necessary to arrive at the best solutions.

But unresolved conflict doesn’t go away. It remains as unhealthy tension that undermines teamwork and leads to personal attacks.

Some leaders, like overprotective parents, will break up conflict as soon as it begins. But this prevents team members from developing conflict management skills and only brings artificial harmony. People need to see their conflicts through until they arrive at a resolution.

Encourage People to Argue Passionately About What They Believe

Ideally the leader should be the one filling this role, but anyone can step up and take responsibility for uncovering buried conflicts. Teams need to be reminded that working through conflict is good for the team and for the solution.

When a team knows that they can safely engage in productive conflict, they are able to resolve issues more quickly and completely.
– The Startup Daily