Smart Business Magazine, June 2014

4 Smart Business Northern California June 2014 Smart Business Northern California 835 Sharon Drive Suite 200 Cleveland OH 44145 O 8009884726 F 4402507001 PUBLISHER VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS Dustin S Klein GENERAL MANAGER John Lotenero MANAGING EDITOR Dennis Seeds ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR DIGITAL MANAGING EDITOR Adam Burroughs Smart Business Magazine is a division of Smart Business Network Inc PRESIDENT CEO Fred Koury PRESIDENT MAGAZINES EVENTS Lee Koury PRESIDENT CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER Michael Marzec VICE PRESIDENTS OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Melissa Gottlieb Janet K Valore Angie Berresford Joanna Reese Megan Smith Roz Taylor Suzy Djilas CONTROLLER Kathy Deutsch CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jim Mericsko PRODUCTION MANAGER Mary Kay Bukowski SENIOR ASSOCIATE EDITOR Mark Scott ASSOCIATE EDITOR INSIGHTS Jayne Gest SENIOR COPY EDITOR April Grasso PROJECT MANAGER EVENTS Danielle Catteau SALES ASSOCIATES EVENTS Meredith Rankin Korie Culleiton DIGITAL MEDIA SPECIALIST Megan Christy CUSTOMER SERVICE AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Somer Karim AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANT Tammy Frank OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR Jill Brown ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE ACCOUNTS PAYABLE Marilyn Homolak Smart Business Magazine is published in Akron Canton Chicago Cleveland Columbus Florida Houston Indianapolis Los Angeles Northern California Orange County Philadelphia Pittsburgh St Louis Smart Business Northern California is published monthly by Smart Business Network Inc 835 Sharon Drive Suite 200 Cleveland OH 44145 All material herein is property of Smart Business Network Inc and may not be reproduced Smart Business and Smart Business Network are registered trademarks of Smart Business Network Inc SMART BUSINESS FRED KOURY FROM THE CEO FRED KOURY President and CEO Smart Business Network Inc is the publisher of Smart Business Magazine and operates SBN Interactive a content marketing firm Fred is committed to focusing on relationships not transactions in everything he does 800 988 4726 fkoury@ sbnonline com www sbnonline com www sbninteractive com The power of thinking Are you spending enough time before making a decision Abraham Lincoln is credited with saying Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe His point is clear The thinking and prep work are often more important than the action What happens when you start hacking at the tree without thinking it through first If you are Coca Cola you end up with New Coke If you are Mars Inc you end up passing on the opportunity to have M Ms featured in E T letting rival Hershey Co s Reeses Pieces grab the spotlight and the 65 percent sales increase that went with it If you are Eastman Kodak you develop the digital camera in 1975 and then do nothing with it until its too late CEOs might make a hundred decisions a day and not all of them deserve hours of consideration But for those that do its important to take the time to consider all the pros and cons Start by making the list on your own thinking through the best things that could happen if you move in a certain direction Then make a list of the worst things that could happen From there have a similar discussion with your leadership team and see how their list compares to yours Let it sit for a few days and then come back to it before making a final decision By investing the time upfront youll avoid the constant changing of direction that can frustrate your team and avoid making snap decisions that end up being wrong hurting your credibility As Lincoln suggested spend a little more time thinking before you take action Youll chop down a lot more trees in a lot less time Smart Business Magazine is a management journal providing insight and advice for top decision makers Each edition includes feature articles on management strategies of CEOs of leading local companies In addition we partner with leading service providers to deliver expert advice to our senior management audience The world of business moves at a rapid pace putting pressure on business leaders to make snap decisions to keep up with the competition But when problems arent carefully thought through the rush to cross something off your to do list can cost you far more time in the end than if you had given it more consideration to start with