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Reprinted from Chris Mittelstaedt’s column Eureka on Inc.com Every business makes mistakes. What you do next is the difference between losing customers forever and gaining lifelong fans. Things go wrong in businesses. And when they do, you need to get out in front, accept responsibility, and make things right for those affected. Here is a step-by-step guide to [...]
Reprinted from Chris Mittelstaedt’s column Eureka on Inc.com FruitGuys founder Chris Mittelstaedt explains how hackers got into his company’s bank account–and how not to let it happen to you. Identity theft isn’t just something you have to worry about as an individual; your business identity could be at risk, too. A few weeks ago my company was the [...]
Reprinted from Chris Mittelstaedt’s column Eureka on Inc.com Technology can make your job easier. But when something goes wrong, you need basic business instincts to back you up. Remember the Air France flight 447 crash in 2009? In early July of this year, BEA–the French government’s official investigators–released its final report on the incident. I followed the news closely [...]
Reprinted from Chris Mittelstaedt’s column Eureka on Inc.com How to identify–and root out–your worst human instincts before they infect your team. If there’s one thing that’s consistent across all businesses around the world it’s human nature. And if the worst parts of human nature start infecting your management techniques, well, then Houston we have a problem. Here’s a [...]
by Chris Mittelstaedt, Founder & CEO, The FruitGuys The FruitGuys supports California’s Prop 37, the “Right to Know” GMO (genetically modified organism) labeling initiative. This issue is important to Americans everywhere, not just in California. YES ON 37—WHY? We believe in transparency. Labeling GMO products and allowing consumers and companies to choose whether or not [...]
Reprinted from Chris Mittelstaedt’s column Eureka on Inc.com When an employee flipped off a key customer, this CEO realized his company had a culture problem. Here’s how he fixed it. Many years ago, I received a call from an irate customer. “Your driver,” she yelled, “dropped off our fruit and then gave me the finger!” After calming her [...]
Reprinted from Chris Mittelstaedt’s column Eureka on Inc.com or too long you’ve served as Chief Fire Extinguisher. It’s time to step back and start working on building your business. Are you moving your business forward or just putting out the same small fires day after day? Consider the following questions: 1. Do you have a list of big [...]
Reprinted from Chris Mittelstaedt’s column Eureka on Inc.com Since when does a mea culpa deserve praise? JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon shows how low the leadership bar can go. If you watch certain financial news shows you’d think that JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is a genius. Even after a $2 billion dollar loss at his company due [...]
Reprinted from Chris Mittelstaedt’s column Eureka on Inc.com You know those awkward growing pains? They happen to companies, too. Prepare for the inevitable changes with these tips. Change for a young business in a competitive market is a lot like puberty—you know it will come, but not necessarily when or where it will manifest first. As Peter Brady [...]
Reprinted from Chris Mittelstaedt’s column Eureka on Inc.com The capital gains tax has been touted as the brass ring for business owners. But if you self-fund your growth, it’s anything but. For too long self-funded business owners have been led to believe that they are part of the group that could benefit from capital gains tax rates, notably [...]
Reprinted from Chris Mittelstaedt’s column Eureka on Inc.com Running a business is like flying a plane: Lots of decisions to make and zero time to analyze them. Improve your gut instincts with these tips. Reading entrepreneurial success stories can only help you so much. Want a better perspective on the inevitable challenges you’ll face? Study the failures. Just [...]
Reprinted from Chris Mittelstaedt’s column Eureka on Inc.com Guaranteed methods to boost attrition and sap employees’ motivation. I discovered my first lesson in how not to motivate people at the bottom of a kitchen sink. In 1986, when I was 16 years old, my friend and I worked as dishwashers at the local Friendly’s restaurant in the King [...]
Reprinted from Chris Mittelstaedt’s column Eureka on Inc.com Want to shake up an entire industry? Use this story as inspiration. Where do you look for disruptive change opportunities in your business? Have you looked at your supply chain lately? I know. Hardly seems like the stuff of innovation. But it is. Joey P. was one of the cooler [...]
Reprinted from Chris Mittelstaedt’s column Eureka on Inc.com Eric Ryan, co-founder of method home products, reveals the four things his company does to keep the creativity flowing. At 36,000 feet, on a Virgin America flight, I was pondering soap. I already knew about method’s cleaning products as a consumer but after watching their co-branded pre-flight video “We’re All in [...]
Reprinted from Chris Mittelstaedt’s column Eureka on Inc.com The founder of Joie de Vivre hotels on his new book, Emotional Equations, and the trick he uses to combat paralyzing anxiety. Chip Conley knows fear. In 2008 with the economy in recession, his hotel business Joie de Vivre sinking around him, a family member wrongly convicted and in San [...]
Reprinted from Chris Mittelstaedt’s column Eureka on Inc.com Bigger, wealthier rivals can and will stack the deck against you. And they will involve lawyers. How will you respond? I recently re-read Wharton professor G. Richard Shell’s book, Make the Rules or Your Rivals Will. For the second time it terrified me—and inspired some pretty vivid Lord of the Flies/Dr. [...]
Reprinted from Chris Mittelstaedt’s column Eureka on Inc.com It’s the threat you never see coming. In fact, even after you crash and burn you still might not recognize it.Sometimes the biggest threat to your start-up is the one you can’t see. No, I’m not talking about competitors that sneak up on you. Those eventually become obvious—albeit sometimes too [...]
Reprinted from Chris Mittelstaedt’s column Eureka on Inc.com One side of you loves risk; the other side of you can’t stand it. Here’s how to use your multiple personalities to your advantage. I was a junior in high school, I was pretty sure I wasn’t ready for college. While other kids were preparing for the SATs, I was [...]
Reprinted from Chris Mittelstaedt’s column Eureka on Inc.com Sometimes there are problems simply too thorny and overwhelming to solve the usual ways; they require you to think differently. But because you’re used to thinking a certain way, you get stuck. So what’s the best way to unstick your thinking? If you’re like my dad, you pick [...]
Chairman Florz, vice Chair Maldonado and esteemed members of the Senate Committee on Food and Agriculture – thank you for taking the time to hear testimony today about the light brown apple moth and the implications of the quarantine program. My name is Chris Mittelstaedt and I am the founder and CEO of The FruitGuys. I founded [...]
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