WHY WE CAN'T AFFORD TO FOLLOW YOUR LEAD ANYMORE Alpha Dogs are frequently those "Type A" personalities that exercise undue influence on others, especially organizations. You find them in every group of people. By their nature and sheer force of personality they tend to cause people to follow their lead whether they know where they [...]
Did your funeral home achieve all of its goals for 2012? Does the increasing number of families selecting cremation with no services have you concerned? 2013 is a new year that brings a new set of goals to help reboot you business and your team. The New Year is the perfect time to create new [...]
On my office wall I have framed photos of three men. If I asked you what they have in common I anticipate I would get many different answers but, for me, there is only one answer. Each, in his own way, despite significant personal tragedy and unimaginable public pressure and emotional stress understood the importance [...]
For months now I have been telling DeathCare that the wind is changing in our favor. The public attitude toward death and dying is changing at the GLOBAL level. For the present those involved in this are all "grass roots" initiatives springing up independent of each other wherever I look. I have examples in Singapore [...]
With all the hype about our nation's pending FISCAL CLIFF, I was recently asked when we could expect funeral service to reach it's fiscal cliff. For a number of years now it seems that if it weren't for bad news we wouldn't have any news at all. Rumor has it that Batesville was reporting last [...]
My discussion of reinvention / transformation has sparked more comment (online and offline) than most any other topic. Clearly it is on every one's mind. As we continue to explore this topic it is important...maybe critical...that we realize that we have an obligation to ourselves and to the public to be conscious of keeping a [...]
What is the link between Terrorism and Funeral Service? Well, you have to read a very short story and watch an even shorter video to find out. But the rewards will be worth it because I am going to reveal some of my secret sauce. A few years ago a friend shared that: "Alan see [...]
In Old Testament Days the Hebrew Temple contained the "Holy of Holies" behind the "Veil of The Temple". The Ark of The Covenant which, in turn, held the stone tablets on which were written the Ten Commandments and Moses' rod was inside this area. So sacred was it that only one priest was allowed to [...]
There is a level of neglect in our profession that will (and is) causing too many to approach the end of their careers facing great disappointment, forcing the postponement of retirement or spending retirement much more humbly than anticipated. It is too dangerous to be considered benign. Dangerous, certainly, at the individual firm level. [...]
Last week I referred to Andrew Grove's comments relative to the reinvention of Intel in which he referred to the process as the "Valley of Death." Strategic Inflection Points: what happens to a business when a major change takes place in its competitive environment... what is key is that they require a fundamental change in [...]
