Last week one of my mentors, friends and collaborators passed away. Rupert Barkoff was also an avid reader and constructive critic of my Tips, so I am going to devote this one to him. In 2004 I decided it was time to enter the USA market and attended my first International Franchise Association Convention. It was a little overwhelming as I barely knew any of the nearly  
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This tip is about effective communication, a hot topic for executives who are leading change within their organisations. We may think we are communicating at our best when we carefully craft our words. But our most powerful communication often occurs in unintended ways. In a poem by Rumi, a great thirteenth-century mystical poet, he tells the following story about an Indian 
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I’ve recently been reviewing the research on successful franchisee recruitment. Because many franchisors have seen a decline in enquiries from new franchisees, I’m going to share eight proven strategies to achieve greater success in this area. But a proviso. These strategies will only work long-term if the franchisor team is caring, competent and ethical, and the business m 
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Our brain is wired to be careful of whom to trust. Open yourself up to the wrong person and you can get hurt — physically, emotionally and financially. Nature has given us a shortcut to help here. It’s called reputation. If we’ve heard good things about a person or group, we’ll be more open to what they have to say. In business, we call this having a good brand. Brands, lik 
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My mother lives in an apartment which is part of a retirement village managed by a multinational property group. The nature of the relationship between management and residents is so similar to a franchise network it often makes me laugh. For instance, the residents have created a highly effective Committee that keeps Village Management on their toes. And similar to a franc 
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Last week I joined 40 people for a personal development retreat in a beautiful bushland setting. For five days we contemplated, cooked and ate together with no interpersonal communication. No talking, no passing notes and no sign language. Yet everything flowed comfortably, stress-free, like clockwork. As you can imagine the planning to pull this off was impeccabl 
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My wife and I recently spent a few days in Penang to recharge the batteries. I was sitting by the pool with my eyes closed, listening to the beautiful tinkling of a nearby fountain. But the sound of dragging feet was taking the edge off the experience. I opened my eyes to see the pool attendant sluggishly wander by, head down, eyes unfocused. His mind was clearly elsewhere. 
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I was recently debriefing the leadership team of an award winning franchise network on the results from their latest franchisee satisfaction survey. As part of our debriefing process we share best practice tip sheets on each area. While we were going through the area of leadership, the President suddenly exclaimed “These are the best leadership tips I’ve ever seen!” He was  
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The simplest things often bring us the most joy, and contain the most important lessons. Like the little red ball. Before I explain why it has been such a source of inspiration, a brief description is in order. Slightly smaller than a tennis ball, it’s hollow and made of tough, springy rubber with hexagonal patterns. This makes it easy to grab and squeeze. It also has a lar 
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What do franchisees and franchisors care most deeply about? Each year we conduct research to answer this question. One hot topic for franchisees, is the need for more consultation before important decisions are made. Consultation is not consensus Contrary to popular belief, consultation does not mean getting everyone’s agreement to a decision, or even involving others d 
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