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How to Hire Key Employees

  • By Luther G. Perkins
  • 04 Sep, 2018
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Undeniably, the most successful companies have one thing in common – talented, experienced and dedicated employees. Yes, today, workers are an asset to the organization. As such, utmost caution must be observed during the recruitment process, and more so, if it has anything to do with obtaining key employees. This is a sensitive matter that should be handled in the most delicate way.

Here are Factors to Consider When Hiring Key Workers:

1) Among the top-most essential elements of critical leadership employees are job knowledge, trustworthiness, and commitment. Knowing them personally or at the very least, having a personal referral regarding their honesty and work ethic is highly advisable. This is particularly importance of you are making key hires for the first time. Try to work with people you know or the ones referred by someone you respect and trust.

2) Personality: you need individuals with a warm personality. Employees who don’t find hard to smile at colleagues and even the clientele. Among the most important characteristics of a customer-oriented workforce is their personality – type. An amenable employee is a person who will work well with the rest of the employees. Talking with a job candidate at length can help you identify his natural characteristics. Conduct a simple test. Try introducing him or her to other employees at the workplace to determine how he behaves with different types of people. It is imperative that you find a people person instead of a people pleaser who is too willing to sacrifice honesty.

3) Skill set: as already stated, job knowledge is a critical element in a good hire. As such, you need to judge his skillset during the recruitment process. For instance, if you are filling the position of marketing executive, you need to ensure that the candidate has the right marketing skills. For starters, academic background in business and marketing is essential. Further, take the time to establish his or her experience in the field – and most importantly, find out if he or she has worked with products similar to the ones offered by your company. What kind of marketing projects has the candidate handled in the past? Does he or she bear the personality traits of a marketer? Essentially, you want to employee an individual with the right set of skills and sufficiently confident of taking up his or her new role.

When these three factors, among numerous others, are put into the account, it should be easy for you to find the right key workers. You will have a team prepared to take your company to the highest levels of success. 
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By Luther G. Perkins December 28, 2018
Sometimes, managers have to deal with the frustrations of strategic initiatives that don’t get done. They fail to understand why this actually happens. If only managers would know how best to inspire strategic vision. One of the biggest causes attributed to the unsuccessful implementation of strategic initiatives is the huge amount of energy utilised in running daily operations. Look at it this way; between serving clients and working towards a strategic vision, what will your team work on? It’s not rocket science – employees will mostly focus on the routine work.
By Luther G. Perkins September 18, 2018

When is the right time to bring an investor into my small or medium sized business? A good number of management teams and business owners have rushed this business decision. Most of the time, the final results weren’t as good as they had envisaged. The decision about when to bring investors on board must be well thought out.


Of course, investors present a validating opportunity capable of taking your business to new heights. However, it must always be remembered that good things come to the people who are willing to put in some patience. Delayed gratification has a lot of benefits – hidden treasure for that matter. As a result, you don’t have to feel compelled to accept the very first offers coming your way. Rather, take the time to analyze the business plan and finances of the company. This will help you determine whether the company really needs funding from outside to realise its objectives. Should it become apparent that you need outside funding find out how is needed exactly.


Apparently, a firm will be required to relinquish some amount of control as well as a share of the economic upside when the partnership is concluded. Ideally, every business would want to retain the autonomy for as long as it is possible – for the purpose of establishing the business vision. However, at times, companies are left with no other option other than outside funding for them to scale.


For the majority of businesses, there are times when it is more advantageous to accept external funding. While the firm can self-fund itself even for over a decade, sometimes outside funding is needed when a new platform is being launched. A process of this nature is characterized by a couple of rounds of financial forecasting. The objective is to have clarity about the cost of attaining the business vision and if the firm can afford the cost without additional funding from outside investors.

Several factors must be put into account when considering external funding. They include:

  • Whether to finance the business with debt or equity. Consider your options for debt financing and the implications of the terms such as the scheduled repayments and interest. Will your business be able to make payments out of its future cash flows? The other option entails giving up part of the equity. What proportion of the equity are you willing to give up? This takes us to the next factor 
  • What level of control are you prepared to sacrifice? Think about the consequences of giving up some amount of control.
  • Have you identified an investor? Is it someone you are comfortable partnering with? Excellent partners thrive on mutual understanding and appreciation for each other.
  • Establish and understand the full terms of the investment agreement. The importance of this step cannot be sufficiently stressed.

By Luther G. Perkins September 4, 2018

Diversity is increasingly becoming an essential element in the modern world of business. It is critical to the ability of an organization to innovate and also adapt to the fast-paced business environment. A good number of the most successful entrepreneurs and admired business leaders will echo this sentiment. Diversity is essential to not only the growth but also prosperity of any firm.

Companies that desire to prosper must embrace diversity in all aspects – in terms of experiences, perspectives, cultures, age and genders. Why is diversity in business given so much importance? It’s pretty straightforward; it breeds innovation, which in turn leads to business success.