Small Business Leadership

Driving around the city in any metropolitan areas we all see trendy coffee shops everywhere and not all of them are Starbucks. Do you ever wonder why there are so many new boutique coffee shops popping up everywhere? Well, according to National Coffee Association, it is not a hoax, but the new trend. The coffee industry and the coffee shop business have boomed in recent years, especially with regards to specialty coffees. If you are thinking about opening a coffee house, here are the 13 steps that you will need to take....

The best entrepreneurs balance brilliant business ideas with a rigorous commitment to serving their customers' needs. If you read (or listen) to nothing else on entrepreneurship and start-ups, listen to these 10 articles by experts in the field. We've combed through hundreds of articles in the Harvard Business Review archive and selected the most important ones to help you build your company for enduring success.

Explore the universe of potential buyers. Learn how to assemble a team of expert advisors to prepare your business for sale. Walk step by step through a typical investment-banker-led midmarket sale process from start to finish. Adam Coffey has spent the last 20 years as CEO of three private-equity-backed national service companies. Through his experience executing a buy-and-build strategy, he has bought and sold more than 100 companies ranging in size from $1 million to $1 billion. Selling your business is an art.

We all know a visionary leader when we see one. They're bold and prophetic and at the same time pragmatic. They don't just promote change - they drive it, while inspiring and mobilizing others to do the same. Visionaries like Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos possess a host of innate qualities that make them extraordinary, but what truly sets them apart is their ability to turn vision into action. Here, Innosight's Mark W. Johnson and Josh Suskewicz introduce a new way of thinking and managing, called "future-back", that enables any manager to become a practical visionary.

Make a lasting impact by launching new initiatives, inspiring others, and championing innovative approaches with this from-the-trenches guide by trusted executive mentor, entrepreneur, and leadership expert Joel Peterson. Many leaders see their roles as presidents/managers, with a primary focus...

The Experience is a unique guide to mastering the art of customer service and service relationships, based on the principles employed at the renowned leader in customer experience - the Walt Disney Company. Co-author Bruce Loeffler spent 10 years at Disney World overseeing service excellence. He has partnered with Brian T. Church to show you how to bring that same level of care and value to your own organization.

AI Essentials is a concise, executive-level audiobook designed to remove hype and replace it with clarity. Written for modern leaders, this book explains artificial intelligence in plain language—covering how AI systems function, where they create real business value, and where the risks truly lie. Listeners will learn how to evaluate AI initiatives, ask better questions in technical discussions, and make informed decisions without needing a technical background. This audiobook is not about trends, tools, or speculation.

Koch shows how to maximize success in your career and life by using the proven principle that 80 percent of changes in the world result from the most powerful 20 percent of actions and ideas. He'll show how to use your own powerful "20 percent spike" - your most creative ideas and unique skills - to measure the amount of value you bring to your employer, clients, or customers. For most people, there is a huge disparity between their intrinsic value and the compensation they receive for their efforts.

For more than 40 years, The Boston Consulting Group has been shaping strategic thinking in business. The Boston Consulting Group on Strategy offers a broad and up-to-date selection of the firm's best ideas on strategy with fresh ideas, insights, and practical lessons for managers, executives, and entrepreneurs in every industry. Here's a sampling of the provocative thinking you'll find inside.

BUILD THE MINDSET TO ACHIEVE THE GOALS THAT OTHERS SAY ARE IMPOSSIBLE Think Like a Boss is your guide to thinking big, living big, and winning big. With a motivating blend of inspiring stories, thought-provoking exercises, and actionable strategies, it provides a roadmap that will elevate your...

Family business enterprises, found in virtually every country, are the backbone of most economies. However, the leadership challenges they present are complex and unique. Most executives and family members in these firms eventually discover that their education and years of hard work have not prepared them to address many of the interpersonal demands that come with the territory. After years of study and reflection, David Bentall came to realize how ill equipped he had been to be a part of the solution for his own family business.

Whether your goal is to open a neighborhood wellness business, work independently from home, or launch the next highly successful wellness brand, Building a Wellness Business That Lasts: How to Make a Great Living Doing What You Love is your definitive guide. This book will teach you how to translate your passion for wellness into a compelling business vision, weave that vision into an effective business plan, and leverage the latest technologies to accelerate your growth.

Problem: Most Americans don't realize the potential gold mine in blue-collar business. By blue-collar business I mean a business providing a specialized service requiring a trained employee and manual labor. In my case it is chimney sweeping, but it can range from construction to gardening to plumbing and junk removal. There are literally thousands and thousands of opportunities, but many people don't consider blue-collar work as an option and are missing out as a result.

What if your next customer didn't have a pulse, preferences, or patience for poor performance? In Machine Customers: The Evolution Has Begun, CX Evolutionist Katja Forbes reveals how intelligent agents, autonomous procurement systems, and logic-driven buying platforms are silently revolutionising commerce. This trillion-dollar transformation is happening now, not in some distant future.

A comprehensive guide for entrepreneurs from one of the most successful business creators in recent years, The Reluctant Entrepreneur: Turning Dreams into Profits addresses the fears and misconceptions that many people have about starting their own businesses, walking prospective owners through the necessary decisions they need to make before even putting a business plan in place.

Imagine what Atari might have achieved if Steve Jobs had stayed there to develop the first massmarket personal computer. Or what Steve Case might have done for PepsiCo if he hadn't left for a gaming start-up that eventually became AOL. What if Salomon Brothers had kept Michael Bloomberg, or Bear Stearns had exploited the inventive ideas of Stephen Ross? Scores of top-tier entrepreneurs worked for established corporations before they struck out on their own and became self-made billionaires.

Make It Happen explodes the myth that the restaurant business is harder than other industries. It challenges the belief that you must be in your restaurant all day every day just so things get done right.

In this accessible guide, franchise expert Rick Grossmann and franchise attorney Michael J. Katz impart decades-worth of insight and advice on what it takes to make your franchise operation successful. Grossmann and Katz share expert tutorials, tricks of the trade, and access to sample franchise documents, checklists, and questionnaires designed to get you organized, support you through the process, and get your new franchise off the ground.

As an associate of the Gambino family, Ferrante relied on his instincts to pull off some of the biggest heists in US history. By the age of 21, he had netted millions of dollars for his employers. His natural talent for management led Mafia bosses to rely on him. After being arrested and serving an eight-and-a-half-year prison sentence, Ferrante went straight. He realized that the Mob's most valuable business lessons would allow him to survive and thrive in the real world.

The Art of Strategic Partnering is a how-to guide for creating and managing successful strategic partnerships. Made for entrepreneurial leaders and executives, this audiobook shows you how to grow a company and achieve game-changing results. Learn tried-and-true lessons from a Silicon Valley industry expert who has successfully negotiated and managed more than 150 strategic partnerships.