The Dr. Claude Kershner Show

A global mind-set is crucial for modern managers and business leaders, offering a framework to understand and influence diverse characteristics within the global business environment. This mindset, comprising psychological, social, and cognitive dimensions, aids in managing cultural diversity, fostering innovation, and enabling business expansion. Cultural intelligence is a significant part of thi...

By recognizing the impact of the external environment, managers can anticipate turbulence and shape the culture accordingly. Organizational managers and leaders face daily challenges arising from both external and internal environments. To navigate environmental turbulence effectively, it is crucial to design an organizational culture that aligns with the industry's dynamics and prepares for poten...

This episode draws on the teachings of Dr. Michael H. Morris from a graduate school class to provide a comprehensive overview of revenue models and pricing strategies for businesses. We cover various topics such as contribution margin income statements, the creative use of price as a variable, and alternative pricing strategies beyond cost-plus formulas. The talk emphasizes the importance of under...

Have you ever worked with a manager or leader who seemed impressive on paper, with years of experience and a polished presentation, but failed to steer the team in the right direction when the going got tough? Have you witnessed a manager's inability to understand and address the human side of organizational structure lead the team straight into the storm, causing operational inefficiencies, misse...

The importance of short-term projected financial statements and cash management for entrepreneurial ventures is clear. Insufficient cash can hinder growth and even lead to bankruptcy despite accounting profits. Cash budgeting and projected financial statements are vital in helping entrepreneurs anticipate cash shortfalls. Furthermore, exploring financial markets and the process of acquiring and pa...

Regardless of how you fund your business, accounting is the language of business, and cash is the currency. While accounting for the past is good, an investor seeks to quantify and value the future. To the extent that the quantity and quality of venture efforts have laid the foundation for a lucrative future, new investors will compensate an owner. Ineffective or irrelevant past efforts are the en...

Entrepreneurial finance is not just about applying financial tools and techniques to a venture's planning, funding, operations, and valuation. It's also about understanding the fundamental principles of finance, such as the time value of money, risk, and the need to provide a return on investment. One crucial aspect of entrepreneurial finance is the understanding that real, human, and financial ca...

Key partnerships and key activities are two critical components of a successful business model. By identifying and leveraging these components, businesses can access essential resources, gain a competitive advantage, and create value for their customers. Key partnerships enable firms to develop relationships with other companies, granting access to necessary resources or expertise. Similarly, key...

Your customers do not exist to buy; you exist for them. So before moving forward with a business plan or launching a company, we must discover how customers experience the problem and why it matters to them. At first, we guess, then we test those guesses by talking to the customers. So who are the customer types, and what problems, needs, or passions do they have? What are the customer archetypes,...

The only strategy that creates a sustainable competitive advantage is an Entrepreneurial Strategy. Entrepreneurship is more than a course of action or a mindset. At an organizational level, it can provide a theme or direction to a company’s operations (Kuratko, 2009). It can be an integral component of a firm’s strategy and a core or defining element of its competitive advantage. Strategic Entrepr...

I used to think of spoken or written language when I thought about communication. However, I learned words are only a tiny part of human communication. In my doctoral journey, I explored Social Exchange Theory and Leader-Member Exchange. It became clear that employees observe managers, so it’s important to remember that everything a manager does and says will communicate something. In addition, co...

One of Andy Stanley’s message series is “Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets.” And he starts off each message by saying, “Your decisions determine the direction and quality of your life.” So, I want to get good at decision making, especially as a leader, husband, and father. I used to assume that making a choice is the central part of decision-making, but it is only a part of it. Decision-making is a...

Leaders inspire and motivate people to accomplish desired goals. But what does it mean to be a leader? To me, three aspects stand out—people, influence, and goals. Leadership occurs among people, involves influence, and is used to attain desired goals and outcomes. Influence means that the relationship among people is not passive. Likewise, influence is designed to achieve some end or goal. Not ev...

Understanding why people behave the way they do is part of good leadership. And the first requirement is understanding and managing ourselves. Our characteristics and behavior can profoundly affect motivation, morale, and job performance. Once we become more self-aware, we can understand how people bring their differences to work. We can also learn how they interpret tasks, whether they like to be...

Managers should think carefully about which strategy will give their company a competitive advantage. Also, perpetually ask, "Is this competitive advantage sustainable?" A five-year study of management practices in hundreds of businesses, referred to as the "Evergreen Project," found that a clear strategic direction was a key factor that distinguished winners from losers. So how can we strategical...

Why is it essential to have a desired future circumstance or condition for our organization? Could our team and organization exist for a specific purpose? Yes! and goals define and state that purpose. Then what? How about a plan or a blueprint to achieve those goals? Plans help detail the necessary resources, schedules & tasks for action. The goals have the purpose and future in mind, and the plan...

Isolation from international forces is no longer possible, and every organization should think globally because the world is a source of business threats and opportunities. Even if someone spends their entire career working in their hometowns, they must be aware of the international environment and will probably interact with people from other cultures. How can we prepare and capitalize on a borde...

What are the task and general environments, and why should organizational leaders care? How are managers shaping the internal culture to fit the needs of the external environment and company strategy? Corporate culture is critical in gaining and maintaining a competitive advantage. As managers, we must familiarize ourselves with these elements and change them when possible.

As organizational leaders, we must understand capital allocation and how it relates to operational effectiveness. This episode includes creative techniques to utilize resources, manage people and set up processes. We learn to capture data, make decisions and act like an entrepreneurial operations leader.

It is important to understand change and how it affects people. Human Systems Dynamics (HSD) helps us turn judgment into curiosity and disagreement into shared exploration. We learn about the emerging field of theory and practice while speaking to Royce Holladay, MEd who is the Director of Services at the HSD Institute.

Marketing is communication. Impactful communication uses stories. Listen in as we explain the origin of Guerrilla tactics and highlight marketing strategies for small businesses through practical examples.

The “industry” refers to the group located within a larger landscape. Examples include the “computer hardware wholesale industry,” the “card and gift retail industry,” and the “architectural services industry.” The focus here is on what is happening in, and the relative attractiveness of, the industry as a whole. You are looking at the entire industry in the U.S. or globally. Do your research, as...

This is a teaching for an introductory business class. The basic level content quickly covers preparing and using financial statements, evaluating operating and financial performance, and managing cash flow.

How can some teams take customer engagement to another level while others fail miserably? Listen as we explore relevant truths for all customer-facing organizations.

When employers hire people with disabilities, collective behavioral change occurs within organizations. Specifically, attitudes towards people with disabilities improve through professional interventions and encourage organizational citizenship behavior. This study indicates that — when organizations employ best practices when integrating people with disabilities into the workplace — there is a pe...