The 4 Forces of Business Risk: A Practical Lens for Privately Held and Family-Owned Businesses

Your biggest business risks may not be showing up on financial statements. A business can be profitable, growing, and well respected… yet still have vulnerabilities that quietly limit its future potential.

When something goes wrong, everyone tends to turn to the owner. Critical processes often depend on a single person who knows what to do. Established processes might continue simply because “they’ve always been done that way.” Systems that were fine at $5 million start to break down at $20 million.

None of these issues necessarily shows up as a line item on the income statement, but they can have a real impact on profitability, cash flow, growth, business value, and ultimately, the owner’s ability to step away.

These are the kinds of risks that can be easy to overlook precisely because the business may appear to be doing well. So how can it be fixed?

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7 Characteristics of Female Business Owners

More Companies are Owned by Women, Especially Minority Founders

Women’s History Month might be over after March 31, but female business owners have a year-round impact. In the spirit of International Women’s Day and this year’s motto, Break the Bias, we can envision a world that is more diverse, equitable, inclusive, and where differences are valued and celebrated.

Let’s take a look at some facts about what makes female business owners unique, along with practical ways to offer support.

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How to Calculate What Staff Turnover is Costing You

Did a long-time employee just hand in their 2-week notice?

Are you worried about how fast you’ll be able to find a reliable replacement?

Hiring the right people is extremely important for every business owner. That’s because staff are the most important resource in any company. Replacing an employee can cost significant money, time, and effort.

To avoid making an expensive and frustrating hiring mistake, you need a way to evaluate your company’s turnover data.

In this post, I explain some facts about turnover, why it relates to organizational risk, and how to calculate the total annual cost of adding new staff.

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Yin and Yang and the 5 Risk Roles of Executive Leaders

Diversity, transparency, empathy.

When organizations welcome these qualities while maintaining structure and stability, they’re ahead of the game.

It is often difficult to find the right balance between an aggressive approach and a passive one when managing a business. In this article, I will describe the 5 types of risk, the 5 risk roles of executive leaders, and how these apply to balancing the Yin and Yang of Management.

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