If elite athletes at the highest level cannot accomplish their goals without a coach, what does that say for the progress of anyone, at any level of an organization? Everyone needs solid, objective advice about how to make progress in the direction they need to go. The best coaches—the Phil Jacksons and Greg Popviches of the world (who have been coached themselves by other coaches along the way)—have been able to accurately evaluate the talents of their team, in order to put the whole organization in the best position to succeed. The coaches provide the game plan and the direction for their teams and organizations to achieve great things.

After spending my whole career—one way or another—in the business development field and being a bit crazy about the subject, I continually find many little things businesses could be doing to improve their results. Recently, I was searching for a local contractor, so I began to scroll through my local chamber of commerce’s website. Immediately, I noticed many missed opportunities on the part of quite a few local businesses though, fortunately most of these problems are easily remedied. Many of these remedies can immediately benefit a business in a pretty large way.

The most commonly missed opportunity I noticed was when a company would not have an e-mail contact or any website information with their company listing. If you truly wish to compete in challenging economic markets, your business needs to be, at the least, technologically competent. There is no acceptable reason in 2009 for a business not to have an e-mail address. Having e-mail allows businesses to open themselves up to anyone who wants to communicate electronically.

You may call yourself a business leader, but are you really doing what it takes to lead your business?

In the last year or two, how many times have you heard the word “change”? 1,000? 10,000? Between the political campaigns, the economy, and the world all around us, “change” seems to be as inevitable as death and taxes. The business world is no exception. Things are changing every day, particularly technology and how it impacts our personal and professional lives. Change is also the heart of Pip Coburn’s book, The Change Function: Why Some Technologies Take Off and Others Crash and Burn. The book looks at companies that are technologically-based and examines the shifts, both small and large, these companies must undergo to fully transition into the markets in which we operate today.