Hey everyone! I hope you all had a good and restful weekend. And for all the dads out

there…I hope your Fathers Day was great too! As always, I like to begin  the week with summary of some of the best articles I’ve come across in the last week or so that I think would be interesting to business leaders. So, here is this week’s summary:

• I thought this article was a good reminder for growing businesses. As you grow it’s easy to get detected from the most important part of your business – the ones for whom you are developing solutions – customers: bit.ly/1WR7lkG
• I know a lot of you are not financially-inclined. You may have been hearing quite a bit lately about “leveraged loans”. This article explains them pretty well: tcrn.ch/24VIT0U
• When it comes to sales you can’t wait for others to do it for you. In this article the author reminds us about the things  you should be doing for yourself: bit.ly/1rsdLJf
• Networking – some love it, some hate it. Most of us understand the need for it. This article suggests some ways to get better at it: bit.ly/25ZVNkn
• I found this info graphic and article fascinating. It showed that there are still so many people who feel that getting news via video online is much less convenient than simply reading it: read.bi/1UAR1yl
• If you’ve ever had a startup you know things don’t always (check that: never!) go as planned. This article gav us some ideas about when to know that you might need to give up on your startup: bit.ly/1Yu8aPE
• This article shared a bunch of free extensions for Chrome can help boost your productivity: bit.ly/1PtWtBH
• One challenge when you are bringing new staff in is how to get them oriented and customer-focused quickly. This article shared some best practices for doing just that:bit.ly/1UPdnPf
• This article  shared a number of ideas for developing a winning blog strategy – at very little cost: entm.ag/1rq0p04
• Customers use your products and services because they do a  job that the customer needs done. It’s crucial to understand what that “job” truly is: bit.ly/1Prd7Sg
• As leaders, we sometimes are our your own worst enemies> This article shared ideas about how to get out of our own way: entm.ag/1UhNNmf
• I like how Chick-Fil-A has a different, counterintuitive approach to customer service and employee engagement. This article discusses how they approach this:onforb.es/1XUCwfJ
• Snapchat can be a real winner for your business. This article shared some great ideas from a pro about how to make Snapchat work for you: onforb.es/1UwiqBu
• The world of job-search and reciting has changed over the years. This article shared what recruiters no longer look for (and somethings they still do): bit.ly/1S2PwH
• For those of us in service-based businesses, a pitch is a critical part of picking up clients. This article shared some tips you should know for putting together a really good pitch: bit.ly/1Ppl0Yv
• Nest has really been struggling the last year or two. This article shared why: bit.ly/28z6Gbz
• Design thinkers think and approach problems in a different, creative way. We could all learn and adopt all or some of these practices. This article shares some of those ideas:bit.ly/1ULTf0t
• For many, getting up and moving earlier in the day is a goal they still haven’t mastered. This article gives you some tips for making that happen: on.inc.com/1XeCQ88
• As most of you know, Microsoft announced last week that is was acquiring LinkedIn for $26.2 billion: on.wsj.com/1PX6vRm
• In my opinion, Theranos has been a study in how NOT to handle a crisis.Last week Walgreens announce that it was cutting ties to Theranos  bit.ly/25SZFn8

And as you know I always share a number of my own ideas for business leaders throughout then week. Last week I was very focused on understanding fundamentally who and what your company was – and then building a winning strategy and marketing program from there. I shared a few daily tips:

• Craft a creative marketing message. Then rewrite and rewrite. Show it to outsiders – preferably someone in your market.
• Understand where there are gaps between how your brand is perceived and what your company really is.
• Be realistic about what your company is and does. Have your brand and marketing reflect that in a clear, honest way.
• Develop strategies to shrink the gap between your company’s unique “core identity” and the market’s perception.