Howard M. Shore, founder and CEO of Activate Group Inc., is a bestselling author and serial entrepreneur specializing in liberating teams from the personal and professional barriers holding them back from advancement. After owning and selling several of his own companies, working with numerous top Fortune 500 companies, and training with performance-enhancing organizations like Scaling Up, 3HAG, and Gazelles, Howard has become a sought-after business mentor, executive coach, and keynote speaker. His clients vary from private, family-owned businesses with $5 million in gross annual revenue to publicly traded, international corporations with over $1 billion in yearly gross revenue. With a 30-year track record of success, he guarantees any organization that his methods and systems can help them become more profitable, stable, and scalable.
Entrepreneurial Role Models:
Kip Tindell Cofounder of The Container Store
When business started difficulties overcame:
“I’ve always been one of those people that just kind of diving. So, I think if I were to go back in time, I think the biggest challenge then was I didn’t know what I didn’t know and I was ambitious and aggressive but I didn’t know anything about running a business. So, when I first started out and I go back to that first company I remember employees crying in my office because I was to direct. There were just so many things I wish I knew then that I know now”…[Listen for More]
Favourite Books:
- Good To Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t book by Jim Collins
- The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom Book by Don Miguel Ruiz and Janet Mills
- Jim Collins Books
- Patrick M. Lencioni Books
- The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable Book by Patrick M. Lencioni
Favourite Quote:
“insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different outcome”
Recommended Online Resources:
Harvard Business Review – Find new ideas and classic advice on strategy, innovation and leadership, for global leaders from the world’s best business and management experts
Best Advice to Other Entrepreneurs:
“don’t allow external circumstances or your experience to cause you to lose your ambition”…[Listen for More]
More About Howard Shore:
Neil’s Quote at the Beginning:
“I will form good habits and become their slave. And how will I accomplish this difficult feat? Through these scrolls it will be done, for each scroll contains a principle which will drive a bad habit from my life and replace it with one which will bring me closer to success.” Og Mandino
Other Quotes From the Chat with Howard Shore:
- “I tend to admire entrepreneurs that achieved dramatic impact in their industries but also understand that everyone matters. Kind of that conscious capitalism mentality. So they do the best to balance their economic deciders with society as a whole. And then they try to also make good lives for their employees”
- “Jim Collins in his book Good to Great said first who then what. I worried usually more about the what before the who. Now I’ve found that when I have the right who’s around me what becomes much easier and clearer ”
- “too often we don’t think about our unique ways. So true strategy is about, not being the best which is operational effectiveness (and by the way you need that), but besides operational effectiveness we need to be able to choose a different set of activities that provide either more value for the customers that we want at the same cost or provide the same value at a lower cost. And you can only do that by differentiating your activities. And I think I didn’t think enough about differentiation in the past. I didn’t have that unique and valuable proposition because of that I think in many cases it’s taken 10 times harder to acquire customers in my different businesses before I figured that out”
- “there is probably no one secret or anything like that. But I think as we go down this journey one thing that’s just crucial, I think for everyone is just having persistence. Too many folks I think give up… They could be very close to the finish line. And not allowing themselves to see it all they are seeing is all the pain they’ve had getting to where they are now. And I think they quit too soon. And I think one of the secrets to be successful at anything, whether you’re an employee or owning a business, is that persistence. And I think every person should just have grit. Having that grit is essential. Normally we think it’s how smart we are”
- “the other thing that I’ve found that is essential to success is checking your ego and being curious and knowing the right questions to ask”
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