Our First Issue

Welcome to the first issue of Solutions, a free e-mail newsletter designed to be read in less time than your coffee break while providing useful information to help you do business. Beginning with the next issue, the first thing you'll read will be the feature article. This time around, however, I just want to introduce the newsletter and tell you what's in store.

Each issue will also include a short review of a book, business organization, or other resource that deserves your consideration. We will always offer the latest pointers to further information, i.e., URLs, contact info, and the like.

Finally, we'll include a quick tip or two and some reader Q&A depending on response. This is your opportunity to ask quick questions and get quick answers. Topics of special interest to readers may be the subject of a future article. So help us help you by sending an amyl when you have a question.

We hope that Business Solutions will be one more way that our business is improving yours™.

Resource Review

BOOK - Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness, Robert K. Greenleaf, 1977, Paulist Press, 338 pages

If you haven't heard about servant-leadership, you're missing out on the concept that will reshape how the world does business. Robert Greenleaf is the patron saint of humanistic management, and this is the book that started it all.

Greenleaf's gospel comes down to this: the greatest leaders are those who serve their followers to the best of their ability. And as the years go by, more and more people are seeing the truth of his words, filling the halls of large and small businesses around the world. Numerous colleges and universities are beginning to incorporate Greenleaf's theories into their curricula. The University of Richmond's Jepson School of Leadership Studies even includes a specific course on "Service to Society" in it's undergraduate program.

You'll read more about servant-leadership in future issues, but "Servant Leadership" is the perfect place to start. I strongly suggest you read each chapter as an essay unto itself. Then, spend time reflecting on it, as Greenleaf often would. Let each one spark your own thoughts, your own creativity.

In the next issue, I'll tell you about the leadership center that bears his name.

Quick Tips - Save on printing costs

Create a basic letterhead in your word processing program. Put your company name and contact info in the header &/or footer. Imbed a graphic if you choose. When you save it, choose template for your file type. MS Word (and most other word processing programs) will then display your template along with all the others. Get fancy and do envelopes, too, if you're ambitious.

You've Got Questions

This week's question is one we're often asked by clients setting up a new home office.

Q: Why do I need a separate business phone line?

A: I learned this the hard way many years ago. I tried to get away with one line when I first set up my home office. One day, a client heard the following when she called to discuss a project:

H'lo?…yeah, ok…

LAAAAAAANE!!!!!!! It's for YOUUUUUUUU!!

Do you think my client was impressed? I know she wasn't. Look, your life is NOT your business, no matter how much you love either. Keep your home phone for your personal life (and for others that share your home). Get a separate business line and ALWAYS answer it in a professional manner befitting your business.

Thought for the day:

If you want to govern people,
you must place yourself below them.
If you want to lead people,
You must learn to follow them
Loa Tzu - Tao Te Ching

End of Solutions V2003 #1 A Publication of:
Lane Baldwin Business Solutions
Our business is improving yours™

Copyright 2003, Lane Baldwin Business Solutions. Reprinting or republication of Solutions is prohibited without prior approval.

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