Mike Figliuolo

Founder and managing director

Mike Figliuolo is the author of The Elegant Pitch (Weiser, 2016) and One Piece of Paper (Jossey-Bass, 2011), and co-author of Lead Inside the Box (Weiser, 2015). He’s also the managing director of thoughtLEADERS LLC, a leadership development training firm. He regularly writes about leadership in the thoughtLEADERS Brief on LinkedIn.

Tue, 11/26/2024 - 12:03
Barbecue, Planes, and Coffee: Keys to Customer LoyaltyStrengthen relationships and affinity with your customers, and they’ll likely come back and promote your business
Wed, 05/01/2024 - 12:03
I’m fortunate enough to travel to some great places to serve my clients. During those travels, I can’t help but have many customer service interactions from which to draw lessons. Here, I’ll share how barbecue, airplanes, and coffee can teach you a…
Ditch the Rules and Grab the GuidelinesInstead of a long list of ineffective rules, give your team solid behavioral guidelines
Tue, 04/23/2024 - 12:03
This article is an excerpt from the cutting room floor. It was in an early draft of my book One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership (Jossey-Bass, 2011; order your copy here). It covers how to lead through guidelines…
Doing Nothing Can Make You More ProductiveTake a break, recharge your batteries, and do more
Wed, 04/17/2024 - 12:03
Sometimes the key to getting a lot done is to actually do nothing at all. I’ve been dreading writing this post. Massive writer’s block. “I have nothing to say,” says the tired little voice in my head (no comments from the peanut gallery). Normally…
Safely Navigating the Pay-for-Performance MinefieldAvoid booby traps by defining metrics and enforcing standards
Wed, 04/10/2024 - 12:03
Pay. It’s the topic we love to avoid. We don’t discuss it with friends or family. It’s verboten at cocktail parties. Heck, we discuss cancer, religion, and abortion at dinner parties more easily than we talk about our paychecks. We don’t even like…
Are You Telling Customers You Don’t Care If They Die?Don’t risk ruining your business. Eliminate bureaucracy and focus on your customer.
Mon, 04/01/2024 - 12:03
  If you have kids, you know the nauseating feeling of one of them going down for the count and having to rush them to the emergency room. I had that grim experience recently. What I learned from that ER visit is businesses can make very strong…
The Perversion of the ‘Stay Bonus’Avoid making a big mistake bigger
Tue, 03/26/2024 - 12:02
Organizations that use “stay bonuses” as a retention tool could be making a huge mistake. Instead of letting poor performers go, they pay tons of money to keep them. It’s been a rough year in the market. Let’s hit rewind and explore some underlying…
Customer-Hostile Policies Feed Customer-Hostile CulturesDon’t forget who pays for your business to exist
Tue, 03/19/2024 - 00:03
It’s important to have customer-friendly policies if you want to have a great customer service culture. Your policies drive team behaviors, so be sure they’re consistent with the brand you want to put forward. I’m going to hark back to my recent…
Gurus, Ninjas, and LosersLosing credibility one business card at a time
Wed, 03/06/2024 - 12:01
Many people proclaim they are gurus, ninjas, and other silly titles. Giving yourself such a title can cause people to lose respect for you, and it can cost you credibility. Titles matter. A lot. So do email addresses and signature blocks. As…
How Your Leadership Philosophy Can Defuse Future CrisesCreating a guiding maxim helps your people think ahead, too
Tue, 02/27/2024 - 12:03
Managers who establish clear expectations and rules that are communicated to team members find it easier to deal with employees when they violate those rules. What follows is an excerpt from my book One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to…
‘No Longer a Customer’ ServiceThe customer isn’t always right
Mon, 02/12/2024 - 12:03
Is the customer really always right? We throw that comment around haphazardly without truly considering the ramifications of such an approach. I’d submit that they’re not. There are plenty of times the customer is wrong (and sometimes, very much so…