Zombies Ate My Business

Book excerpt: The thing about zombies is you don’t know them when you see them. They’re invisible; but don’t be fooled. As they walk unnoticed through the halls of your small business, they’re doing a number—a negative number—on your bottom line. They slow productivity, treat your customers rudely, and infect other employees with their poor morale and shoddy work ethic. In a small business, one zombie—one employee not pulling his or her share of the workload—can make all the difference. In his second book, Zombies Ate My Business, Jamie Gerdsen returns to help traditional business owners—plumbers, dry cleaners, bakery operators—find and eliminate zombie employees, and to clear the ranks of zombie-like thinking among management. Traditional businesses—those mainstays of Main Street—may have started out with a bang, but many have grown stagnant, even tottering on the edge of death. Join Gerdsen as he considers the life cycle of a traditional business, and the life cycle of an employee. Listen as he forecasts what happens when the two intersect. Sure, a young business staffed with young employees should find it easy to grow; but what about a mature, “plateaued” business, staffed with mature, retirement-age employees? Or a middle-aged company with middle-aged workers? Even these companies can return to growth, says Gerdsen, who speaks from experience with his own turned-around HVAC business. This book maps the way to growth, renewal, and zombie-free prosperity for businesses in all life stages.