Keeping you great

1. 
   Operate efficiently (read why in column)
   
2. 
   Invest in financial education
   
3. 
   Help them raise their credit scores
   
4. 
   Provide low-cost grocery perks
   
5. 
   Let them augment their income
   

"A gorilla provides power but has no 'X factor' to accelerate market dominance. Instead, consider pursuing a "sumo," who is always focused on beating the competition and who leverages his enormous weight and muscle to force competitors out of the ring. The gorilla is raw muscle and can exert enormous strength but is not at all strategic. It is instinctive and lacks self-awareness, imagination, and independent will. The sumo, on the other hand, is interested in out positioning, outsmarting and even out psyching the competition, using all means available. The Sumo Advantage provides the strategies and tactics to help you find and partner with sumos. If you are unaware of the distinctions between sales and BD, then your sales-only focus may be what is holding you back. Once you understand and really believe that sales and business development are very different functions, the sky's the limit on growth."

EDUCATION:

"Social media can lead to envy. It can lead, possibly, to depression. In a 2013 study, University of Michigan researchers Ethan Kross and Philippe Verduyn texted people while they were using Facebook, and found that as time on Facebook increased, a person's mood and overall satisfaction with their lives declined. In other words, Facebook can make you jealous. It can make you feel more alone than connected."

EDUCATION:

• 
  Illac Diaz - a well-known social entrepreneur
  
• 
  Dr. Mike Biddle - plastics engineer and cofounder of MBA Polymers
  
• 
  Paul Pollack - author of Out of Poverty
  

"When the company was founded 30 years ago, our founder, Scott Cook, developed a method that we still use today called Follow Me Home. We do 10,000 hours of Follow Me Homes with consumers and small businesses every year. I do 60 hours myself. We're not stalkers - we're invited into their home or business. We observe them for a day, go through things, and we'll observe the things that surprise us. Like, they'll grimace, they'll write a Post-it note to themselves, and then we go back afterward and say, "What stumped you?" Or, "What was it that you were puzzled with?" And then we try to find ways to eliminate that friction."

EDUCATION: