Tax Breaks For Small Business Owners and other News

March 19, 2015 by

59948705

Starting a business requires an entrepreneur to wear many hats right from the onset.  The demands on your time are many, and developing your business plan and hiring the right people are time consuming tasks that are very serious, and can play a devastating role if not done properly.  Hiring a business coach to see you through the developing stages of a business plan, plan your goals and time stages to achieve those goals, and developing a strategic plan that will produce success for your business is a must every business should have.

5 Tax Breaks Overlooked By Small Business Owners

For the small business owner, tax season can be stressful, and the prospect of shelling out a load of money to the government is not exciting. That’s why small business owners love tax benefits. Here are 5 tax benefits that are often overlooked by small business owners that can save your business money.

Please consult your tax professional before following any of the suggestions below. If you do your taxes yourself, there is a resource which compares the online offerings of TurboTax, TaxAct, and HR Block.

1. Have Lunch Meetings

If you often buy lunch (eat-in or take-out) while you are working, you might be able to deduct 50% of meal expenses. If you and your business partners or employees have meetings, consider having meetings over lunch. As long as the dining expenses are reasonable, you are allowed to deduct 50% of meal costs when eating with business partners and employees while conducting business operations. If you buy lunch every day and spend around $8, you can deduct $4. If you do the math, that amounts to over $1000 a year in claimable deductions ($4/day x 5 days x 52 weeks).

Small business: National ombudsman helps small businesses address concerns about federal regulators

Small-business owners turn to Brian Castro when they need help collecting payments from federal contractors, are concerned about excessive fines or think a regulation is too burdensome.

Since August 2013, Castro, a Duke University law school alumnus, has led a little-known program that advocates for small businesses at the federal level. Castro is the national ombudsman and assistant administrator for Regulatory Enforcement Fairness at the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Last fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, the office received 430 formal jurisdictional complaints and thousands of inquires, Castro said.

“We offer an informal avenue, a channel for an expedited resolution,” that is separate and apart but in addition to a company taking their concerns to court, often a long and expensive process, Castro said. “Our services are already paid for with the taxpayers’ dollars and very often are resolved or obtained within 30 to 60 days.”

Castro’s office employs seven and offers four tools to help small-business owners, nonprofit organizations and small governments address concerns about federal rules and regulators.

Tax Structure & Business Incentives

​Businesses in the Columbus Region benefit from:

  • No personal property tax
  • No inventory tax
  • No state corporate income tax

In addition to these tax savings, which are further detailed on the Tax Structure page, state and local governments offer tax incentives, credits, loans and grants to new businesses and expanding companies. State and local resources are below.

If you have questions about these programs, please contact the Columbus 2020 team. Our team of experts can help you navigate the many programs available to businesses.

Incentives

Tax credits and abatements

Job Creation Tax Credit

The Job Creation Tax Credit is a refundable tax credit to companies generally creating at least 10 new jobs (within three years) with a minimum annual payroll of $660,000 that pay at least 150 percent of the federal minimum wage. The tax credit is measured as a percentage of the state income tax withholdings for all new employees hired under the program, and is applied toward the company’s commercial activity tax liability. Should the amount of the credit exceed the company’s commercial activity tax liability for any given year, the difference is refunded. A business must apply for the credit before committing to the project. Applicants must be approved through the Ohio Tax Credit Authority before hiring begins.

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Achievers Understand the Lessons of Failure

March 4, 2015 by

64002400The fear of failure, some experts have called it a fundamental or primal fear found in all humans. Whether or not it’s a primary fear, it’s so common that it’s the basis of or inherent in all motivational or inspirational seminars, as well as being the topic of thousands of books. Much has been said and written about the fear of failure, for good reason.

It holds many people back from achieving their goals and dreams. The average person avoids success because they’re afraid they’re going to fail at the things required to achieve it. There are several reasons why the fear of failure is debilitating. One of the reasons, of why people pass up success, is that they don’t understand the lessons of failure.

The process of failing is often misunderstood. Achievers understand failure, they don’t like it, but they’ve learned to value it. One of the key characteristics of successful people is that they have the desire and ability to learn. They view a setback as an opportunity to gain knowledge and grow.

They ask themselves productive questions. What did I do correctly and how can I make it better in the future? What did I do incorrectly and how can I make it better in the future?  Successful people look for logical answers that produce useful insights, both positive and negative, which then lead to an action plan. Here’s an example.

Joe made a client presentation and was surprised when it didn’t result in a sale. He reviewed the presentation and determined that his information was solid and easy to understand. However, he’d been overconfident and failed to connect the benefits of the product to the client’s needs – a fundamental error. Joe created an action plan to meet with the client again and created a pre-sales checklist to avoid making the same mistake in the future.

Unsuccessful people ask non-productive questions. The answers to these questions are emotionally based, instead of logically based. Often, no useful information can be obtained from these answers. This blocks the person’s ability to learn a lesson from the experience, making forward momentum difficult, usually impossible. Here’s another example.

Steve made a client presentation and was surprised when it didn’t result in a sale. He asked himself unproductive questions (Why can’t I do anything right? Why do these things always happen to me?). He got answers he wasn’t able to use (I’ll never get this. The client is out to get me.).   The plan formulated from these answers is – There’s no use in trying. The opportunity to learn from the lesson of failure is lost.

Success, in spite of the fear of failure, is a hallmark of achievers. They don’t seek it out, but they don’t avoid it either. C. S. Lewis said it well, “Failures, repeated failures, are finger posts on the road to achievement. One fails forward toward success.”

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Small Business News

March 3, 2015 by

59948705At the beginning of starting a new venture, an entrepreneur or small business owner forgoes many of the financially crippling costs of starting the new business, sometimes with disastrous consequences. Hiring an accountant or a small business coach may seem financially impossible in the beginning, but as you travel the business road ahead you realize how important having the right people helping you is for your business.

Follow more business news below.

Ohio repeats as No. 2 in ‘Site Selection’ rankings 

Ohio came in second in the country in Site Selection magazine’s annual economic-development rankings. Ohio cities big and small also fared well in the rankings released yesterday.

Site Selection magazine Governor’s Cup Competition issues rankings based on economic-development projects per capita and total projects.

Ohio repeated its 2013 performance by coming in second in both competitions among the states.

Corporate tax reform will hurt small business, unless 

Corporate tax reform will pose a big problem for America’s small businesses unless Congress tackles the ‘pass-through’ problem. By letting firms deduct dividends distributions, lawmakers could erase many of the tax complications business owners currently face.

Tax reformers agree the United States needs a more competitive corporate tax system. To be competitive the 35 percent corporate tax rate must come down. But the trade-off for a lower corporate tax rate – the elimination or reduction of deductions and credits – will cause big problems for America’s small businesses.

Their taxes will go up with no offsetting reduction in their individual tax rate.

That’s because most small businesses – and 94 percent of all US businesses – organize themselves as pass-through entities. Sole proprietorships, S corporations, partnerships, and limited liability corporations taxed as partnerships are called pass-through businesses because their profits, gains, deductions, and credits are not taxed at the corporate level and instead pass through to the owners’ individual tax returns. This makes the owners’ returns mind-numbingly complex, but they put up with it because it’s cheaper than paying corporate tax.

The Essential Small Business Resource Is Already Working for You

As a small business owner, you’re probably paying a monthly fee for a bookkeeper, accountant or a CPA. Most likely, you’re turning to these professionals for standard tax, bookkeeping and auditing services only, but your accountant is probably knows your financials as well as you, if not better. Your accountant can be your partner to build a solid financial strategy.

Here’s what to look for in an accountant to get the most out of the relationship:

A trusted advisor.

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Small Business Tax Cuts

February 18, 2015 by

64002400The tax reduction small business owners are taking advantage this year is the 75% reduction on the first 250,000 in income. The new tax cuts the governor of Ohio is proposing may seem like a good deal to many small businesses, until those businesses can see, the tax cuts will be minimal. For more news about small business news and what is happening in Ohio, follow the links below.

Meet Congress’s new small business leaders

Rep. Steve Chabot can empathize with small business owners. Before launching his political career – and between his two stints in Congress – the Ohio Republican and seasoned attorney owned and ran his own law practice in Cincinnati.

“We were a small storefront law office, and we had to deal with all the things that come with running a business,” Chabot said in a recent interview on the Hill. “I have seen firsthand the challenges that are faced by small business folks.”

It’s that experience that lured Chabot onto the House Small Business Committee when he first arrived in Washington 1995. After 19 years on the panel (he lost a reelection bid in 2008 only to win back the seat two years later), Chabot last month took over as chairman. He replaces Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), who stepped down in keeping with self-imposed term limits.

Tea Party’s Disastrous Tax Cut Experiment Comes To Ohio

Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) wants to mimic a tax cut experiment that has already brought fiscal calamity and public service cuts to a state 600 miles west of his.

Kasich describes his $696 million tax cut as a helping hand to small businesses. But the design of the cut would put the bulk of that benefit into the hands of just a few high-income business entities with a handful of employees while providing just a few hundred dollars each to the vast majority of the people who would benefit, according to an analysis by the Cleveland Plain Dealer. For nine out of every 10 companies that would benefit from the Kasich cut, the total yearly savings would be $364 or even less.

For the remaining 10 percent of companies affected, savings could be as high as $8,000 a year, a number that Kasich administration officials acknowledge is far too low to create even a single job per company. Instead of pitching the cut as a direct job creator, the officials are marketing it as an “every little bit helps” move for hardworking entrepreneurs.

How social media can make your small business go gangbusters

Social media is constantly being touted for its brand-building power, and rightly so. But many small businesses fail to reap the expected benefits from their investments of time and money in social media, largely because they haven’t fully grasped the unwritten rule of social media marketing: It’s not which tools you use, it’s how you use them that spells the difference between profitable performance and lackluster results.

Like professional marketers, successful small business owners target their social media activities for maximum impact. While their competitors are adrift in a sea of tweets and blog posts, savvy strategists focus and fine tune their social-media plays. Consider three social media campaigns that generated big results through careful targeting:

  1. When Denver-based Sword & Plough launched its business to recycle military surplus material into tote bags and related products, it had a bold idea and grassroots support, including a $6,500 award from Harvard’s Pitch for Change competition. The firm’s start-up financing strategy focused on building its network of contacts via social media as the springboard for a Kickstarter campaign.
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Goal-Setting is a Way to Success

February 9, 2015 by

64510516The way to achieve success is an age old mystery. Why do some people attain it and others don’t? Researchers, professors, psychologists and motivational speakers have spent lifetimes attempting to quantify and answer that question. They’ve discovered that, while there are many ways people can attain their dreams, goal-setting is still the gold standard. Here are 3 of the proven methods successful people use to achieve their goals.

Make a plan – A new study (soon to be published in “Behavioral Science and Policy”) has found that many people sabotage themselves at the very beginning of their quest for success. The more they want something the less likely they are to develop a plan and set goals to reach it. Its basic human behavior that most people think good intentions are enough and positive thinking will carry them through.

However, thinking isn’t action, doing is action – good intentions and positive thinking aren’t nearly enough. Overwhelmingly, empirical data and antidotal information shows that people with written plans are much more likely to complete their goals than those who don’t have a written plan.

Break it down – Break the components of the plan down into manageable pieces. A goal that’s not parsed into smaller, practical actions is too uncontrollable and complex. When people don’t have control they feel frustrated, confused, incompetent and inadequate to the task, which leads to abandonment of the objective.

For example, Joe set the goal of “Being a Better Manager”. It was a good goal, but impossible to achieve without being defined and broken down. What did it really mean? How was he to know when he reached it? What did he have to “do” to be successful? He worked with a coach to define, quantify and sort out the components into manageable daily tasks.

Build in consequences and rewards – After the plan is made and broken down into controllable tasks it’s important to benchmark them, and then attach rewards and consequences to each benchmark. If the mark is hit then the reward is given, if it isn’t hit the consequence is triggered. People are much more likely to meet their goals when this happens.

Involving others is intrinsic to this process. People are more successful in reaching their goals when others know about them. Joe and his coach created a system – when he reached a goal he took the afternoon off to golf and when he didn’t reach a goal he spent Saturday mornings cleaning up the break room. Both the carrot and the stick helped him stay on track.

Goal setting and monitoring can be rewarding and worthwhile. Other times it’s tedious and time consuming. That’s why successful people do it and unsuccessful people don’t. Successful people do the things that unsuccessful people aren’t willing to do.

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Small Business News

January 28, 2015 by

59350241There are many tax advantages that came into effect for this year for small business owners, and cutting more taxes is one the things Rep. Steve Chabot wants to accomplish now that he is Chairman of the House Small Business Committee. Cutting taxes and regulations are a top priority for the Representative, and the small business community cannot fail to benefit from this agenda. Follow the links below for more news about small business.

Small business lending in Ohio shifts toward institutional investors

The biggest obstacle to opening a small business in Ohio is still financing, and Juanita Darden-Jones can tell you all about it.

Darden-Jones plans to open a coffee and wine shop in downtown Dayton called Third Perk this summer, which will mark two years since she first contacted CityWide Development Corp. about getting help raising the money for the equipment and renovations to open the shop.

“Small businesses are almost impossible to finance,” Darden-Jones said. “Banks are not very kind to us.”

The equipment for the coffee shop cost at least $30,000, and Darden-Jones expects to invest about $30,000 in renovations to the store. But that doesn’t include any coffee, food or wine inventory costs.

Small business lending in Ohio is becoming dominated by institutional investors as approval rates at big banks remain rather slim, and small bank approval rates are decreasing.

Big banks improved their small business lending approval rate to 18.5 percent by December 2014, up from 15.9 percent in January, but still lag behind the national rate of 21.1 percent, according to the Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index.

Small business agenda: Target taxes, regulations

NEW YORK (AP) — Cutting regulations and taxes are on Rep. Steve Chabot’s must-do list for small businesses.

The Ohio Republican, who became chairman of the House Small Business Committee when Congress took office earlier this month, plans to continue the committee’s focus on how the government burdens small companies.

“If there’s one thing government can do for small business it’s to get the heck off their backs,” Chabot says. “We do over-regulate them. We do overtax them.”

PRIORITIES

Chabot plans to hold hearings to advocate for small businesses, as did his predecessor Sam Graves, R-Mo. Chabot says the committee will focus on the health care law and regulations issued by the IRS and Environmental Protection Agency.

Chabot also plans to push for tax relief for small businesses. He noted that when the Republican-led House passed tax bills in the past, the legislation stalled in the then-Democratic led Senate. He’s looking for more progress in a Congress now controlled by the GOP.

“We think we have a much better chance at advancing a whole range of tax reform issues,” Chabot says.

What an Ohio fire truck company tells us about globalization and free trade

Think free trade deals will help small businesses? It’s a lot more complicated than that. 

For 125 years, some small portion of America’s fire trucks have come from Columbus, Ohio. That’s where the family-owned Sutphen Corp. produces shining red masses of steel and aluminum, loaded with ladders and tanks, the kind of vehicle that towns buy as a promise to keep citizens safe.

But when the recession hit in 2008, Sutphen knew that the United States wouldn’t be enough.

“We saw that we were totally dependent on the U.S. economy, especially municipal funding,” says Ken Creese, the company’s director of sales and marketing. Sutphen’s orders had dropped by some 40 percent, and they were starting to lay people off. They needed new markets, stat.

To find them, the company looked to a country better known for selling stuff to America rather than buying it: China. They hired a vice president for international relations, began responding to solicitations by local governments, and quickly started filling orders. Now, about 11 percent of the 250 trucks Sutphen makes per year sell overseas — not only in China, but Venezuela, Colombia and Peru. Just last week, the company signed a $3.8 million deal with a Chinese fire department.

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Small Business Growth And the Top Scams of 2014

January 22, 2015 by

Customer Relationship Management business chart on a digital tabDuring the holidays, scams are rampant and catch people unawares, but scams are truly present throughout the whole year and that is why you have to be aware of them. Businesses and individuals alike fall victims to these vile scams and tactics from these individuals, protecting yourself and learning of these tactics can help you avoid them altogether. Follow the links below for more news about small business.

Better Business Bureau’s top 10 scams of 2014

The Houston Better Business Bureau has tallied up the statistics from 2014 and created a Top 10 Scams list. Here’s a heads-up to what scams consumers can expect to see again in 2015.

The BBB’s Top 10 Scams of 2014

Microsoft/computer scams
A caller claims to be from Microsoft or a representative from another computer software company. The caller offers to solve a computer problem or sell a software license in an effort to gain remote control of the consumer’s computer, and later requests a fee for service. Always check out a company first and only hire trusted repair businesses. Microsoft does not make unsolicited phone calls for computer help.

IRS scams
People report receiving calls from “IRS representatives” who claim they owe taxes and must pay or a warrant will be issued for their arrest. Or, they claim the IRS is pursuing a lawsuit against you and you must make a payment immediately. The IRS never uses phone calls for collection purposes. Instead, they only contact taxpayers via U.S. mail.

Small-business transactions hit a record in 2014

A report by BizBuySell.com shows that small-business transactions in 2014 were at the highest level since the online business-for-sale marketplace started tracking data in 2007.

The report aggregates statistics from business-to-sale transactions reported by participating business brokers nationwide.

A total of 7,494 closed transactions were reported in 2014, an increase of 6 percent from 2013, which was the previous record.

This marks the second straight year of such strong activity after several slow years during and immediately following the recession. On average, 2013 and 2014 transaction totals are up 55 percent from the recession and recovery period from 2010 through 2012.

Managing business growth: expert advice for small businesses

Although cash is undoubtedly king, fast growth can wreak havoc on a fledgling business if not managed correctly. When you’re expanding faster than you’re being paid, hiring staff, finding an office and managing stock can take on added difficulty. We held a live Q&A on the topic of managing growth, with advice from a panel of experts. From chasing payments to deciding when to hire, here’s what they suggested:
How can I push a client to pay without losing them?
Late payments cause havoc with an SME’s bottom line. However while encouraging a client to pay, you don’t want to shut the door in their face forever.

Technology can help you here, says Ashley Driver, education specialist at Xero. “There are some great services available to help chase your clients, for example Chaser. We’re seeing some great results from our business owners, accountants and bookkeepers using these types of solutions.”

Another suggestion is to implement a small percentage rise in your product or service, suggests Robert Rutherford, chief executive officer of QuoStar. “If you feel the rise is justified then often you have to stick to your guns,” he adds. “You can also re-contract a set rate or capped rate for the duration of the contract.”

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3 Reasons Why People Succeed

January 21, 2015 by

54642287There is an old saying; “Everyone talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it” (Mark Twain). The same can be said about success – everybody talks about it, but very few people do anything about it. They rarely do anything about it because everybody has faults that keep them from achieving their goals, dreams and desires.
But, successful people persevere in spite of their faults, while others fail because of them. There are many reasons why some people succeed when others, who’re just as smart and talented, don’t. Below are 3 of the reasons why people succeed.
They take personal responsibility – Two of the most common defense mechanisms are rationalization and denial. Successful people work to minimize both behaviors; they don’t make or accept excuses from themselves. They take responsibility for and are always learning from their constructive and unconstructive actions.
They’ve learned that when they’re accountable they’re also in control. When they’re in control they can keep their attention on what’s really important – spending resources on finding solutions. People who expend their limited resources (time, money and energy) on making excuses and justifying their behavior aren’t people who look for solutions.
They don’t blame outside circumstances – The lack of time and money is a universal issue for individuals when they’re trying to achieve their goals, as is the drain of energy due to too many outside demands. These situations are nothing new or unique for anyone.
The difference between successful people and everyone else is that they don’t blame these circumstances for their difficulties. Their answer to these problems is a resounding – “so what”. They understand that adversity is a given in trying to get ahead and never a good reason to give up.
They have high standards – Unsuccessful people accept mediocre behavior from themselves. They cut corners, take shortcuts and are believers in “good enough”, which produces work that has to be apologized for, redone or fixed and compensation made.

In addition, the successful know mediocre behavior is short-sighted and it leads to distrust and broken relationships. They hold themselves to a higher standard where exceptional work is the only acceptable way. They understand that focus, dedication and hard work are the only things that lead to their dreams.
The definition of success is a very personal one. It’s unique to each individual and only they can know if they’ve reached it. Unfortunately, most people say they haven’t attained it. A final word from Mr. Twain, “There are basically two types of people. People who accomplish things, and people who claim to have accomplished things. The first group is less crowded.”

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Do You Have A Business Strategy in Place?

January 14, 2015 by

64521313There are some small business owners that started their business out of necessity; they got laid off, they got fired, or they did not agree with the ideology of the new management.Whatever the reasons they had to start their own business, they believe that the road to success was possible through this venue. There are probably many entrepreneurs that made it, but some are still wondering what went wrong. Being a small business owner requires you to do many “jobs” daily. The task is not easy, and the time you seem to require to accomplish those tasks seem to grow bigger every day. Time management is an important factor for every entrepreneur, planning and executing tasks on time are of the utmost importance for the success of your company. Are you having trouble finishing your tasks daily? Is your strategy for your business not even in place? Read the following articles below for more information about this topic.

Stop Thinking Long Term. Execute Strategy 90 Days at a Time.

Most savvy executives fully understand the value and necessity of doing strategic thinking and planning. After all, the saying goes, “Without a map every direction looks good.”

There are many well-known planning tools for businesses to use as guides, such as Jim Collins and Jerry Porras’ Big Hairy Audacious Goal, a blueprint for helping enterprises hone in on an objective, or Michael Porter’s Five Factor Analysis.

But while planning tools are very appropriate for defining the current state of a company as well as its desired future state, they rarely include a process for getting there.

Envisioning where your company will be in the future is important but the companies that are really great at executing their long-term vision do it 90 days at a time, focusing on bite-size pieces of progress that everyone in the company can understand and work toward collectively.

10 secrets of success for small business

What do you want to achieve in 2015 for your small business? The beginning of January is the time for New Year’s resolutions, so here are my top 10 resolutions for small-business owners and entrepreneurs.

  • Focus on recurring revenue.You may be thrilled to find any source of income, but some types of customers contribute more significantly to your long-term financial well-being. Focus foremost on customers who have the need and capacity to buy from you repeatedly rather than one-off purchasers.
  • Limit your time on social media.Social media can eat up your day even when it’s for a business purpose. Establish a time limit (I’d say 30 minutes maximum), schedule it for a specific time each day and then click off and get back to work. To limit your time on social media, schedule your social media posts in advance using a social media management tool. We use Hootsuite (www.hootsuite.com). Others are Buffer (www.bufferapp.com) and TweetDeck (www.tweetdeck.com)

Dodge The Unknowns In Your Business

The New Year is a great time to challenge our assumptions concerning what we know about our businesses. A fresh look includes questioning whether business givens are all that accurate. You may be aware of Donald Rumsfeld’s famous comment about the dangers of the unknown:

But there are also unknown unknowns…the ones we don’t know we don’t know…it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones.

In the business world, the point of this idea is that we need to keep an eye out for those things we don’t know – but think we do. Bad assumptions lead to bad business judgments.

5 assumptions that can lead to bad outcomes

Paraphrasing to protect the innocent, these comments I heard in 2014 demonstrate the business risk of bad assumptions you can avoid in 2015.

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Now is a Good Time to Reflect and Direct

January 7, 2015 by

business (10) The company party was a success, clients were feted, venders gave you more liquor than you will drink in all of 2015, vacations are over and people are settling back into their work routines.  If you have not already done so, now is an excellent time to think about and set your company goals for the coming year.  In addition, this is a good point in time to get input and by-in from your advisors, key people and employees.

This time of year is a window of opportunity, because, it is human nature to use milestones (i.e. the New Year, birthdays, anniversaries, holidays) as an occasion for people to look at themselves.  They reflect on where they have been and set goals for where they want to go.  They see these recognized, fixed points in time as a place to start anew, wipe the slate clean or correct past mistakes.

An effective manager will utilize this knowledge of their employee’s behavior and mindset.  He will use this insight to create focal points and manage the employees towards the company’s goals.  He takes advantage of people’s natural inclination to use a milestone as a starting place and rallying point.

Concerned that you missed the 1st?   Don’t be, it doesn’t matter; there are other milestones to use instead.  While the focus is usually on the New Year it does not have to be then – people can and do reflect, start fresh and commit to a goal at any time.  What matters is that it has a defining starting point.

Therefore, launching a new set of goals can be at the beginning of the fiscal year, the company’s anniversary, the July 4th picnic or Labor Day.  Monday is the most popular day of the week for people starting new goals and is shown to be the best day for kick-off, and benchmarking, meetings.

A successful manger will learn about and use his knowledge of human nature to reflect and direct.  He will use people’s natural proclivities for milestones (and benchmarks) to set and meet goals for the business.  As Warren Bennis (a pioneer in the field of leadership) once said, “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality”.

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