You might not feel it day-to-day, but business management is in a major transition. The old days of command-and-control leadership are fading in favor of what might be better termed a trust-and-track method, in which people are not just told what to do, but why they are doing it. More formally, we're moving from what was called "transactional" leadership to "transformative" leadership. And there's no turning back.

Word of mouth is one of the most effective advertising methods for a rural lifestyle dealer. When Rural Lifestyle Dealer interviewed 2008 Dealership of the Year winner Little Tractor & Equipment, James Little talked about a referral program the dealership developed to encourage happy customers to tell their friends.