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True confession: I’m not a baseball fan. I only watch it when the league championship finals begin. But I recently heard a radio interview with the manager of the Texas Rangers, Chris “Woody” Woodward. While answering a question about what being a first-year major league manager he uttered that quote.

You have to understand why you’re winning and why you’re losing.

He went on to reiterate the importance of a major league baseball team to know why what they’re doing is providing whatever result they happen to be experiencing at the moment. Baseball, because of the sheer number of games played,  can throw teams into slumps and winning streaks. Woody wants his team to understand why it’s happening.

The interviewers didn’t do what I had hoped. They neglected to probe further. I was curious to know more. Maybe it’s because I’m not a baseball guy. Perhaps baseball fans just understand things I don’t. But it didn’t make me think about our world of business.

Business, like baseball, is a long season (well, we sure hope it is). We’ve all experienced slumps. Hopefully, we’ve also experienced some winning streaks to offset those. I’m not sure we always understand why. Maybe business is so dramatically different from baseball – I suspect that’s the case.

Take advertising. A company can create an ad campaign that spikes sales. It seems to be working as expected. But in time, it stops working. Why?

Advertising seems to be THE big variable that’s awfully hard to understand. It’s why that old quote from John Wanamaker is so true.

Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.

I’ve never managed a baseball team, but I’ve managed businesses for decades. Understanding is difficult. Sometimes it’s tough to know why you’re winning. Harder still to know why you’re losing.

There are days when we’re like Nelson. It feels like we’re staring at Makes No Sense, Inc. and have no clues.

What can we do? I can’t promise that you’ll always figure it out and understand, but you ought to try. It’s learning and it’s necessary for growth.

Step 1 – Don’t ignore trying to understand success.

In our quest to understand why we’re winning or why we’re losing it’s easy to focus on the losing, not the winning. That’s why it’s more commonplace for companies to devote time to blaming people, but they neglect celebrations. It’s like the parent who ignores A’s on the kid’s report card but pitches a wild-eyed fit when a C comes home.

Donald O. Clifton is the father of Strengthsfinder. He wrote a book many years ago – the precursor to the Strengthsfinder work – entitled, “Soar With Your Strengths.” I devoured the book when it was first published. It made total sense to me, especially as a parent and a leader. Why try to make yourself or others something they’re not. Instead, lead with your strengths. Improve what you’re already good at. In a similar fashion, don’t ignore dissecting success. Figure out why things are working well so you can do more of it.

Step 2 – Ask others.

I’m still trying to figure out why this is so difficult. Especially when it comes to learning and understanding. People slightly older to much older than me have always been the chief folks I’ve looked to for understanding. I want to know what they may be able to teach me. I’ve never found it difficult to learn from older people – especially men (since I’m a man) with whom I’ve invested time to forge a trusting relationship. A small circle of men has helped me navigate the choppiest waters of my life. I can’t imagine going it alone. I’m encouraging you not to.

Others have helped me eliminate blind spots I didn’t even know I had. They’ve prevented me from being stagnant in my understanding of a variety of things. Others can do the same thing for you.

No matter how smart you are, you’re not THAT smart. Nobody is. You’re not smart enough to consider or see everything. And you’re not smart enough to always understand why something is working well or why something else isn’t working at all. You need the perspective of others. If you don’t seek it out and listen, you’re the bigger fool.

Step 3 – Look for patterns.

Life is patterns. Success and failure both have their own patterns. As you’d imagine, they’re not the same. Patterns of success don’t look like the patterns of failure.

When you’re looking to understand why something is working you’re going to see – if you look long enough and closely enough – patterns emerge. One thing leads to something else, which leads to a thing that seems to make a positive difference. The same thing happens with failure…a chain of events will lead to something that seems to throw the wheels off wrecking success.

If you’ll devote time to looking for and at patterns, you’ll see them. It takes practice. That’s why you need to practice it.

The problem is connecting dots that may not be connected. That makes pattern recognition difficult. It’s another reason why step 2 is so important – asking others. You may see a pattern that isn’t a pattern at all. Others can help you see whether it’s a pattern or not.

Step 4 – Question what you connect. Put it on trial and find out what changed.

Again, others can help you best do this. Am I seeing a pattern? Am I connecting dots that truly are connected?

A big part of this step is to figure out what has changed. This is especially helpful when we’re just finding success or when success is beginning to fail. What changed?

As we examine what patterns we’re likely going to spot something that is now different. Maybe it’s big. Maybe it’s subtle.

A business begins to experience a drop in profit margins. They dive into to figure out why. Nothing leaps out at them at first because the top line numbers seem appropriate. It’s not like there’s been some sudden rash of discounts offered. Something changed? What?

Turns out two big accounts slowed down. Just slightly. But that prompted something that wasn’t looked at too carefully at first. The travel and entertainment budgets for these two accounts shot up dramatically driving costs higher. Fearful that the downturn might keep going south sales management pushed more chips into the middle of the table to woo these two big accounts. It wasn’t working. At least, not yet. But it ruined the margins companywide.

Something indeed had changed. You need to find out what changed. For good. Or bad.

Step 5 – Keep asking questions and keep seeking insights from others.

Don’t make this a one-off exercise. Keep it going.

Become a professional business autopsy expert inside your own business. Develop, maintain and grow your curiosity about what causes success and failure. It provides the answers you most seek. It provides guidance so you know what to do. Otherwise, you’re just taking a blind stab in the dark. Much better to see what you’re aiming at. So be thoughtful, mindful, intentional and purposeful. That’ll help you shorten the losing streaks and lengthen the winning ones.

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

Randy

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Warren Bennis, the brilliant, but reluctant expert on leadership believed a guiding vision was the first ingredient of leadership. Leaders need to have a clear vision of what they want to do. They also have to possess the determination and resolve to persist through setbacks, even failures.

Where are you going?

Personally and professionally?

It makes sense that nothing else comes before a guiding vision. Guiding indicates it’s a direction with a plan. It’s not merely wishful thinking. There’s a purpose and intent behind the vision.

Great leaders see the future first.

What do YOU see? How are you helping your organization see what you see?

Let’s break down a few things that may help.

Step 1 – Don’t assume people can read your mind.

It’s far too common for a leader to become frustrated with people because they don’t know what she’s thinking. We’re living with our thoughts 24/7. Surely we’ve expressed all these thoughts – especially thoughts about where we’re heading. Hold on. Check yourself.

People are working hard to read you. At times, they’re mostly getting it wrong.

You don’t realize it, but you’ve got a scowl. It’s nothing more than a dull headache coming on and inside you’re thinking, “I do not need a headache right now.”

People think you’re displeased with them. One employee even thinks you disapprove of what she’s wearing. So it goes with how people can often MIS-read you.

You must communicate without relying on your ESP.

Step 2 – Have a system of communication.

You can leave things to chance, but as you’d imagine — it’s very risky. Don’t leave your communication to pure chance.

This isn’t about managing the narrative or spin. I’m hoping you operate in a no spin fashion where you can be candid with people. Especially when it comes to the guiding vision you’re sharing.

What’s the process for sharing information? What’s your preferred method of communication?

Every organization has a favorite way of distributing communication. Mostly, it stems from YOU, the leader. The entire organization will follow your lead by watching how you prefer to communicate.

If you prefer email, then it’s highly likely you’ve got an email focused culture. I’d bet most information in your company is shared via email because the organization has figured out it’s your preference.

So which is it? What’s your preferred way to communicate inside your company?

Electronic? Small group meetings? Companywide meetings? Formal? Informal?

Figure this out and then figure out if you’d like to change it. It may not be working as well as you’d like. Maybe you’d like to change it. Then do it.

But have a system.

I’ve found guiding vision conversations were best done with my leadership team first, then distributed companywide in an in-person meeting with hard copy communication to back it up. That was my preference. You need to know your preference.

Step 3 – Once is not enough.

Never assume that one communication is enough. Some will get it very quickly. Others won’t. You don’t want to leave anybody in the dark.

It’s up to you to make sure that the message is received and understood. You need to repeat a consistent message about your guiding vision.

We attend worship services and hear preaching each time. The Gospel Story is ancient. The church was established in AD33. The message is preached consistently service after service to make sure it penetrates our minds and lives. To instruct old heads like me and young heads like my grandchildren. Once isn’t enough.

You should be the Chief Evangelist inside your company. Preach the vision you see. It’ll help everybody understand it and it will cement in the minds of your team that you mean it.

Step 4 – Make every objective congruent with your guiding vision.

Your guiding vision can’t be one thing and all your short-term objectives something completely disassociated with it.

“We’re here to make lives better” sounds great except when employees feel you do nothing but make their lives miserable. Don’t be dishonest. Be real. Be congruent.

Step 5 – Provide feedback.

Guiding visions can be violated. We don’t always hit the mark. It’s important that the troops know when you’re hitting the mark so they can be encouraged to do it more often, and better. It’s just as important they know when you fail to hit the mark. Sometimes personal ownership might be required.

I’ve stood in front of people and apologized for my own failure to hit the mark. The guiding vision should be like true north. Violations have to be acknowledged. Corrections must be made. And good or great adherences to the guiding vision should be properly celebrated.

Are you putting out fires and killing rats? Not paying much attention to a guiding vision? Then you’re attempting to leapfrog the first essential ingredient to effective leadership. Go back to home base, don’t collect $200 and get it right. 😉

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

Randy

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Transformative change. It’s been a popular business phrase for a very long time. Transformative means…

causing a marked change in someone or something

I guess folks mean something substantial. Something that sticks and has a big impact.

One reason this podcast is entitled Grow Great is that I view growth as the goal. Maybe it stems from my early career in the consumer electronics business when Japan ruled the day. Constant improvement was the popular business banter. The Japanese call it Kaizen. Pure and simple – it’s figuring it out and growing all along the way. Getting better every day.

People want to be part of something bigger. Something monumental. Something challenging.

We want a cause. Some of us crave it more than others, but I’ve never encountered a high-achiever or an aspiring high-achiever who didn’t fully embrace joining a movement, a cause.

That’s why when I first read of a man from Springfield, Missouri who opened the books of a new company in 1983 resonated with me. A decade later, in 1993, John Case of Inc. magazine was credited with coining the phrase, open-book management. But Jack Stack and SRC Holdings created it. In 1992 Stack wrote the book, The Great Game Of Business.

Jack was running a plant for International Harvester when word came down, “we’re closing your plant.” Stunned, thinking they’d been doing good work, Stack dove into finding out what went wrong. How can our plant close when we’re doing what’s asked of us? He taught himself by asking great questions. He learned about business and along the way, grew a resolve to buy the plant and keep it going. Rejected time and time again for loans he and 13 employees cobbled together about $100,000 and finally got loans in excess of $8M. Along the way, Jack knew the employees needed to understand what they had never understood before – how companies make money and what’s required for businesses to be sustainable. That meant Jack had to open the books and share key numbers with employees. It worked so magnificently that within 5 years (by 1988) the company was worth in excess of $40M and they had saved over 100 jobs. And as they say, “the rest is history.”

Jack Stack created a revolution. He created a movement – a cause. Admittedly, it was a big cause – “let’s save our jobs, let’s save our plant.” Does every movement have to be that dramatic? Or that enormous? No. Movements can be positive and they come in all shapes and sizes.

Many years ago I learned what Jack Stack discovered. Ironically, it was about the same time, too. The early 1980s. Jack’s success eclipsed mine big time, but the lessons learned were similar – people need a game to play.

More specifically, people need to see where they fit and how their work makes a difference. As a teenage employee, I learned very quickly the importance of congruency. I once worked for a boss who said one thing but did something different. His actions were rarely congruent with what he preached. I learned firsthand the negative impact that had on employees and the culture. We struggled because none of us had any clue how we made a difference. We were just working for our paycheck and our commission.

Let’s learn some things together from all this. Let’s create a movement and get people energized by understanding how their work makes a positive impact on the company.

Step 1 – Give People A Story

Storytellers focus in part of the characters. The story is all about the characters and how they behave. Well, your company is filled with characters – employees, team members.

What’s their story? I don’t mean you dive into their personal lives. I mean, what’s their story in the context of why they’re holding their role in your company? Have you told them the story and shared with them how they affect the outcomes for your company?

If you don’t give people a story about how they fit, they’ll create their own. And it won’t be good.

Most people lean toward filling in gaps of knowledge with paranoia or the prospect of something negative. It’s commonplace. Maybe human nature. Leaders are wise to assume it. And then fixing it. There’s no downside to assuming that people will say negative things to themselves if you don’t intervene as the leader!

What happens if a person doesn’t properly perform their job? Do they truly understand it?

It’s your job to make sure they know that story. Not in some “I’ll kick your butt” speech, but in an honest, open conversation about what’s required for the company to achieve the goal.

Step 2 – Keep The Big Thing In The Forefront

What is the goal?

Some think it needs to be financial. That’s up to you. I’ll just tell you that people need to understand how important the numbers are. Jack Stack and his original workforce didn’t understand it. They never attempted to learn until they got word their plant was going to be closed. Learn from their story. Know the numbers that determine success. Teach them to your team. But you need something bigger.

Maybe it’ll help to share with you an objective that I established years ago in a retail company. MTA = Most Talked About.

There were many other elements, but I wanted to focus on a singular effort of dazzling customer experience. The challenge I issued was simple – how can we be the most talked-about store (in a positive way)?

You gotta mean it. It can’t be a platitude. Words don’t matter if the actions won’t back it up.

What’s your big goal? Make it plain, easy to understand and real. Make it big enough to be ongoing and long-term. Most Talked About was a goal we knew we’d always work toward.

Step 3 – Live It

Revolutions are led by real people. Genuine people. Pretenders don’t successfully lead revolutions. Check yourself. Look in the mirror and get real with yourself first. Fix whatever ails you as a leader because the troops will spot it instantly.

Nobody ever worked harder to help the boss get a new BMW.

Nobody ever worked harder to help the boss take a fancy vacation.

That doesn’t mean the boss – YOU – can’t drive a fancy BMW or take a fancy vacation. it means that can’t be the battle cry for your movement.

The goal has to be alive in your life and your leadership. That goal has to be your passion first.

Step 4 – Don’t Compromise It

It must be a cause that speaks to others. When you get it right, it’ll resonate with the right people. When it doesn’t resonate, then you know you’ve got the wrong people.

Don’t waver. Stay the course.

You’ll be tempted to squeeze people into slots where they don’t belong. Resist.

You’ll be tempted to accept people who don’t fully buy into the WHY you’ve established. Their talent will call out to you and tempt you to think you may be able to make it work. No, it won’t. Waste no time fooling yourself.

Hire nobody who refused to see the reason. Revolutionaries want to be alongside other revolutionaries. Don’t match them up with mercenaries. Accept only the real, genuine thing – people who see what you see and want to achieve what you do.

Step 5 – Let Everybody Know The Result (Did We Win?)

Have you ever bowled?

Would you like to bowl in the dark…without seeing the pins? What’s the point, right? I mean, the whole object of the game is to knock down the pins. But if you’re unable to see the pins you knock down, there’s little point in throwing the ball down the lane.

Sadly, we can operate our businesses daily without letting our employees know whether they’ve hit any pins or not. We think they should be thrilled to show up every day not knowing if their efforts are resulting in a win or not. Your team isn’t that stupid. Or foolish.

Teach them the game they’re playing. Teach them how to play it. Then keep coaching them how to get better. And let them see visible results of how well they’re doing. Are they winning? Are they losing? How can they affect the outcome? By playing the game better and better and better.

You’re now ready to go back and close the loop on the circle or cycle. Go back to step 1 and keep reminding people of their story. Keep putting in the work to create a movement. It’s the very best way to implement – and to keep implementing – change.

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

Randy

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Who You Surround Yourself With Matters

Are you a US-based entrepreneur? 

I’m looking for a few SMB owners to join us at The Peer Advantage, a professional virtual (online) peer advisory group.

Apply Today – the application is brief and will help us have a phone conversation about this group. I look forward to talking with you.

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NFL pundits claim this year’s Dallas Cowboys’ roster is Super Bowl quality. Time will tell. They’ve got to play the games. They’re certainly throwing big dollars around. Time will tell.

I can’t remember the last time I passed an entire week without talking with a business owner or CEO about constructing a better team. The people problem persists. Recruiting, training and retaining people who can help take the enterprise to new heights has always been a challenge. But too often we make it harder than it needs to be. Mostly because we neglect to give it the attention it deserves.

Over 25 years ago I went to hear Tom Peters. He used to come to the DFW area every few years. I’d go see him every time he came. I’ve always found him thought-provoking and my fondness likely stems from being a young man when In Search Of Excellence was published (1982). He resonated with me.

Well, during this presentation – which wasn’t a speech as much as a presentation because people were seated around tables and Tom would walk amongst us while talking with a comprehensive slide deck serving to illustrate his points – he talked about how much effort the NFL puts into assembling a team. General Managers have teams of scouts and other people dedicated to studying film of college players. Countless man hours are applied to the team every season. Makes sense because that’s their business, a team sport. It requires building the strongest team possible so you can compete. Tom made the analogy that our businesses aren’t much different. People make the difference.

I instantly thought, “Yeah, I agree, but NFL teams have game film to watch, previous coaches to interview about the player, and a lot more data to consider than I ever have with prospective hires.” But I didn’t want to be completely dismissive of Tom’s analogy. I knew I could give it greater effort. And I knew there had to be some strategies I could deploy so I could act with greater efficiency. I needed to be more intentional about it all.

Since then I’ve found almost every CEO or SMB owner suffers the same challenge. And I know why. We too often hire out of desperation. We have a pressing need, then we seek to fill it. That’s the extent of the strategy. Immediate need.

I started to think about being more proactive because there were times early in my career when I’d done that instinctively. But along the way something happened. I didn’t get smarter. I got stupider. I started chasing my tail. By the time I got to the mid-1980’s I was figuring out how to stop chasing my tail so much. Fire fighting is part of the task and I rather enjoyed that part of it. What I hated was feeling forced to act out of desperation. So I began to think more strategic. To give greater effort to being prepared. To think ahead.

What would you do if THE key employee you most rely on suddenly resigned?

I often ask leaders this question and most have no answer other than, “I hope it doesn’t happen.” I’ll press them. “But what if it does?”

Panic! That’s what would happen.

I’m not saying that we’re all prepared for such events, but we’d do well to think about it more. To pre-think it and prepare. To develop a plan.

So how would you build your ideal team?

Let’s start by defining “ideal.” I’m not talking about a perfect team. I’m talking about the team that would be ideally suited to achieve what you want. The team of people capable (and willing) to help you grow your enterprise.

Step 1 – Shore up the weakness that’s killing you.

You likely have chronic weak areas. If you’re like most of us, these areas have been problematic for too long.

Figure out why.

Don’t accept shallow answers. Dig deep enough to really discover, maybe for the first time ever, why this area is THE ongoing problem. Don’t be fast to blame external forces. Look in the mirror and figure out what you and your company may be doing poorly to contribute to this. Training, compensation, culture – test them all to find out why you’re consistently weak in this area.

Soar with your strengths is a great way to roll, but I wonder – can you turn your weakness into a strength? What if you could?

I’ll wager that this area of weakness for you may also be an area of weakness for your competitors. If you can turn this around it solves a major problem for you while providing you a competitive advantage in the market. Win-win.

By starting with your weakest area you can stop the bleeding in multiple areas. Inefficiency in getting the work done and lower performing culture. That’s why I first focus on this area even though my natural tendency is to lean into areas of strength and make them even stronger.

When it comes to team construction weak areas have a devasting impact. Think of it like triage. Doctors in the ER examine patients according to how dire their circumstance. A person with a severe head wound trumps a broken arm. A heart attack trumps a badly sprained ankle. So it goes with your company. Go where the need is greatest to build your ideal team.

Note: This likely will mean you need to eliminate people who should have been removed long ago. Don’t beat yourself up for living with them. Be fair. Be legal. Get busy doing what you must to correct poor performance. That may include eventually getting rid of people incapable or unwilling to help your company win.

Step 2 – Make your strength even stronger.

This begins with not taking it for granted. Go back to that question about the sudden resignation of a key employee. It’s not always the result of taking them for granted, but it often is. Stop it. Embrace gratitude.

Don’t assume making your strength stronger involves adding people. Maybe it does. Maybe it doesn’t. It most certainly involves you not taking it for granted – not assuming it’ll always be this way.

Protect your strength. Keep investing in it. Pay attention to it.

Add to it if you want. But whatever you do, grow it even stronger.

Step 3 – Create a high-performing culture. Nothing will attract talent more, and keep it longer. 

Don’t tolerate mediocrity. Ever.

The name of the game is victory. You’re in business to win. In the market. In the mind (and wallet) of the customer.

Everybody is putting in hours.

An NFL game consists of four 15-minute quarters. Sixty minutes. Both teams will invest the same 60 minutes into the game (or more if it goes into overtime). At the end of the game, one locker room celebrates while the other bemoans the loss. Which locker room do you want to be in? As the CEO or owner it’s your job to establish the expectation, focus and effort required to create a winning locker room.

Top-performers want to play with other top-performers. It transcends roles. High achieving salespeople want to interact with and associate with high-performing accounting people. Don’t be narrow-minded in thinking that only some areas of your business need “A” players. Work hard to put as many “A” players into every role within your organization.

Birds of a feather and all that. It matters. Talent attracts talent.

You can’t have a high-performing organization if there’s a place for everybody in your company. The culture must be selective IF you’re going to have a top-notch culture. You have to be intolerant of mediocrity. Poor effort, poor habits, and poor performance are culture killers. Don’t accept them.

Here’s a key. You must work on all three steps simultaneously. Always. You’ll never be done. The work is never finished. Constant, ongoing attention is required. Make up your mind. Commit to it. You’ll reap the rewards.

I’ll leave you with what Jack Welch taught the world. At least he was the first to articulate it where it made sense for me. Welch was always in the process of dumping the bottom of his rosters. He was always searching for ways to improve the roster.

Make room for good people. No matter what. If somebody must go, you likely have plenty of candidates who should be moved along to make room. That strategy continues to improve the roster and help you achieve your ideal team.

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

Randy

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One of my first big technology projects involved custom programming for a point-of-sale (POS – and you thought it stood for something else 😉 ) system. Programmers were on site almost round the clock for months and the cost was out of control. Nightmare doesn’t begin to describe it. Disaster doesn’t either. It was a mammoth failure. The only thing that came out of it was a deep education for all of us involved. Mostly, let’s don’t ever do this again!

But you can’t just stop using technology.

You can’t neglect to put in the work to future-proof your business.

And we all need to find ways to be more efficient.

The question is, “How can we best accomplish these things?”

People. That’s the answer. A goodly number of them. And not just anybody, but people qualified to provide valuable insights. People who may disagree with each other, too.

If I had it to do over, my POS project in the early 1980s would have been handled differently. Back then we had technology folks who claimed to know what they were doing. Things were so new I failed because I trusted they knew more than me. I knew what information I wanted, but I had no idea how to get it. The technology nerds at the time were arrogant in their prowess because at the time, Management Information Systems wasn’t even a thing. As business people we were sort of hostage to the few people around us who claimed to know how to get stuff done. Part of the failure was the early stage of the tech. Part of it was my human failure to incorporate more brains into the room to figure it out.

You SHOULD be giving attention to these activities and areas of your business: technology, future-proofing, and efficiency. Not everything will involve a computer, but much of it will.

Today, I want to spark your imagination and give you some practical tips that may help in your quest to elevate these things inside your business.

Step 1 – Get the right people in the room.

This isn’t always easy because too often I have found people do it too quickly without enough forethought. They think of the obvious players to have in the room, but it’s often the least obvious who can provide the greater value.

Make your list of the usual suspects.

Now, make your list of the most unusual suspects. There are people who have an insight that the most brilliant people in the room may lack. I’ve encountered countless times when a low-level team member recognized something that the brainiacs in the room were overlooked because he was dealing with the problem every day. They weren’t.

Who touches this process? Who does it every single day? Are they in this room providing input? Make sure they’ve got a seat at the table.

Think of anybody who may be able to provide insights to help you figure this out. I’d strongly encourage you to assemble a very small team, including yourself (I like the number 3 because it’s small and odd-numbered) to review WHO is going to be involved in vetting the projects.

Nothing is more important than in assembling the right team to help provide good answers and solutions. This team will provide the discussion and debate necessary to provide the best possible answers to all questions, and perhaps more importantly, they’ll be able to think of all the best questions to ask.

Pick the right people and don’t be afraid to invite outsiders.

Step 2 – Dive deeply inside your operation.

Question everything. “Why do we do it that way?” was among my top questions. Always.

Find out the reason. It can be enlightening.

It’s remanence of the story of the man who’s wife sent him to the store for a ham. After he bought it, she asked him why he didn’t have the butcher cut off the end of the ham. He asked his wife why she wanted the end cut off. She said that her mother had always done it that way and that was reason enough for her. Since the wife’s mother was visiting, they asked her why she always cut off the end of the ham. Mother replied that this was the way her mother did it; Mother, daughter and the man then decided to call grandmother and solve this three-generation mystery. Grandmother promptly replied that she cut the end of the ham because it’s the only way it’d fit in her pan.

Ask questions. Lots of questions. Find out why you’re doing what you’re doing. You may learn there are reasons just as stupid as having too small of a pan.

Step 3 – Dive more deeply into other industries.

Industry tunnel vision is real. We’re all prone to suffer it. We see “best practices” in our industry and assume that’s literally “the best way.” Often times, it’s not. It may simply be the best-known way by so-called industry leaders.

Copycat cultures in every industry are dangerous. It limits beliefs, stifles creativity and gives a vanilla sameness to things. Look at any industry and you’ll quickly see it. Listen to advertising for car dealers. They’re all doing the same thing and saying the same thing. Why should a customer go to one dealership over another? No reason. Not usually.

When you more closely examine how other industries tackled a similar problem you begin to expand your thinking. Make appointments with other CEOs or operators willing to share with you stories of how they’re tackling these issues. Take your small team with you (another reason why I don’t like to assemble more than 2 other people to go with me). Let them hear and see the insights of other industries.

Step 4 – Assemble the information so the discussions and debates can be lively. And fair.

It’s important to put every idea on trial for its life. But it’s equally important that the trial be fair. Don’t omit important information because somebody already has an end in mind.

When parties start squaring off in opposition to one another on what course to take, at some time of your choosing stop the discussion. Then ask each side to take the opposing view. Force them to flip positions so the truth can emerge. This also helps each side more clearly see the viewpoint of their “opponents.”

Step 5 – Try for consensus, but accept the best answer for your enterprise.

Personally, I’d like to reach consensus if possible because it makes for a higher-performing culture. It’s not always possible though. The way I attempt this is to influence and persuade. Not manipulate or coerce. But sometimes people don’t see it. Or don’t want to see it. They’re too dug into their position and unable to see anything beyond their own biases and viewpoints. That’s okay, but you can’t be swayed from doing what’s best by it.

Give yourself whatever time is necessary to make the decision. Then assemble the team and let them know the decision. Everybody must accept it and without moaning. Or resentment. Or threat of sabotage. Make sure everybody salutes the decisions and commits to making it a success.

Step 6 – Don’t be afraid to course-correct.

Even with all that prep work the decision may prove wrong. Or slightly off course. That’s okay.

Regroup and figure out what you can learn now that you’re some distance into the project. What isn’t working as you thought it would? Is something working better that nobody saw coming? What has changed?

Questions, questions, questions. Leverage them as long as you must to drill down to what actions NOW need to be taken to get things on track.

Make the changes as quickly as you can. Let the team see how willing you are to course correct. This isn’t about somebody’s ability to be “right,” but rather it’s about getting it right. No matter what.

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

Randy

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Today in America we’re heading into a holiday weekend, Labor Day.

Monday will be a holiday for many folks, providing a 3-day weekend. This is typically considered the last holiday of the summer or the first holiday of autumn. After this weekend we’ll hit a dry spell until THE holiday season with Thanksgiving in late November.

But a holiday can be a single day or even part of a day – a time spent away from the daily grind. Usually with family. Or maybe in solitude. Whatever suits you.

Hustle and grind are common battle cries in entrepreneurship and leadership. I’m the son of what Tom Brokaw called, “the greatest generation.” World War II veterans. Old school guys who knew a thing or three about working hard, doing whatever it took and grinding it out. So my generation – baby boomers – largely learned from our parents and grandparents (who were survivors of the Great Depression). Work ethic was a given for my generation.

It wasn’t a badge of honor so much as it was an expectation. It’s just what you did. I know because the first decade of my marriage I stayed in hot water for putting in 80 hour work weeks. I didn’t do it because I loved it. I did it because it’s what had been instilled in me. It’s just what you did if you cared at all about your career, your family and achievement. And I cared deeply about all of those.

Admittedly, I was (and still am, though less so) a stress junkie. I thrived on the chaos and pace of business. Yes, it was addictive. Yes, I loved it. Still do, although now I prefer to control it a bit more.

Personally, I don’t find anything honorable about neglecting yourself or your family. I don’t find anything worthy of glorification in the current hustle and grind evangelism. Those aren’t equal to “work ethic” in my book. But today, it’s less about those things and more about what we do with our time away from work.

Three R’s leap to my mind when I think about stepping away – whether it’s for a full vacation, a 3-day weekend, a day off or half a day off.

Rest. Recovery. Rejuvenation.

This week two superstar NFL players have been in the news. Both are 29 years old. Both have retired from the sport. And both cited pain and a loss of joy in playing the game they loved. Both have mentioned the word “recovery,” too. In short, both Andrew Luck and Rob Gronkowski say they need to take care of themselves now.

You and I aren’t engaged in physical battle like NFL players, but the stress we endure can and will kill us. The pressures to lead and manage an enterprise are real. Physically, mentally, emotionally. Our lives – including our families – pay a price for our ambition and work. Yes, they may derive benefits, too. But there’s always a price to be paid.

My wife will tell you that I’m likely the last person qualified to give advice on this score because I NEVER took my vacation days. For decades I had three to five weeks of vacation and the most I ever took were a few days here and a few days there. I’ve never taken a full week, much less two. I just never felt comfortable doing it, so I didn’t. I wish I could have. I wish I would have, but while I knew I could physically, I was unable to mentally.

Now, as a more mature leader and business guy I know some things I wish I had known when I was younger. But I didn’t. Things come to us when they come to us. Better late than never I guess.

Here’s what I’ve learned that I wish I had learned earlier. Perhaps it can help you if you’re an American businessperson facing the prospect of a 3-day weekend.

One, don’t do it for others. Do it for yourself. Do it for your career. Do it for your business. Do it for others.

Guilting people into rest, recovery and rejuvenation won’t work. Well, it won’t be effective. Nagging people into doing what you want is a poor, but often used strategy. As leaders, we resist it. Probably because our DNA is to take charge and influence the outcomes. For some (I never suffered this because I’m not that confident), they think the business will stumble without them. I rather feared things would go even more smoothly in my absence. 😉

Like weight control, fitness or fixing bad habits – you need to do it for yourself. You are a resource. For yourself, your family and your company. Deplete the resource and you’re no good to anybody. Focus on doing what others want you to do – even knowing it’s beneficial to you – and you’ll avoid doing it.

Smokers don’t often successful quit because their family nags them. Overweight executives tend to lose weight when they get sick and tired of it themselves. Not when family and friends ride their back about it.

What will do the trick? I wish I knew.

It may help for you to realize the number people relying on you. That’s likely driving you (partially) to work as you do. Flip it on its head and let it sink in that every resource you have inside your company has limits. The bank accounts. The inventory. The employees. There are limits to everything. And not every resource is renewable. Most have to be replenished.

What you think you’re so special? That you don’t need to be replenished?

Stop acting like a fool. Start taking care of yourself. Physically, mentally and emotionally.  Do it for YOURSELF first.

Two, be intentional to add fuel to your tank.

We understand this about everything — except ourselves. The other day I had a thermostat die. About every 6 months or so I have to replace three AAA batteries. They don’t last forever. I took the old ones out, popped in three news ones and presto, it came back to life.

But you don’t think your life works like that? You’re wrong. Your life works exactly like that.

When professional athletes finally throw in the towel and retire, do they reach some pivotal moment that they never saw coming? Maybe. If the injury was severe enough. But I suspect many more of them endure nicks and cuts and loss of joy over time. The grind takes a slow, steady toll. The constant rehab work. The constant pain. It weighs heavier and heavier until they reach a point where they conclude, “No more!”

Is that what you want to happen to you? Do you want to ignore all the little nagging stressors until they break you? How stupid, especially when you have opportunities to prevent that from happening. Time you could spend taking better care of yourself so you can fuel up to continue the quest.

Three, stop thinking short-term. Stop being pessimistic. 

Gotta do it this. Gotta do it now. Gotta get it done today.

The urgency of our enterprise is real. But not everything is urgent. Or important. We tend to make mountains out of molehills, suspecting that everything is important.

If everything is important then nothing is important.

You and I both know not everything that we think is important or urgent is. We’re fully capable of overblowing things.

We need to to stop the madness of being pessimistic that every bad thing that might happen, will. It won’t. It’s not even likely. Or probable. In fact, quite often it’s not hardly possible. But we imagine the sky is going to fall if we’re not on top of it.

Here’s the truth of it…you’re not that important.

That’s the real rub. We think everything is a NOW thing. We think the worst-case scenario will become reality. And we think if WE don’t do it, it won’t get done. That’s all short-term, pessimistic thinking. And those are poor habits for business building.

Contrast those with longer-term thinking and optimism. There’s no comparison. We know – with certainty – that thinking longer-term and being positive are far better for our company. Don’t get sucked into going against the forces that will help your company grow great.

Four, life is long. But it’s also short. Make the most of it.

Charles Francis Adams, grandson of John Adams and son of John Quincy Adams, served as a Massachusetts state senator, a US Congressman and ambassador to Great Britain under Abraham Lincoln. Adams was also quite conscientious about keeping a daily journal and encouraged his children to do the same.

Henry Brooks Adams, fourth of seven children, followed his advice and began journaling at a young age. A particular entry written when Brooks was eight has captured attention. Following a day spent with his father, he wrote

Went fishing with my father today, the most glorious day of my life.

The day was so glorious, in fact, that Brooks continued to talk and write about that particular day for the next thirty years. It was then that Brooks thought to compare journal entries with his father. For that day’s entry, his dad Charles had written:

Went fishing with my son, a day wasted.

It’s been speculated that perhaps Charles was upset that they caught no fish that day. But no matter, dad seemed to have forgotten that the act is often more important than the outcome.

What journal notations might others be making about you and the impact you’re having in their life? Isn’t that more important than all the silly little things you constantly obsess about in your business?

Make time for the things that matter. You’ll have time for the rest. And if you don’t, you don’t. Because life is long and goes by in a blur.

Take care of yourself. Take care of your family. Take care of your friends. There’s time to take care of business.

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

Have a safe, happy holiday weekend.

Randy