Years of being a hockey fan (and coaching a bit of it) provoked me more and more toward tenacity. It also incorporated the word “snarly” into my vocabulary.
Back in the 1980’s while running a retailing company I first sat down and wrote this fragmented sentence as a mission statement to create the culture I most wanted:
To become a sleek, highly maneuverable, viciously competitive retail company delivering customer service that is 2nd to none
A decade later I took those same words to another retailing company. The words were important. They expressed and evoked emotions that I thought were urgent and important. My mind hasn’t changed.
All that verbiage points to some of the most necessary ingredients for business success – or higher business success. Name the problem and I’ll make application.
The higher the tenacity, the higher the performance. It’s not the same as resilience. Tenacity is an offensive weapon. Resilience is defensive.
As for snarly-ness, it’s driven by the passion and need to succeed. The strong desire to win and kick the teeth down the throat of anybody or anything that would hinder victory.
All that language reeks of action. It’s a lot of doing. Doing that starts in your head because the main battle ground for all this is in between our ears.
I intentionally phrased that mission statement with that beginning…”to become…” It’s something we could start today. It’s something we’d never be able to walk away from, saying we had completed it.
Relentless Pursuit
That’s the deal. That sums it up best for me.
So let’s wrestle this down and make some applications. I want to go from the outside in because of all the noise out there. I know it’s noisy in your head, but that little 4″ screen in your hand, and all the other screens in your life produce an avalanche of noise unlike anything we’ve seen before. The net floods us with data, information and opinion that is often indiscernible from reality and truth. Do this. Do that. Don’t do this. Don’t do that. Follow these 4 steps. No, follow just these 2 steps. Go left. Go right. It’s black. No, it’s white.
Your relentless pursuit of tenacity and snarly-ness starts with shutting up and shutting down all the crap entering your world. Now before you think I’m suggesting you not listen to people, let me clarify.
I’m on the phone with a friend and we’re talking about a variety of things, both business and personal. I reiterate something I’ve believed and tried to practice for a very long time. It has to do with selling. And building meaningful relationships. It’s a sequence that begins with us getting acquainted with somebody. We migrate from being strangers or unknowns to each other to where we know something of each other. You know my name and a bit about me. I know your name and a bit about you.
Next, we have to move toward safety. That is, you have to feel safe around me. I have to feel safe around you. If we can’t get to that spot, the relationship or connection won’t happen. There are plenty of people in your life who are known to you, but you don’t feel safe around them. You know their name. They know your name. No matter, you feel ill at ease for some reason. Maybe it’s because you feel they’ve got some hidden (or not so hidden) agenda. Maybe it’s because their personality bristles you and makes you uncomfortable. Maybe it’s because your communication styles are so opposite you just can’t relate. For some reason, we have all these known people in our lives who bring us no value because we just can’t get to a safe place with them.
Keep in mind — and think of all the people in your life who aren’t known by you — but you feel safe with them. Authors, speakers, experts…they all fall into that category. You know them, but they may not know you. Because they crank out content that you enjoy, or that helps you, you’ve become acquainted with them. You feel safe with having them “speak” to you in whatever way they do that (books, speeches, blog posts, videos, webinars, podcasts, etc.). Okay, so far so good. Or is it.
Experts are nice, but who is really an expert. And who do you listen to? Who should you listen to? Why should you listen to them? Those are GINORMOUS questions that have big and varied answers. No, I’m not going to try to answer them here, except to give you some things to consider and think about. YOU have to decide for yourself. You’ll hear that theme throughout today’s show because it’s at the heart of tenacity and snarly-ness. This is YOUR tenacity and snarly-ness we’re talking about so you have to own it. It’s got nothing to do with me or anybody else. It’s all you!
The distraction of the Internet ruins tenacity and snarly-ness because for every expert who says go right, others say go left. For every guru who wears French cuffs and $3000 custom made suits there are other gurus who wear jeans and a hoodie. There are gurus and experts who use Uber exclusively and others who drive Bentleys. How can you listen to them all? You can’t. Well, you can listen, but your mind will be trashed trying to figure out a path with all these incongruent messages coming at you.
“I’m my own man,” says the guy in the corner office. I’ve heard that before. Quickly I’ve come to learn the corner office guy or gal has demons in their head just like everybody else. Sometimes more so. The stakes are higher. So is the pressure. Beware the man or woman who declares, “I decide for myself.” They’re listening to something or somebody. Sometimes they’re as confused as anybody about all the voices of advice entering their brain.
This is where it turns inward. This is where your world view and your view of yourself matters.
When I was a teenager I went through a phase, like most teens, where I got really tired of being worried about what people thought. My teen angst wasn’t rebellious toward behavior though. Mine was a drive against vanity and status. I was sick of seeing people think somebody was better because they had cool clothes or cool cars, or lived in the cool neighborhood. I just didn’t care. It wasn’t a judgmental thing for me. It was purely a substance over style thing for me. I had nice, even cool clothes. I had a cool car, too. But I was blessed.
One word summed it up for me during my teen years: pretense.
I hated pretense. Still do.
I’m also a zig zag guy. When everybody is zigging or people want me to zig…I gravitate toward zagging. Just because. Freud would likely have a field day with me (and you, too, huh?).
It’s why during most of my adult career I was the guy in the corner office. Compliance isn’t my strong suit. 😉
Compliance Is Driven By Listening To Others, Not Yourself
Lose weight. Get cosmetic surgery to fix that nose. You introverts, become extroverts. Blah, blah, blah.
Here’s what the world is telling us – be something you aren’t. Fix yourself.
Sure, lose weight if you must to improve your health. Growing great is all about improving so we can be the best version of ourselves. Emphasis is on being ourselves though.
Embrace who you really are and go all in on it. It’s crazy hard because we see people who are nothing like us and admire them so. The introvert looks longingly at the gregarious fellow holding forth in the group and wishes he could be more like that. STOP IT.
You’re not him. He’s not you. Get comfortable with who and what you are — and become the best version of yourself.
Why is that important? Because if you’re not true to yourself you can’t be tenacious or snarly. You can’t win in the market – whether that market is your home or your office or the world at large. You just can’t win without being tough to play against.
Be tenacious. Be snarly. Be tough to compete against. If the world is going to beat you down, make it tough on the world to win. Develop that habit and you’ll win a lot more than you’ll lose. It’s not about winning all the time (nobody does that), but it is about winning much of the time. People determined to grow great do that more often than not. Join us.
If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking Review on iTunes. It’ll help the show rank better in iTunes.
Sometimes people need professional therapy. Our pain sometimes demands it. Our ability or capacity to process our pain often needs some shoring up. I’m not a professional therapist. I’m just a business guy with a lifetime of striving toward higher self-awareness. Spend your lifetime studying people – including yourself – and you learn a few things. Mostly, I’ve learned there’s so much I just don’t know. Today’s show is not intended to serve in place of a mental health professional. Some of the most successful people find they need help because success brings about its own pain and pressure. My best advice is, take care of yourself.
He was very small. Probably 4 years old or so. I don’t remember the specific circumstance, but I remember many conversations with him about the voice inside his head. I was probably 27 years old or so. He was my son, our first born. Patience, as with most 4-year-olds, wasn’t yet in his arsenal. My task was to help him discover it. Mostly, I was intent on helping him learn to develop resilience. My wife and I quickly realized that if he didn’t excel immediately, he grew frustrated and angry. His temper was mostly ignited at his own failure. We knew he was innately competitive.
I’m on one knee, bent down to look him in the face. The topic is the invisible little man who lives in his head and tells him, “You’ll never be able to do this. You’re an idiot for even trying. Look at you, you can’t even do it right the first time.” I worked diligently to help him understand that we all have an invisible little person living in our head who tells us lies, but we also have another little person telling us the truth – encouraging us, telling us we can do it, and urging us to silence the critic.
My son wasn’t getting professional help from me. I was a rank amateur with enough self-awareness and communication skills to know I didn’t want my little boy to grow up feeling defeated before he even began. Hitting a ball with a bat. Catching a ball. Anything like that frustrated him if he couldn’t master it immediately. Learning wasn’t acceptable. He was born with some wiring that compelled him to be instantly good, or worthless at doing something. To my wife and I, it went beyond the scope of childish expectation. Through the years we’d learn it was part of who he was. Our job was to equip him as best we could with the tenacity to understand it, manage it and harness it for his own good.
my son putting skates on his daughter
Today, he’s 35 and we couldn’t be prouder. Thankfully, we didn’t screw him up too badly. 😉 Now it’s his turn to avoid screwing up his own kids.
The other day I was remembering some of those down-on-one-knee talks with him, wondering where I got my stories about the “little man living in your head telling you all these negative things.” If I learned about it, I don’t remember. What I do remember is always knowing I had such a little man living in my head. He’s been there for as long as I can remember.
It’s likely where I first got my fondness for what was once called “self help” books. I’d read books, listen to audio tapes and consume quite a lot of that material, especially in my 20’s. It was interesting to me. I was mostly interested in the deeper stuff that had some scientific basis. I wasn’t so smitten with the rah-rah-sis-boom-bah stuff. That’s the stuff that jumped to the best seller list and I read too many of those, but mostly I found those trite and cheesy. I wanted substance. I wanted understanding.
In college psychology classes fascinated me. My library still contains a variety of books aimed at helping us understand ourselves and why we do what we do. Or why we fail to do other things we should. I wasn’t smart enough to pursue science, but I was highly interested. As a business guy – even as a hi-fi salesman during college – studying people was always the underlying reason for it I suppose. Finding out what people wanted and why. Listening to them tell their stories. Watching their faces as they talked of a favorite record, or band. It was all pretty interesting and I suppose in some small way I figured that if I could develop skills to better understand people, then maybe I could better understand myself. Maybe that was the point all along.
Understand Yourself Better
Doesn’t everybody have an inner critic? I suppose so. I can’t imagine somebody not having one. Or more than one.
I’ve already admitted my personal fascination with my own (and my children’s) inner critic and self-esteem. My children we born in the early 80’s and may well be the last kids to be raised by old-school parents who didn’t subscribe to participation trophies. We wanted our son and daughter to be independent, stand up for what they believed in, do the right thing no matter what and figure out what occupation would best serve them and their own families. They were experience driven. Much more so than my baby boomer generation ever was. We were materialistic and chased financial success. Our parents were part of what Tom Brokaw called “the greatest generation.” Our folks worked hard and we learned our work ethic from them. But was gave up quite a lot in the process. We worked a lot of hours, grinding away to climb the ladder and find success, which was mostly based on how much money we made. Thankfully, our children found a better way – a more balanced life.
Understanding ourselves often draws us back to our childhood. We’re all a product of our upbringing. My wife and I knew we were packing bags that our children would carry with them the rest of their lives. That’s how it goes. I was committed to making some of those bags I gave my kids as profitable and productive as possible. Time will judge whether I was able to do it as well as I’d hoped.
It all boiled down to helping them better understand themselves. Of course, first I had to better understand myself. That was always the hard part. Today, that’s the hard part for them now that they’re parents trying to pass on whatever lessons they’ve learned.
I keep reading, observing, writing and doing my best to pay attention. And of course, as always, trying to connect the dots and make sense of it all.
It’s a nice, plush quiet office. The CEO owns the business. He started the company 27 years ago. Slogged his way to profitability and things began to take off.
Around year 7 he started getting newfound and much needed traction. Business was good, but the growth was stressful. He was discovering new problems he’d never faced before. There were people problems. Capital always seemed too short. There were inventory issues. Systems were being taxed at every point. He was afraid. The growth has revealed all the things he knew were true – he wasn’t prepared.
So he did what most do. He dove in trying to figure it out along the way. Desperation is how he characterizes those years. He was desperate to figure it out so he just took action. Mostly, he admits, he got it wrong, but he tried to fix it as soon as he could. When he got it right, it paid off handsomely so he just assumed if he could win more than he lost, then everything would be okay.
That didn’t help him sleep at night. It sure didn’t help him build an organization, or develop a high performing team. No sooner had the euphoria of getting traction hit until it gave way to high anxiety. He had never been this afraid. He had employees. Payroll. Suppliers. Financial concerns. He was eating, drinking and staying awake at night fretting about the business.
Here we sit, two decades later. It’s in the middle of the afternoon. He’s troubled. Today, he’s lamenting a few opportunities he’s had to develop a key right-hand person. There was the young man he hired 22 years ago, before the traction took hold. A diligent young man with a high degree of willingness. Rough around the edges sometimes, but plenty of horsepower to work with. He just never took the time to really mentor the young man. Eventually, he left, telling the owner that he needed a new opportunity. The CEO figured he really meant that he wasn’t growing as he wanted — and they both likely understand the fact of it all.
After that, he figures there had been at least two more. He’s got a strong team today, but he can’t seem to get past the lost opportunities to have grown talent that would likely be serving him now in his latter years. Talent that might best help him achieve what he most wants now.
There’s regret on his face as he’s telling me the story. I asked him about himself. He’s telling me about past employees, but he’s not saying a lot about himself. “What’s the issue for you?” I ask. “Me?” he barks back. “It’s my business. It’s all an issue for me,” he retorts. Spoken like most business owners I’ve encountered through my career. I know how he means it, but I also know it can camouflage what’s really bothering him.
I ask him to help me understand how he’s feeling and what he’s thinking. His mood grows increasingly reflective, and pensive. He removes his glasses, rubs his eyes and says softly, “I don’t want to do this anymore.”
It’s a bolt out of the blue. Catches even me off guard and I’m almost always on guard — that is, I’m pretty prepared for most things people tell me. I ask him to talk to me more about that. For the next 20 minutes or so he laments his life, organizationally and personally. He’s trapped by his success. Trapped by his business. Trapped by having to do it all. Trapped by making every big decision.
As the CEO of a mid-sized company with millions of dollars of revenue, just under 100 employees and a staff of about 7 direct reports, he’s surrounded by people. He speaks fondly of most of them, but continues to lament that he’s never fully developed a person capable of replacing him. Somebody who can help him ease into a new role that he longs to achieve – a wise mentor capable of providing historical context, industry know-how and other insightful service to a leadership team capable of soaring higher. Always higher.
“What are you most afraid of?” I ask, knowing it’s the time I can now ask and get an honest answer. He looks at me. Puts his glasses back on. Looks at some papers on his desk. Then looks up and peers at me with his eyes slightly squinted as if he’s got a headache. “Being alone,” he answers. “But that ship sailed. I am alone.”
His marriage ended shortly after his year of traction. One daughter is now off to college somewhere up north. He has confessed that his wife and mistress are one and the same – his business. He’s got many friends. Well, people with whom he can socialize. His calendar is full of activities. At work. At home. He’s surrounded by people. But mostly, he’s alone.
All the trappings of success are just that – trappings. He’s said so. This is no longer working for him. He’s a miserable man. Successful by all accounts and miserable.
Part of providing the opportunity to shell it down and be transparent is giving leaders the release they’ve longed to have. He seems to be breathing. I mean really catching a breath. Not just physically, but emotionally. I remind him that I’m not a therapist and my work isn’t therapy, but it is therapeutic. “Boy, don’t I know it,” he says.
He’s in his 60’s. He’s not the 4-year-old little boy I talked to when I was 27. But there’s still a little person inside him telling him things. Surrounded by talent and expertise in his business, he’s mostly listening to some unnamed little person living in his head. This trusted advisor has no name, no credentials and only one mission. To nag him into misery. Well, that seems to be the impact.
Over time it’s clear to him that he’s refusing to get too close to people. He wants to, but he’s afraid. Afraid it won’t work out. Like his marriage. Or those early employees who abandoned him. That’s his word: abandoned. No matter that they were willing, hard working and devoted. No matter that they likely weren’t feeling valued by him. He sees it the way he sees it. Clear or not, it’s his perspective.
Talk turns to our inner critic. That voice that sometimes wants to serve us, but has the opposite effect.
He concludes his inner critic is likely trying to protect him from being hurt, but those good intentions aren’t working. Instead, they’re causing him to repel against the very things he needs to do to get out of under this life he no longer wants. I’m here to help him with his business and professional life. But I care about his entire life and urge him to consider finding a professional capable of serving him in ways I can’t. He finds a professional and just after one session tells me what a gift it is to have two people serving him – me and a mental health professional, a therapist. I’m humbled.
Age Doesn’t Matter – Intentions Don’t Either
Whether we’re old or young, our inner critic likely never goes away. I’ve concluded maybe the best we can do is to understand it.
I’ve learned that often times my own inner critic is seeking my best. Or he thinks he is. “Don’t try that, it won’t work. You’ll only embarrass yourself.” Good little voice, trying to protect me from embarrassment.
Freedom From Your Inner Critic is a book written by Jay Earley and Bonnie Weiss. Part of what the authors point out is that our inner critic has old ideas about us. We listen to these antiquated images of who we may have once been. Our inner critic pushes us to remember an outdated version of ourselves. The problem is, that doesn’t fit our current circumstance. Or our current skills or experience. According to Earley and Weiss, our inner critic then goes to work to protect us, causing us to doubt ourselves. That makes us feel insufficient, often growing more miserable. That’s where our CEO business owner is at.
I encourage you to read and study about this more, but I’ll share with you three things Ms. Weiss points to as ways to tame this inner critic.
Step 1: Separate
That little person living in our head is just one of many. It’s one voice among many. The inner critic isn’t entirely you, but it’s only a part. Weiss says that voice has its own motives and world view. The way to tame it is to distance from it. Make a decision to listen, or not listen.
Sometimes you need to tell the voice to back off. She argues that we all need to find and get in touch with our higher Self (yes, it’s a capital S). Google IFS or internal family systems therapy and you’ll find more. I’m not saying this is the end all, be all. I am saying I’ve found elements of this helpful in better understanding myself and in helping others better understand themselves in the professional dynamics at work.
Like any voice or advice we get, we can choose to listen or not to the inner critic. Yes, it’s hard, but it’s possible. Some people may be able to figure this out with a bit of reading and study. Other people may require or want more structured help.
Step 2: Update
Weiss encourages us to ask our inner critic an important question, “How old do you think I am?” Most often we’ll find out that our inner critic thinks we’re still a small child. It’s as though our inner critic is stuck in time. All the effort expended to protect us is by a small (but loud) voice aimed at protecting a child, not a grown adult with the skills and experience we now possess. The more you’re able to show this part of yourself who and what you really are today, the more likely you’ll be able to update the inner critic into letting go of the dated concerns that little voice expresses to you, trying to protect you.
Step 3: Mentor
Weiss and Earley use a term I’m rather fond of, Inner Champion. That can be your new mentor. You need help in dealing with your inner critic. Weiss finds it helpful to give your Inner Champion some human qualities. She admits her own Inner Champion is part Katherine Hepburn, Margaret Mead and others. The job of the Inner Champion is to give you strength.
The Inner Champion often sounds like the voice of a good mom reminding you of your value and capacity. It encourages you to take reasonable risks so you can get what you most want.
The Inner Champion also has the courage to take a stand against your inner critic, telling it to leave you alone. The Inner Champion is the other voice in your head telling that inner critic that he’s not being helpful.
The value of the Inner Champion is in helping you develop a process or system to achieving what you want. When you lack a process, your Inner Champion helps propel you forward to devise a plan.
And the Inner Champion takes care of the fragile parts of you that are being protected by the inner critic. See, the inner critic is really intending to help you. It just doesn’t always work out that way.
Clarity
I’m a fan. Seeing things clearly doesn’t mean the news is always good. Or that the outcome is what we wanted. It just means we’re seeing it for what it really is. That provides us with an opportunity to make adjustments, fix what ails us and figure out what we’ll do next.
Life is about adjustments. It’s about learning. The CEO was learning some things for the first time in his life. He was putting in the work to avoid going it alone, thinking he had to be strong enough all by himself. Trapped by success, surrounded by people – he was already alone. And that’s what he most feared. When he saw it more clearly he was able to devise a plan he could own. Professional therapy helped. I hope I did, too.
He got some strategy in place, which drove his hopes higher. In time he got some optimism because he could see a positive outcome. Hopelessness gave way to optimism.
I encourage you to seek clarity for yourself. Leaders can get so busy and allow their lives to become more hectic than is profitable. “I’m too busy,” is a steady refrain I hear from every leader. I’m the guy who’ll ask, “Do you think Benjamin Franklin was a bit brilliant? How about Ernest Hemingway?”
Ben Franklin is quoted as having said or written, “Never confuse motion with action.”
Ernest Hemingway is quoted as having said, “Never mistake motion with action.”
Pick your brilliant guy. Their quotes are the same. And they were both right.
Today, right now, do something for yourself. Face that inner critic. Read a book (or four) on it. Confront it and seek professional help if you need it or want it. Some of us are out here ready to help you do the heavy lifting.
I’ve got REM playing in the headphones while I catch up on some paperwork. At some point their hit, Everybody Hurts begins to play. It’s a beautiful, but haunting song that admonishes the listener to “hang on.” Misery loves company and everybody hurts. Sometime.
Leaders regularly wear masks, hiding their fears, insecurities and challenges. It’s part of that “never let ’em see you sweat” mindset.
All bravado aside, deep down we all know R.E.M. is right. Everybody does hurt. Sometime. We look at people from some safe distance and think they’ve got it all together. No worries. No problems. Everything they touch turns to success.
Florence Chadwick is a name you may have never heard. She only had a 40% success rate. Experiencing failure more than half the time. That’s enough to knock anybody into the dirt. Unless you’re Florence Chadwick. She became the first woman to swim from England to France in 1951, but out of 10 attempts – she only succeeded 4.
Troy Aikman came to the Dallas Cowboys as the number 1 draft pick. New team owner Jerry Jones and new NFL coach Jimmy Johnson experienced tremendous failure right off the bat. Aikman was part of that colossal failure. He didn’t win a single game in his first year as a starter. 100% failure.
Success breeds comfort. Comfort quickly becomes complacency. But maybe more dangerous, success fosters a “What about me?” attitude among the employees, including the leadership team. Everybody wants more credit and more praise than they had previously. It’s the pressure winning brings. And it’s why success can be difficult to sustain long-term.
That kind of success can result in its own kind of failure. Just last Friday, Wal-Mart announced they’d be closing 269 stores. According to CEOÂ Doug McMillon, the company is taking action in order to become more nimble in the face of competition from Amazon and others.
Sears was historically considered too big to fail, but they’ve been failing for years. They’re not alone. The business landscape is filled with companies who were once spectacular, but are now gone — or soon may be. Success can breed more success (as we talked about in the last episode about leverage), or it can cause us to grow comfortable and overconfident.
Failure sometimes comes in the form of success. Namely, success handled improperly. Or poorly.
Failure is certain no matter the endeavor. You will fail. Mark it down.
The biggest winners on the planet have failed. Often more times than anybody really knows – other than them. Mostly, because others aren’t counting your failures. They’re too busy counting their own.
Florence Chadwick tried to be the first woman to swim 21 miles across the Catalina Channel, from Catalina Island to Palos Verde on the California coast in 1952. She came up short. Literally half a mile short. After swimming almost 16 hours, the cold water and fog defeated her. An epic fail.
After getting out of the water and realizing how close she was, she told a reporter, “Look, I’m not excusing myself, but if I could have seen land I know I could have made it.“
Two months later she made another attempt, this time succeeding in just under 14 hours. Success. It had been a 50/50 proposition, but she persisted and made it.
For years that story has been told and retold as a lesson in resilience and keeping your eye on the goal. Maybe what’s often forgotten though are the attempts that resulted in failure. Or the stories of failure that resulted in success because people found a way to get out from under failure. Not everybody does.
History is littered with sad stories of people with insanely high potential who made poor choices, neglected to do the work and were never able to withstand the heavy weight of failure. Some just can’t find their way out of it.
On Joe Buck’s new show, Undeniable With Joe Buck, he interviewed his broadcasting partner, Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman. Troy confessed his first love was baseball. After the family moved from California to Oklahoma, Troy had no intention of playing football. He was planning to just play basketball and baseball. One day his dad returned home from work and asked, “They’re having football sign up’s in town. You’re gonna play, aren’t you?” Afraid to refuse his dad, Troy signed up. Three SuperBowl Championships and an NFL Hall of Fame entrance later – here he is working the Fox NFL broadcasts on the number 1 team for that network with Joe Buck.
Life throws all of us curve balls. Sometimes we can hit them. Other times we can’t even see them.
Serendipity happens to all of us, too. Sometimes it hurts us. Other times, like Troy’s dad telling him to go sign up for football, they set our life on a trajectory we could have never imagined.
Moments In Time
We’ve all heard the adage…
Success is never final.Â
Failure is never fatal.
I’m more sure of that first one. I’m not sure at all about that last one because I’ve seen failure be final when people made really awful decisions. Even so I appreciate the sentiment and you do, too.
Whether it’s our first attempt and it ends in failure, or whether we’re like Florence and we fail 6 out of 10 times, failure is really just a moment in time. It’ll pass.
Ditto for success.
In either case we often don’t think so. Failure seems to drag on and we think it’ll never end. Success feels the same way. Once we reach the mountain top and take a good look at the view, we think we’ve made it. This is gonna be our view from now on. Until life shows us how wrong we are.
Getting out from under failure can mean a bunch of things. It may mean that we have to make up our mind that we’re going to push past this moment of time – this moment where we’ve fallen on our face. It may mean that we have to determine we’re not going to buckle under the new weight of success we now have to shoulder.
Whatever it may mean to you, this much is sure. Getting out from under failure means we can’t stand still. We can’t sit down and take it easy. Sure we can catch our breath and regroup, but we need to get on with it. It’s so with our careers, our teams and our organizations. If we stay in one place too long failure will catch up with us and swallow us up.
The competition is always coming. The market is always changing. Customers are always being distracted or woo’d away by somebody else.
Daily it’s a fight to remain relevant and to be the top dog in our game. It doesn’t matter if you’re running a $500M company or a $500,000 mom ‘n pop shop. Success just has a bigger scale. So does failure. Which is why the weight of failure can really take a toll on a larger company. They have more weight that can used against them in the battle. “The bigger they are, the harder they fall,” can be very true. And in their lumbering way, they can find it much harder – and longer – to regain their footing after a fall, too.
You’re the leader. The organization – or perhaps your team – is looking to you to show them the way. What do you do when you’ve taken it on the chin? Maybe you were just stunned momentarily. Maybe you got knocked out cold, but you’re now coming back to your senses. I don’t know what your failure looks like, but you’ve had it happen. Maybe you’re enduring it right now. It sits on your chest like the weight of the world. You’re pinned down, unable to move. Or so you think. And if you did move, you’re not sure which way to turn. Do you turn left to escape? Or right?
Failure can not only beat you down, but it can make you lose your bearings. Find your true north people say. Shoot, when you’re failing you’d be happy to just know which end is UP.
Success is on the other side. Somewhere. If only you could see it like Florence Chadwick mentioned to that reporter…then you could make it more easily. But you can’t see it. Therein lies a major problem. You’re having to operate on faith. Much of that faith has to be in yourself. And in your people.
If It Is To Be, It’s Up To Me
Not in some self-centered, I’m all that and a bag of chips kind of way, but in an “I have to show the way” kind of a way. As leaders, it’s up to us to demonstrate our own resolve. People are closely watching us to see how we’re going to react. Will we stay down? Will we throw in the towel? Or will we learn from our failure, rally the troops and closely examine our failure so we don’t repeat it? What’s it going to be?
This is where that bravado can kick in an foil any really opportunity we may have to succeed. We can make a poor choice in our attempt to get out from under failure by laughing it off as a fluke. By puffing out our chest and saying as confidently as possible, “That won’t happen again.” We can don that mask of impenetrable superiority in hopes the troops don’t see our loss of confidence, or our fears.
A better option is candor.
We may find it most helpful for getting out from under failure by being real with ourselves and our people.
Back in the 80’s I first read about a guy named Jack Stack up in Springfield, Missouri. I had many close friends in Springfield so at first I was mostly interested because of that angle, but I quickly grew interested in this new thing Stack was doing. Open book management. It was remarkable, especially in the early 80’s.
This novel concept was primarily based on sharing information – particularly financial data – that would help employees better understand how their work impacted the entire organization. It seemed so drop dead simple. And powerful. And it was. That was around 1983. You’d think in the intervening 3 decades or so since that we’d all collectively smarter about our candor, not just with numbers, but with our emotions and concerns, too. Not so much.
Courage in the face of adversity is often depicted as stoic, stiff upper lip, gritted teeth forging ahead. That’s hogwash.
People don’t want a robotic leader. They want to follow a man or woman who is real. Somebody who really cares. Somebody who is free to feel pain and let people know it hurts.
We’re inspired by leaders who we see get knocked down, but with tears streaming down their face they rise back to their feet. Maybe they just stand there momentarily to gather themselves. Maybe they have to pick up their weapon, knocked from their hand in the course of the battle, but pick it up – they do! Wiping the sweat from above their eyes, they start to move forward again. As they walk we see a more steely resolve come over their face. It’s the look we love to follow. That look of tenacity that won’t be denied, even if there’s another knock down coming. People are watching for those things and when they see them, they rise to the occasion.
Use failure as a propellant. Use it to strengthen yourself and your organization.
Four years after failing to win a single game, Troy Aikman lifted the Lombardi Trophy as a SuperBowl Champion. It could easily be argued that without the failure he – and some of his remaining teammates – may have never understood the resolve needed to put in the work necessary to win it all. Maybe the coaching staff and front office would have never had the determination to do the work necessary to construct and train a team prepared to hoist that trophy had they never experienced having their teeth kicked in week after week. They learned how to get out from under their failure and in doing so, they learned how to succeed.
Success is always found in the same place. It’s right there after you figure out a way to get out from under that failure. It’s just waiting to see who is going to come get it.
If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking Review on iTunes. It’ll help the show rank better in iTunes.
Today’s show as sparked by somebody desiring to start up a new enterprise and wondering what I thought about it. Talk turned to leverage and how to gain momentum, especially with a new venture. I don’t necessarily serve the start up niche, but it was a valid conversation any way.
It’s easier to put your back into it when you’ve got leverage on it. Whatever IT is.
Without leverage, putting your back into it will cause you to put your back out! Be careful.
Gladwell calls it “the tipping point.” Others call it by various things. Traction. Momentum. Being on a roll.
It’s mostly similar. It’s the ability to build on success. Sure, more is better, but not always necessary. And as with most things, a key phrase is in play.
It depends.
Is it easier to leverage substantial profits into more profits? Maybe. It depends. Sometimes the leverage becomes more difficult. If you set a record in profits last year, it may be tough to best it again this year. But maybe not. Again, it depends.
Leverage, like most things, isn’t a one-size-fits-all circumstance kinda of a deal. Even so, we’re foolish if we don’t closely examine the power of leverage in our careers, businesses or organizations.
I’ve headlined today’s show with four specific areas: a) clients or customers (those people who pay us for what we can do for them), b) employees, c) sales or revenues and d) profits.
They’re not really in a specific order except for that first one because unless you’ve got a customer (or many customers) you don’t have a business. Recently I’ve read a few blog posts on big time sites that list the most important things needed for a successful startup. It’s surprising how many don’t list customers!
You can have all the technological advantages known to man, the best people cranking out the work and whatever else you want – including tons of capital behind you – but if you don’t have people willing to pay you for what you offer, you’re out of business. Sometimes I laugh at the obvious advice offered in this world where everybody seems to be a teacher of success.
Last week I was listening to a podcast I’d never heard before. Somebody told me to check it out so I did by randomly picking an episode. A few minutes in the guy is extolling the virtues of an email list. He’s talking how powerful an email list is and how his list is worth a specific dollar amount every time he sends out a specific offer to sell something. It seemed like more bragging than anything else. I listened for a few more minutes before giving up on it. I’d heard this all before.
The way to make money online:
Step 1: Build your email list. The money is in the list.
Step 2: Sell something to your list.
Step 3: Watch the money roll in, even while you sleep.
It’s like so much other sage advice out there. Let me go ahead right now and tell you how to become a millionaire. Ready?
Step 1: Get a million dollars.
Step 2: Call yourself a millionaire.
Thank you. Thank you very much!
The hard part is step 1. That’s the step that’ll trip you up every time! 😀
I’m left always thinking, “Well, duh! Of course the money is in the list, but other than generic crapola, how do you do that?” Well, leverage isn’t some mumbo-jumbo fru-fru stuff. It’s real and it really works.
I’ll warn you upfront, the hard part is getting started. The hard part is step 1. No doubt. It’s a grind that can take a very long time.
Finding a paying customer isn’t easy. Yes, it depends on what you’re selling and to whom, but it’s never easy. And if it is easy, then it’s not lucrative. The only thing easy about it the concept of it all. Supply and demand. Pretty simple stuff really, in theory.
Take GOLD. Do you ever watch the Discovery TV show, Gold Rush? Gold isn’t easy to find. Well, other than going to the mall jewelry store. But if you’re trying to find raw gold where you can make some money, prepare to sweat and cuss. The demand is high, but the supply is limited. That’s why gold is currently selling for $821.50 per troy ounce. Supply is limited because it’s brutal work to extract gold from acres and acres of dirt. Customers are easy. Getting the inventory – the thing you need to sell (in this case, gold) – that’s crazy hard.
I got a spammer’s email the other day that I happened to open because it got through my filter. The guy was selling some online course about how to kill it with your own Amazon store. His pitch was that he could teach you how to set up a super profitable Amazon store where you could make money while you sleep. These people either sleep a lot or they’re obsessed with earning money whilst sleeping. At any rate, he talked about how his course would teach you where to buy inventory that people desperately want. Yes, they’re desperate for this merchandise. Hello, supply and demand. If everybody can buy the same merchandise to sell and then post it at Amazon in their own Amazon store, then supply is open. Demand is sure to be low, along with any potential money to be earned. No go!
Leverage is important because first we have to create and establish VALUE. Value is low when supply is abundant. Supply is abundant when it’s easy. Easy isn’t the ideal way to make money. It takes deep pockets, scope and scale to make money in easy or abundant. Think Wal-Mart or Amazon. Think of your local grocery store chain. They operate on razor thin margins because supply isn’t much of an issue. Having what you want to buy, when you want to buy it, at the lowest possible price to keep you coming back week after week – that’s the game. It’s more of a system or process thing driven by technology than anything else.
But you don’t have deep pockets, not like Wal-Mart or Amazon. You need to leverage a fifth thing – your capital or resources. You need the strongest return-on-investment (ROI) you can get. But again, first, you need customers.
Today, I just want to focus on getting to first base in all of these: clients, employees, sales and profits.
Get your first client. Don’t worry about getting anybody else. Worry about and strategize on ways to get your first customer! Do whatever you need to do to get somebody willing to say YES. Make a sale. Head up (or down, whichever you prefer) and get a customer. Find somebody who thinks you’ve got exactly what they need.
I’m not saying give it away. Free samples are valid. A free taste. I do that with coaching so people can test drive me before they write me a check. The sole purpose is to convert them into a client though. My intention is to be so dazzling and high value that they’ll be compelled to say, “Okay, this is awesome. I want to hire you.” From one free session I hope to gain a client for 6 months or a year. It legit because I’m not cheap, but I am high value. I think people deserve to get a sense of my work before they engage me. Not everybody needs it, but some do. So I’m cool with making the offer even if it costs me some time and results in no sale! Those are risks I’m willing to make because I’m leveraging my time. More importantly, I’m leveraging my experience, expertise and skill. I’m giving people a taste of it so they can better know me. It results in trust and usually results in a mutual discovery that this dog will hunt.
You’ll be tempted to think if you can sell one, you can sell two. Maybe. Maybe not. It depends. Was your mom your first sale? See, that skews things dramatically.
But there is a number you can leverage. I don’t know where it is. You likely don’t know either until you start moving. It’s like obscenity. You’ll know it when you see it.
That’s why you often hear the phrase, “The rich get richer.” It’s true. They do. Because money is a wonderful leverage tool. During the recent recession I knew business men who took advantage of the real estate crash because they had a resource others didn’t have. MONEY. CASH MONEY. They were able to move in with their cash and leverage it into assets worth a lot more because people were desperate for their resource. People had real estate, but needed money. Now that real estate prices are up double digits, those investments are worth far more than these guys paid. The power of leverage.
Companies do the same thing with employees. Look at the top employers based on employee feedback. Why do they attract the best talent? Because they got it started. Again, the key is to get it going. If your company sucks at recruiting or retaining top talent, nothing will change until you make that a focal point. First, you’ve got to figure out what you need to change to attract the talent you most want. Next, you’ve got to change things so you become what and who you need to be to get such people. Then, you have to go find your first rock star employee. Leverage that employee to find your second rock star employee.
The University of Alabama football team has won the national championship 4 out of the last 7 years. They’ve been able to leverage recruiting some of the best football players in the country because good players (rock stars) want to hang with and perform with other good players. Like football players, there are plenty of talented people to go around. You can get rock stars if you want them. But you have to get your first one or all bets are off.
Sales is coupled with clients. You can’t have one without the other. Well, you can if you’re a non-profit I guess, but we’re not talking about that. For our purposes, a client or customer is somebody willing to pay you money for your product or service. Sales are different because you might sell one client something for $100 and another customer might buy something for $1000. That’s two different levels of leverage. Maybe. It depends.
You figure the $1000 sale might be more likely to leverage into another $1000 sale. It could be. And you should try. Leveraging sales is like visiting a busy restaurant versus one that’s empty. People want to do business with somebody others find valuable. Especially if we’re unsure or the business is an unknown to us. That’s why referrals and recommendations are important.
Higher sales drive sales higher. Or they can. But again, let’s concentrate on the first sale. Maybe it’s our first $100 sale. But it could be our first $1000 sale. Or our first $10,000 sale. Get the first one. Again, slog it out, grind it out, put in the work. You have to get one before you can get any hope of leverage.
Ditto for profits. They work much like sales, but they’re harder. Well, in some ways. Nearly everybody I know complains about profit margins eroding. If sales are going well, profits are always at risk. Or so it seems. There’s always pressure on profits, driven in part by competition. Name the industry and give me Google and within seconds I’ll find the bottom feeder of that industry – the outfit who seemingly is unconcerned about making any money!
Here’s the real bottom line with leverage: you have to have something to get something. You can’t leverage NOTHING.
For those of you with growing businesses though, there are lessons to be learned. It’s more common than you’d think to forget the power of leverage or to assume that leverage is on auto-pilot. Don’t neglect your leverage. Do so at your own peril. I’ve seen it happen. We get on a roll and assume we can keep this roll going. Until it doesn’t keep going. All of a sudden we hit a pot hole we never saw coming and BAM! Momentum (and leverage) are stopped dead in their tracks.
It happens when a company tries to cut their way to success. Good luck with that strategy. They never thought they’d be bleeding, but here they are with blood spilling out everywhere.
Like a skilled Judo opponent, sometimes our own body weight can be used against us. Leverage that we once had now belongs to our competitor, or the market. We’ve lost it and it can be a demon to get back!
But that’s the job – to find the leverage again (or for the first time).
Turnaround artists are skillful at this. It’s a special skill set some have. They can enter a business that has lost momentum and leverage, and with a bit of time and some resources they can put their back into it and get it back. They look carefully at the operation and dissect what’s really happening to see where to marshall the resources so they can get the thing back on its feet.
Get one. Your first one. Then get another one. And another one. Use the first to get the second. Then use the first two to get the third. Use the first 3 to get the second 3 and you’ve doubled. That’s leverage.
It’s the wise use of resources and the readiness to use them. It’s courage, tenacity and determination. Honestly, it’s not much else except maybe discipline! Sure, know how helps, but it’s not nearly as important as the other aspects.
Look at where you are right now. Wherever that is, however good or bad – see it for what it really is. We’ve all got things we can leverage to help us grow great, or greater. It can be hard to see when we’re staring down a problem though. The mountain looks daunting to climb when you’re standing at the base. So start climbing. Grab the first hand hold. Plant your foot on the first ledge or inside the first crevice. Now, look for the next move. The very next move. Using one step to find your next step is leverage.
Here’s the thing. Until you grab hold of something there’s no leverage. Until you get off the ground and onto the mountain, no leverage. I know it sounds obvious, and it really is. But I also know how obvious escapes the smartest among us. We’re so busy chasing our tails and putting out fires, it can be hard. Or, we can forget about it. Sometimes we just grow too complacent and over time some failures seem to illustrate our false belief that we’re just not one of the lucky ones. Truth is, we’re neglecting to do the work to leverage success into greater success, or to even leverage our failure away from more failure…and toward more success!
So today, get off your butt. Go get one win. Big, small or anything in between. Then get another one. Success is a habit and we could all use better habits.
If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking Review on iTunes. It’ll help the show rank better in iTunes.
In the morning the bed looks like we’ve been wrestling a bear. We tossed and turned until we finally got up. We read a bit. Browsed the web some. Even tried to watch something on Netflix, hoping sleep would eventually come. It didn’t. Not much of it anyway.
In spite of connections, sometimes found all the world — and in spite of service professionals like attorneys and accountants — and in spite of a terrific inner circle of direct report managers who are extremely capable — CEO’s can be among the loneliest and most sleep deprived people on the planet. I once considered hiring myself out at night for sleep study research figuring I might as well get paid for not sleeping. A capitalist to the core!
Recently, I was discussing all the compliance requirements required of financial advisors. With a financial advisor. The money, time and HR investment required to wrestle that problem was staggering to me. Forget your politics. Or mine. Well, I don’t have any really – except not being fond of anything that hampers our ability to operate in a free-market when we are committed to doing the right thing. But my business mantra has never been very sophisticated or hard to understand…
Small business owners will readily mount a pulpit anytime talk turns toward compliance issues, regulatory restrictions and tax rates. As I’m listening to this business owner talk of how daunting it is to maintain compliance with all the regulations, she says, “I’m afraid to do a break-even analysis on my compliance costs, but I should do it.” We agreed it’d like being sick, but not knowing what’s wrong. Ignorance is not bliss. It can be deadly. Her firm was handling the expense – they had no choice – but she was concerned with the ever mounting cost in both time and money. Couple that with the pressure to deliver more dazzling service to customers at lower and lower costs. It was an old, old refrain I’d heard many times since I first stepped into a hi-fi store at 16 to begin my first sales job.
Business problems.
That keep us up at night.
I’m happy to say that more often than not I’ve found business owners and CEO’s who were proactive, but that’s no surprise. Typically these are people with strong determination, tenacity and resiliency. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t likely be where they are. That doesn’t mean they’re successful in operating their business though. Or that they’re good at managing the issues confronting them and their business. Some are. Some aren’t. Some do well most of the time, but a sudden unforeseen challenge can lay them low.
In just the last few months I’ve heard of 3 CEO’s who are going through a divorce. The holidays seem to be a favorite time for some people to decide, “Enough.” As I listened to one story of a divorcing CEO I could hear the pain and sadness in his voice. It was apparent in his face. And I thought, “There’s no way this is staying out of the office.” How could it? Impossible.
I’m sure he’d had many, many sleepless nights leading up to this final death knell on his marriage. I’m equally sure most people at work had no idea. But those closest to him had to know something was wrong.
Conversation turned toward those circumstances and how employees left to wonder, “What’s wrong with the boss?” can lead to some really awful cultural collateral damage. As bad as his divorce was for him and his family, the employees were likely thinking of something far worse — something that impact THEM. It’s reasonable. It’s not that they’re uncaring about their CEO, but they have their own families. Their own concerns. Their own dreams. He’s the boss though. And his life has a direct impact on theirs.
True servant-based leaders shoulder that burden, too. They understand how they impact the lives of their employees. And vendors. And financial partners. And customers. Just keep piling on that weight until our knees buckle, right? As the sign in my office says (bought by my daughter who no doubt has grown tired of hearing me say it repeatedly)…
Divorce? A business problem? Yep, it sure is when you own the joint or you’re the CEO. A flat tire on the way to work that vexes you, is also a business problem. Especially when you hit the door ready to bite a nail in two.
Then there are those strategic and organizational issues. Compliance stuff. Industry disruptors. Technology challenges. The every present people problem of finding the right people and putting them in the best spots, then hanging onto them. There are inventory problems, payroll problems, lease problems, sales problems, cost containment problems, distribution problems, pricing problems…the list just keeps on going. Pick your poison.
I know the pain very, very well. Through the years I’ve also learned a thing or three about handling them in a way that moves me from being uncomfortable to being positively action-oriented toward a workable solution. Heavy emphasis on workable. Some solutions are pie in the sky or completely unreasonable due to expense or the take required. While none of us enjoy fire-fighting, sometimes there is a fire. In those cases, it’s grab the management equivalent of a fire extinguisher and get the blaze under control. Worry about the damage later. First, stop the fire from burning the joint to the ground.
4 very practical and effective steps to conquering the demons that keep us up at night
a. Plan your attack, even if the plan is imperfect (and you know it)
You’ve heard the adage that even a bad plan beats no plan. Well, it’s certainly true when it comes to the issues that keep us up as CEO’s or business owners. The toughest thing is the wondering what we should do? Our minds get on that hamster wheel of wondering and questioning. Should I do this? Should I do this?
The longer you stay in this land of limbo the more sleep you’re going to lose. And the more weary you’ll become. This is the sleepless death spiral that we’ve all experienced when we’re just vexed and frustrated (and worried) beyond the everyday issues we regularly face. Come on, most problems don’t keep us up at night – thankfully. But these – these elephants in the room – prevent those sheep from entering our room as we can count them and get some shut eye.
What’s the very next step you need to make? Who do you need to call? What do you need to do? Right now.
This can be much, much tougher than it sounds because as CEO’s and business owners we want to connect the dots all the way to the end. Sometimes, we’ll spend too much time trying to do that, only to find that we missed a dot, or we connected two dots that never should have been connected.
Besides, there are circumstances that our next one step will likely bring about that we may have never seen coming. The issue very well may change once we head in the right direction.
So, while you’re up tonight pondering the problem, wrap your head around answering this question…
What one thing can do right now or first thing in the morning to start fixing this problem?
It’s a one-step plan, but it’ll fuel your mind to think more clearly about the step after. Right now, you just need to do something meaningful knowing that you can always retreat, pivot and morph your ideas to suit the situation as it more fully develops.
This step prevents crisis management when crisis management isn’t necessary.
b. Don’t overthink it and delay.
Most of us are prone to overthinking after the fact. By nature, most of the CEO’s I’ve ever known were decisive people able to make fast decisions with very limited (but compelling) information. That’s not hard for most of us. What may be hard is doing that in our mind – making a decision – then prior to execution we begin to wonder if we ought to do something else. Or maybe we wonder if we should just delay an hour, or a day. Or two.
Delay causes greater vexation. Vexation in a CEO causes untold anxiety throughout a company. The ripple effect I talked about last time in a CEO’s own professional development (see episode 4002) works in reverse here. When the CEO is fretful it ripples to everybody around him and pretty soon the whole place is worried. That’s too high a price to pay for putting off what you can do right now – even if what you attempt right now isn’t the perfect or final solution. At least you’re trying.
And you’re trying right now. Besides, you want to show your people how important speed is in handling problems. You want to lead a remarkable, decisive, proactive organization. Then you’ve got to be remarkable, decisive and proactive under the most intense pressure.
c. Make your next move based on new information.
I don’t play chess, but my son used to play quite a lot. Every now and again I’d play him. I understood only enough to know how the players can move. He understood the strategy, something I never learned.
He’d begin by making a move. I’d make a move. My move would impact the move he made, especially later on in the game.
That’s how this problem should be handled. You make a move. Maybe it’s ideal. Maybe it’s not. No matter, it’s not going to be wrong for long because based on the outcome you’re going to make adjustments. Depending on how your first action impacts the situation you’ll decide what to do next.
Did your first move seem to lower the pressure of the problem? Great, then now what are you going to do? Take in that new information and make adjustments.
If your first move made matters worse, then you have to take action quickly to reverse matters. Either way, your next step is based on the impact your first step had on the situation.
It’s what you do in running your business. You’re always looking for data to support whether we’re moving up or going backward. And the faster you know the faster you can adjust. Sometimes the trend is slight. Other times it’s extreme. But as the CEO we’re hungry for data. We need feedback to know how good our aim is. So go ahead and take that first shot, then look closely at the target so you’ll know how to better aim the second shot.
d. Keep doing it. Rinse and repeat.
The more we take action the easier it is to keep taking action. The more we worry about something, the easier it is to keep worrying. You decide.
Action or worry.
Action may keep you up at night, but only because you’re working. Worry on the other hand will keep you up at night and exhaust you.
Weary leaders shouldn’t remain weary for long. The company is looking to you for leadership. A sleep deprived CEO in a funk isn’t fit for the battle. So get battle ready and stay that way…because your business depends on it.
FREE! 90-Minute CEO ONE-BIG Thing Introductory Coaching Session
If you’re awake at night because there’s one big thing that is frustrating you beyond words, then I’d like to offer you a solution at no cost or obligation. Just click here to find out more.
If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking Review on iTunes. It’ll help the show rank better in iTunes.
It’s what we ask when we pick up the phone, or when we greet a friend. Today is January 1, 2016 and it’s an appropriate question to begin this new year.
I’m not going to bore you with the details except to tell you that it’s been a long time coming. Led Zeppelin released an album years ago entitled, The Song Remains The Same. As I was preparing for today’s show I thought of that song and record. And I also thought of the phrase, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” The notion is that rarely do things fundamentally change so much. The status quo can be tough to alter.
As a man in search of an epiphany I’ve been fortunate to have a few. Not many, but a few. Last year I had a couple of them. One was that my lifetime spent building successful businesses prepared me to serve a bigger number of people than I first thought years ago when I began a side project of helping business owners grow their businesses. The other one was my personal style – the essence of who I am and what I do, coupled with how I do it – is just in my DNA and it’s ridiculous to do anything other than own it.
Neither of those was a first time epiphany. I had thought of those things before, but in 2015 I gave them deeper thought than maybe ever before. I made up my mind to wrap my arms around both of these things, embrace them more fully than I ever had before.
I’m a business guy. I’ve always been a business guy. It’s not a one-dimensional thing because the world of commerce is filled with a variety of characters, styles, approaches, experiences and skills. For every person who is animated and loud there are others who speak softly and behave in utter tranquility. There are blue jean wearing CEO’s and those who prefer custom order Brooks Brother suits. Some CEO’s drive only BMW’s and others opt for a pick-up truck. Business people don’t fit in a one-size-fits-all category. It’s part of the fun and allure of business. At least it is for me. And always has been.
I’ve spent most of my adult life running luxury retailing companies. Living with the daily pressures of business building is how I’ve lived most of my life since I was first given the opportunity to lead an organization. I know what it is to make payroll, manage an advertising budget, find ways to shave down costs, negotiate long-term leases, buy trucks, hire talent, train that talent and handle the occasional problem that erupts when you discover employee theft, or when you’ve got to make a management change, or when an employee suddenly dies. That variety of issues makes business building among the most exciting things anybody could ever do.
The more things change, the more they stay the same means that I decided last fall it might be time to get back to my roots — even though I’m still well on my way to reinvention and growth, personal and professional.
Which brings me to the two words to define this new year of 2016…
Grow Great.
It’s a complete sentence. It’s action oriented with a strong, powerful verb: GROW.
But it’s focused on a specific goal that’s positive. Some people are growing lazy, fat, complacent, depressed, cynical…and lots of other negative things. Our world is filled with that kind of growth. Instead, I chose a word that isn’t limited to any specific aspect of personal or professional growth. It transcends business and morphs over into our every day lives with our friends and family. It applies to the CEO who heads up a non-profit or the City Manager who operates a multi-million dollar civic budget. Maybe it seems beyond the reach of many, but I don’t think it is. I think everybody has it within their own grasp if they could just see it for what it is – possible – and if they could tap into learning a new things or two. The object of our growth? Greatness.
Grow great.
One big change is the podcast. The name. The focus. Even the format.
The podcast will focus on the trifecta of business building:
Getting new customers or clients
Serving customers or clients better
Not going crazy in the process
Lest you think it has no application to everybody I serve – CEO’s, business owners, executives or city government leaders – consider YOU as a business. YOU are a business. The non-profit you run needs patrons and supporters. You could view them as vendors. You serve a cause or a group of people. They’re your customers. All the stuff you do to manage the work, or lead the people — that can be the stuff that drives you crazy if you’re not careful or skillful. Ditto for anybody leading a city government.
We all have to serve people, find ways to do it better and we need to find better ways to do it without losing our minds, or our personal lives.
Every organization I know of has problems. Every problem I’ve ever seen has one or more elements of these trifecta issues. Every problem. I don’t care if we’re talking about sales, marketing, improving processes, investing in new resources, handling personnel problems…every single problem can fit into one or more of these categories. Every problem you face will fit into these, too. Your career challenges fit into these. You need or want a new job or opportunity (new customers needed). You need to be more promotable or advance to a bigger role (serving existing customers better). You hate what you’re doing and you’re thinking of doing something completely different (you’re trying to avoid going crazy).
Here’s how Wikipedia defines “business” — a business, also known as an enterprise or a firm, is an organization involved in the provision of goods, services, or both to consumers. It could be YOU. It could be whatever organization you’re part of. Non-profit. Civic. For profit. Big. Small. Medium. Ten thousand employees. A solopreneur.
The podcast will focus on the trifecta of business building. It’ll contain information designed to help you grow your career and your business. Growth. That’s the objective. Targeted growth. Greatness. That’s what we want to accomplish. I’ll leave it to you to define that for yourself. Some would think it’s great to break 6-figures in personal income. Others would think greatness is defined by being able to sell an enterprise for 9 or 10 figures.
I’ve really only got three caveats to growing great — sustainable, predictable and improving.
Sustainable means it’s getting stronger over time. Day after day it’s getting better. It’s supporting itself. It’s not robbing Peter to pay Paul. It’s not living on debt. It’s self-supporting financially and it’s also fueling its own growth.
Predictable means you can calculate and strategize a degree of growth. There are actions you can take to bring about the desired results. It’s not a game of chance. It doesn’t rely on luck or happenstance. Instead, it hinges on putting the right processes and people in place to get the work accomplished.
Improving means it’s not going backward or standing still. It’s moving forward, advancing. Week after week, month after month, year after year — it’s getting better and better.
I’m going to take my own enterprise – Bula Network, LLC – to new, higher levels. Two years focused on only executive and leadership coaching left me knowing how good that fit me, and my life goals. It also taught me that my roots of business building don’t need to be sacrificed. I learned how congruent my skills and experience are. My value in helping executives and leaders is largely based on my vast experiences in building great businesses. There’s just no separating them…not if I want to provide the highest value possible. And I do.
My business consulting will go back to the roots of where it all began – helping business owners and business leaders grow their business. And that’s what I mean by the more things change, the more they stay the same. A new day. A new year. The old skills that have proven so successful throughout my life are going to be put to good use to serve people just like YOU.
The Responsibility Of Those Further Up The Path
As an experienced business builder and leader I don’t feel better than you. Certainly not more important. However, my responsibilities are different. So are my urgings.
When I sit across the table from a 35 year old leader or emerging leader it’s easy for me to remember my own life. I’ve been there. I know well how it feels and what the hurdles are. Because I’m just a few steps further up the path I’m able to work with such leaders and warn them of the potholes that may lay ahead. I can also help spot opportunities that often go unrecognized because the years and experiences have taught me to hone my real-time vision of both problems and opportunities. My clients need to benefit from my experiences. Truth is, the podcast listeners benefit from it, too.
The two words to define this year are the title of the new show – Grow Great. This is about the 4th iteration of this podcast, which is why I started with a 4000 series number. It’s a new beginning. In every way.
For you longtime listeners I hope you’ll stick with me. For new listeners I hope you find remarkable value and become faithful listeners.
My goal is to keep the shows as tight as possible. I don’t have an ideal length in mind because the subject matter needs to determine that. I am going to try to keep the episodes shorter – my aim is around 20 minutes. I’ll also try to keep each episode more focused on a single idea or action. Additionally, I’m going to make better use of tags and headlines. I know clever is what the Internet world seeks, but I’m aiming for something more. I want clarity and simplicity.
I hope you’ll subscribe to the new version of the podcast. You won’t have to change a thing if you’re already subscribing. The show name will change automatically. The RSS feed is unchanged. The name and cover art will change. Otherwise, the song remains the same.
Let’s make 2016 our very year ever! I aim to help you do that.
If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking Review on iTunes. It’ll help the show rank better in iTunes.
To subscribe, please use the links below:
I keep reading, observing, writing and doing my best to pay attention. And of course, as always, trying to connect the dots and make sense of it all.
One big change is the podcast. The name. The focus. Even the format.