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Common (but foolish) wisdom says, “Find somebody who has already done what you want to do to help you.” It’s likely the result of a human trait we’ve all got. Laziness. We want a shortcut. To copycat somebody else so we don’t have to put in the work. Why machete our way through the jungle if we can walk right behind somebody else who is doing all the hard work? It sounds smart. And easy. Which is why it’s such an attractive thought. 

Arrogance sets in. I see it pretty regularly in social media when somebody blasts somebody simply based on some perceived success level. It’s the same wisdom that gives greater credence to what a Bentley owner might say about something versus a Honda owner. The presupposition is the Bentley owner is smarter and has better answers. Maybe. Maybe not.

I’m a hockey fan. I’ve never played the game, but I’ve studied it fanatically for decades. Even done my share of amateur coaching, successfully. The Dallas Stars won the Stanley Cup in 1999 behind a head coach who never played high-level hockey. Ken Hitchcock discovered he had a knack for motivating players when he was growing up playing hockey. That led to a 10-year stint coaching teenage boys in AAA midget hockey in his home country, Canada. He was successful. That led to an opportunity to coach a minor league professional team where his success continued. Then he jumped on board a professional NHL team, the Philadelphia Flyers, as an assistant coach, which led to him taking the helm of the Dallas Stars’ minor league affiliate team in Kalamazoo. That’s where he was when January 1996 rolled around and he was hired to be the head coach of the Dallas Stars. A man who never played in the NHL. He never played professionally. Playing wasn’t his skill, but coaching was. 

In 1999 he and his Dallas Stars lifted Lord Stanley’s Cup for the first (and so far, only time). And the next year, he took them back to the Stanley Cup Finals where they lost to the New Jersey Devils. The Dallas Stars didn’t approach the problem of finding a new head coach by saying, “Let’s find somebody who has already done what we want to do.” Hitch had demonstrated he knew how to coach and get the best out of players and teams. 

There’s a first for everything. 

In order for you to experience your first is it necessary for you to have somebody alongside you who has already been there? Just think about all the terrific accomplishments, like the Dallas Stars experiencing a championship for the first time, that disprove that. In fact, guess who Ken Hitchcock replaced as head coach? A man named Bob Gainey, an NHL Hall of Famer who has 5 Stanley Cups as a player. Plus the one with Dallas when he was their General Manager. But he was never able to take them to a Championship victory. And unlike Hitchcock, Gainey is one of the top 100 NHL players of all time. 

Do you remember when you first started your career…and when you ran into a problem…who you called?

Let me guess. Mom or dad? It’s likely. 

Did you call them because they had seen this problem before and you instantly thought, “This won’t be new to them!” ??

Ridiculous. They likely had no clue what you were talking about unless you entered the same field they were in. You know why you called who you called? 

Because you trusted them and knew they cared about you.

You called them because you knew they’d put their own interests behind yours. They just wanted to help you navigate the issue for your own success, not theirs. It’s what parents do. And trusted friends. 

Too frequently we feel like we’re being completely rational when we set about to find a person to help us – a person who has already accomplished what we want to accomplish. But we give no consideration to the context of them versus us. 

Question: Do you prefer chocolate or vanilla?

Why?

You can’t rationalize why you prefer one over the other. It just is what it is. It’s your preference. Is it emotional? Not entirely, it’s also involving your taste buds. 

I live in Texas and cilantro is a big player in Mexican food. I love Mexican food, but I hate cilantro. And it’s more biological than emotional. A small percentage of people taste soap when they eat cilantro. I’m one of them. You could rationalize with me all day long, but I taste what I taste. Soap isn’t quite what I’m going for when I eat Mexican food. Sing to me the virtues of cilantro and I don’t care. 

So it goes with trying to copy what somebody else has done. They’re them. You’re you. You have to figure out YOU. And you don’t have to be selective to lean solely on somebody who has already accomplished what you want to accomplish. 

Yes, there are certain trainings and education that can’t be discounted. Learning math from somebody who doesn’t know it themselves isn’t going to work out very well. For either of you. But we’re usually not talking about specific sciences or facts. People want to make a million bucks so they think finding a millionaire is the path toward accomplishing that. But there are millions of paths toward making a million dollars. Lebron did it. So did David Letterman. They don’t belong in the same conversation so how it going to work out to seek out somebody who has done what you hope to do? 

You are you. Unlike anybody else. Yes, with quite a lot in common with many others, but with enough uniqueness to completely throw off the equation of being able to copy somebody else. 

My son is going through some big growth and trying to figure out how to navigate that growth. He’s got many options. A good problem to have. But at the heart of the issue is one question, “What does HE want to do?” It’s got nothing to do with reasoning or rational thinking. It’s got to do with emotions and preferences. We talk about it and I don’t impose on him what he “should” do because I’m not him. We’re uniquely different. And what he may want today…is sure to change over time. As a business owner, he has to decide how he wants to spend his days. What does he want to do? 

I’m only nudging him to go all in on where he’s strongest. Soar with your strengths and all that. Because I know that’s his greatest competitive edge, and I also know what’s what he most loves to do. If he hated it, then that wouldn’t work – any more than me loving cilantro would work (unless I suddenly develop an affinity for the taste of soap). 

Who can best help us?

People who care about our success without getting tangled up in their own success. People who understand us. People who are intent on serving us. People with intentions of never hurting us. That’s why when you started out you called mom or dad. It wasn’t likely because they had seen your problem before. That didn’t matter. What mattered is they were fully invested in you and you knew it. 

It’s the power of others. The power and impact of surrounding ourselves with people who are anxious to help us. And don’t discount the poower of our ability to return the favor. Reciprocity is a big deal. Quite frequently we get more from helping others than they do. You’ve experienced that, too. 

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

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I’m fascinated that too often people don’t ask. We don’t ask the question that seems obvious to us. We don’t ask for help even though we know we could use it, or we need it. Additionally, that we sometimes – perhaps often – don’t ask questions to feed or satisfy our curiosity or desire to truly know. The motivations behind our behavior are interesting. We can ask questions to show off, to impress others with our prowess (perceived or real). We can ask questions to intimidate. We can ask questions to ridicule. We can ask for help to patronize. On and on it goes. The fuel behind our asking isn’t always honest or sincere. 

This isn’t a philosophic topic. Rather, it’s practical. 

Don’t get hung up on the truth – yes, I believe it’s the truth – that some questions serve different ends. Teachers ask questions to find out how much the student knows (or doesn’t). Parents ask their teenagers questions to put them on the spot, making sure they know we’re watching them to protect them from foolishness. And tons of other end results are part of the question quest. 

But today, I’m focused on how entrepreneurs need to ask questions that we honestly want to know the answers to. Questions intended to satisfy our curiosity or our need to learn. 

Entrepreneurship is largely about figuring it out. It’s what we do. Over time we can sometimes lose our edge though. We can think we’re smarter than we really are. Success…or failure can jade us. That pool of assumptions we make grows increasingly larger over time. And it slows down our question asking skills because we may think we already know the answer. 

One question leaps to the forefront for me continually. It’s a question that is aimed squarely at my innate abilities, my hardwiring. I’m very intuitive. I’m a dot-connector, always trying to make sense of things. Trying to figure things out. Here’s the question that can keep me awake at night.

What if I’m wrong?

I honestly want to know the answer to that. More specifically, I always want to know if I am wrong. Or right. 

“What if I’m wrong?” keeps me on my toes by helping me consider the possibility – too often the probability – of being wrong. I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I am a knife. I give into the reality that my intuition, while reasonably reliable, isn’t fully bulletproof. 

More than that, my “what if I’m wrong?” question forces me to ask other questions in order to find out. That drive, that curiosity, needs satisfaction.

What do you honestly want to know?

Maybe there are lifelong questions like mine. Maybe not. But there are certainly tons of daily questions that need answers. Answers you could be getting if you’d just ask instead of surrendering to assumptions. 

As business operators don’t we deserve to get the answers when they’re readily available simply by us asking? Working to figure things out would seem to demand we get better – not laxer – at asking questions we honestly want the answers to. 

Know what to ask. Know whom to ask. Know when to ask. 

What is easy. Ask whatever you honestly need to know. Forget about how you look. Forget what others think. The answer you need is more important and valuable than all that.

You know whom to ask. You know the people who likely have the answer – or at least, the people who have an answer. Nothing prohibits you from asking as many people as you’d like. My only word of caution – and the reason I titled today’s show as I did – is to avoid asking in search of the answer you most want. Truth. Honesty. Those are the goals. 

When you should ask is easy. The minute you know what you’d like to find out. Don’t wait. Speed is key. Can you really ask a question you want the honest answer to too soon? No. You can certainly wait too long and until it’s too late though. So take your swings the second you want to. 

Become a question expert!

Curiosity may be innate to some, but it can be cultivated and fostered. Asking questions in search of honest answers is the best way to become better at asking. Practice makes perfect.

Getting the answers is often its own reward. It’s fuel to your curiosity fire. You’ll find that asking in search of an honest answer sparks within you more questions, taking you deeper into knowledge that you’d ever achieve otherwise. Drill down just as deeply as you’d like. It’ll make you a better person, a better entrepreneur and a better leader. 

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

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Decisions aren’t created equally. Risk and reward vary. Size and magnitude do, too.

Owning the joint doesn’t mean you make all the decisions. You’ve already learned the value of pushing some decisions off your plate by letting people super close to the work do it. 

Let’s play a quick game. Off the top of your head, what’s one decision you made that paid off BIG TIME. Personal. Professional.

Maybe it was asking that girl out 43 years ago and now you’ve got 5 grandkids and a tribe (family).

Maybe it was befriending a super smart person who became your business partner 10 years ago.

What was it? One decision that changed the trajectory of your life, professionally or personally. Or both.

These decisions don’t happen often, but we don’t need them to. Hopefully, they happen when we most need them. 

You knew the truth to the question the moment you read it or heard me read it. “What if you were just one decision away from changing everything?”

Innovation. Creativity.

Decide today to increase both. It’s a decision that may change everything in your business. 

Commit to curiosity and wonder. What will happen if we do this? What if scenarios are just one way you can decide to more deeply embrace innovation and creativity.

Another is to push the limits of how your business or industry operates. Every business (and industry) operates from assumptions. Assumptions aren’t bad, they’re necessary. But that doesn’t mean you have to fall in love with every single one of them and never test or challenge them. Get a little bit rebellious. Start questioning things you’ve never questioned before. An easy place to start is all the sacred cows in your business or industry. Pick on the things that you and everybody else, assume are just truths that can’t be contested. Start challenging them one by one. All of them. 

Problems or Opportunities?

Decide today to look at your problems in a different way. I’m not denying that you’ve got problems. I just know that if you’re able – and determined – to look at them differently, you may find there are opportunities you can exploit and not just problems you must solve.

Where is the opportunity here – in this problem? What might we be able to do because of this problem that we couldn’t – or wouldn’t – otherwise do? 

Deploy the brainpower of your team to find the opportunities in every problem. That’s right, opportunities. There are likely multiple opportunities. 

Business history is filled with stories of happy accidents that were failures turned into major successes. Post-It Notes by 3M is just one famous example. You likely have heard and read of others. Well, stop reading about them and start creating your own. Just make up your mind – make a decision to search for successes and opportunities in your failures and problems. 

Leverage people.

You’ve got work that must be done. I get it. But you’ve got a business filled with individuals who need and want certain things in order to feel great about themselves and their work. Decide today to stop considering what your business needs and make up your mind to scale the power of the individual inside your company. 

Do you advertise or tell the market that your people are part of your competitive advantage? Many companies do. Most of them lie. But let’s assume you do it and you’re telling the truth. I know what you mean by it. You mean that your people are really good at what they do, that you’ve got systems in place to help them deliver consistently to your customers. You’re proud of it and you should be. But you’re losing leverage by failing or neglecting to look at the individuals who make up your organization. 

Here’s why? You’ve got some people who are very unhappy, but you value them. You don’t know they’re unhappy and entertaining other options. They don’t want to be doing what they’re doing and they’re stuck. You’re not seeing it because you’re not thinking about them. You’re only thinking of yourself and how they’re doing the job you need them to do.

But there’s something else happening, too. There are people who have skills and talents you know nothing about because you don’t know what really jazzes them. You’re not leveraging the people who are already part of your team. People who could deliver significantly higher value if you only cooperated with them, and their individual goals and desires. 

Stop living in the past thinking that employers are in charge. Give your people permission to be in charge of their own lives and careers. Because they really are in charge. It’s in your best interest to cooperate and collaborate with them to take full advantage of all their passions, desires and skills. 

Put yourself in a better room.

I don’t mean you move your office to something fancier. Something with a better view of the skyline of your hometown. Or an office with fancier appointments. 

I mean a room – physical or virtual – filled with people who can help you and people whom you can help. 

Purpose and responsibility. Every human being craves and needs these. You have plenty of both. In spades. Because you’re a business owner. A top-level leader. 

Those burdens are advantages of business ownership, entrepreneurship. They’ve also got a downside. There’s no place to hide. Nobody to blame.

You know that. And because you know that…you’ve grown accustomed to the loneliness. It’s just part of it. And I know why you think it. Because it’s largely true. 

There are many things you simply can’t discuss with people inside your company. Or even trusted advisors outside your company. So you go it alone. 

It’s what 99% plus of entrepreneurs and top-level leaders do because they don’t think there’s any other way. But there is. There’s a different decision that can be made. A decision, like these others, that can change everything. 

I’m on a mission to bring this option to light as much as I possibly can. Because I know there’s an epidemic of loneliness and even despair among entrepreneurs today. And much of it can be fixed if we can help spread the word that there’s a remedy. The Peer Advantage by Bula Network is just my small part – just one answer for a select few entrepreneurs to combat it. The quickest way I know to help you understand the power of this one decision is to tell you about a non-profit organization called National Organization of Parents of Murdered Children. Inc.

You do NOT want to be a member of that organization, but if you find yourself the parent of a murdered child there’s likely no better place to be. The moment you enter a meeting there’s an instant connection. Instant empathy from everybody else in the room. Because everybody in the room is just like you. Nobody has to spend time explaining anything. The individual circumstances or situations of everybody’s life is different, but the elephant in the room connects everybody with the abliity to help each other, and to be helped. 

So it is with The Peer Advantage by Bula Network. Everybody is an entrepreneur. Everybody is a business owner. The specifics of their market, their enterprise and all those other details don’t matter so much. That instant connection is summed up in the phrase, “I get it,” because everybody does get it. They understand the loneliness. They understand the responsibility. They know what you’re feeling, how you feel and how badly you want your company to succeed, grow and flourish. 

The details matter in each person serving themselves, others and the group. The collective is the power. A single decision to find increased courage through vulnerability is a decision that can change everything. Fewer than 1% of all entrepreneurs make that choice. You can decide to remain among the herd of entrepreneurs fearful of letting a small, intimate group of other entrepreneurs help them. Or, you can find the courage and humility that is reserved to the business owners who make a single decision that can change everything in their business, and their life. 

If you’re an entrepreneur and you’re interested in learning more, visit ThePeerAdvantage.com.

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

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Leo Bottary and I were enjoying lunch and conversation this week. We don’t get to see each other in person very often, the hazards of me living in Texas and him living in California. We do a podcast together – What Anyone Can Do (titled after Leo’s latest book by the same title). Buy a copy here. 

Among the many things I enjoy about my friendship with Leo is our diversity. He’s well educated. Me? Not so much. I left college with 18 hours shy of a degree in journalism. Leo has an advanced degree. Leo has spent a lifetime making a variety of connections in all sorts of spaces. Until about a decade ago I spent my entire career with my head down operating retail companies. He’s from Boston. I’m from Ada, Oklahoma. 😀 

Coming from two different worlds is beneficial to us. Well, I’ll speak for myself. It’s beneficial to me. Leo provides a perspective that’s often different from my own. It’s not about whether either one of us right. Or wrong. It’s like looking at anything – like a car (I only use that because I know auto manufacturers have websites that allow customers to take virtual tours of cars, inside and out). The view from the back is quite different from the front, which is altogether different than looking at the side, but together – it’s a more complete view. An improved view. 

Leo and I were talking about some future plans we have individually and collectively. At some point Leo challenged me to consider an approach that was 180 degrees different than the one I had planned. We talked about it, with me asking him to clarify so I could more fully understand. It made sense to me. I hadn’t considered it before. There’s the power of peers! (Ironically, the title of Leo’s first book, coauthored with Leon Shapiro)

Don’t get hung up on right or wrong. If the only view we have of a car is the rear, it’s neither right nor wrong. It just is. 

We walk around to the front and take a very different look. We don’t conclude, we’ll that’s not right. We understand that we’re looking at the same vehicle, just from a different PERSPECTIVE. 

Leo and I are both passionate about the same thing — the power of the collective, the truth that who we surround ourselves with matters. We both have a deep belief in the power of others and think it’s one of the most highly under-utilized strategies in every space, including business. It’s a big thing to have in common. But it doesn’t mean we see things, including details, in the same way. We’re committed to sharing and listening though. No judgment. No “you-should-do-this-not-that.” Just deep conversations, insightful questions and an ongoing quest for clarity so the best solutions can be found. 

Flipping it around – whatever IT is – isn’t always easy without somebody provoking us. We can improve the practice by intentionally looking at it from the opposite view. But that’s difficult without having others challenge us in a caring way. It’s the old parable of the blind men and the elephant. 

A group of blind men heard that a strange animal, called an elephant, had been brought to the town, but none of them were aware of its shape and form. Out of curiosity, they said: “We must inspect and know it by touch, of which we are capable.” So, they sought it out, and when they found it they groped about it. In the case of the first person, whose hand landed on the trunk, said “This being is like a thick snake.” For another one whose hand reached its ear, it seemed like a kind of fan. As for another person, whose hand was upon its leg, said, the elephant is a pillar like a tree-trunk. The blind man who placed his hand upon its side said, “elephant is a wall.” Another who felt its tail, described it as a rope. The last felt its tusk, stating the elephant is that which is hard, smooth and like a spear.

Various lessons stem from that parable, but for our purposes, I’m focused on our need as business owners for deeper understanding, and respect for different perspectives on the same object of observation.

The Peer Advantage by Bula Network is my professional effort (and passion) to serve just 7 business owners with an advantage of being surrounded by people who will do this for one another. I’m assembling 7 high performing, humble, but courageous business owners who understand how critical deeper understanding with the help of others can be to their personal and professional growth. You can find out more by going to ThePeerAdvantage.com. If you own a business anywhere in America please check it out. 

Have a great Friday and enjoy your weekend.

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

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It’s the reverse of what makes people feel comfortable. Or confident. 

We want to figure it all out first, then start. But that doesn’t work. It’s not how we do anything, or how we’ve done anything. 

There is no realized ROI on thinking. The ROI is in the action taken, which is certainly impacted by thinking…but thinking by itself is useless.

Every innovation I’ve ever been a part of began with an idea. A thought. A premise. But that’s not where the power was. The power was in putting it to the test. Will it work? We think it will, but we’re never sure until we prove it. So we start and figure it out along the way validating the idea or figuring out that it won’t work, prompting us to ditch it or morph it into something else. Often times something we never imagined when we began.

What are you thinking about right now? What innovations or creative solutions are you and your team considering? 

Have you been vetting the ideas for a while, but you still haven’t learned if they’ll work? 

Perfectionism isn’t always the culprit. It’s the popular culprit, but sometimes it’s something not nearly as sexy. I mean, it’s a badge of honor for some people to declare how much of a perfectionist they are, when the truth is, they’re just lazy. Or a procrastinator. Or they’re scared. “I’m a perfectionist” is better than saying, “I’m scared.” Or is it? 

Starting is a commitment. Thinking isn’t. So we can keep thinking and be safe. No exposure. We can even talk about what we’re thinking. Still safe!

But try to do something and now we’re exposed. Feeling naked before the whole world, which we’re convinced are watching our every misstep. Funny how we can convince ourselves that the universe notices our every failure, but nobody sees our successes. New flash: nobody is paying attention to either one. We’ve all got our own stuff. No time to pay attention to everything you may try, much less to keep score of how well or how poorly you’re doing. 

Yesterday we talked about how it’s your life, and it’s your fault. Go back and listen to it — or listen to it again. Get that truth cemented in your head. Accept the truth of it. 

Now, what is there to be afraid of? Failure? Success? I’m not going to tell you be fearless. That’s unreasonable. And unrealistic. We all have fears. False evidence appearing real. 

The only way to combat our fear – this includes our fear of starting – is courage. Don’t get wrapped up thinking you’ll eliminate the fear. I wouldn’t even waste my time trying to reduce the fear. Instead, try to increase your courage. In this case, the courage to get going. 

Here’s the evidence — courage is best increased by doing, not by thinking. Displays of courage, even small acts of courage, foster more displays of courage. In short, courage begets courage. And it’s why you’re not able to figure things out more quickly. You’re trying to think your way to success and that’s not how success happens. Anywhere!

I’m not a scientist, but let’s consider some brainiac in a white lab coat. Maybe somebody working on a very noble mission, like finding a cure for cancer or dementia. All that learning and knowledge provokes ideas and thoughts. The group of lab coats can sit around sharing their ideas, but nobody will find any cure for anything if that’s all they do. They have to test their ideas. They have to start so they can get on with figuring it out. In this case, figuring out if the cure they envision can be found or not. 

Thinking doesn’t provide the feedback we need to grow, improve and transform. Nor does it give us evidence that our idea (our thinking) is accurate, lacking or woefully off base. We can sit around our offices thinking an idea will be terrific, but until we unleash our idea into the wild – by taking action (starting) – we’ll never know. You may as well sit around and think your way to growing revenues 50%. 

Magic doesn’t happen in your imagination. It happens when you start. When you do something based on your thinking, creativity, and imagination. 

For starters, think it through enough to get started.

If your aim is to think it through, considering every conceivable consequence, then you’ll be thinking forever. But that learning isn’t really learning. It’s your own head trash, viewpoints, assumptions and thoughts. Are they accurate? Valid? You think so, but you don’t know until you test them (just like those lab coats who must test their idea about a cure). 

Some ideas are more complex than others. I’ve never had a thought that deserves to be lumped alongside the cure of some disease, but I’ve had some thoughts about a complicated problem. Other problems aren’t complicated at all. Thinking through solutions for straight-forward problems doesn’t likely require some detailed blueprint. We can likely come up with a solution off the top of our head…with enough brain power to get started. 

Have you ever implemented a solution that created a new problem you didn’t have before? Sure, we’ve all done that if we’ve operated a business for any length of time at all. But, we then set about to fix that problem. Law of unintended consequences and all that.

Listen, I’m not admonishing you to not be thoughtful. I’m admonishing you to avoid being or getting stuck. You need enough brain power to get started. And it’s based on two factors: cost (call it risk or reward) and complexity (how complicated is the problem, and the proposed solution). The higher these two C’s are, the more time you’re going to need to THINK. But make sure your aim is to think through it enough to get started DOING something.

Get going as quickly as you can and pay attention.

Speed is key, but speed is not recklessness. A thoughtful start is your goal. But don’t start assuming you’ve got it all thought out. 

Watch a child learning something for the first time. That timid behavior is them feeling it out. Paying close attention to how it’s working out. It doesn’t work out perfectly at first. Ever. Riding a bike. Hitting a baseball. Kicking a soccer ball. Counting to 10. Reciting the alphabit. Mistakes get made. That’s where the learning happens. 

Your business works the same way. Get going, but keep your eyes and ears open. Pay close attention to what the real world is showing you about what you thought. 

Accept reality.

This one is hard for some business owners who so love their idea they don’t want to admit failure. Or that the idea may not have been as good as they once thought.

When I was young I was fortunate enough to work for an idea guy. We’d go to lunch and he’d unload a pocket full of ideas. But he was humble enough, comfortable enough with who he was to admit that 99 of 100 ideas he had were crap. He was always in search of the one that was brilliant though. We didn’t wait until we stumbled onto that one though. Maybe 5 were worth giving a shot. There was only one way to find out. Try it. And accept the results.

This doesn’t mean you start and if it’s not a homerun right off…you quit. It means you pay attention, get the feedback of the real world, and make adjustments. But you can continue to adjust without success. The kid learning to ride a bike eventually learns to ride the bike. Quitting won’t help him learn how to ride the bike. Determination and tenacity will. Unfortunately, our businesses aren’t like riding a bike – something proven easy for most kids to learn with practice. We’re operating in a different environment than that…trying things we’ve never done, and sometimes things nobody has done (at least not in our specific situation). 

Don’t fall in love with your ideas to the extent you refuse to face reality. When and how you go about that is up to you. Only you can decide when you’ve given it enough of a try. 

Value the ROI of doing, and grow a culture of starting.

This is one of the biggest deals to me because I’m a culture freak. I have operated for decades on the belief – now I know it’s the TRUTH – that the culture matters. What people believe, and how people feel makes the difference in how well they execute. 

Actions foster more actions. 

Committee meetings foster more committee meetings. 

Want to keep talking about it? Thinking about it? Easy. Keep doing more of that and don’t be fast to act. 

Want to be doing stuff, making stuff happen? Easy. Start doing more stuff. Find ways to do stuff faster. Show your organization how valuable action is to you. 

Learning stems from doing. Develop a team fixated on figuring things out. Don’t confuse figuring it out with just sitting around thinking about it. The thinking needs to be hit in the mouth with the real world to see if the idea will stand up, or fold. And be defeated. 

You’ll rack up more wins with more starts. Baseball playoffs are underway. I’m not a baseball fan, but I know enough to know that the more “at bats” a player gets, the better his chances of success. He can watch film. Take batting practice. But until he gets into the batter’s box in a real game, he’s got no way to know how good (or bad) he is. Your business isn’t any different. 

Step up. Get in the batter’s box with your ideas. Take swings in a real game, against real competition. You’ll figure it out, but that won’t happen in a film room or the dugout.

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

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