Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:33 — 6.4MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | More

Enthusiasm is defined as intense and eager enjoyment, interest, or approval. I suppose people can be committed without it. But that’s not much of a life! 

Companies and organizations have been focused on culture for the past 50 years. Before that, nobody much cared. Show up, do your job or get fired. Don’t speak up. Don’t speak out. Just be on time, fall in line and do what you’re told. Even old dogs like me don’t remember those hard times. 

Yet many of us have experienced working alongside people who didn’t have a commitment to do good work. Or even working for bosses who did nothing to foster it. 

The times they are a-changin’ — and it’s great. 

Any small to medium sized business owner who pays attention to a podcast and website called GROW GREAT is certainly not prone to leading with tyranny. I appreciate that about you. And I’m sure your employees do, too. 

Every business owner and leader I know give some attention and lip service to “employee engagement.” It’s just a high falutin way of talking about how enthusiastic people are about showing up for work and doing the work. Commitment.

What we really want is enthusiastic commitment. We don’t just want dutiful, going through the motions producing the minimal performance. 

“Enthusiasm spells the difference between mediocrity and accomplishment.”   – Norman Vincent Peale

Mr. Peale was right. 

The other day an executive was telling me about some engagement challenges at his office. Speaking about a specific employee, a multi-year veteran of their company he lamented, “She’s on time and does a fairly decent job. But it’s like she’s just checking the box and doing whatever she needs to do to keep that box checked.” I asked him how long that had been going on. “For a good long while,” he said. “Why didn’t you talk with her when it first started?” I asked. He didn’t know. It just didn’t happen. Life happened. How here he was who-knows-how-much-later and she’s having a negative impact he thinks on co-workers. He’s wondering what to do. 

This story is commonplace. Commitment, enthusiasm give way. When the erosion begins, we either don’t notice or by the time we do notice it’s been happening a while. And rather than sit down to find out what’s going on, and what we may be able to do to help – as leaders – we can hide. Hoping it’ll resolve itself. It hardly ever does!

Here’s what I know works – get to know people. Find out what’s going on with them. Not in an intrusive way, but in a caring, compassionate way. Fully professional. And heavily craved by employees. Especially those who really want to excel. 

A culture of commitment begins with your commitment to your employees. As the owner, you must demonstrate how committed you are to help your people succeed. If that commitment isn’t there, then all bets are off. You won’t likely build or improve your culture. Honestly, you don’t deserve a high performing culture until or unless you first commit. 

Be enthusiastic. It’ll drive your performance and help you lead your people to achieve more than they may have thought possible.

“Enthusiasm is the mother of effort, and without it nothing great was ever achieved.”   – Ralph Waldo Emerson

On the practical front, make time to sit down with every employee. But if you’ve got one or more employees who once had higher enthusiasm and commitment, but you’ve seen it slip, then make them a priority. Don’t drag them in and rail on them. Talk with them honestly. Express your concerns and observations. This isn’t a “let me tell you how it has to be” confrontation. Instead, make it a discussion of care and concern. You want to know what you can do to help them retrieve the enthusiasm and commitment they once displayed. Reinforce your desire and commitment to help them. Their success is yours. Let them know it’s important. 

For many employees, that alone can do the trick. Some (check that, most) people need to know somebody cares. Somebody is paying attention to their contribution. 

I know you may crave some complex, sophisticated strategy, but I don’t have it. That crap doesn’t work. Human communication does. Be human. Don’t be harpy. Be kind. Helpful. 

Be interested in your employees. Find out more about their lives. They’ll share. You just have to create the environment where they know it’s safe. It may take time, depending on how you’ve behaved in the past. Which tells you all you need to know – YOU are the biggest driver to create a culture of commitment.

“None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.”  – Henry David Thoreau

Ask your employees how you can help each of them achieve higher performance. Make their success as workers, and people, a priority. Do that and you’ll find they grow their own enthusiasm and commitment to make your company great. 

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

Subscribe to the podcast

To subscribe, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)
• Click Here to Subscribe via Stitcher

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.

Thank you!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:51 — 6.6MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | More

It’s one of the hardest things to accomplish. To get insights without the judgment. 

You’re surrounded by lots of people willing to tell you what you ought to do. Should-ing people is easy. 

“You should do this. Or that. But not this other.” 

It’s judgment. Second guessing. People who want to own telling you what to do, but they don’t have to own the outcome. They can sit safely from their judgment seat and make recommendation after recommendation. And quickly point out how you’re making a mistake by doing whatever it is you’re doing. 

It’s a completely different thing – and a much more valuable thing – to surround yourself with somebody (or a group of somebodies) who can help you find the insights you may seek. Every small to medium sized business owner needs insights because they help us avoid our blind spots. They help us figure out our false assumptions. Or the ones that may be holding us back. 

The other day I found myself on a car manufacturer’s website. You could select a model, then take a virtual tour of the interior. By holding your computer mouse, or finger over the photo visitors can move around to see different viewpoints of the interior. The dashboard looks different from the back seat than it does from the driver’s position.

Running your business without insights is like sitting in the back seat assuming it’s the only point of view. It’s limiting. 

But so is judgment. 

Consider the source.

Opinions aren’t hard to come by. Neither is judgment. 

Because the people who surround you mostly have lots of both. It’s not that their viewpoint is bad. Or unhelpful. It just comes with strings attached. Strings you have to account for.

I’m sitting down with a CEO of a manufacturing company. He’s confiding in me a problem he’s wrestling with. We’re talking numbers. Financial numbers. It’s the potential impact and opportunity of this problem. Since it involves numbers I think it only natural to ask, “What does your CFO say?” Without blinking he tells me he’s not talked with his CFO yet. It’s evident he’s not wanting to do that just yet. 

Why?

Because his CFO isn’t the most opportunistic leader. Mostly, he’s risk-averse. The CEO know the CFO will only see the downside and not the opportunity. There’s his string. Thankfully, the CEO sees the string. The bad news is, the CEO has no trusted internal advisor about such things. Do you think that’s a constraint for him and his leading the company? You bet. 

Where are your constraints? What’s bottlenecking your insights? 

People with an agenda. Aka, strings attached. Again, it doesn’t mean their insights aren’t useful. But it does mean their insights have a bias that’s likely favorable to them. You can’t blame them. This CFO has a viewpoint. Namely, that it’s his job to PROTECT and PRESERVE. He doesn’t really understand, or embrace the notion that he could also be a great gatekeeper seeking to help the CEO seize growth opportunities. That doesn’t make him a bad guy. It does make him biased toward how he sees his role though. 

Surrounding yourself with people who expect nothing from you is key. They don’t need you as their boss. Or supplier. Or partner. Or customer. Or investor. And you don’t need them in any of those roles either. 

You can find them. It may not happen organically or naturally. That is, you may not find them in the wild. In fact, I’ll be among the first perhaps to tell you — you won’t find them by happenstance. You’re going to have to be intentional and purposeful. It’s got to become a priority. And that’s your problem. It’s not. 

You’re looking at the dashboard of the car from the default view thinking it’s the only one that matters. I’m pushing you to move the mouse around. Look at it from other angles. It’ll provide a clarity you’ll never see otherwise. It’s the difference in the business owners who expand, grow and improve. 

Oh, and at the end of the day, you need to do what you think is best. It’s your show. Get the arm-chair quarterbacks out of your life. That scoreboard isn’t reflecting their performance, but yours. Own it. 

Who you surround yourself with matters. Put in the work to make that group the most powerful group possible. 

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

Subscribe to the podcast

To subscribe, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)
• Click Here to Subscribe via Stitcher

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.

Thank you!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:26 — 7.1MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | More

Managing first growth is different than later stage growth. Or it *can* be. 

Recently, I’ve encountered a few folks who have started up. They’re early stage. Some are 2-3 years in, and others are less than a year in. They range from solopreneurs to companies with 3-5 people. 

Growth is challenging, but it’s a lot nicer than stagnation, or shrinkage, or dying. 

Sure, growth is a nice problem to have, but it’s still a problem. And it needs good solutions. 

Consider the size of any space rocket. They’re multiple stories high because of the fuel they need to escape the pull of earth’s gravity. Once they get into orbit, they jettison the fuel part along the way. Just goes to show you the enormous power required to get into orbit. Momentum is hard. It takes a lot of energy. 

So when you start to get momentum, you need to leverage it fast. Don’t hesitate to seize the opportunity for growth when it’s clearly present. 

The first thing all of us must do, as business owners, is put in the work to achieve momentum and get the opportunity for growth. We want to get there as fast as possible so we can exhaust as few resources as possible. It’s no different than making our dollars go further. Get all the bang you can for your buck. 

Speed is the first rule for managing growth. Especially your first growth spurt. 

That doesn’t mean you act impulsively or recklessly. It just means you focus on it fast and avoid putting off decisions. You shove growth on the front burner where it belongs. Think about your alternatives (nearly every problem has multiple solutions). Don’t fixate on one choice. Be open to consider what may be best.

For many businesses, growth hints that we need more manpower. People. 

We sometimes hesitate to hire or expand our team. If that’s you, ask yourself why? Why are you hesitating? Are you worried that quality will suffer? Are you just a micro-manager who doesn’t want to delegate? Are you convinced you just can’t find anybody good enough? 

Do you hire somebody who has what you lack? Or do you find somebody with whom you have much more in common than not? 

Here’s the thing about successful business building. It’s a process that’s learned. You have to figure it out. There are no standard answers to these questions.

Hire the very best people you can afford. Look for the qualities that are non-negotiable to you. That means you have to first figure out what your non-negotiables are.

What skills and traits will contribute to the growth opportunities? I’ve got one strong piece of advice – hire for what you need right now. Too many small to medium business owners obsess about what they need down the road, and end up overlooking the things needed to handle the immediate opportunities. Admittedly, it’s a philosophy you may not share. The good news is, it’s your business so you can operate it any way your choose. It’s okay. 

It’s easy for us to think of today’s opportunity, then get ahead of ourselves. I don’t like getting too far ahead because it fosters a counting-chickens-before-the-eggs-hatch mindset. I’m a longterm player always looking for sustainable, predictable revenue and profits. And willing to forego a dollar today if I’m convinced five dollars can be earned a bit later. It’s mostly math. Sometimes a dollar today is necessary to keep us going. Sometimes it’s best to let go of today’s dollar because a year from now we can earn 5 times, 10 times or more…just because we waited. Patience can pay. But mostly, I’m a speed freak. Speed of getting it done. Speed of learning. Speed of pivoting when necessary. 

Whether it’s people, capital or anything else – go for what you need today to seize the opportunities you may be losing. That’s mostly the challenge: the loss of business. Growth may be happening – in a spurt – and you find yourself unable to take advantage. That’s a growth spurt and you need to address it. 

The worst thing you can do it avoid thinking about it. Or making a decision to handle it. If you do, the growth opportunity will pass. Momentum never lasts. It ebbs and flows. You want to create it as quickly as you can, then live in it for as long as you can.

There’s another secret you should know. Nothing is forever. We sometimes lament making a decision for fear we’ll be wrong. You may be wrong. Just weigh the decision’s downside. Count the cost. If the risk is high, be as certain as you can. If the risk is nominal, act with greater speed because you can fix it later if you’re wrong. News flash! You will be wrong quite a lot and it’s fine. Err on the side of taking action, not on avoiding action. 

Be thankful you’re experiencing the growth spurt. Marshall your resources to take full advantage of it…and do everything you can to prolong it. Stay in the momentum “growth zone” as long as possible. Keep feeding the beast and it’ll feed you back (in time). Be patient. 

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

Subscribe to the podcast

To subscribe, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)
• Click Here to Subscribe via Stitcher

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.

Thank you!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:13 — 8.7MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | More

Happy Saturday.

I tire of hearing about business owners experiencing exploding marriages and families. More than that, I get really sick of hearing folks chant, “Hustle! Hustle! Hustle!” inferring that success requires complete devotion to career, business building or whatever other achievements we chase. Hard work is required. That’s for sure. But to assume that we can’t build successful businesses at the expense of everything else in life is a lie. 

I have much more respect for the business owner who is also a good dad, or mom than the business owner who adds another few million bucks to the top (or bottom) line, but they destroy their family to do it. If a person can’t treat their own family with more respect than that, then I suppose we should hope they get whatever money they pursue because that’s all their going to end up with. 

Faith, family and career are the top three things for me. In that order. It’s non-negotiable. It doesn’t mean I don’t care deeply about career. It just means in the battle between the 3, that’s going to come last. You’ve heard me say repeatedly, “If everything is important, then nothing is important.” Life is made up of priorities. We each have to establish our own. I don’t care what yours may be, but IF you have a family…especially kids…and you treat them poorly, then you’re a bad person. 

But that’s not YOU. 

You’re likely battling the juggle. Trying desperately to figure out how to make it all work. Some days you pull it off. Other days you fail. You experience times where you’re banished to the doghouse because you’ve not met the expectations of your spouse or your family. Sometimes you feel like you can’t win for losing. It’s depressing. 

Pressures from the work front seem never-ending. Ditto for the home front. It’s like everywhere you look people are needing another piece of you. You feel spent. Empty. Hollow. Worn out. 

I don’t have an easy button to sell you. Or give you (if I actually had one, I’m enough of a capitalist I’d be selling it for as much as I could get). Well, okay…I might give YOU one. But we’re spared that dilemma because no such button exists. 

Each of us has to figure it out. My family may not look or operate like yours. You’re going to have to commit to figuring this out with your family. And that’s the formula! Do it WITH your family. 

The family success formula can be distilled into one simple, but sometimes difficult task – communicate with each other. I’m not saying talk to each other. Communicate with each other. That means you need to first listen, then understand. Make sure you clearly understand. Then, when you do speak, make sure you’re clearly understood. 

Here are a few rules.

1. Be kind. Always. This isn’t about sitting down demanding what you want. Or acting defensive. Be a leader and show your family that no matter what, you’re going to be kind. Ask them to commit to that, too.
2. Don’t blame. We all make time for the things we care most about. If you love your family, you’ll make time. If you don’t, you won’t. I’m working from the assumption that you do love them. I get how torn you are sometimes, but don’t blame work, the office, your mate, or anybody (or anything) for your failures. Or your pressures. 
3. Be honest. It’s okay to express your feelings. If you refuse, then how is anybody supposed to understand what’s going on with you? If your family isn’t honest with you, how will that make YOU feel? Everybody needs to commit to honesty. Without blame. 
4. Don’t focus on what isn’t working, or what doesn’t work. Find solutions for what will work. This is what you do at the office. You don’t let your team sit around whining about things, lamenting why they can’t have what they want. No, you impose your will and force them to do what’s in the best interest of the company (and their careers). You make them concentrate on what steps can be taken to fix things. Do the same thing at home. Talk with your family so together you can all find workable solutions.
5. Accept and celebrate progress. It’s fine if you don’t go from being Rotten Dad or Mom to Super Mom or Dad. The objective is to put in the work to make sure the family is succeeding with you filling your role at the highest level possible. It may take time to get where you want to be, but you can improve today. And your family members can do the same. Don’t pat yourself on the back, but be quick to pat others on their back. Applaud their effort. 
6. Keep putting in the work. Don’t slack off. Make good on what you commit to. Don’t promise things you won’t back up. Make good on them. 

I know business owners who have never done this. There is constant family stress. They’re never going to hit the 3rd leg of the business building trifecta – “not going crazy in the process.” It’s not even a remote dream for them. They’ve resigned that it is what it is. And they eventually just stop caring. Don’t join their ranks.

Give your family the priority they deserve. Form an agreement so everybody knows what to expect. Be accountable to them for your end of the agreement. 

More often than not, I’ve found business owners just avoid having these conversations. Instead, they and their family endure private, unspoken stress of failed expectations. Expectations that have just never been discussed. They may be completely unreasonable. Maybe not. Either way, they need to be fully discussed with an agreement formed. 

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

Subscribe to the podcast

To subscribe, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)
• Click Here to Subscribe via Stitcher

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.

Thank you!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 7:25 — 8.0MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | More

Culture glorifies the unicorn. A unicorn is a company that started, scaled up and broke the BILLION dollar annual revenue barrier. Back in 2015 it was calculated that your startup had a 1.28% chance of becoming a unicorn. I don’t know if that has improved over the last few years or not. Mostly, I don’t care. Because small business is where my business love affair thrives. 

Small can seem insulting to some. I’ve encountered small business owners who are put off being considered small. They operate companies that do in excess of $100 million. They don’t feel small. Certainly not insignificant. They feel small means insignificant. It doesn’t. 

The popular designation is SMB.

SMB is an abbreviation for small and medium-sized business, sometimes seen as small and midsized business. A business with 100 or fewer employees is generally considered small, while one with 100-999 employees is considered to be medium-sized. Sometimes there’s a tight correlation between headcount and revenues. Sometimes, not.

Who cares?

I’m in the interview phase of assembling two professional peer advisory groups comprising of small business owners from around the country. These are online, virtual groups that will meet using a video conferencing platform. Visit ThePeerAdvantage.com (these groups are branded The Peer Advantage by Bula Network) and you’ll see where I’m liberal in how I view “small” or “medium.” But my viewpoint glorifies small and medium-sized businesses. They’re the heartbeat of our economy. I’m not romantic about it. Just practical. 

And it’s where I’ve spent my life. Operating companies that are quite a distance from unicorn status. Companies that wouldn’t be considered “mom ‘n pop” either. Sustainable, thriving, long-term companies competing successfully year after year. 

Stop comparing your business to the juggernauts you hear about. Tech stars get the press. The latest Amazon acquisition for hundreds of millions. Big business has always dominated the press. Today, they also dominate our culture. But they don’t dominate everything. 

You’re making your mark. Whether you employ 5 or 500. Whether you’re generating $5 million or $500 million. Don’t fixate on your size. Instead, I’m trying to nudge you toward a different goal…growing great. And you get to define “great.” Nobody else. Not the SBA. Not the press. Not even your family or friends. YOU.

If you’ve made it this far then you’re doing great. But that doesn’t mean you can’t grow even greater. 

I encounter too many business owners who get stuck comparing themselves to others. They preoccupy themselves with industry trends, competition, the latest social media buzz, buddies or acquaintances who appear to be operating more successful businesses and countless other things that make them feel inferior. Make them privately feel like they’re failing. 

I know small business owners who generate a few million bucks a year in annual revenue, earn a decent (way above the US average) wage and manage to hit a double-digit percentage net bottom line. Life is good. 

I know other business owners and CEOs operating much, much bigger enterprises – some pushing unicorn status of $1B – with all the perks you can imagine. You know we call them “trappings?” Because they trap us. Sophistication. Fancy. And often stuck with no apparent way out. Secretly, they’d give up quite a lot to get their life back because they’re not able to hit the third leg of the trifecta of successful business building – “not going crazy in the process.” All they do is go crazy!

Be careful what you wish for. 

I was speaking with a successful business owner who, like me, enjoyed being a home-body. For some reason travel was the topic. I lamented how I hated the process of traveling but didn’t mind so much being there. Getting there and getting back home was what I most dreaded. He agreed. We began thinking out loud of the business owners and leaders we know who are required to travel extensively because of the scope and scale of their company. We agreed that it would be an awful existence for either of us. To those who may love it, great. Power to them. But we both know owners who must do it, and they don’t love it. They hate it. 

All that to say this, there are tremendous advantages of being a small (or medium) sized business. So often the remedy remains the same, gratitude. Thankfulness. Focusing on what we’ve got instead of focusing on what we don’t have. 

If you’d like, go back and listen to a show I did months ago entitled, Small Business, Big Impact. Your size doesn’t diminish your significance or impact. Truth is, you’re making much bigger waves than you may think. Stop looking at the bigger ships. Be proud of the ship you captain. Work hard to make it the best it can be by first devoting yourself to be your very best. Show your employees the way. Lead. Be proud of the description “small business.” Because that’s all it is, a description.

Only you will determine whether or not it’s a condition. 

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

Subscribe to the podcast

To subscribe, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)
• Click Here to Subscribe via Stitcher

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.

Thank you!