September 17, 2021 - Are You Looking at Reality from the Right Perspective?

Main Idea:

When you look out the window and it is dark, is it night time?  When an employee tells you that a customer is being unreasonable, do you know if that is correct?  Can someone tell you the truth and still be completely wrong?  If your financial statements show that you are losing money, is that a bad thing?

Expansion of the Idea:

I have a picture in one of my conference rooms that shows a winding garden path.  There are a million pictures that show garden paths.  The unusual thing about this picture is that if you stand to one side and look at it, the picture shows summer.  If you move three feet to the left, it will show the same picture in winter.  This technique is called lenticular display.  When I saw this at an art show, I immediately bought it.  This is a great reminder to me to look for reality from multiple points of view.

Most of us get into ruts in how we see our business, our employees, our friends and even our enemies.  It is easier and quicker to take the previous view of the world and just use that.  And that will work for a period of time.  However, the world is changing rapidly.  For anyone in a service business, you may or may not need to be located close to your customers.  Amazon has completely changed retail and distribution businesses. There is disruption everywhere and you can’t afford to be the last person at a game of musical chairs.  We need to look at everything from multiple perspectives, including those of our customers and employees.  There is no real definition of reality.  There are just multiple facets of it. 

Likewise, there is no perfect way to address this situation.  The most important thing is to realize that our perspective may seem right for us but it isn’t always right for others.  By looking at all points of view, we may find better solutions for all interactions.  This could include:

• Learning more about your customer, employee or vendor

• Asking questions on different perspectives

• Invest time to see how your products or services are used

• Look back at some recent conflicts, lost employees or customers to see if there was some information that you were unaware

One of Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits for Highly Successful People was to seek first to understand and then to be understood.  I think a completely consistent version of this would be to seek first to understand and then build a better solution.   

Places to Start Looking at Different Versions of Reality:

1. Are there issues going on in your business that you don’t understand

2. Revisit important conversations you had with team members to see if your understanding of that conversation was the same

3. Meet with clients to understand their view of what you offer them

4. Talk to outside advisors, including your banker to evaluate their perspective of your service offering

5. Spend some time watching how work is done in your business

6. Ask your team if there are areas that they think you should focus on

I plan on having a zoom conference call on Constraints and Conflict Resolution on October 27 at 1pm CDT. This will explain how to identify your constraints and use the constraint to grow your business.  I know that this sounds like an oxymoron but it works.  I will also introduce a special conflict resolution process to help in your thinking. Looking at reality from different perspectives is absolutely critical to exploit the constraints. This zoom call will be beneficial for all managers, whether in a business or nonprofit.  If you are interested in reserving your spot, please email me at your earliest convenience. 

September 9, 2021 - Is Your Thinking Holding Your Business Back?

Main Idea:

Is “That’s the way we do it here.” popular in your business?  Do you have a lot of debate on how to handle issues?  Do you know what your constraints are?  Are any of them impossible to fix? How creative are you and your team?  When was the last time you took 8 hours off to just think?

Expansion of the Idea:

Two weeks ago, I reread 2 books by Eliyahu Goldratt.  They are “The Goal” and “It’s Not Luck”.  My copy of It’s Not Luck is literally falling apart because I have reread it so many times.  I generally reread these books every 2-3 years.  You might look at them and question my intelligence.  They are simply two business parables with a few key insights.  Yet I find it is important to me to reread these books.  The reason is that some of the answers to business problems are so profound that I need to reread them to keep me focused on the answers.  Like everyone else I can fall into ruts in how I think.  The real genius in the books is the alternative way that Eliyahu Goldratt approaches bottlenecks in business and various conflicts in problem solving.  The key to everything is identifying what your true goals are, looking critically at your situation from the other person’s point of view or sometimes from just another point of view.  As Mark Twain said:

It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you in trouble. 

It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.

The last two years have created a lot of issues that we have to deal with.  Almost everyone has employee problems.  Anyone that sells products also has supply chain problems.  If you don’t sell products then you go back to employee issues.  Customers have changed buying patterns, maybe a couple of times.  Taxes have changed as often as a parent changes a newborn’s diaper.  And no one knows really what to expect going forward.

What should we do?

We really need to think about three things:

1. What are our goals?

2. Where do we stand right now?

3. What is holding us back from achieving our goals?

Most of us have a bottleneck or constraint in our organizations. This bottleneck is neither bad nor good.  It is just a constraint.  All of our competitors have constraints also.  The issue for us as managers and leaders is to figure out how to exploit the constraint.  However, to do this, we need to get rid of our old way of thinking that includes:

1. We definitely can’t afford to do that.

2. We never want to offer that service.

3. I am the only one who can do this task.

4. My team is holding me back.

There are a number of other phrases that I could write.  But I think you get the point.  We have a no in our mind and that “No” cannot be sandblasted out of there.  However, instead we need to think about doing something that we think is impossible and figuring out how to make it happen.  Too often, the only thing holding us back is our thinking.  And the next thing holding us back is our team’s thinking.  To move forward, we need to establish a culture of trust where the team can share their opinions and ideas in a safe environment.  And we need to share with them.  I like Benjamin Franklin’s quote:

We must all hang together or we will all hang separately.

Wherever your business or organization is right now, we need to improve.  And like most things in life, the improvement needs to start with us. And it doesn’t cost us anything to change our thinking.

Questions or Ideas to Consider:

1. Read the book “The Goal”

2. Do you have clear goals?

3. Do you know where your constraints are?

4. Do you have a solid plan to address those constraints?

5. Do you have a safe culture?

6. Does your team think you have a safe culture?

I plan on having a zoom conference call on Constraints and Conflict Resolution on October 27 at 1pm CDT. This will explain how to identify your constraints and use the constraint to grow your business.  I know that this sounds like an oxymoron but it works.  I will also introduce a special conflict resolution process to help in your thinking.  This zoom call will be beneficial for all managers, whether in a business or nonprofit.  If you are interested in reserving your spot, please email me at your earliest convenience. 

July 16, 2021 – Do You Have Noise in Your Decision Making?

Main Idea:

Do you consistently make great decisions?  Are there things that impact your decisions that you had no clue that they existed?  How many decisions do you make that turn out to be disastrous and it was obvious why?  Do you have a system for making important decisions?  Why are we so good at seeing other people’s bad decisions but don’t recognize our own?

Expansion of the Idea:

Early on when I was building my business, it was obvious to me how certain clients made less than optimal or even bad decisions.  My solution to that was to build better financial systems, help educate them and then provide a sounding board.  The net result of all of this was that their decision making improved but it still was far from perfect. 

Then I started looking inward and realized that my own decision making was less than ideal.  I didn’t pay attention to some warning signs with clients or employees.  I didn’t read the tea leaves on changes in the industry.  I realized that I was making the same mistakes my clients were making.  I started looking for common errors and I identified a few things.  I put systems in place for hiring employees.  I set up a more rigid criteria for new clients.  There are a number of items that improved but I still wasn’t satisfied.

About a month ago, I learned of a new book coming out.  This book explained why my decision making was still not where it should be and some of the factors that are impacting it.  The book’s name is “Noise” by Kahneman, Sibony & Sunstein.  The book is a little hard to get through because it has a lot of psychology and statistics, but it has some fascinating ideas about our judgments.  A lot of the examples are in the legal system but the application is true for how we run small businesses.  The book really gets into the variations in judgment that are over and above bias.  Bias is the easy part to understand.  This could be racial, or it could be things like optimism which could bias how we evaluate people.  Or it could be something like confirmation bias which confirms something we already suspected.  Noise goes beyond that.  It could be any of the following:

• You hear on the news about how saving taxes is critical in this economy.  As a result, you implement tax saving strategies when what you really need a cash flow plan.

• You hire an employee based on your gut which is tied to the fact that the potential employee was referred in by a big customer.

• You hire an employee who is a great talker. 

• You give a customer an additional 30 days to pay because they have been a long-time customer, ignoring the fact that their industry is having major issues.

• Your identity was just stolen and then you had to make a major decision about a new product line. 

• You had to put your dog down and then you had a career counseling session with a potentially problematic employee.

• You are in a good mood because you just became a grandparent and then you discuss raises for your team.

• Your decisions are different in the morning when you are refreshed versus the afternoon when you feel like a slug.

The point with all of this is that some of our decisions are influenced by factors that may or may not be related.  We live in an interconnected world which is good but it can be a problem when you are making major decisions.   It is important to realize that we do have a problem with noise in our decision making.  Only then will we implement steps to improve our decision making.  Most of the improvement centers around improving how we make decisions and creating systems to make better decisions. 

I might have been on the right track early on but I didn’t go far enough to really help clients.  However, if you think about your decisions and judgments and ways to improve them, you will improve your business.  And this doesn’t require more sales or employees.  It is amazing that you can improve the business just by improving how you think. 

Questions to Consider:

1. What would be the financial impact if you decided the opposite on 5 key decisions you have made?

2. How do you make decisions?  Is it solo or with a team?

3. Does your team go along with everything you say or do they push back?

4. Do you encourage your team to think for themselves?

5. Do you have a method for making key decisions?

June 25, 2021 - Are You Playing Defense All the Time?

Main Idea:

Are you conservative by nature?  When was the last time you took a chance?  Are you afraid of making mistakes?  Is your team afraid of making mistakes?  Are all mistakes equal?  Do you applaud when someone tries something new and fails?

Expansion of the Idea:

For the last couple of weeks, there have been some good soccer matches on television.  Some of the games have been part of the Copa America tournament which is the tournament for South America.  The games have been fascinating even if I don’t know any of the players on the teams.  It is great to watch a sport where athletes are using their gifts and playing at an extremely high level.  The other night Brazil played Columbia in Brazil.  The experts were all predicting a Brazil blow out.  And then a weird thing happened.  Columbia scored 10 minutes into the match on an unbelievable play.  (If you like soccer, find the video clip online.  It is good.)

All of a sudden, Columbia is winning and Brazil is playing from behind which just doesn’t happen.  Brazil started to put pressure on Columbia who played tremendous defense.  The problem was that they didn’t even pretend to try to control the ball or attack.  Whenever they got the ball, they just cleared it to the other end of the field and went back on defense.  They were able to play like this for 70 minutes which is remarkable.  But the inevitable happened.  Brazil scored and tied it up.  And with about 1 minute left in the game, Brazil scored the game winner.  And Columbia went home with a loss.

You may or may not care about soccer.  But the principles of pressure and defense apply to all of our small businesses.  Columbia played not to lose and as a result they lost.  All of us know this but we do it anyway.  We don’t take a chance on a new product or service.  We fail to trust an employee with a critical new project.  We don’t want to offend a key customer even though it might cost us a key employee.  We are afraid of switching vendors even though lead times and quality have been deteriorating?  There are a number of situations where we play not to lose instead of playing to win. 

The key thing with mistakes is what kind of mistake it is.  If it is a mistake trying something new or looking into a new product, that is acceptable.  If it is a mistake of failing to backup the computer system, that isn’t.  Mistakes of aggressively trying to win are the types of mistakes we are looking for.  We want to put safeguards in where we can but we have to try new things.  As the legendary coach of UCLA John Wooden said,

“The man who is afraid to risk failure seldom has to face success.” 

If you are not achieving the success you would like, then maybe you have been working not to lose. 

Questions to Consider:

• What have you failed at recently?  What did you learn from it?

• Have you punished people for making mistakes? 

• Have you rewarded failure when people are trying something new?

• Is fear of failure embedded in your culture? 

• Or, do team members like to try new things?

June 11, 2021 – What Do You Need to Retire?

Main Idea:

Do you have people or systems that just aren’t working anymore?  Are there pieces in your life that are holding you back?  Do we hang onto things too long?  Why are rental buildings for storage space popping up everywhere?

Expansion of the Idea:

The other night I heard someone on the radio who did not have it.  The broadcast sounded awful and was almost embarrassing.  It was obvious that this person should have retired last year. Historically this person was very good but age, energy and life caught up with him.  You see the same thing with professional athletes who stay one year too long.  Instead of going out on top, our last memories of that athlete show the downside of aging.  On the other hand, I recently have heard about a lot of people who if asked to go back to the office have decided that they are just going to retire.  A lot of people have critical decisions now and their future hangs in the balance. 

The same is true of ourselves and our businesses.  There are a number of things that might need to be retired in our businesses.  They include:

• Ourselves

• Someone on our team

• Systems and Processes

• Computers and Equipment

• Customers

• Vendors

• Key Relationships, such as referral sources and professionals

• Product and Service Offerings

• Anything described by “That’s How We Do Things Here”

Covid 19 and the pandemic have completely altered the business environment.    Chances are you have embraced increased use of technology over the past year.  Two years ago, most people would not know what a zoom call is.  Now, everyone from 6 to 80 has probably participated in at least one call.  That changes everything.  And not always for the better. 

Now is a great time to reevaluate everything you are doing. 

• Do we need to stop going to our customers and just connect by Zoom? 

• Or do we retire Zoom and be more intentional about visiting our customers? 

• Are there team members who are not embracing new technology? 

• Have customers buying habits changed enough that some previous services or products are no longer desirable? 

• What systems or processes are no longer giving you the information that you need? 

• Have you lost touch with key referral sources and are having trouble reconnecting?

There is no end to possible questions or possible new paths.  The key is to take some time and lay out your vision for the future.  You need to decide your future and how you will achieve it.  Henry Cloud writes in his book, “Necessary Endings”, the following:

“Your next step always depends on two ingredients: how well you are maximizing where you are right now and how ready you are to do what is necessary to get to the next place.  And sometimes that depends on ending some of what is happening today.”

Questions to Consider:

1. Is there anything in my business that I need to end?

2. Is there anything in my personal life that I need to stop?

3. Are there ideas or processes that are holding us back?

4. Is there something that created your success but is now a liability?

5. Discuss this with your team and get their ideas.

January 29, 2021 – Are You Thankful?

Main Idea:

When was the last time you wrote a thank you note?  When was the last time you received one?  Are they even relevant in the digital era?  What do they accomplish?

Expansion of the Idea:

A few weeks ago, my wife bought an article of clothing online.  During this past year, most people have transitioned to buying most things online.  Online shopping is great because of the convenience.  The downside is the loss of connection.  The buyers are isolated and make the purchases.  The sellers aren’t connected to their customers.  What was unusual when my wife received her purchase was that within a day or two, she received a handwritten thank you note from the particular store that fulfilled her online order.  It was a very nice note written by the store manager.  My wife was surprised by the note.  She could not understand how the store manager could take time to write that note.

What is the impact of a simple thank you note?  Do you think that store has created a better connection with my wife and with all of their customers? 

They probably don’t write a thank you note for all orders.  But even if it 1%, they have improved their relationships by a lot.  The positive goodwill will generate referrals.  More importantly, I think it sets a tone of thankfulness inside the company.  I would guess that the store manager is probably a good boss.  That would create a whole cycle of better service and loyalty which will improve our businesses. 

What does this mean for us?

I know I could definitely improve in this area.  While I think I am thankful, I know I can express it more often.  In the current environment, it is so easy to get caught up with all of our problems.  And, every business has some issues right now.  When this occupies all of our time, it is easy to get focused on ourselves.  We lose sight of all of the important people in our businesses and our lives.  Here are some of the people that might need to be considered:

• Spouses and Family

• Employees

• Customers

• Vendors

• Advisors

• Support people, such as delivery people

• Referral sources

Each of us has some specific people that are really important to us.  We need to make sure we show our thanks.  A handwritten note might be best.  Sometimes, it might be just a quick response to a text or email.  Anything we can do to improve connections will benefit us personally and our businesses.  But it all starts with us deciding that we are thankful.

Your Action Plan:

1. Who are you thankful for? 

2. Write a note.

January 15, 2021 – Has Your Cheese Moved?

Main Idea:

What made you successful in the past?  Was there a particular product, service or system that was critical?  Can you name it and quantify it?  Is it just as important today as it was five years ago?

Expansion of the Idea:

20 years ago, Spencer Johnson wrote the book “Who Moved My Cheese”.  Most of us have read it, thought it was good and then promptly put it away.  However, it is just as timely now as it was then.  The basic story is about two mice in a maze who lost their cheese.  They have to find new cheese.  The cheese is a metaphor for what is important to us.  Five years ago, most businesses were doing fine and we became complacent.  Things have changed.  We have to find new cheese. 

What does this mean in today’s context?

We have to decide what will be important for us for the upcoming year.  We must know our financial numbers and key performance indicators that tell us how we are doing.  However, we can’t use the same old numbers that we used in the past.  We should be more intentional about what numbers we use and set goals for those numbers.  Here are a few ideas on things to look at:

1. Customer profitability and retention

2. Lead time and costs of acquiring new customers

3. Employee engagement and performance

4. Business operations and systems

5. Cash flow projections and budgets

6. Vendor and supply chain performance

7. Product and service performance and viability

8. Leadership and Management performance and development

9. Risk management and potential bottlenecks

There is nothing new in my list.  However, what needs to be new is how we apply it.  Most small business owners don’t make full use of key performance indicators.  And during 2020, those numbers were worthless for some industries.  For 2021, I think it would help all of us if we became very intentional about what our goals are and put together the models to make sure we are on track. 

I think that 2021 will be a very difficult year even after the vaccine is rolled out and we have herd immunity.  People’s attitudes and habits have changed.  This could impact their buying habits as well as their goals.  We might lose key employees or customers.  By planning now, we can set ourselves up for success and minimize the potential for failure.  There will be a new normal.  We need to know what it will be and how we can thrive.

Here are some questions or comments to consider:

• Read or reread “Who Moved My Cheese”

• Define what is your cheese.

• What is my action plan for 2021?

• Do I have full key performance indicators, cash flow plans and budgets for my business?

• Have I identified my top 2 or 3 key performance indicators for special scrutiny?

• If not, create them based on expected reality for the new year?

• Determine what additional actions you need to do to make 2021 successful.

December 31, 2020 – Is it Time for Reflection or Action?

Main Idea:

Have you been reflecting on the past year?  Or was it so bad you want to forget everything?  Are you excited for the new year?  Do you long for the good old days?  Or are you afraid you will never see those again?

Expansion of the Idea:

This has been an interesting year.  For some, it has been one of the worst years of their lives.  They may have lost their jobs or their businesses, family members have died, kids are struggling with school, moms and dads struggling with kids at home, racial tension and a whole host of other issues.    For others it has been a problem for their lifestyle and maybe a small hit economically but they have not been hurt financially.  For most, it is somewhere in between. 

The question is what to do with 2020 and more importantly how should we approach 2021.

I think it is important to not throw away 2020 without looking back and listing out what you might have accomplished or learned (besides keeping more toilet paper on hand): 

• For most of us our technology has improved, such as using Zoom calls

• We are not taking things for granted, such as kids going to school

• We are better at prioritizing our work lives

• We have improved our efficiency at work

• We have eliminated some unnecessary items because we needed to

• We have looked at supply chains and vendor relationships to see what is working and what isn’t

• We have gotten more creative

The point is that there can be some good that comes out of this year.  But it will only be good if we identify it and systematically implement it going forward. 

Here are some questions to consider:

• What did I learn from last year?

• What do I want to learn next year?

• What did I do wrong last year?

• What do I need to do better next year?

• What positive accomplishments did we make this year?

• What do I need to build into my plans for next year?

• What do we need to eliminate going forward?

• Do I have the right team that is adaptable and creative for the future?

• What relationships were strained and need to be repaired?

• What relationships need to be ended?

• Do I have a firm action plan for 2021?  If not, build it.

I hope everyone has a great 2021.  As Peter Drucker states,

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” 

I look forward to serving you in 2021. 

October 2, 2020 – Is It Time To Plan for Next Year?

Main Idea:

Has this year hit you like a Mack truck?  Have you spent most of your time reacting to Covid, political craziness, uneasy economy, unrest, supply chain issues, unstable labor force, panicking customers, regulatory issues, or ________________________?  Are you sick of spending all of your time at home?

Expansion of the Idea:

This has been a crazy year for so many reasons.  Just when it seems like it can’t get any crazier, something happens and collectively we agree that it belongs in this year.  There has been so much outside of our control.  It is easy to get to a point where we just sit at home and wait for what is going to happen next.  There are a lot of pity parties that are being celebrated throughout the US.

The real problem with this is that we get to the point where we think everything is out of our control.  Even the businesses, that are doing okay, are out of their normal patterns because they can’t do things like they would normally do them. 

There is disruption and chaos everywhere.  What should we do?

We are just starting the fourth quarter of the year.  This is a perfect time to start planning for year end and next year.  Obviously, none of us have a clue what will happen with presidential elections, stock markets and all of the other variables that could happen.  But we can start planning.  The more planning we do, the better off we will be to face the upcoming challenges once the economy opens up and life gets back to some semblance of normal.  (I don’t know if normal is the right word here.)

A basic framework for the planning that needs to happen is as follows:

• Evaluation of where you currently are

• SWOT Analysis of what you are doing right and wrong and what the challenges and opportunities are out there.  (See the video on my website.)

• Goals for the next year.  (They must be realistic.)

• ·1-4 action plans on achieving your goals based on the different possibilities of what might happen.  This would include a main plan along with contingent or ancillary plans.

These plans need to include the personal as well as the business side.  On the business side they need to include the following:

• Cash flow and financial planning

• Tax planning

• Marketing plan

• Employee plan

• Risk analysis

• Operational plans

There are other areas that might need to be added to your plans based on your situation.  The point is that you need to start making those plans now.  Of course, things never turn out as you planned.  But the act of planning will improve your businesses and you will be ready for some of the challenges.

Here are some questions to consider:

1. Am I ready for year end?

2. Do I have a robust plan for next year?

3. Am I the only one who knows what that plan is?

4. Am I good at communicating my plans?

5. Have I involved my team, including external advisors, in planning?

If you have any questions on implementing this idea, please contact Tim FitzGerald.  There are a number of videos on the website that outline how to do some of this planning.  Also, I plan on offering three specific Zoom calls over the next month.  They are:

1. Tax Planning for Business – October 13 at 4p

2. Tax Planning for Individuals – October 20 at 4pm

3. Estates, Wills & Trusts – October 27 at 4pm

If you are interested in signing up for the Zoom calls, please email Tim FitzGerald and you will be added to the list.

May 15, 2020 - What is Critical to Your Success?

Main Idea:

Has your business changed during the pandemic?  Are you comfortable with where you are and where you are going?  Is the world changing around you too much and you aren’t sure where you fit in?  What is success going to look like in 4 months?

Expansion of the Idea:

It has been interesting listening to various analysts talk about whether Major League Baseball will reopen this year.  There are a lot of moving parts in connection with keeping players safe and at the same time creating the right environment for playing ball.  The owners leaked some information to put the players on the defensive.  The players are digging their heels in and will not renegotiate how much they are paid.  The whole thing comes down to money.  The problem is that no matter what, everyone is going to take a huge financial hit this year.  The one thing that I have not heard much about is whether or not the fans will watch the games online and start to go to the ballpark when it opens up.  The owners and the players seem to be taking it for granted.  And this could create a huge long-term problem for MLB, especially if they don’t agree and baseball is deferred until 2021.

There are a number of critical pieces that each party must get right.  The owners must make sure that they are not committing financial suicide.  The players have to maximize their income since it will be cut by at least half.  The minor leagues will probably be decimated since they won’t have any revenue.  Everyone has to be able to do this safely, which is probably impossible.  And all of this is assuming that there isn’t a huge second wave of infections. 

I don’t know the answers to any of the above.  The point is that it requires a lot of time and discussions to determine what is critical.  All of the stakeholders need to be involved.  The end solution has to work for everyone. 

The same is true for our businesses.  We need to define what is critical for our success.  This could include:

• Sacrificing the present for the future

• Looking into alternative methods of delivery of our product or service

• Changing how we sell

• Changing what we sell

• Changing who we sell to

• Lowering our margins

Each of us has different things that are critical for our success.  My critical success factors have changed dramatically over the last 2 months.  Now one of the most important things is the financial (and mental) health of my business clients.  This is something that I was always focused on but now it is absolutely critical because clients can’t just get out of a hole because the economy is completely different. 

All of us need to spend the time thinking about this and working through our businesses to define this.  By focusing on what is critical, we have improved our odds of getting through this period.

Next Steps

1. Have you identified what is critical to your business?

2. Can you measure it?

3. If not, brainstorm with your team to think through your business.

April 10, 2020 - What Is Our Path Forward?

Main Idea:

Are you feeling completely out of control?  Have you thought about what life is going to be like in two or six months?  Are things so crazy that you have thrown up your hands in despair?  Do you know you need to do something but aren’t sure what?

Expansion of the Idea:

Dwight D Eisenhower said “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”

All of us are affected by Covid-19.  Some businesses are thriving but there is pressure on the businesses and the employees.  Other businesses are completely shut down until the stay at home orders are lifted.  And a lot of businesses are somewhere in the middle.   Once the stay at home orders are lifted, some businesses will be able to go back to business as usual, others are going to see a decline from where they are now.  But most just don’t know how this will work. 

There are uncertainties in almost every area of our business such as:

• Overall business environment and economy

• Cash flow

• Customers – needs, tastes and their cash flow

• Employees

• Supply Chain

• Social Distancing and Physical Interaction

• Mistakes of the Leaders

• Relationships

• Trust

The coronavirus issues have impacted our world at our core.  Our leaders have done some things right and a lot wrong.  The same is true for us.  Most of us have messed up some part of handling the variety of issues that have surfaced. We can look at this and get upset or we can look at it as a great big educational learning.  I think the people and businesses that survive and actually prosper out of this are those who are learning from the mistakes and then using those to improve the future. 

To move forward, the first thing that all of us have to do is to examine our attitudes.  Right now, it is extremely rough for those who have lost work or their business is shut down.  If they have school age kids, they are realizing that they are going to have to do home schooling for the next two months.  It is very easy to get into a victim’s mindset.  If you are struggling with this, I would encourage you to read my weekly idea from last week. 

When our attitudes are in the right path, then we can move our businesses forward.  This is going to require a lot of planning and dissecting our businesses to make sure that they are structured for the new reality.  We need to develop a true working business plan that will help us think through our new reality.  Part of my plan is to offer a weekly Zoom conference call with my clients where I will walk through a key part of the business plan.  I am also starting to make a list of what I learned today or things I need to learn.  This may be something about a client or it may be a system that is partially broken by having to work from home.  Just by putting a few things on a piece of paper, you are starting to take control.  And that is a muscle that needs to be built back up.

Next Steps

1. Evaluate what your attitude is.  Are you looking forward or backward?

2. Start working on your business plan.  If you need help, ask.

3. Make a list of things you are learning.  This can be critical because you will see different things than your team.

4. Sign up for the LEADING THROUGH A CRISIS conference call.

April 3, 2020 - What Do I Have?

Main Idea:

Have you just lost a third of your net worth in the stock market?  Do you feel like your business is going bust because of the coronavirus?  Are you afraid that you will lose a close friend or family member to the virus? Do you think that you will end up at home with your 5 & 7 year old for the next 5 years?

Expansion of the Idea:

Our lifestyle changed completely when the Covid-19 virus came to the US.  Very few people realized the extent of the damage it could do.  Almost no one took it as serious as we should have at the very early stages.  But when it took over, we all realized that life as we knew it was gone.  It will come back but it might look a little different.  Either way, we have the next few months of social distancing, economic hardship, stress on relationships, uncertainty, fear and restrictions on what we do.  And we just missed opening day of Major League Baseball.  We feel like we are in a bad dream where we are just going through the motions. 

All of that bad stuff is reality.  And it is natural to focus on the negative stuff.  If we had 100 customers buy something from us in a day and one of them complains about price, that customer will haunt us.  We will worry whether we are pricing our products properly.  We don’t think about the fact that some people are going to complain about something no matter what.  It still sticks with us.

However, there is another reality that we don’t focus on.  This other reality is always there and is probably more real than the negative reality.  We are so blessed we take things for granted.  We overlook a lot because we stress about what we just lost or don’t have. 

Here is my list of what I do have and am extremely thankful for:

• My faith

• My spouse

• My kids and their spouses

• My grandkids (They are really a little higher on the list.)

October 20, 2010 - Are You a Success?

Main Idea

What are the qualities of a great leader?  What are the qualities of a great employee?  How do you know if you are successful?  How do you define success? 

Expansion of Idea

About two months ago, I was having dinner with a family friend and one of my sons.  We were discussing one of the weekly ideas that I had just sent out.  I explained to him that this series of ideas was based on John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success.  I told him that I thought that this was the single best model for success that I have seen in the business or sports world.  John Wooden defined success as “self satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you are capable.”  Success is not measured by how many national championships you win or how many competitive sales processes that you win. 

This definition of success is contrary to what most people think.  Yet, this approach to personal success allowed John Wooden to become the best collegiate coach of all time.  One of my biggest failures in life is the failure to apply these ideas earlier in my career.  I knew about the Pyramid of Success.  I just did not realize the gold that was buried there.  I probably exhibited some of the characteristics but not as consistently as was required.  (As a side note, during the dinner noted above, my friend mentioned that through a friend of his when he was in his 20’s, he was introduced to John Wooden and had a personal signed copy of the Pyramid of Success.  I asked him what he did with it.  He pitched it when he moved a year ago.  I almost cried.)  

Over the last couple of months, I have introduced the core concepts of the Pyramid of Success.  If you follow those concepts you will achieve competitive greatness and that will translate to success.  I would strongly encourage you to go to www.coachwooden.com .  There is a printable version of the Pyramid of Success.  I would suggest printing the pyramid and using it as a character check every day.  Everyone will be successful if they follow the pyramid guidelines. 

Questions to Ask Yourself           

1. Are you successful as defined by John Wooden? 

2. Would those around you define you as successful? 

3. If there are differences, what are they and how do you bridge any gap in definitions of success?

4. What is one characteristic on the Pyramid that I can work on? 

July 15, 2010 - How Loyal Are You?

Main Idea

Are the days gone where people work for one employer for life?  Is this good or bad?  Will Albert Pujols retire as a Cardinal or will he make a larger fortune going to the Cubs? 

Expansion of Idea

In the last week if you turn on the news, it is hard to get away from LeBron James.  For those of you who don’t follow professional sports, he is theoretically the best basketball player in the world and he just switched teams from his hometown Cleveland team to the Miami Heat.  I personally do not care about professional basketball, but it is a great example of how loyalty comes into play in building great organizations.  It appears that he decided before the playoffs that he wanted to play with his friends in Miami and as a result, he gave up on his team, even though his team had the best record in the league.  Some may say he had loyalty, but I would say that the only loyalty shown was to himself.  I would instead call that egocentric.  He had an opportunity to build a great team and instead he focused on his own goals. 

To build a truly great organization, loyalty to the team and to customers is a critical building block.  The key to building loyalty in an organization is for the leader to have solid core values and live by them.  When the leader shows loyalty to his team, then it is much easier for the team to show loyalty back.  This does take time but building trust based on loyalty is a step that cannot be overlooked.  By putting others interests ahead of yours, you are cementing a bond that cannot easily be broken.  One other thing to consider – per Frederick Reichheld*, an increase in customer retention of as little as 5% can amount to an increase in profits of 20%.  Loyalty is a very sound business strategy to improve your profits.

Questions to Ask Yourself

1. Am I loyal to my team and to the customers?

2. Do I expect loyalty even though I am not always loyal?

3. How can I improve my loyalty to my team?

4. How can I help my team with their loyalty? 

5. Read a book by Frederick Reichheld called the Loyalty Effect.

*Frederick Reichheld is an author and consultant with Bain & Company and is one of the world’s foremost experts on loyalty and the effect on business.

June 9, 2010 - Who Do You Get Advice From?

Main Idea

How close are you to your best friend?  What relationships can not be broken?  When relationships are broken, what is the real cause?

Expansion of Idea

If you think about your best friend and the years of your relationship, what is one constant in the relationship?  Generally, it is contact.  You talk once a week or exchange emails.  You understand each other and there is constant interaction.  There is probably less interaction than when you were a teenager but there is still some consistent interaction.  If you have a problem you know who to call. 

Why would your business be any different?  Do you have your business relationships set up so that you know who to call if you have a problem?   If your copier fails, you have someone who you trust to fix it.  If you have a legal issue, hopefully you have a good attorney to call.  If you have an insurance claim, you should have a good insurance agent to help you through the problem.   Do your customers view you as the go to person to help them with not just your products and services but to be a resource for their business? 

Most of us have not developed that level of relationship with our customers.  However, when we do, we are developing loyalty, referrals, and friendships.  We are also making our workplaces a better place to work.  It is not necessarily hard to develop that level of relationship.    It is extremely hard to develop the discipline to stay in touch with our customers and continue to stay in touch with them even if there is no immediate benefit. 

Suggested Areas to Start

1. Call a customer for no apparent reason.

2. Thank a customer for no apparent reason.

3. Send a newspaper or magazine article that would be of interest to the customer. 

4. Show them you care!!!

February 25, 2010 - Where is the Current Taking You?

Main Idea

What do you floating on a raft down the Mississippi River, and you sitting at your desk at work have in common?

Expansion of Idea

The answer is that for most of us, we are going to go where the current takes us.  In other words, we are going to take the path of least resistance.  It is human nature to do a task in the easiest manner possible.  We do not like to create confrontations.  We are too busy and do not have time to finish the project properly. 

Do you take the time to make sure a customer or employee is really the right fit for your company?  Do you take the time to do your due diligence when evaluating a long-term partnership?  Do you ever take the time to stop and think about what you might need to reevaluate?  Do you tell your boss that you cannot take on another duty because your existing duties are going to suffer? 

We are afraid to rock the boat and question how things are done.  We are afraid to suggest a better way.  We are afraid to tell a potential customer that we are not the right fit for their business.  We are afraid to tell a customer that he really needs something different than what he is ordering.  WE ARE AFRAID.  As a result, we give the client what they order instead of what they need.  By doing this we sell everyone short.  We meet short term sales goals but we may miss guaranteeing a long-term client by providing a solution that is truly perfect for them.  We fail to have that tough conversation with an employee because we are afraid of hurting their feelings.  In the process, we guarantee mediocrity for the employee and for the business. 

Suggested Areas to Start

1. Think about where the current is taking you.

2. Are there any areas of your life where you have been riding the current instead of doing the tough job of fighting it?

3. Are you happy with where it is going?

4. Do you have the energy to change where you are going?

5. Should you change where you are going?

January 27, 2010 - Do You Believe in the Vulcan Mind Meld?

Main Idea

Did you ever watch Star Trek?  Do you believe in the Vulcan mind meld?  Do you use that in your organization?

Expansion of Idea

I don’t know if you have every watched the old Star Trek series.  If you look at them now, they are very low tech and very corny.  (I know I just offended some Trekkies reading this.)  One of the things that would occasionally occur is what they called a Vulcan mind meld.   A key person in the series was Spock, who was from the planet, Vulcan.  He would do a Vulcan mind meld which was a complete transfer of the minds with another person on the show.  It involved some degree of risk because they never knew how it would be received. 

I am not sure why I thought of this.   However, if I questioned a lot of small business owners, I am pretty sure they think they have done a mind meld with their team members.  The reason that I know this is that they frequently give their team members duties, a computer, a brief introduction (which was interrupted by five phone calls) and then told to go do work.  Then they are frustrated by the employees not getting work done.  I know that I am guilty of this at different times.  I try very hard to spend time training my team but then I get pulled away and sometimes never really complete the training in a reasonable time period.  What should we do instead?  We need to really devote ourselves to the right training for each of our employees.  This does not need to be all day offsite training.  It can be regularly scheduled training for short periods that address specific issues.  It can be used to address problems that come up.  It can be used to raise customer service.  A particular employee may need some specific skills and technical training. 

If you are the boss, you need to carefully evaluate your plans here.  If you are an employee, you need to take charge of yourself and ask for specific training where you have problems.  The key is to develop a plan and stick to it as best you can.  When you have hired good people, train them, systemize the training and follow up on the training, you will have no choice but to succeed.

Start by Asking Yourself these Questions:

• Are there skills that I need to acquire?

• Can we raise our collective skills by training?

• Can I share some knowledge with my coworkers?

• Do I have a plan to raise our skills?

• For the advanced application, are there skills that can help our customers use our product or service better?

• Have I scheduled the training?

December 10, 2009 - Who Are You Getting Advice From?

Main Idea

How old were you when you learned that Santa Claus was actually your parents?   Do you remember who told you about Santa? 

Expansion of Idea

I vividly remember the discussion with Tim Mohan who lived up the street.  I was in fourth grade and I finally learned about Santa.  (Either I was naïve or I am seeing who really reads this.)  After Tim told me about Santa, I had to think about it for a while.  I finally went to my parents to see if this was true.  Of course, I was devastated. 

This situation repeats itself in business whether you are an owner or an employee.  Who are you getting advice from?  One of the keys to improving our businesses or our lives is making wise choices as I discussed last week.  The best way that I know to do that is to surround yourself with the right advisors and counselors.  Family members can be a great start.  Authors can also be your advisor.  Peter Drucker is dead but I count him as one of my key advisors.  We also need people that we can discuss ideas with and are not afraid of telling us we are wrong.  Who has better advisors, Stan Musial or Tiger Woods? 

This is not about getting the smartest people as advisors.  It is about getting advisors that have the same core values that can help you achieve your goals.  We have to be intentional about it.  We also have to create the right atmosphere so that the advisors are free to tell you what they think.  How many bad decisions are made by a group of people because no one will tell the leader that he is wrong?  When we get advice from the right people, we gradually start heading in the right direction.  And that shows up in creating a better and more enjoyable business.

Start by Asking Yourself these Questions:

• Who am I listening to?

• Who should I stop listening to?

• Am I following the advice of the advisors?

• Who should I listen to?

December 3, 2009 - What is the Next Wise Move?

Main Idea

How fast does the world around you change?  Are you bombarded by new demands on your time?  How do you prioritize the different demands?  Are you trying to plan and at the same time all the facts change?

Expansion of Idea

About ten years ago, my kids got really involved in chess.  They went to some chess tournaments and they played it a lot.  Of course, I ended up playing with them.  Chess is about strategy, planning and being creative.  They were having fun with it.  And then someone introduced them to a team chess game called Bughouse.  There are two games going simultaneously and partners can pass captured pieces to their partner who can on their turn place the pieces anywhere they want.  I played it with my kids and their friends and it is a pretty wild game.  You never know what is coming at you.  The key to the game is to have a general game plan, watch your defensive strategy, and then focus on one move at a time.  (And you play it with a pretty short timer.) 

The pace of life right now reminds me of those games.  We can navigate through these times, but we have to watch our defensive strategies and then we have to focus on what is the right next move.  You can’t worry about what you would like to do.  You have to look for the next wise move.  Generally, there is a wise move that you should do.  These moves may go against your emotional wishes, but normally it is clear what should be done.  Most of the time, these moves will not be so significant that they are clearly winning strategies.  Instead, they are moves that advance us in our businesses.  Then we have to ask what the next wise move is.  Then the next and the next.  The moves can be as simple as thanking a customer for their business, or double checking the order to a customer who had a problem the last time.  It may be to ask someone for help or advice.  It could be resigning from a major customer who is creating havoc with your whole organization.  The key is that we do what is wise, even if it upsets us.  A very famous person said that wisdom is worth more than gold. 

Start by Asking Yourself these Questions:

• Am I pursuing wisdom in my job?  (And my life?)

• Are there decisions or actions that are not wise?

• Can I fix those decisions? 

• Should I get advice or counsel on how to improve my decision making?

November 25, 2009 - How Do I Handle Life's Curveballs?

Main Idea

How often do you have a good idea and a good plan and then life gets in the way?  What happens to your plan?  Do you abandon it and find another plan?  Or do you restart it?   

Expansion of Idea

I haven’t written my weekly business idea the last four weeks simply because I have been overloaded with stuff to do.  Some of it is business, some of it is personal.  As a result, I was not able to follow through on my weekly business ideas.  I realize that they are not critical for your success.  Hopefully they do help.   However, it is part of my business plan.  That is the way life is.  We get thrown a few curveballs along the way.  The key is how we handle them. 

With all of the problems and opportunities over the past few weeks, I kept telling myself one thing.  I have been tremendously blessed.  I appreciate the struggles because they help me stay focused on my priorities.  When life is too comfortable, we take too much for granted.  In a lot of situations, it is our family, close friends, coworkers and customers that we take for granted. 

Actually, I told myself a couple more things. 

• What can I learn from this situation?

• Can I do something different in the future to avoid it? 

Those are questions for another idea.  The key is that we keep a spirit of thankfulness.  I think that is a big key to serving others in the community, in our workplace and in our lives.  And that is a competitive advantage.

Start by Asking Yourself these Questions:

• What am I thankful for?

• Have I told anyone recently that I appreciate their support, help or business?

• Work on your spirit of thankfulness.