Run experiments in your business

You don’t have to have all the answers or know exactly how things will work out of you did this or that.

Often we labor over decisions that we think are “permanent” changes.  But we don’t find out or learn very fast that way.  

It’s easier to make a decision to run an experiment.  What you learn will make it easy to decide to go this way or that; to expand the decision or to move away from it.

In sales, in your offer, in your marketing, in your products, or shuffling people around – what experiment can you run to learn faster?

Start today!

Be nice, play nice

Powerful leadership tool – be nice.

People don’t want to work for someone who is not, and they will go out of their way to work with someone who is.

Recognize moments when you should shift suddenly from your current daily pace and attitude of getting things done to being nice.  If you are unsure, play it safe and shift to “nice”.

(If you are an introvert like me, recognize it can be interpreted by those that don’t know you well as you being not nice – so you have to try extra hard (even though you think you are nice)).

How nice are you?

It's all connected

Good things going on in one department of your business can only have a positive influence on other departments.  

The opposite is true.  If you aren’t getting it right in one area, it hurts all areas.

This is why you can spiral up or down pretty quickly if one area goes bad.

What area of your organization, of you fix (improve) it, will have the greatest positive effect on the whole business?

How do you take criticism?

Here’s another pearl of wisdom from coach Geno Auriemma.

“Failures see advice as criticism.

Successful people see criticism as advice.”

It’s hard to hear it sometimes, but if you really want to improve, you can’t be left to just yourself for advice.

Good leaders are good communicators

Recently we had our big annual event for our dealers (customer) and our speaker was Geno Auriemma, the head coach for the University of Connecticut Women’s basketball team.  His track record is astonishing. His teams have won 90% of their games in the many years he’s been coaching.

He dropped many gems of plain wisdom on the audience, including this.

“Be good at explaining to people who don’t understand.

Be good at understanding people who can’t explain themselves.”

A leader needs to get their ideas across, and hear ideas and feedback from those that are not good at communicating.

You?

It's not the title…

Once your team loses confidence and/or respect for you, you are no longer a leader.

Maintain your integrity, behavior, and performance in your job as a leader – if you want to keep it.

Over communicate

Do your employees know what your company goals are? 

How?

Do they know what part they play in getting there?

How?

You think by saying it once that they should know.  But every time you say it to one person, you hear it.  Most people haven’t heard it enough. 

You need to sound like a broken record.

Leaders know when to wait

Leadership is full of paradoxes.  

Be tough; be kind.  Learn from others; innovate something new.  Go big; don’t bet the farm.  Listen to others; make your own decisions.

Knowing WHEN to apply a strategy is the trick.

So, while leaders are decisive and clear, they also know when to do nothing and wait.  

When something is not a priority based on other things I have going on, I’ll put it aside.  Over time a small pile builds up.  After a long while, maybe months, I go through the pile and low and behold, most things don’t have to be done, have been worked out already, or are a clear NO anyway.

Prioritization means you have more things to do than you have time.  If one thing is to get prioritized, something else doesn’t get done (or delegated).  You may find many things don’t need to be done at all.  

Sometimes a decision is too complex and not clear enough.  If you wait on purpose, new information or events will come about to make the decision clearer.  

Have a bias for action – AND know when to wait.

Great leaders are clear and decisive

I remember when the World Trade Centers went down, and the news was always talking about terrorists and how they have no country and no government and hide out everywhere.  Some countries where the terrorists were said “Hey, it’s not us, sorry we can’t help you”.

Where do we go to get these guys?  It was very confusing and scary for everyone to think about a future where these guys go unchecked.

Then George W. Bush said something in a speech that struck me at the time so much, that I remember it to this day.  He said to all other countries – “You are either with us or against us”.  It was a simple statement that made it so clear.

In working with leaders all the time, I find the best ones are decisive and clear in what they are asking their people to do.  Nobody wonders what the goals are or what they need to do.

Are you decisive and clear with your team?

Leader's learn from failure and mistakes

If I don’t know the right thing to do, I’d rather do the wrong thing, than to do nothing. 

If I do something I may find it’s the right thing, and if not, I will learn something that will lead to the right thing if I don’t give up.

When you fail, (dissect exactly why) that’s valuable information for moving forward.

Do something!