"Great Devotion"

If a leader shows great devotion, unwavering commitment, and great care for the organization, the customers, the cause and the future of it, team members will notice and follow.

Are you “all in”?

Think long term

If you make long term decisions, your people know it.  

If you make short term decisions, your people know it, and they will, too.

Do you want your employees making short term or long term decisions?

What example are you setting?

Customers

Remember it’s about them.  You can’t live without them.

To grow you need more of them, or to sell more to the ones you already have.

Is your culture customer focused?

Unhappy customers don't write checks (again)

If you have upset customers too often, it’s because you didn’t put the processes and systems in place to avoid misunderstandings, unrealistic expectations, mistakes, and hit and miss quality upstream of the final product being delivered.

What product design, communication tools, training programs, or other things can you put in place way before the next customer ever calls to make it a great experience for them?

Invent on behalf of your customer

If your customer could, what would they invent in your business?

A Leader's Mind

A leader’s mind is a busy place.  Every thing and person he sees around his business elicits a thought or series of thoughts.

The challenge for the leader is to quiet the less important thoughts, prioritize, and work on the most important things.

What’s most important?  Work on that first. 

Excellent Strategy

An excellent strategy poorly executed is still better than a poor strategy executed well.

What is your strategy for growth this year?

You can’t be comfortable and get rich

People want to become –

1) Secure, then 2) Comfortable, then 3) Wealthy.

Most people don’t want to give up security to become comfortable, or give up comfort to become wealthy.

To be rich, you usually have to give up security and comfort.

The "Forgetting Curve"

It’s not the learning curve that is so much the problem.  It’s how fast you can forget how you did things before, how you thought before, and the habits of the past that got you the results you are now getting. Forget what’s in the way, so you can learn new things cleanly.

Do the RIGHT THINGS

Many small business owners feel that if they put in a long hard week they are getting somewhere. Not necessarily true.  While the virtues of hard work, discipline and industry are admirable and fruitful and necessary, you must make sure you are doing the RIGHT THINGS.

If you work hard at the wrong things, you are just going to get where you don’t want to be, faster.

Are you doing the RIGHT THINGS?