If the horse is dead, get off.

Persistence is necessary to accomplish significant goals.  

Anything worthwhile will not be easy.

But there are some things you can persist at forever and you will never be successful.  

You have to know when it’s not you that is the problem, and when it’s not worth persisting.

If the horse is dead, stop trying to ride it and get off.

Your team = Leverage

The most important thing a company has is not on the Balance Sheet as an asset.

It’s your team – your people.

More specifically, it’s quality people of good character who have the talents necessary for the seat they are in.  It’s those people who are trained, experienced, and work well together. It’s those people – turned on.

First, YOU have to be the kind of person they want to work for and stay with.  You have to be a leader worthy of such a team.

Work on you everyday, and build your roster.

Whoever fields the best team wins.

Leader – “team builder in chief”.

Recruit the best you can.

Train the best you can.

Motivate, lead, and empower the best you can.

Recognize and appreciate the best you can.

If your team is better than their team, you win.

Good news/Bad news – It’s on you.

The best thing about being your own boss is that you are your own boss.  Nobody tells you what to do.

That’s also the worst thing about it.  Nobody tells you what to do.  You are on your own.  Nobody will direct you, and nobody keeps you accountable. 

Sometimes, you don’t know what you are doing.  When that happens, you have to acknowledge it and look for help.  You have to learn, ask questions of the right people, and evolve.  

Your best thinking got you here.  If it’s not where you want to be, you need to learn to do some better thinking.

Steady your impulses

Leaders get the bad news.  They get the big challenges nobody else can fix.  

All day long there is news and information – good, bad, sideways, issues, decisions….

As a leader, I have to be careful to handle all of that without getting sucked in and letting my emotions bob up and down on the waves.

I have to be steady.  I have to lead.  To guide my team to a future I believe in that does not exist yet. To make calm from the storm, clarity from confusion – and use my values and principles to do it.

I know I cannot process all that comes with my job if I am uneasy, in personal turmoil, or have clouded, unstable thoughts.

The leader makes all the difference in an organization.

Steady your impulses.

Brilliant on the Basics

Don’t think that because you got so sophisticated and advanced in what you are paying attention to that the basics are not important anymore.

The other day I was in the dumpster – literally.

I can tell a lot about what they are thinking and doing by looking at what they are throwing away.  Good or new parts and materials?  Miscuts?  Crushable trash that should be in the compactor and not the dumpster?  And more.

I walked the shop facilities with the warehouse team talking about cleanliness, efficiency, materials, etc.  

When Rudy Guliani took over as mayor of New York City, crime was out of control.  They cracked down on petty crime and repainted over graffiti on Subway cars every night.  It sent a message.  You can’t just do whatever you want.  Murders and violent crime went down dramatically.

When you let the basics slip, it sends a message.  Nobody cares.  The group starts behaving that way and the problems get bigger and bigger – in the shop, in the field, and everywhere.  When you tell the team that a piece of paper on the bathroom floor is unacceptable, they understand something much bigger.  

If you deliver your message with the right touch, you are not making them feel bad or embarrassing anyone – you are setting a high standard, and people start to feel good about where they work and who they and everyone else around them are being.  Who we are as a team starts to mean something.  Pride and respect rise up and show up internally with each other and externally with customers.  

All kinds of things improve – productivity, performance, employee turnover, quality, etc.  

As a leader, do you talk about the basics?  Do you walk the talk?

Leader – Trainer

I was talking to a group of business owners the other day, and one of them said that earlier in his career, he would tell salespeople to learn something that he himself did not know how to do.  In this case, it was everything involved with knowing how to sell their service successfully.  

It didn’t work out too well.  In fact, he said it wasn’t until he buckled down and learned the sales process that he could build a team of others who could do it.  

I can relate.  I had that exact experience unfold over a lot of years earlier in my career, too.  Certain functions in your business are critical.  If the leader does not understand those areas and their key functions, they can be neglected by their team without him/her knowing it, or knowing what to do about it.

I started to reflect on my career as a trainer.  If I weren’t a teacher, I could not get as far as I/we have.  If I weren’t a leader of a business who had to make payroll this week, my teachings would not have the intent and purpose that they do.  

I have to teach the key functions in my business.  And “our life” depends on how well I do that.  I don’t just deliver a lecture, give the test at the end of the semester, and move on to the next class.  I MUST improve my team members’ behavior, results, skills, and productivity.  That not only relies on teaching facts, but also unlocking their motivations and hearts.

Sure, as we scale, I get other teachers to do the teaching, but I must ensure that they are teaching what moves the needle, not just checking the “Hey, we trained you” box.  

Leader – Trainer.  Peanut butter and jelly.

It’s only a great idea if it’s doable for you.

“Shoes that do not fit are not a bargain at any price.  A good idea that can’t be executed is a bad idea”. – Keith Cunningham, The Road Less Stupid

What a great book – The Road Less Stupid.  Listen to it.  My friend Dustin Gebers recommended it to me a few years ago.

There are a lot of great ideas, such as making your logo a simple swish, building a 1-million-square-foot distribution center with robots, running a Superbowl commercial, hiring 12 people to do Quality Assurance, or being the lowest-priced provider.  But if you can’t pull it off profitably, then it’s not a good idea.  Some ideas are good for other companies, but not for yours.

Control the controllables.  Do what is doable.  Own your niche.  

Build a strategy and tactics around what you CAN do really well.

It’s a waste of time to solve a problem that isn’t

We are all busy all day.  But what are we doing?

A lot of time and effort is spent solving problems that are either not important problems in the grand scheme of things, or are not going to move the needle, or are far secondary to other things you could be working on.

Even more wasteful is trying to solve a problem that you are causing.  The problem is an effect of something else you are doing or not doing.  Trying to solve the root problem that if solved, would make the downstream problems go away, would be a better and more productive use of your time.  

For example, if I am always trying to get more productivity and discipline out of my front-line workers, I could be fighting that forever.  Instead, if I hire better, work on incentives, and empower natural leaders among them, I could make the incessant problem evaporate.

If I am always working on trying to fix a poor culture (and productivity and customer service) with all sorts of gimmicks, what if I changed out the sour manager they all have to work with each day with one who they will love and want to be better for?

Ask – what is the REAL problem?

What problem is causing these problems?

What problem is the most valuable one to solve?

Then get to work on it.

Strategy before tactics

You are in the XYZ business – ok, fine.

But what is your strategy to compete, build and grow?

Once the strategic part is clear, the tactical part falls in line.

For example you are going to win by being in the best location(s), or paying higher commissions and recruting the best salespeople in the industry, or having the fastest service, or the greatest customer benefits through innovation, etc.

What is your strategy? 

Once you are clear on that, you can determine the tactics you need to use.

Well…?