Solve more valuable problems

Leaders spend lots of time solving problems.

Solving some problems makes no difference to tomorrow. 

Some problems, if solved, will prevent thousands of others in the future, or will create much value for years.

Solve better problems.

Be the leader of the company you want

Be the leader of the company you want, not the one you have now.

What would a leader of your ideal company be doing differently today?

Signals

The organization’s facility tells the world about the leader’s vision and optimism for the future.

When employees, customers, suppliers, and the community look at your facility, what would they guess you were thinking about where your company is going?

The gift of high expectations

People don’t rise to low expectations.

If you keep selling yourself short, then you won’t know how to get the most out of other people, because you don’t set high expectations for yourself.

If you are a high performer and a leader now, you need to recognize unrealized untapped abilities in others and lead them to draw it out.

We all have greater potential than we are using – there is no question about that.

Some people have never had anyone around them that challenges them.  Some people won’t listen to their parents, but they will listen to their boss when they say the same words.  Some people are waiting for someone to believe in them – even more than they believe in themselves.  

The difference between low performance and high performance from individuals on a team is leadership.  And that difference can be the gap between organizational failure and striking success.

Leadership title or not – the people who make others around them believe in themselves and do more are the most beloved – and people will rise to not let them down.

Other people are your salvation

Most small business owners are overworked and stressed out.  They feel like they have to do so much themselves.  They feel like if they don’t show up to watch over things then mistakes get made and things go downhill.  They are a slave to their business.

But the truth is that they have not done the leadership job well and not empowered other people to be in charge of pieces of the business – so they are still in charge of too much.

Because the leader gets to his/her limit of time and can’t do more, the business does not grow.

Go from “If I don’t show up nothing happens” to “If I don’t show up nothing different happens”.

How?  Stop doing the work and recruit, train, and empower others to do it. 

That’s the leader’s job.

You are Master over this!

Today, remember – you are master over your business. 

It is not master over you.

You created this.

You can recreate it.

Take charge.  Make the calls.

Have compassion

Life is finding the sweet spot.  Not too little, and not too much.

Many people these days are not challenged or tested enough.  But entrepreneurs are different.  We signed up for challenge and problems that test who we are and what we can take.  

We can be hard on ourselves with our expectations. (This can make us hard on others too.)

When we get beat up in the arena of business and leadership life we have to know when to press and when to regroup and restore our own spirit.

“If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.” – Jack Kornfield

When reality falls short of expectation and you habitually beat yourself up about it, you’ll wind up with stress, health problems, and a poor quality of life. 

You are doing this to make your life better, not worse.

Be patient with results coming, while you are impatient with action to get them.

Go easy on you.  

As you pursue it seriously, hold it loosely.

The mountaintop is not crowded

Many people dream.

Fewer think.

Fewer plan.

Fewer act.

Fewer learn from mistakes and failures.

Fewer keep going and keep adjusting long enough…

…and a few rise to the top.

Don't ask "What do I do?", instead ask….

Here is a game changer question –

Don’t ask “What do I do?”, instead ask “Who can help me?”

It may be very difficult for you to figure out what to do and actually do it – but there is someone who knows just what to do and can do it easier than you can.

Who can help you?

Ask the right question

Before you jump into an answer to a problem, make sure you are asking the right question first.

What problem are you trying to solve?

What question have you been asking?  Is it the right question?

Does the question ask about an effect of the problem or the source of the problem?

Ask the right question.

What is the right question you should be asking/solving?