Generalizations kill clarity

Clarity is the ability to act.

If you tell me to “do better” or “we are going to work together to hit our goal this month” – I can’t act on that.

But if you tell me what my part is and specifically what you want me to do, what actions I need to take or do differently and how (each week/day/hour), who is counting on me and why it matters, and how I can win – that I CAN do.

Are you a leader who creates clarity?

You get what you tolerate

Culture is king. 

You get what you tolerate.

You have to use small things as an example of what and how we do it here.

Sweep the floors.  Paint the walls.  Call people on their dress or language or driving or cleanliness.

Talk about it.  Communicate.  “Guys, if we can’t get the small stuff right, how can we ever get the big stuff right?  I’m committed to building a great company and I need your help…”

The caliber of your team

You ARE who you hire.

Your company will never exceed the quality of the people you hire.

It’s who you hire, and who you don’t fire.

You can’t be an A company with C players.

So the questions are –

Do you hire A players, or B or C players?

Why would A players work at your company and stay?

Are you an A leader?

Consultants Recommendations

If you hire a consultant and they sell something, what do you think they will recommend?

Never rely solely on the recommendation of one consultant.

Be conservative in the good times

Not all progress is measured in ground gained, but sometimes by losses avoided. Those nobody sees.

A good market hides mistakes. Any fool can make money in good times.

I am the steward of my company – now 2000 people in 32 states.  I’m playing the long game.   I have been through many recessions, wars, 9/11, covid, stock market shocks, interest rate cycles, etc.

We are still here and growing.

Debt.  People.  Relationships.

You need to do the right thing when things are good, so you can survive when they are not.

If you don't understand it – don't do it.

Warren Buffett says that he doesn’t get involved in things he doesn’t understand.  Over my career I have violated this maxim, only to regret it.  

It’s not a sin to miss a revenue opportunity.  Trying to take advantage of everything is like trying to eat everything at the buffet.  

Sometimes, you can study a situation so THAT you can understand it before you get involved, but it STILL doesn’t make sense.  Something doesn’t add up.  There are blind spots, parts missing, and bad incentives.  That’s the point. Don’t get involved in businesses or investments you don’t understand.

Good advice.

A victim of your own ambition

Ambition is a great thing.  But combined with unbridled optimism and a lack of discipline for the long term, it can be a big problem and lead to big failures.

If you start things but can’t finish them, if you underestimate how long it will take to “complete” a project, and if you can help but have a new idea every month/week/day/hour, then your ambition will have you running in a different direction all the time – from one disappointment to another.

You can do anything, but you can’t do everything.  And the more things you do at once, the less your chances of doing great at any one of them are.

Money – hard to make, easy to spend

A leader is the steward of all the revenue coming into the business.  

The employees and customers and community are counting on that leader to manage that money well (even as they all want more of it).

If the leader messes this up, everyone loses.

The leaders job is to mix labor, materials, and outside services to create something that people will buy for more than it costs to make.

The leader’s job is to spend less money than the company is taking in.

There is no talking around this.  Lives hang in the balance.

Increase revenue or decrease expenses – create a gap between them, and maintain it as things change.

Create great jobs!

So many people say “I can’t get good employees who stay.”  They are right when they identify this as a big problem.  Having to get new people all the time is expensive, and training them is time-consuming.  Quality and productivity suffers.  

But if you had great jobs, people would stay, right?  So how about looking at it this way – one of the key products your company creates is great jobs!  

Build jobs people love.  They want to feel important, trained and capable, and like they matter.  They want to be rewarded for good or great performances and have some control over their workday.  They want to be appreciated and it’s important that their immediate supervisor and other leaders are open and friendly and like them.  If they feel leaders care about them and their success – that’s big.  They want to know how they fit in the big picture and don’t mind having their performance measured – they want to know how to win.  They want to be trained and empowered.  They want to be included in on communication and what is going on.  They want to work in a nice physical space and like the people they work with.  They want fairness and don’t like gossip or office politics. They certainly DO NOT want to be yelled at or embarrassed. They want stability and don’t want to live in fear that their job is in jeopardy.  

Can you create jobs like that?  Can you DESIGN your company to have jobs like that?

If you do, you will never have to worry about getting “good people” again.  You will draw the best out of ordinary people, and top people will want to work for you.  Your people will stay and become experienced and need less training.  In fact they can train new people.  Customer satisfaction will go up and so will your results.

Get on it!

Were you lucky?

I am involved in a variety of different businesses.  Some are easier than others.  Sometimes timing is everything.  Sometimes location is everything. Sometimes connections and relationships are everything.

Often entrepreneurs try different things until they find something that works.  Sometimes they get lucky and stumble into what works on their first try.  

You can be good and unlucky.  (Of course, a different discussion is your response to what happens and making your own luck.)

You can be not so good and lucky.

You can be not so good and unlucky.

Or you can be both good and lucky.

Which have you been so far?

“Catching a big wave and being a good swimmer are two different things.” – Keith Cunningham