The struggle makes you better.

If you are on a worthy, noble, heroic journey you will never escape pain, hard work, and disappointments.

They are what make you better.

Pushing through and growing through them will get you where you want to be.

Keep going.

Arrogance

Arrogance is ignorance plus confidence.

Confidence is great and necessary.  But how do you know you are ignorant? 

How do you know what you don’t know,  or that you don’t know?

Watch out.  Don’t be arrogant because you will lose your ability to influence others.

Be humble.  Listen.  Learn.

You are one person. You don't scale.

Growing a business is simply figuring out what you can delegate next.

Leadership – Long term vs short term thinking

I think about a leader who has an attitude of here to stay, here forever, no other plan, I bet it all on making this work……..and one who is here for me, here for the payout, here to flip this, here for my ease and comfort, here for my ego, here until I get another gig.

There is a big difference.  Some can fool people for a little while, but based on the leaders actions and words, and attitude over time, they figure it out.  

Of course, there are many other dimensions of leadership that factor in. 

Short-term leaders get the money sometimes, but they leave an organization in shambles as their legacy, with unhappy employees and customers in their wake.

The good leader winds up with the good people

I love this idea and I have seen it play out dozens of times.  

So lets say you have two kinds of leaders.  One good, and one bad.  The good leader thinks long-term, genuinely likes his people and wants them to succeed, genuinely cares about customers, is humble and listens, is leading to build something great far into the future, handles crises well, and is a good person.

The bad leader is here for himself, may be thinking short term, thinks he knows it all, snaps at people, thinks employees are stupid tools, has a superiority complex, doesn’t listen, doesn’t care if his people or customers get what they want…you get the idea.

So here is the phenomenon.  Whether this happens as a leader starts the business from the beginning, or if a leader takes over a team that has been together some time (no matter what that teams condition is), it still happens.

The bad leader chases away good employees.  Good employees have a choice of where they can work, they will not put up with mistreatment, and they want a leader that they know will lead them to a good future.  The bad employees stay.  They have fewer choices for where to work and lower standards.  They put up with the bad leader and get even by doing the minimum and keeping their head down.  The bad attitudes rub off on everyone.  This organization cannot attract new good employees.  Over time, the bad leader has all the bad employees.

The good leader chases away all the bad employees.  They can’t hide out in this company.  The leader doesn’t put up with bad attitudes or low performers (even if they are nice people).  Good employees stay and give their best because they like the leader, and don’t want to let down the leader or their teammates.  This team attracts new good employees.  If this team makes a bad hire, the rest of the employees call out the new person and a problem and they don’t last long.  In this way, the good leader winds up with all the good employees.

Leadership is the key.

How has this played out at your company?

Departments in your company? 

Don't create excuses for your team

As a leader, let your team see your confidence, but not your worries.

Work on your problems privately, or maybe with a small group of trusted and talented people who will help you solve them, but don’t air your troubles or worries about the future in the open unless those specific team members are directly involved.

When team members feel the leader isn’t sure or doesn’t know how to take them to the promised land, they lose faith in the mission and start scattering.

Spin out confidence and enthusiasm.   If you don’t have any, you damn well better fix that quickly, or get a leader who can handle the job.

Secret Weapon – Targeted Thinking

You can solve any problem if you have the courage to claim your problem, admit it’s you if it is, and to fix it. 

With this attitude, you can focus on the problem honestly.  But as a leader, get help.  You may not be the best one to brainstorm about this problem.  In fact, you probably aren’t.

Others have solved this before.  Find out who and have them help you.

Learn.  Read.  Watch.  Research.  And think.  

This may look to an outsider that you aren’t doing much, but solving your biggest problems is worth everything.

Workaholism – an addiction

Workaholism is a trap.  Working a lot because you love to work, or once in a while you have to get a lot done in a short period of time is one thing.  But repeatedly putting in tons of hours because you fear things would fall apart without you doing that is a disease.

Even if it were true, it means you are not running the business right.  You haven’t learned how to be a leader.  You own a job instead of a business.

But workaholism is a respectable addiction, so few people call you on your sickness, seeing you as hard-working and diligent instead.

Are you an unhealthy workaholic?

It's not just about business

Owning a business or playing a part in running part of one, is not just about building a better business.

It’s about building a better human.

When you get better, the business will get better.  And business gives you plenty of situations that reveal your weaknesses, test you, and provide opportunities to improve that you’d never have otherwise.

Be a better you every day.

Hire Tough, Manage Easy

If you don’t take the time to get to know your candidate and lower your standards for hiring because you need to fill a seat and are in a hurry, you will spend far more time and money managing your hiring mistakes.

Interview your candidates as many times as you can.  Ask hard questions.  Research them.  Go out to a meal with them.  Have other people you trust talk with them to make sure you aren’t missing something.  This doesn’t take time, it saves time – lots and lots of time.