Cocky professionals,

headstrong business

owners, and

fantasizing gamblers

are doing it

as you read this!

     For many, running a business or professional practice gets too easily entangled with subliminal ego-based behaviors. There’s a tendency for many owners or senior partners to take the road of self-importance because — short-term — it’s easier and more gratifying.

     These are the nonproductive avenues that surface when business and practice leadership is mistakenly equated with micro-managing. Inevitably, as doomed attempts to prove micro-management hunches are correct, dollars are often nonchalantly tossed on the table.

     Do feelings of control breed expressions of unrealistic self-confidence? 

     Well, yeah! Just take a good look around you. How far away is the closest boarded-up business? Same town? Same neighborhood? Same street? Same building? Have you checked out what happened? Guaranteed that the more you sift through the rubble, the more likely you’ll come up with the reason being poor management. Period.

     Underfunded? Poor management. Not enough sales? Poor management. Too many non-productive employees? Poor management. Not enough innovation? Poor management. Ineffective customer service? Poor management. Marketing that didn’t work? Poor management. Lousy economy? Poor management’s ready excuses.

     Whatever, whomever, wherever, however, whenever the blame, judge and jury will find “Poor Management” guilty on all counts.

     There comes a time in the maturity of business life when reality strikes and says: “You know what? You really don’t know it all. Not only do you not know it all, but IF you keep throwing good money after bad and taking UN-reasonable risks, you’ll need only to know where to find the unemployment line!”

     Hopefully this kind of wake-up call comes early enough in life to avoid having to board up the windows or take loans to pay loans.

     True entrepreneurs— whether retailer, manufacturer, distributor, online geek, doctor, lawyer, or Indian Chief — only take REASONABLE risks. Hollywood portrayals aside, true entrepreneurs don’t bet the farm or give away the store. They don’t bluff at cards because they don’t play cards. They don’t buy lottery tickets or bet on horses. None of those risks are reasonable.

     This isn’t to suggestthat business owners and professional practice principals need to be Scrooges, tightwads and cheapskates. It does suggest that all business owners and managers can stand to be reminded to exercise greater caution with the ways they choose to spend their hard-earned money . . . jnstead of allowing business road rage to take over!

     It means finding and surrounding themselves with proven, qualified, experienced people who can be trusted. Easier said than done. Absolutely! But nobody said entrepreneurship was easy. 

     It means letting those people do the work they’re best at, and accepting that not everyone is cut out to be Donald Trump or Thomas Edison or The Lone Ranger. Leadership, in the end, is all about managing and motivating and inspiring others to get the work done that the leader needs done.

     It’s about not throwing more money on a table that’s been losing its legs to random chopping and sawing. Besides, unlike baseballs, footballs, basketballs, and the bull, money is not for throwing.                             

www.TheWriterWorks.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

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