You’re going to work for a

living SOME where, right?

Recommended: Print & pass to a business hopeful attending or considering college

     So you’ve earned a PhD, an MBA, LLB, MD, MS, MA, and all kinds of bachelor and associate degrees. You are Mr. or Mrs. (maybe “Dr.” ?) Joe (Josephine?) College, in the flesh. And the academic credentials got you a decent job. Now what? Do you seriously believe your 4.0 grade average means you’ve got what it takes to thrive … even survive?

     After your punishing (and expensive!) labs, coursework, exams, thesis papers and consulting with so-called “Academic Advisors,” if you have learned anything less than HOW to put ALL of the following to work, you’re in big-time trouble, and college put you there.

     Can you honestly say you have learned how to practice (and hopefully excel at) ALL of these attributes?:

• Making Decisions
• Managing Stress
• Managing Time
• Managing Customers
• Communicating Clearly
• Being a Leader
• SELLING
• Delegating
• Innovating
• Being a Team Player
• Listening and Giving Feedback
• Organizing
• Empathizing
• Respecting Others
• Being Genuine, Honest and Transparent
• Valuing Experience
• Accepting Criticism
• Setting and Pursuing Goals
• Being Accountable and Cultivating Trust
• Avoiding Political and Psychological “Games”

     Give or take perhaps a couple of the above items, these are the attributes that add up to being effective in business or professional practice (ANY business or professional practice) and without which, your road to success will be a long one indeed, especially if you aspire to a forward-moving or productive management position.

     Good leaders do all of these things well. So do good salespeople. All good leaders are also, not incidentally, good salespeople [SEE TOMORROW’S POST ON THIS SUBJECT!]  

     What’s sad about all this is that institutions of higher learning (other than a very small handful that do in fact address a number of these subjects as part of academic platforms on, for example, nursing and entrepreneurship and some behavioral sciences like human development) not only scoot around these issues; they outright reject them.

     Colleges and universities (again with rare exception) fail to value reality. They are invested in fantasizing on the past which will never come again, or the future which hasn’t yet arrived, and may never. They refuse to acknowledge their hands in front of their faces.

     So YOU end up losing out to an arcane system of learning that fails to deal with preparing students for life in the real world. It’s true.

How do I know? I’ve worked extensively in creative roles with Fortune 500 companies, as a consultant with entrepreneurial businesses and professional practices, as a management trainer for over 20,000 business and healthcare executives, and as “Professor of the Year” at a major university and two colleges. I’ve been in the thick of it.

     You DO have a way out. There IS hope. You need to first accept that you’ve been taught subject matter, not real life applications, not how to succeed. Second, you must commit to yourself to learn as much as you possibly can about yourself as possible.

The more you know about what makes you “tick,”

the more skilled and successful a leader you will be.

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Innovation Starts With

A Creative Idea.

     Innovation may end with the implementation of a strategic plan that carries a creative idea all the way through to completion — whether it’s a new product launch, and expanded service offering, a new approach to management or something else — but it begins with a creative idea!

     Hey, that’s great, you might say, but how do I stimulate my people to dream up creative ideas that we can innovate with? I have 6 engineers, 3 chemists, and 4 accountants reporting to me and the most creative thing any of them do is wear a plaid shirt on vacation.

     Aha! Then — assuming it’s worth 45 minutes a week to maybe light some fires under them and facilitate some positive changes — tell your team that it’s time to divest your business of its status quo investments.

     Tell them you want to begin making some big waves in the market and/or the industry and or the organization. Challenge them to rise to the occasion and take responsibility for introducing 3 new workable ideas each, every week.

     Give each person 1 minute to present each idea in each weekly status meeting. So 3 ideas each, 3 minutes = 3 x 13 team members = 39 minutes.

     Devote 1 minute of each meeting to creative stimulation activities: Make something out of a single page of newspaper! (Anything!) or draw a t-shirt and put the word or words or picture on it that best describes how you feel right now (Anything!) or pass a rock around and have each person pretend to put into it the one thing besides money that she/he thinks is missing from the company that could make it better, and say what that thing is (Anything!).

     Use 1 minute to vote on the 3 most feasible ideas and rank them. Address the #1 idea with 4 minutes of quick discussion about how the team could make the idea work. VOILA! 45 minutes a week of creative stimulation will most certainly produce some innovative pursuits. 

     Don’t be afraid of trying, or too quick to abandon the approach. It WILL work and it WILL bring some meaningful new directions from once stagnant corners of your business environment. Adapt the timing and challenges as you see fit. Email me if you have questions.

     As the owner or manager you have the implied power to make it work. It’s your choice to bring active, encouraging, fun-filled, and noncritical leadership to the table, to challenge others to take the risk of offering suggestions. And remember that bad and stupid suggestions will almost always trigger good productive ones that would otherwise NEVER have surfaced.

     So encourage ALL input and reward failures when there’s real effort involved. You’ll be amazed at the differences you can usher in within just a few short weeks of consistent and enthusiastic support. Similar approaches have brought astronomical success to all types and sizes of businesses. The keys: Encourage every effort and be persistent.  

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It Doesn’t Fall From The Sky

…Innovation Needs Ignition

We’ve all heard  how the lousy economy is getting better now, and will soon (fingers crossed behind backs) be booming again. And even those of us who are eternal optimists know better than to believe a word of it.

Small business owners and operators and managers  know that only job creation will turn the tide, and that job creation will only come from increased sales, and that increased sales will only come from great customer service and … INNOVATION.

Here are ways/attitudes/ideas  that can help jump-start innovation (the development of new products, services, markets, ways of doing things, from ignition to blast-off to orbit and back) beginning right now:

1. Do not tolerate paralysis. Some action is always better than no action. Inspire a “Do it” mindset and reward failures when genuine efforts are made.

2. Try stuff!  Test it out. Ask customers and suppliers what they think. Convene quick focus groups. Scramble together as much quick feedback as possible and LISTEN to it!

3. Instill a sense of urgency  about taking initial ideas all the way through the thought and strategic launch process. Insist on thorough thinking done quickly. Don’t wait for lengthy studies, follow-up meetings, and long assessments.

4. Be open and receptive  to and encourage bizarre and eccentric and cyberspace thinking, but cultivate ongoing teamwork to shake ideas loose and get them organized and moving.

5. Get EVERY one engaged. The best results can sometimes come from the least expected sources. Make EVERY one who contributes part of the launch crew, with small frequent reinforcement rewards (fresh fruit in the lunch area, personal handwritten thank you and acknowledgment notes mailed to “The Family of” at home addresses, local news releases, website mentions)

     Remember that it doesn’t take much to shake things up  and spur some new innovative activity, but it can take a lot of work and a long time to restore order if you try to take things to fast in too many directions at the same time. Keep the ideas flowing. Keep each step of the way a product of organized teamwork. And keep control.

You need to ignite fires and encourage brainstorming with one hand, then bring things into realistic focus with the other. Yes indeed, you are once again in that old entrepreneurship attitude that you thrived on when you started.

Maybe you’ve lost touch  in recent times with some of those “egotistical, competitive, passionate, persistent-beyond-belief entrepreneurial traits” (Thank you Tom Peters and Nancy Austin in “A PASSION FOR EXCELLENCE…The Leadership Difference”)?

Perhaps someone convinced you not to worry about it because the economy is turning around? Perhaps it’s time for you to turn your business around with more innovative pursuits and action. Perhaps?

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No Room In The Inn for

Obsessive-Compulsives

• Cleaning and grooming, such as washing hands, showering or brushing teeth over and over again
• Checking drawers, door locks and appliances to be sure they are shut, locked or turned off
• Repeating, such as going in and out of a door, sitting down and getting up from a chair, or touching certain objects several times
• Ordering and arranging items in certain ways
• Counting over and over to a certain number
• Saving newspapers, mail or containers when they are no longer needed
• Seeking constant reassurance and approval

     What causes OCD?  There’s no single, proven cause. Some research shows that it may have to do with brain chemicals that carry messages from one nerve cell to another. One of these chemicals, serotonin, helps keep people from repeating the same behaviors over and over again. Someone with OCD may not have enough serotonin. Many people with OCD can function better when they take medicines that increase the amount of serotonin in their brain.

     Are other illnesses associated with OCD?  People who have OCD often have other kinds of anxiety, like phobias (such as fear of spiders or fear of flying) or panic attacks. They may also have depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), an eating disorder, or a learning disorder such as dyslexia. Having one or more of these disorders can make diagnosis and treatment more difficult, so it’s important to talk to a medical doctor about any symptoms present.

Source:  www.FamilyDoctor.org  and

The American Academy of Family Physicians

Feeling Fat?

Try Customer Contact!

     Okay now, here’s one of those little post-Thanksgiving, feeling-fat questions  that calls for you to be totally honest with yourself, but it doesn’t have to do with your weight or how much stuffing and pie you ate. Ready? Here you go:

     When’s the last time you PERSONALLY  called a past customer to ask how she or he is doing? To ask if there’s anything you can do for him or her?

     You know what?  If the last time was any longer than a few days ago, you may be setting yourself and your business up for failure. Why? Because you can bet that a competitor of yours is making that kind of call. And “We the people of the United States of America” LIKE getting those kinds of calls. In fact, we like it so much, it usually makes customers out of us!

     No, the person you call isn’t going to do cartwheels,  drop the phone and come running down the street shouting your name all the way to your front door, and then pound on it until he or she can dump pocketfuls of cash in your lap. But you can be certain the impression you make will get talked about! Getting talked about makes sales!

     Simple “How goes it?” calls  to take inventory of past customer experiences, and to ask about ways that you might help fill current and upcoming needs can be enormously productive. Asking customers for their opinions makes sales!      

     Of course, even a notch better than calls, when it’s possible  and convenient, is a personal handwritten note (I mean who does that anymore?) and topping even notes, a “just stopped by to say hi and see how you’re doing” visit. Even when the individual you aim to see isn’t there, the word always gets back…so, the more special you treat the person delivering your message, the better! Building customer relationships makes sales!

     Because there simply is never any way to know where your next sale is coming from,  the more you can do to cultivate existing customer contacts — even with receptionists — could end up connecting you with the sale of a lifetime.

     While you (to follow this example one more step) are being nice to the receptionist  (or the assistant), you can never know who else might be listening or observing or will get a firsthand report. Like “integrity” is doing the right thing even when no one is looking, sometimes the same can be said for sales. “Hey!” (as the NY Lottery advertises) “Y’neva know!”

     I know at least half a dozen businesses  that use receptionist and assistant positions as entry level jobs for assumptive relatives who will one day inherit the company, and who routinely associate with or lunch with the boss! There’s nothing like selling the next generation!

     Would you know about channels like these  without making “How goes it?” calls? Not likely. Afraid of hearing negatives? Hearing negatives makes sales! And every call you make speaks louder for your branding than all your advertising combined!

# # #               

You must be dreaming!

Today’s economy is GREAT!

     Dear business owners and managers:  If you’ve been talking about having some weirdo notion that we are in a never-ending economic tailspin that’s ruining the odds for  success, you may not be speaking with forked tongue, but you are looking through crooked glasses! 

     If  your business is still afloat,  that means you have done some hard sweeping work getting the cobwebs out of the corners. It means you are down to a bare-bones personnel operation that is probably 50-100% more productive than it was before “bailouts” and “stimulus” became part of the language.

     And you are coming full circle around  to what Tom Peters and Nancy Austin told us a quarter of a century ago in their classic #1 best-selling business book, A Passion for Excellence:

In the private or public sector, in big business or small, we observe that there are only two ways to create and sustain superior performance over the long haul:

“First, take exceptional care of your customer (for chicken, jet engines, education, healthcare, or baseball) via superior service and superior quality. Second, constantly innovate. That’s it.”

They add that “sound financial controls” and “solid planning” are of course also essential and necessary,” but that the bottom line of achieving success is to manage by wandering around —

• By constantly talking with your people,
• By constantly and attentively listening to their ideas, and
• By motivating through examples of the ways you cater to customers and work nonstop at innovation: always drumming up new creative ideas and strategically taking them all the way through in your thinking to a point of implementation.

Introducing a new product feature isn’t good enough. Anyone can think of that. Actually working out all of the steps involved with associated costs, benefits,  timelines, and logistics… that’s innovation! 

• By instilling a passion for customer courtesy and innovative thinking in every tiny corner of every department of the business, whether there are three employees involved, or 300,000. 

     Today’s economy sucks if you choose for it to.  If instead you seize the opportunity to be more motivated to deliver a better dollar-value quality product and service, quicker and safer, and that’s longer-lasting than ever before… and you pump all your company’s efforts into making your customers love you… NOW you’ve got something!

     And your leaner, tougher, more customer-conscious business  would never have happened when cash was flowing and you were on cruise control, lunching out and playing golf and taking off early and traveling the world on long vacations, and being so successful you were able to sell ice to Eskimos with one hand behind your back.

     Speaking of your hand:  The lousy economy, being continuously fueled by shortsighted (maybe even blind) government bureaucracy, has essentially forced your hand to act in new ways. And if in fact you do act in new more productive ways, then it’s a GREAT economy!

     Will you rise to the occasion  and make things work, or keep dreaming that they can’t,  throw in the towel, and get out of the way of those who are choosing to meet the challenge? 

# # #

“It’s not MY job!”

     Ever heard this before? Or is it just my imagination? Odds are someone in your business either says something like this, or has the underlying attitude but doesn’t express it openly.

     The person who rejects  awareness, spontaneity and (friendship / partner / spousal) intimacy also rejects the responsibility for shaping her or his own life. She or he is someone who thinks of him or herself as either lucky or unlucky, assuming without question that it’s meant to be and: can’t or shouldn’t be changed, or that only ______ can change it.

 Sound familiar? This is the same individual who

     routinely proclaims (or thinks): “It’s not MY job!”

     By contrast, the autonomous person  is concerned with “being.” He or she allows his/her own capacities to unfold and encourages others to do the same. These are the kinds of individuals who project their own possibilities into the future as realistic goals which give aim and purpose to their lives.

     They sacrifice  only when they are giving up a lesser value for a greater value according to their own personal value systems. They are not concerned with getting more, but with being more. 

My philosophy is that not only are you responsible for your life, but doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.”

— OPRAH WINFREY

     As a business owner or manager, and especially in today’s economy,  you really can’t afford to have people working for you with this attitude. E V E R Y person in your business needs to accept responsibility for doing whatever needs to be done whenever it needs to be done as long as he or she has the ability to do it.

     But this doesn’t mean that you need to be a shrink  with employees who evidence a not-my-job mentality. It DOES suggest that you may want to think hard about keeping this kind of person on payroll.

     If it’s a locked-in situation  and you can’t let go of her or him right now, set a deadline for change, explain it clearly and gently, then teach by example. Do recognize that it takes courage for someone like that to rise to the occasion, and reward any evidence of attempts with “pat-on-the-back” comments and encouragement to keep at it. 

     You’ll always get more of what you genuinely

appreciate, praise and reward.   

With special thanks to human relations/communications consultants Muriel James and Dorothy Jongeward for the inspiration and adaptations from their classic book BORN TO WIN: Transactional Analysis with Gestalt Experiments    

# # #               

Your Laundry? No.

But Your News? Yes!

     Dear Boss – No, your employees are not entitled to inspect your laundry,  but they do need to be empowered to accept and process your ideas and plans, and be encouraged to contribute according to their experience, skills, and capabilities. 

     If you’re playing this  (seemingly never-ending) ongoing small business economic disaster news close to the vest, and not sharing what’s happening with those around you,  you’re cutting off your nose to spite your face . . . you may be missing a unique opportunity to take advantage of free, life-saving input from those with invested time and energy. 

     If you’re keeping to yourself  where you see things going, and not discussing your ideas for how you’re going to get there, you are shooting yourself in the foot. (And, psssssst: no nose and no foot can make things even tougher than they already are.)

“As the economy continues to shift, keeping employees up-to-date on how the company is responding, and how they are affected, will help insure against their becoming demoralized and disconnected.

“Effective communication helps engage employees, and that has positive implications for productivity and the bottom line.” 

–Kathryn Yates, global leader of communication consulting at Watson Wyatt

     You have chosen to own and/or manage a business or part of one.  Along with that choice comes significant leadership responsibility. Along with leadership responsibility comes the obligation to maintain and encourage 2-way communications with all those who report to you. 

     This is not a responsibility to take lightly.  Keeping those around you informed of what’s going on, spelling out for them how you see what’s going on, and where you aim to take things is the kind of stuff that makes or breaks the backbone of a business.

     Notice I said “2-way”  which means listening as intently as telling. It means weighing, assessing, and actively considering the suggestions of those around you. They are, remember, around you because you chose for them to be around you and you did that because you respect and trust them.

     So? So respect and trust them!  Accept that your people are as invested in keeping their jobs and growing the business as you are. They may not match your personal commitment level, but give them the benefit of doubt when they have ideas and suggestions. You might even learn something that makes a difference! 

# # #

Size up the eyeballs and

handshakes, or split!

     It doesn’t matter  whether you’re talking about a distributorship, franchise, equity partnership, or strategic alliance, a commission plan, or a creative property royalty arrangement. If you’re considering any kind of business partnership, go the reality route. Nothing else will do.

Life is not long enough for you to waste any of it on people who don’t walk their talk.

You don’t have to love someone  to do business with him or her. You don’t have to agree with some one’s religious, political or sexual persuasion if there’s no bearing on your business. But you owe it to yourself, and your family (who will suffer from a bad partnership decision) to do some due diligence.

     Take advantage of every opportunity  (including the more obvious — but surprisingly seldom invoked — Google) to check out who and whom you’re thinking about dealing with. No, you probably don’t need a CIA or FBI report.

     And some one’s credit history  should have nothing to do with the creative services you may be looking for, anymore than wanting to know what high school that a board-certified physician may have graduated from, or the disorderly conduct charges filed against some one’s college student son on homecoming weekend.

     In other words, decide what’s really relevant  to the relationship you’re weighing before you start digging into directions that waste time and effort and money and are not truly important in the grand scheme of things. “Chemistry” for example, always counts! 

     Meeting someone face-to-face,  belly-to-belly, eyeball-to-eyeball, one-on-one –and physically shaking hands– is the only way to enter a partnership agreement with any reasonable degree of confidence. Think of it as a chance to enhance your professional judgment. 

     It’s not a 100% lock,  but it will certainly serve to eliminate at least 50% of the quacks and maniacs (yes, both exist; and yes, both can be very convincing on the phone and via email; and yes, the more talented you are, the more likely those types are to turn up in your backyard)!

     If you’ve reached a point of initiating serious business pursuits with another person or group you’ve never actually met, work out a way to get together personally before making any written or verbal contractual-type commitments. Be willing to hop a car or plane and get a firsthand impression of what your prospective partner is all about.

     Restaurant settings can be particularly revealing.  Eating habits, preferences, pace, and posture paint one picture. How the other person or persons deal with the restaurant staff paints another. Be careful of anyone who orders more than one alcoholic drink in this setting.

     Be skeptical until proven otherwise.  In the end, you’ll be glad you were careful and insisted on a reality meeting with your virtual partner.   

# # #

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Hal@Businessworks.US  302.933.0116 

  Open minds open doors. 

 Thanks for visiting and God bless you. 

   Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

“Oh, My! You’ve Gotten So Big!”

     Remember hearing this every Thanksgiving  while you were growing up? The proclamation was typically accompanied by a hand on top of your head or shoulder?

     Ah, yes, and it usually came from some ignorant,  but maybe well-intentioned adult member of your dysfunctional family? Some aunt or uncle you only ever saw once a year gorging herself or himself on the annual turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce banquet?

     Well, that was good training. Now you own and run or manage a business.  The likelihood is great indeed that you still see signs of ignorance in your family, and that it has — VOILA! — remained a dysfunctional entity!

     But odds are those growing-up days  dished out more suffering than you recall. Insecurity. Anxiety. Disproportionate thrusts of physical and emotional change. Hatred of all people older than 23.

     When did you last travel with a fourteen year-old?  You look at one a little crooked, and odds are you’ll be rewarded with a convulsive shudder followed by a flood of tears. He or she’s worried about which sweater to wear or iPod tune to buy and you’re trying to resolve travel delays. It’s a communications lock-down and some one’s going to end up angry.

     How did you handle it then?  Somehow you got through it all because here you are reading this post. What about now? Has your business reached puberty? Is it still in adolescence? Is it caught in the middle somewhere?

     Do you find yourself gulping, clenching your teeth and scratching  your head more that the startup years when there wasn’t even time to eat, never-mind scratch? Do you hate when people talk about how much your business has grown when in your heart you know you’re stuck in mud and hoping it’s not quicksand?

     Well, then, give your business a shot of “Adult.”  Stop thinking small and defeated. Stop acting small and defeated. Stop resenting outsiders sizing up your venture. Stop choosing to accept your circumstances. START choosing to change your circumstances. 

YOU DO NOT NEED TO CHOOSE TO SETTLE FOR ANYTHING.

     Some after-hours places to start:

• Run your disk defragment and anti-virus programs (uh, not at the same time)!
• Clean out your old email files, old databases, old business card collections!
• Clean out your supply cabinet (and discover what’s been over and under ordered)!
• Develop 3 new challenges for each employee and plan a group briefing!
• Explain your business to a five year-old and to an 80 year-old, then listen!   
• Check out work spaces – are they getting cluttered? Sloppy? Dirty? Lighting?

     Add your own. A quick monthly take on these “inventory” items will help your business grow up faster and with less damage than most humans experience! What have you got to lose? What have you got to lose if you stay stuck in mud another few years?

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