Entrepreneurs Are

Imagination Junkies!

Okay, friends and enemies, enough bitching about the economy. Get out your “imagination sticks.” We’re going to group-beat the recession!

• “You’re a whack-job, Hal!”
• “Y’think?”
• “Yeah.”
• “Well, you may be right, but I also have some news for you. Are you ready?”

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Knowledge is limited.

Imagination encircles the world!”

Who was the dumb idealist who said that, Hal? Hey, none other than our dumb old idealist friend Albert Einstein. And I know it for sure because it’s in a frame on the wall at the Delaware Creative Writing Center in the Cape Gazette Building in Lewes, Delaware, and Delaware Creative Writing Center people are very careful about the words they choose to surround themselves with!

So what? Who cares? What does that have to do with me? We’re in a recession in case you haven’t heard. And we don’t have any time to run around imagining things; there’s enough real stuff right here to deal with, besides you’re always preaching to be realistic and stay focused on the here and now, and now you’re saying we should all go off to never-never land with Tinkerbell and Michael Jackson?

Whoa! First of all, I’m not a big fan of either pixie dust or sequined gloves, but let’s look at the realism issue a minute, shall we? Realistically, none (zero, nada) of the world’s great businesses could have survived and thrived in economic problem times without imagination.

Only by fostering, nurturing and practicing the application of imagination to the products, services, ideas, R&D, and processes that launched them or put them on the map to start with, have they been able to make a difference.

Only when you plug imagination into your business’s status quo outlets will you experience the level of electricity that will thrust you into exciting new directions, markets, and revenue streams. Do you think Microsoft and Apple and HARO and TWITTER and revitalized old companies like GE just (pardon the expression) stumbled upon greatness?

Greatness doesn’t just fall from the sky and happen to happen! Greatness is created with imagination. You can build more of that commodity into your daily business activities. Start with some highly structured, tightly-timed brainstorming sessions as the road to expanding imagination!

Remembering that the solutions to any group problem are within the group, start with a group of 3-7 people (sometimes all managers, sometimes no managers, sometimes a mix works best . . . you may need some trial and error efforts to decide; sometimes three different groups tackling the same topics will produce the best results; don’t be afraid to experiment).

Conduct a disciplined 5-minute time period session with the goal of posting as many ideas as possible (on newsprint pages or whiteboard) that address the subject you spotlight. Encourage absolutely stupid and bizarre ideas (because they will trigger better ones!).

NO criticism is allowed during these 5 minutes! NONE!

When that list is done, take 3 minutes to refine it. This is the time to be critical, eliminate the nonsense, consolidate and combine points that seem to fit together, and take a good hard look at what’s left. Odds are you’ll surprise yourself with what you’ve orchestrated.

Many companies hold sessions like this weekly, and in some cases, even daily. The result is that people’s brains get stimulated. Productivity and sales increase. Imagination fuels the fire that heats up the economy. Entrepreneurs are imagination junkies.

Imagination is what made America great to start with. Imagination will do it again. Will you be a catalyst or an observer?

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Hal@Businessworks.US    or  931.854.0474

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Survey this, doubters!

(GRATEFULNESS, LIKE FLATTERY,

WILL GET YOU EVERYWHERE) 

I know there’re places in Maine with 9-10 feet of snow. But they know how to deal with it up there. Here, the “near blizzard conditions” that dumped 4-6 inches of immobilizing snow on America’s second biggest peninsula (unless you count Florida as a peninsula, which I suppose…) has given me cabin fever. And when you read the results of some of my phone calls this week, you may think I’ve gone completely off the deep end. But here goes: my unofficial telephone survey shows —

     9 out of 10 business owners from 9 different industries in 6 different states who I’ve spoken with in the last three days (including one with 50 locations, and another with 400 employees, and yet another with three employees) have ALL said the most important thing about the bad economy is that it has made them “grateful” for what they have. 

     All 10? Yup, all 10. They all said the word, “grateful”? Yup, all 10. In fact, in each discussion, gratefulness was underscored as a dominent factor in keeping business growth steady while neighboring businesses were crumbling.

     Hard to believe, right? I thought so too, but the more I probed, the more that I was reassured of the importance of being eternally appreciative on a day-to-day basis as a leading factor in keeping associate, employee, vendor, and customer attitudes positive. And positive attitudes beget positive business!

     “When I look around me at other companies in our industry, I’m really grateful to be where we are right now,” is the kind of comment I heard over and over. “I’m grateful to have such loyal people working for me!” and “We’re grateful to our customers that they trust and support us during these tough times,” and “I can’t tell you how grateful we are to the bankers in this town who have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with us and are helping us to get through this recession.”

     SO, take a good hard look at yourself. Go ahead. Go to the bathroom mirror if you need to; lock the door if you need to. Look yourself in the eye. Have you been appreciating what you have? Can you act, think and talk more grateful?

     Maybe you can’t relate to the millions of people without food or clothes or a roof or healthcare because they’re not in your neighborhood, or on your street, or in your back yard . . . because the success you’ve had has served to insulate you from the anguish, poverty, hunger, and ill health.

     But it’s out there, and you need to be grateful that you are not. You need to be grateful that you have managed to be in the right places at the right times and have kept your life and your business on track. It didn’t happen by itself. It didn’t happen by chance.

     It happened because you built a reputation for trust and integrity by demonstrating trust and integrity. Be grateful you had the good sense and judgement and abilities to follow that path.          

     Appreciate who you are and what you have. Appreciate your self!                    halalpiar

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No, you don’t need to move

  your business    

to the Caribbean!

(aaaah, but it might be nice to try for awhile, eh?)

Here’s a 6-Point Approach to creating a more positive climate for your business that comes partly from The Management Analysis Center and partly from my firsthand experience. it works:

1.  BUILD KNOWLEDGE. Know the capabilities of your staff as well as their weaknesses. With the understanding that Heraclitus the Greek philosopher said over 2500 years ago that “the only thing that’s permanent is change,” and that Thoreau once said “all we ever have is limited knowledge,” use what you know to determine (or update) the fundamental goals of your business.

GOAL CRITERIA REMINDER: A goal must have all four of the following criteria, or it is merely a “wishlist,” and not a goal. It must be 1) Realistic, 2) Specific, 3) Flexible, and 4) Have a deadline or due date.

2.  DEVELOP A SHARED VISION OF YOUR BUSINESS GOALS. Let employees participate in the process. Tell them the problems. Listen to their ideas. Take notes. Encourage others to take notes.

3.  DETERMINE WHAT SPECIFIC CHANGES SHOULD BE MADE. Should changes be made in job descriptions or physical layout to improve working conditions?

4.  SET THE EXAMPLE. As an owner/operator or manager, you are a role model whether you like it or not. People pay attention to everything you say and do. You will not be fostering teamwork if you rule by threats and intimidation. Praise in public; criticize in private. Act, talk, and think consistent with the goals you establish.

5.  REASSESS YOUR OWN FUNCTION to make it consistent with the changes you are making. If, for example, you want to establish better communications, you may need to establish a more open door policy, listen more, and listen more attentively! To get more good work from people, seek out and reward the things people do right, and try to overlook those they do wrong. (Remember that small, frequent, one-time-expense rewards motivate best and cost less than permanent ongoing pay raises with accompanying tax and benefit increases)

6.  DEVELOP NEW METHODS AND SYSTEMS for enhancing a more positive climate, such as instituting weekly status review meetings (with set time periods, a clear agenda circulated ahead of time and follow-up report focused only on decisions made and who will do what by when) to evaluate progress, or a reward system for improved performance.

In an optimum positive climate, people know exactly what it is that is expected of them and where they fit in. Everyone shares the same goals. They know how they can be effective and what kinds of behavior will be rewarded.    halalpiar

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A smack

alongside the head,

a kick in the butt, or

cash under the table…

are not always

the best motivators!

     Yesterday we resurrected Abraham Maslow’s “Heirarchy of Needs” to explain the compelling backdrop to his definitive theory of motivation, and provide some practical examples. Maslow’s Theory essentially says that effective (i.e., satisfying and productive) motivation occurs only by understanding, measuring and rewarding individuals at the specific need level each represents at any given point in time.

     I suggested the best way to accomplish this is to “be a detective” in order to determine where someone is “coming from” and what it is that best makes her or him “tick.” This, I noted, is particularly important because (except for those with unhealthy emotional burdens) we all tend to change need levels with some regularity, and often instantaneously, depending on circumstances.

For those not connected to Miami CSI or Law & Order, I recognize this detective task can seem daunting to say the least, because you simply may not want to expend the energy or approach the point of intimacy that may be required to determine, for example, a particular employee’s need level.

     So, like many of life’s choices, you must decide how important it really is for you to motivate someone in a manner that is most meaningful and appreciated by that individual, which of course means that it is also most productive for your business.

     If you and your business are in fact heartily invested in a person’s performance and general well-being, you will want to explore the idea of putting Maslow’s Theory to work.

     The most important and effective first step in this process is for you to get better focused on what makes YOU tick! When you are able to figure out your own need level history and movements, you will be putting yourself in a better position to maximize the potential and loyalty of others.

     How to do this: Consider joining a personal and professional development growth group. Many of these cater to business owners and managers who share similar concerns. If you’re not uncomfortably threatened by the idea of it and can afford it, try attending a group therapy session; these can be enormously healthy and helpful experiences if you stay focused on what you can learn about yourself. Or simply take a course in photography or painting or sculpting or creative writing or crafts or pottery. 

     Take advantage of every opportunity to learn more about your SELF . . . who you really are, deep down. Attend self-development conferences and workshops. Read. Try writing a memoir or –an even better (and quicker) exercise that most people find revealing to say the least, write your own obituary.

     See what you can learn about you, about how you respond (or react) to different issues, incentives, people, places, situations. There is no right or wrong here. There is only exploring and learning. Then application. Apply what you find out about what it takes to motivate yourself, and –from that informed perspective– begin to do what it takes to keep the best people on your team.  

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Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

RULE ONE: Be a detective!

Lots of clamor lately about MOTIVATING employees, associates, and salespeople. It’s really simple…if you work at it. Some things, it’s true, really don’tever change! Managerial motivation is one of them.

The definitive theory, first published in the early 1940’s by Abraham Maslow and still taught today in university management programs, remains “MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS.”

• Maslow’s theoryviews an individual’s motivation as a predetermined order of needs. PHYSIOLOGICAL NEEDS are the most basic and imperitive until they’re met. It’s hard to need more than food, water, clothing, and shelter, for example, if survival is not assured.

• Once physiological needs are met, Maslow said SAFETY NEEDS would rise to the top. So, now that you have enough to eat and drink and can keep warm and dry, your mind moves to the need for protecting those fulfillment’s. This accounts for concerns like air bags, insurance coverage, fences, alarm systems, locks, escape ladders, and investments. 

• As safety needs are satisfied,Maslow said we move up a level to SOCIAL NEEDS. Seeking acceptance from others, giving and receiving friendship and affection are key desirables.

• With social needs met, we pursue ESTEEM NEEDS: recognition with items and actions that show appreciation and enhance reputation…things like trophies, plaques, certificates, prizes, awards, special dedications, news release mentions, etc.

• Maslow said at the top of all needs is the need for SELF-ACTUALIZATION: realizing one’s own potentialities for self-fulfillment, for continued self-development, for being a successful, creative, and balanced person who is self-satisfied and has reached a point of total accomplishment. 

As we move from one level up to the next (and Maslow said we can only occupy one level at a time in any given moment), we can easily tumble back down to lower levels in an instant.

A job loss, pay loss, family death, injury, flood, fire, or hurricane are just a few of the kinds of tragic and debilitating events that can trigger someone who may be at a self-esteem level on Monday, for example, happy with being honored at a special luncheon, to suddenly find him or herself all the way back down to a physiological need level by the end of the week, or even the next morning.     

Okay, so how does this work day-to-day in practice?

To motivate people in ways that are most appreciated and most productive requires the motivator to be tuned in and aware to what need level someone is at on any particular day and reward that individual at that level!

Recognition doesn’t mean squat to someone with a broken-down car or inability to pay for a child’s braces, or someone who lives where there are frequent break-ins and who needs an alarm system.

Cash doesn’t mean anything to someone who’s inherited a family fortune and is working to gain acceptance by others, or some form of recognition to brag about. You can only know a person’s need level when you can know what’s going on with that person’s life and what makes that person tick! 

You don’t have to cozy-up to every employee or spend more time than you choose with them.  You do need to pay close attention to the things they talk about and the ways they talk about them. It means…you need to be a detective!  Go motivate!

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  Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

  Open Minds Open Doors 

   Thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

DON’T FISH OFF

COMPANY DOCKS!

     This old warning from my first boss about 2,000 years ago is another of those moralistic admonitions that stands as true and tall today as it did then, maybe even more so.  It is virtually (and probably literally) impossible to conduct business as usual, when you’re dating your cubical mate, or “fellow secretary” (hmmm) or the boss’s brother or sister (actually, mother, in one example I heard of)!

     It never seems like it could possibly be a problem (HA! Have you been following this season’s “24”?) until it becomes a problem.  On-the-job sexual relationships threaten everyone on the job.  The ripples (and occasionally shock waves!) can compromise more than just participant integrity.  How about the integrity of a nation, Mr. Clinton?

     Is this advice rightfully proclaimed “sexist” in and of itself?  Well, you know, certain stereotypes, like certain examples of police profiling, exist for a reason.  “Brokeback Mountain” aside, we rarely if ever hear about tough guys getting it on.  I mean, when was the last time you saw two construction workers tongue kissing or holding hands at lunch hour?

     On the other hand (pun intended), the career environments and lifestyles of healthcare and hospitality industry professionals–particularly doctors, nurses, therapists, hotel/motel managers and housekeepers–provide the makings of a breeding ground for on-the-job sex. 

     Where else are workers surrounded by beds, working in close quarters and dealing with physical contact and physical needs?  Where else do workers take breaks in co-ed locker rooms and linen closets.  And aren’t these all people who work exceptionally long hours often under high stress? 

     With The Corporate Communicator ezine (free via www.bonmotcomms.com) telling us that “the demand for transparency is at an all-time high,” don’t we need to step back a minute and see that “TRANSPARENCY” in business means EVERYTHING in business?  

     Transparency is not a limiting concept.  Rather it suggest a notion that is all-encompassing.  Obviously, intimate relationships with people at work is as much a part of that as a business’s ability to deliver the products and services that it says it is delivering  

     Knowing where to look for what and for whom at any given moment on any given job is a wonderous thing.  And of course there are always exceptions, but at a time when jobs are at a premium, it’s not likely to be in anyone’s best interests to be looking for sex in all the wrong places, y’think?     halalpiar  

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Is Trust An Evasive Quality?

A fictional exchange—–  

• “Listen, Dr. J.M., it was like pulling teeth here to get my manager to get this deal done for you today; we don’t usually…”
• “Trust me, Mr. Ripsuoff, you don’t ever want to pull teeth!”
• “Hey, why should I trust you?  You’re a dentist.  I only trust dentists when I’m in the chair!  Ha!  Ha!”
• “Well, why should I trust you?  You’re a car salesman.  I only trust car salesmen when they’re at home asleep!  Ha!  Ha!”

                                  ___________________________________

     Trust does seem to be an evasive quality these days, but –simply for that reason– it IS what customers, clients and patients want most.  In fact, it’s surprising but true that with most people buying into media exaggerations of economic woes, that more customers are actually in search of trustworthy businesses and sales reps to do business with than they are in saving a few dollars.

The bottom line is that the most desireable commodity a business can offer in today’s low trust-dominated industrial and consumer marketplaces, is high trust!

      Okay, this is not a huge problem for long-established companies, say 50-100 years old.  But because high trust has a lot to do with reputation, high trust pursuit is clearly an issue for young and new companies.

     So you’re young or new, whaddaya do?  [Sorry, the poet surfaces occasionally.]  First, you forget everything you ever knew about bending over backwards for customers, clients and patients because now you need to go one better and virtually stand on your head for them.  It’s possible, but unlikely you could ever over-communicate with them.

     I’m not talking about running your mouth; I’m talking about using frequent website updates, and blogs (because blogs attract increased search engine rankings which attract website visitors and interaction which attract sales), and emails, and telephone follow-ups and “how goes it?” calls.  And, by the way, NOTHING beats a personal handwritten note!

     In its heyday, IBMs motto was that

“The sale begins after the sale is made!” 

     Service.  Good service enhances reputation.  Voila!  Reputation unlocks the high trust treasure chest.  Who cares?  You should.

    “The demand for transparency,” says online publisher Angelique Rewers, “is at an all-time high.”  No longer, she says, do we have the luxury of communicating different messages to different audiences.  The instantaneous mindset of the social media revolution has changed this landscape, probably forever.

     As a young or new business, this means speaking the truth with a single and consistent voice to all customers –internal as well as external– ALL of the time, without exception.

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Hal@Businessworks.US

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals. God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

A doctor is a doctor is a doctor. 

So why should you expect the doctor to be a lawyer? 

     There are some who are both, of course (like from personal experience, I think there are probably also dentists who moonlight as plumbers!), but training and experience usually dictate expertise.  You’re not likely to find a physician handling tort reform, class action suits, or wills, real estate and corporate law. 

     With the same reasoning then, why should a doctor be expected to understand and practice sound customer service principles?  Because physicians are not simply technicians working on car engines.  They are, as we who have been patients know all too well, dealing with human beings. 

     And there is, though some doctors have yet to notice, a difference between machines and bodies.

     Okay, so medical school doesn’t much emphasize the importance of bedside manners, but it doesn’t take a whole lot of living life (even IF it’s been mostly in a medical closet) to appreciate that physicians are rightfully expected to be compassionate and understanding and empathetic enough to help their patients cope and rise above difficult physical and emotional pain and ailments. 

     Don’t you think?  So what makes it okay for any of us to sell or market products and services to others without taking enough interest in the buyers to check back with them?  Why is it not important for us to make sure our customers are STILL pleased with their purchases? 

     Why do we think doctors shouldn’t get away with ignoring our humanness, but it’s not a problem to sell someone something and then push them out the door or over the cliff and dismiss them from our lives?  Do we think there’s no chance they’ll ever return?  That they won’t tell anyone else to visit us? (or not?!) 

     When I was a college teacher on the Jersey Shore, I referred to this way of thinking as “boardwalk mentality” because tourists could be sucked into anything on the boardwalk while they were there vacationing and treating themselves and their families to some good times . . . and they’d be gone in a week and never return anyway . . . or if they did, they’d never remember getting ripped off, so screw’em!

     Well, besides the fact that those days have gone, that even boardwalk concessions are more customer-conscious, and that doctors and lawyers (well, okay, not lawyers) have become more patient satisfaction savvy, many sales and marketing people still avoid customer service followup calls. 

     They do so at their peril, and naively thinking it’s not costing them repeat sales.  It is.  And will eventually (sooner rather than later) cost them a job.  A word to the wise . . .                       halalpiar 

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COMPUTER UNDERWARE

I was prompted into a business consciousness stream today by a reference I saw to socio-economic, attitude, and taste divisions between generations having symbolic significance in changes over the years represented by underwear.

I noticed the analogy in Angelique Rewer’s brilliant online publication, The Corporate Communicator www.bonmotcomms.com , and remembered a Time/Newsweek/Sports Illustrated ad I did (over 25 years ago!) for a fledgling computer service company. 

Over an illustrated ghosted assemblage of computer hardware and floppy disks (You DO remember those? They came after carbon paper), the headline said simply:

COMPUTER UNDERWARE

The copy that followed reasoned that “HARDWARE & SOFTWARE CAN GET YOU NOWHERE without COMPUTER UNDERWARE, the ongoing professional training and reliable service support you’ll require to go under your hardware and software . . . “

You’re stunned, huh?  Hey, it was Toms River, NJ, in the early 1980’s.  What did you expect, “I’m Lovin’ it!” or “It’s In You!”?  I could count the personal computer owners I knew on one hand then.  It was strictly an elite IBM and knock-off business market then that was focused on word processors in law offices. 

Take my word for it, for it’s time, my ad was ahead of it’s time.  

Much of what an entrepreneur does in life is ahead of its time. 

I’ve seen (and still have 30 year-old samples of) interlocking plastic bottles that would have revolutionized the shipping and warehousing markets because two cartons worth of bottles could be packed in one carton and cartons could be stacked 2-3 times higher.  Too much, too soon.  Too undercapitalized.   

How about “Clear” windshield wipers?  Spectacular prototypes made everyone oooh-aaah, but not enough funding to break through market monopolies.  3-D motion analysis for physical therapy . . .

On the surface, lack of money to make ahead-of-their-times products and services go, but underneath –the UNDERWEAR—is always lousy, self-centered, self-absorbed, fantasyland day-dreaming management that has great ideas, great intentions, great persistence, and no realistic sense of what it takes to bring their babies into the world and nurture them to maturity. 

Bottom line: Entrepreneurial inventing, innovating, and selling rarely come equipped with savvy management skills – money management, people management, task management. 

If you are an entrepreneur, study management or find management you can trust to work with you.  But don’t keep wasting your time and money and energy banging your head against the wall trying to move forward.  The wall won’t move.          halalpiar 

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No, this isn’t about donuts!

Here are a dozen leadership arenas:

• Corporate
• Military
• Political
• Industry
• Community
• Organizational
• Family
• Neighborhood
• Religious
• Sports
• Classroom
• Worksite

Where do entrepreneurial leaders fit?  Everywhere!  What about other leaders –those who are not entrepreneurs– are they locked into the individual arenas where they perform?  Not to suggest this is a bad thing; it’s just limiting. 

It’s part of the great appeal of entrepreneurial life that there are no limits.  Yes, there are laws, but no: there are no rules. 

Neither are there any theories to dictate performance because there are no theories of any value because (beyond some common character traits like poor school performances, engagement in childhood enterprises, rejection of authority, and childhood exposure to family business) entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial behaviors cannot be quantified or categorized. 

Yes, entrepreneurs take reasonable risks, but –no– there’s no traditional action plan approach to follow.     

Entrepreneurial leaders pop up in each of the arenas noted above (and many more as well) because in every arena on Earth there is always room for improvement.  Entrepreneurs are the agents of change who step up to the plate, who bring improvements to the table, who have the foresight and resilience to attack a problem over and over to produce the answers they believe in.

Alexander the Great was an historic entrepreneurial leader who proved that innovative strategies and tactics can defeat even the most overwhelming of military odds. 

“America’s Mayor” Rudy Giuliani was a great entrepreneurial political leader for his time and place, and the circumstances that changed our world. 

Cal Ripkin, Jr. was a dedicated entrepreneurial leader with his never-say-die attitude that re-invented value systems in the world of baseball – and all of sports. 

Mother Teresa, Frank Lloyd Wright, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Ghandi, and so many more you could surely name . . . people whose entrepreneurial spirits have in some way made a difference to us all.  Though each of the kinds of leaders we’re talking about here made their mark in one arena, none ever limited themselves in the lives they live or did live.  Who would be on YOUR list?

What do those noted above (plus those you can think of) share?  What qualities would you list?  Here are a few for starters: Persuasiveness, Assertiveness, Communication, Self-Reliance, Self-Confidence, Insight, Recognition that behavior is a choice, a strong focus on the present, the ability to cultivate (cross-pollinate?) leadership in others.  What would YOU add to this list?   halalpiar

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