Weekly Quote: Simple & Complicated

"Good ideas are not adopted automatically.
They must be driven into practice with courageous patience."
-- Hyman Rickover, Admiral

The following is from Seth Godin:

“There are two ways to begin an answer to most questions we face in organizations:

"It's simple" and

"It's complicated."

Both are usually true. At 10,000 feet, most challenges are simple. But actually making something work is quite complicated.

Nuance is the sign of an intelligent observer. Nuance shows restraint and maturity and an understanding of the underlying mechanics of whatever problem we're wrestling with. After
all, if the solution was simple, we would have solved it already.

On the other hand, resorting to nuance early and often can also be a sign of fear, of an unwillingness to go out on a limb and make a difference. Hence the reactions of boards hiring
consultants and CEOs, or of passionate primary voters. "Don't tell me it's complicated. Just show me the guts to make something happen."

My vote: your goals and your strategy must be simple. You must have passion and certainty in order to make a difference as a leader. Your tactics, on the other hand, should be layered,
multi-dimensional and reflect the patience of someone who cares about reaching a goal.

When Howard Schultz talks about coffee or Jill Greenberg talks about lighting or Cory Booker talks about education, they can impatiently demand clear and simple results. At the same
time, successful leaders see the nuance they'll need in executing to get there.

The paradox is that the simplicity we often seek in search of solutions rarely leads to the patient
leadership we need to get them.”

- Seth

As leaders we have to develop new habits and have a process to ensure follow up and execution of the the Goals and Strategies we define for the organization. If you tend to not be able to follow through and execute solutions in your business learn more about a process that does work by
signing up to recieve Free - The Leadership Matrix ebook.


All the best,
Rick Wallace

Weekly Quote: Inflection Points

"There is at least one point in the history of any company when you have to change dramatically to rise to the next level of performance. Miss that moment, and you start to decline."

-- Andy Grove, Intel CEO

As he says, there is at least one point, but usually there are many points along the way where we either go backward or forward depending on whether we recognize that point in time, what actions we take and how well we lead.

Another fact:
To respond properly we have to change some parts of our culture, the beliefs we share, to implement the dramatic changes necessary to ensure we continue to grow. At these critical points in the life of a business we need to rekindle a Culture of Accountability that, I would bet, has been lost along the way somewhere.

Remember the "owner" vs "victim" distinction? As a leader you must communicate, educate and follow up in systematic ways to get everyone thinking like an owner, being accountable for their thoughts, actions and results.

Look at Kodak. They were a highly successful company living off analog (film) photography, but a few people at Kodak were busy inventing digital products and applying for a whole ream of patents around the technology. Way ahead of everyone.

Recently they have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and sold off mega $millions of those
patents. Why?

One could say it was because they made bad decisions or implemented bad strategy. But it was really deeper that. It goes back to their culture. They thought like victims, not assuming accountability and thus let someone or something else make the decisions for them.

They had developed a "victim" culture, they watched "while the world was changing around hem". They hung on to the cash cow and feared launching digital products because it would eat away at their own analog film products. All the while "blaming" their decline, like a victim, on
circumstances outside their control - on new technology.

So this was their "inflection point". Their leadership had a chance to think like an owner, but their culture and the beliefs that reinforced it, had deteriorated so far that they could not focus their thoughts, actions and results on winning in the digital age.

"Only when you assume full accountability for your thoughts, feelings, actions and results can you direct your own destiny: otherwise someone or something will do it for you."."

- OZ Principle

We have invited Diana Southall a friend, client and associate to be our guest this week. Diana has worked with two of my clients recently and gotten rave reviews for the turnaround she has inspired and the people pain she has relieved with both of them. She doesn't tell you how to do it, she rolls up her sleeves and helps you do it.

She is conducting a workshop starting March 28th. All the details are below. I also recommend her Ebook "9 Steps to Solve People Pains in Your Business".
Sign up for FREE report on her website.



The People Plan - Value Proposition

Quote

"We have 100 employees so that means we have 100 different personalities!"
-Bill Crawford, Plant Manager at local manufacturing firm

Article

Why is employee management so hard? Because employees are individuals with their own preferences, attitudes, work style and personality.

Once your company hires that first employee, you will experience some type of People Pain!

• You spend too much of your time responding to issues such as employee's attitude or performance
• Your employees generally do their jobs, but you don't see that they are committed to excellence
• You have too much to do, but do not trust your staff enough to delegate more
• When you want to hire someone, it is too time consuming or you are not confident you will find the "right person."

How can you possibly get everyone to be excited about their jobs, work together as
a team to achieve results, and positively hold each other accountable?

Luckily, there is a proven method to manage your employees that can attract, retain, and
motivate most employees to achieve maximum performance.

You need the Right People, Doing the Right Things, and Doing (It) Right (a People
Plan).

Right People

• Develop your current employees
• Recruit and select the Right People

Doing the Right Things

• Define job expectations

Doing It Right

• Manage employee performance to get result

Want to develop your own People Plan?

Starting March 28, University at Buffalo Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership is
offering a 3 night People Plan seminar.

More details are available in the People Plan Seminar Brochure.

March 28
Finding the "Right People": 11 Steps to recruiting & selecting the Ideal Candidate

April 23
Developing Your Current Employees

May 23
Managing Employee Performance: Getting Agreement & Results

Presenter: Diana Southall (CEL 2006, MBA, Senior HR Professional)

© The People Plan, by HR Foundations

Roar Like A Lion

"I may not be the lion, but it was left to me to give the lion's roar."
--Winston Churchill

This short video takes 3:53 to watch.

All the best,
Rick Wallace

Testing vs. Trusting

"Adults, unlike children, believe they need to trust they can do something before they will take action or test it. Instead we need to skip that step and simply begin testing it.

A child learning to swim knows that they will sink if they jump in but they simply skip over that fear and start testing it. They simply commit and take action toward their goal because they want to enjoy the fun of swimming."

-- Steve Chandler

This is a powerful 17 minute audio from Steve as he expands on this roadblock that stops us cold in business and in life. As always Steve opens our eyes to the effect our thinking has over every aspect of our lives and that we can control how we think and thus act. Block 17 minutes on your calendar this week and focus on his message.

All the best,
Rick Wallace

Weekly Quote: Smaller is Better

"If you want to be the best in the world, make your world smaller."

-- Seth Godin

Man does this ever seem to counter all we have been taught and believe to be true. Salespeople always want more territory, businesses are always trying to add new products and services to gain business from other markets or niches. They think that they need to go into new geographic territories to be able to grow. They feel the need to take any customer that comes along.

Time after time I have found nothing could be further from the truth. Think about your own business. Do you have customers that maybe bought on price? Are they the ones that complain the most and suck up your limited resources at the expense of your good customers? Do they leave you when they can get a better price?

About 30% of any market is made up of price buyers. They buy strictly on price. I am always asked how do I know if my prices are right?

If you are not getting serious pushback and losing at least 20% of the time on your price you are priced too low.

So what is the point here? Well I'll put that in the form of questions.

Who is your ideal customer? Who loves you and tells others about you? Who values what you bring to the market, your differentiator? What do they love about you, why do they keep coming back, what pains and fears do they have that you solve?

Thu if you understand, really understand your ideal customers, you should target your marketing and attract more just like them. To this group you are the best in the world, you offer something they value. You can develop more offerings focused on this group. They will pay for that value!

You want to be the best in their world. It's the best way to build a profitable growing business.

All the best,
Rick Wallace

Weekly Quote: Saturday's Work

"Rick, I am now making my Tuesdays, my Saturdays."
-- Chuck Beinhauer, Attorney

This is a quote from a client. We had built their strategic plan and were working on ingraining the Leadership Matrix - the process to ensure the partners would be able to lead the firm and follow through and execute the ideas and solutions they needed to implement to move the firm forward.

Chuck was not grasping the Action Management concept. He was still stuck in old habits and was reluctant to block his calendar, shut his door and focus on Key Actions. He felt he should be working on billable stuff 100% of the time. So I asked him, "Do you come in on Saturdays"? He said, "of course". I asked him why and he said, "because it is quiet and I can focus and I get a lot accomplished."

Exactly. I then suggested that he shouldn't be working Saturdays and that
he now understood the power of focus and to begin to block an hour here and there, shut the door and focus on Key Actions that will ensure we reach our goals.

At our next meeting Chuck started it with the quote above.
(By the way when your seeking some peace of mind regarding yours or your parents Estates, these guys will deliver it - Phalzgraf, Beinhauer and Menzies, LLC.)

Here is a great 8 minute video from Steven Covey on Rocks and Pebbles.



Have comments to share on these weekly topics? Let me know what you think!

All the best,
Rick Wallace