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How often have you received help from a person you respect? I’ll bet it’s happened quite a bit.
So what is it that keeps us from asking for that help? Pride, mostly. A leader is the person who’s supposed to have all the answers.
This is a fallacy, of course. We just don’t want people to find out that we’re also just making it up as we go along. With experience and judgment, of course, but not with certainty.
Read the rest of this entry »I talked last week about the downside of decisions, but this week I’d like to focus on the possible upside.
There are times when it is healthy to be optimistic about the possible future. I appreciate this because it generates energy and attracts people toward your ideas.
Let’s imagine that you’re planning to expand the business to a new location. I’m sure you’re hoping that you’ll serve more customers, generating income and profits on top of the necessary expense.
Read the rest of this entry »There are times when we have to explore the possible futures.
Like it or not, we have to ponder both the good and the bad. Today I’ll look at the downside, and next week at the upside.
Some folks are naturally pessimistic. I’ve tried to focus on optimism, but there are times I have to try to balance – especially when making big decisions.
Read the rest of this entry »I was part of a great discussion recently about the difficulty with incorporating personal values into the business.
This discussion was about incorporating Christian beliefs, but the same logic applies whenever we’re talking about something which doesn’t have a strong link to the purpose of the business itself. After all, we can agree about the need to treat customers and employees fairly – that’s just great business practice. But your personal beliefs often extend beyond that.
In addition, you might feel constrained in your authority to make decisions if you’re not the company owner. Fair enough. I have some thoughts about that at the end.
Read the rest of this entry »I recently experienced the loss of a significant contractor commitment, and I realize now that it’s partially my fault for relying more on my hope than doing good due diligence.
The hard part is coming to internal peace. On the outside I can raise my chin and look forward to fixing the problem, but inside it still hurts a bit.
I’ve experienced this even more in the past when I lost a great employee or had a work relationship go sour. There are ones that I still regret, over twenty years later. And I’m not a particularly emotional guy.
Perhaps it’s some kind of “long grieving”, like the aftereffects of “long COVID.”
Read the rest of this entry »I don’t know about you, but my business doesn’t seem to be nearly as organized as I’d like.
I have stuff coming at me from all directions all the time, and things that I have a plan for … change anyway.
It feels like I’m just making it up as I go along. And, in fact, that’s a lot of what’s happening.
Read the rest of this entry »Are you looking forward to the next person you’ll need to bring on board?
I’d like you to think about what their key attributes will need to be, because it’s likely they’ll need to be different from your current people.
It’s easy to talk about job skills, but often those skills will be quite similar to others in the team. More challenging are the other attributes and characteristics, because you’ll want to fill in what’s missing.
Read the rest of this entry »There’s a new discussion popping up in various European countries and Australia. It’s about establishing a right for employees to completely disengage from their work.
No phone calls. No texts. No emails.
In the US, we pretty much get it for hourly workers. But for salaried? Our culture tends more toward expecting – sometimes demanding – complete accessibility. But it depends on the organization’s culture.
Read the rest of this entry »If you started your company, or are the owner, you know what I’m talking about.
You’ve put your heart and soul into this venture, and it’s consumed every waking moment. For years. That passion and commitment has driven you to whatever success you’ve had. And hope to have.
But your team? Well, it seems like it’s just a job to them. You feel like they could walk away at any moment.
Read the rest of this entry »You want to deliver a uniform experience for your customers. I understand.
The problem is that much of the experience can become devoid of the humanity. You squash out any individuality from the interactions.
I think about my favorite coffee shop. Yes, I’d like to know what I’m getting, so I want the same quality of my cappucino or mocha. But the rest of the experience is all about the barista who’s in front of me.
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The Values-Based Business 