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Name of author Rick Baker, P.Eng.

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Successful local businesses

by Rick Baker
On Nov 8, 2012

We are fortunate to live near numerous successful businesses.

I've had the privilege of visiting many of these businesses, meeting the people who generate the success, and seeing the winning processes in live-action.

In a nutshell, here's how I would summarize our local, successful businesses:

  • the owner-leaders lead balanced lives...as opposed to being eccentric
  • at least one of the business owner-leaders has a magnetic personality, which is regularly put to use with clients, suppliers, and commercial allies
  • the business models can be described in simple, easy to understand words
  • the products and services are straightforward, tangible, and widely used in many geographies
  • the businesses have leading-edge process equipment [that fits the products, services, and client needs in their industry sector]
  • the owner-leaders have access to real-time information on business performance [ERP, CRM, Accounting, Dashboards]...either expensive world-class information systems or proprietary systems created to fit their specialized needs [and their people]
  • a workforce that confirms right-sizing [consistent with leading-edge process technology] and the right people on the bus [which seems to be a combination of Jim Collins' Good-to-Great thinking and a conscious balancing of people & technology]
  • generally happy employees throughout the hierarchy and all departments and roles

Tags:

Emotions & Feelings @ Work | Entrepreneur Thinking | STRENGTHS: People-Focused for Success

How to get off a Business Roller Coaster

by Rick Baker
On Oct 4, 2012

Some people enjoy riding roller coasters. They love the crazy ups and downs. They love the rush of the wind in their faces. They ride the thrill and they step onto solid ground when the roller coaster slows to a halt and the ride is over.

Sometimes business work seems like a roller coaster ride...fast-paced, with ups and downs, with highs and lows, with lots of curves, with some squealing as brakes are put on, and with a few jerks along the way. But business roller coasters differ from those at amusement parks. In business, most times you cannot get off a roller coaster and this is especially true when the roller coaster is speeding, out-of-control, downhill, with sparks flying.

So, how can you get off a business roller coaster when it is out of control?

Let's make the question a little more challenging: How do you get off a business roller coaster when it is out of control and you own it?

Answer:

  1. Change is required...all key people in the business, including the leader, must change. Change starts with one individual then it spreads to others.
  2. Change must be planned...objective 3rd party advice helps.
  3. Change must be gradual...but the change must be ongoing, directed, and evident to all - partners, shareholders, employees, clients, suppliers, business allies, etc.
  4. Change must be discussed...and repeated. Interesting, pertinent, real-life stories help.

When your business is on a roller coaster the best people are looking for a smoother ride.

 


Tags:

Change: Creating Positive Change | Entrepreneur Thinking

Optimistic to a fault...

by Rick Baker
On Sep 28, 2012

Many entrepreneurs are optimistic to a fault. This is a common side-effect of an entrepreneurial spirit and it is encouraged by expert advice that goes something like: throw caution to the wind and have big, hairy audacious goals. Success, if achieved too quickly and without enough struggle, can also fan the flames of unrealistic entrepreneurial expectations.

Entrepreneurs' unrealistic expectations can fuel all sorts of business problems. Business problems are to be expected; it is impossible to build without encountering problems; it is impossible to grow without struggle.

Regardless, certain types of business problems are unreasonable, unnecessary, and counterproductive. Certain types of business problems make work...actually, they make fake work. These problems take the form of distractions, fire-fights, and wild goose chases.

Distractions: Regardless of claims to the contrary, people do a poor job of multi-tasking. Focus and concentration are important facets of work-action and distractions reduce both. So, distractions increase errors, which lead to fix-up work, inefficiency and ineffectiveness.

Fire-fights: Few people excel during workplace emergencies. Strings of workplace emergencies - extended fire-fighting actions - create excessive stress and bad decisions. People change when they experience stress...they really change when that stress is sustained over long periods of time.

Wild Goose Chases: Some people are optimistic to a fault. They believe anything and everything is possible. They place ill-conceived demands on others without consideration of the human reactions linked to those demands. They de-spirit people.

Distractions, fire-fights, and wild goose chases are unnecessary problems in business.

When these unnecessary problems are caused by the owner-entrepreneur...well, that's inexcusable.

Tags:

Entrepreneur Thinking | Optimism & Pessimism | Solutions & Opportunities

...with best Intentions...

by Rick Baker
On Sep 27, 2012

Thoughts and actions are laced with intention of two types: intention can be ego-driven, backed by desires; intention can be spirit-driven, backed by personal strengths. 

On its own, ego-driven intention is not necessarily aligned with personal strengths so it often generates more problems than solutions and causes more chaos than accomplishment. 

Spirit-driven intention builds, creates, and constructs and it naturally aligns with personal strengths.

We see evidence of spirit-driven intention in entrepreneurs. While it may lack direction, entrepreneurs have a burning desire to achieve something. While it may lack direction, entrepreneurs have a burning desire to build things of value. These are signals of spirit-driven intention. In entrepreneurs, spirit-driven intention is clear when:

  1. the entrepreneur's thoughts and actions are aligned with personal talents and personal strengths, which are developed through much effort and practice, 
  2. the entrepreneur has sufficient intelligence, and
  3. the entrepreneur's ego is managed through self-control.

At the foundation of this...

Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, in his 1886 classic 'Beyond Good and Evil':

"Physiologists should think again before postulating the drive to self-preservation as the cardinal drive in an organic being. A living thing desires above all to vent its strength - life as such is will to power -: self-preservation is only one of the indirect and most frequent consequences of it."

When entrepreneurs vent their strengths, with ego under self-control, their work is backed by spirit-driven intention. And - their spirit-driven work is creative, special, and sustainable. 


 

Tags:

Beyond Business | Entrepreneur Thinking

Layering On Business Achievement

by Rick Baker
On Sep 13, 2012

If you want to ensure your business is solid from top to bottom and from bottom to top, consider building a solid 3-layer pyramid:

 

 

The first layer to build is: Solving Problems. There are 3 major considerations:

  1. People: you and your people must have the right attitude and the right strengths...analytical, creative, experiential, etc
  2. Process: you and your people must have access to good problem-solving systems and tools...as one example, P=2S+O 
  3. Situations: you and your people must be able to not just analyse but also anticipate situations 
 
The next layer to build is: Growing Profits. There are 3 major considerations:
  1. People: as above and remember, people have radically different views about money and many handle it poorly
  2. Process: key considerations are finger-on-the-financial-pulse measures and metrics, performance tracking models, and cash-flow forecasts 
  3. Situations: as above and work to look at things from different perspectives...including your banker's perspective
 
The final layer to build is: Increasing Value. Again, there are 3 major considerations. In fact, Business Contains Only These 3 Things:
  1. People: as above and business value increases as value delivered to clients, employees, suppliers, & owners increases
  2. Process: as above and more - the process must fit the people, and vice-versa
  3. Situations: as above and more - the business culture must be constructed so situations are easier to anticipate and it is the responsibility of the leader to guide people and guide processes so situations are constructed
 

Tags:

Entrepreneur Thinking | Solutions & Opportunities | Vision: The Leader's Vivid Vision

Thought Tweet #561

by Rick Baker
On Sep 10, 2012

Thought Tweet #561 The Business Riddle: How do you buy low, sell high, deliver quality, solutions, & value all at the same time?

 

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

Unfortunately, the Business Riddle has only one solution.

Tags:

Entrepreneur Thinking | Thought Tweets

Copyright © 2012. W.F.C (Rick) Baker. All Rights Reserved.