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Thought Tweet #586

by Rick Baker
On Oct 15, 2012

Thought Tweet #586 The competitive-business climate has changed at least as much as the weather patterns.


The Thinking Behind The Tweet

Leaders must change...they must step it up a bit...they must show better leading by example...they must lead the way to better business activity and more-profitable times.



 

Tags:

Change: Creating Positive Change | Leaders' Thoughts | Thought Tweets

Simply put - Leaders Must Change!

by Rick Baker
On Oct 11, 2012

If you are a business leader then you must change.

You must change or the following will pass you by:

  • your good people
  • your good clients
  • your good suppliers
  • your competition
  • your goals
Why?
 
Why state so emphatically that all these things will pass by the business leaders who choose not to change?
 
Answers:
  1. Only leaders can shake businesses out of these lingering economic doldrums. If your business is volume-stagnant or delivering too-low profit levels then your business is among the many businesses that have been unable to shake off the economic doldrums. If, after several years of struggling, your business has been unable to escape the economic doldrums then change is essential.
  2. Followers will not change unless they perceive leaders are making changes...i.e., followers need to see leaders 'changing by example'. Followers crave quality leadership. If your business has been stalled or suffering then your followers know it. And, they know who to blame - the leader. Followers will not be adventuresome or innovative if they believe the leaders is driving with one foot on the brake. 
  3. Good followers do not follow indecisive leaders. Good followers seek out leaders who can help them expand their knowledge and skills. Good followers want to work in progressive, opportunity-filled workplaces. Good followers look for business teams that have a good chance of winning.
  4. Some leaders will inject change into your business sector. You will either be one of those leaders or you won't - that's up to you - that's your choice. If you are one of those change-leaders then your business will have the opportunity to shake the economic doldrums. If you are not one of those change-leaders then your business will fail...sooner or later.  
  
"All the leaders I've met, worked with, and read about have had one thing in common. Along the way to becoming practitioners and masters of leadership, they transformed their character."
Dr. Joe MacInnis
'Deep Leadership', (2012)

Tags:

Change: Creating Positive Change | INSPIRE PEOPLE - GROW PROFITS! | Leaders' Thoughts

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

How To Increase Profits

by Rick Baker
On Sep 18, 2012

After meeting with and investigating 100's of businesses that have been unable to achieve their profit goals, it is clear there is need for a simple process for profit-improvement. The simple process needs to work for all sizes of businesses and work across a broad range of business sectors.

Here is a simple profit-improvement process that works:

The RAISE Process

Review your issues, objectively

Assessment of situation, people, & process

Insight, to create options & best practices

Support, of your solution implementation

Evaluation against agreed benchmarks

 

More details...

Review your issues, objectively:

There are 2 ways to be objective. (1) be a possibility-thinking master of self-discipline and (2) obtain unbiased 3rd party input. Definitely, there are ways to expand open-mindedness, possibility thinking, and creative thinking. Here are 2 examples: Edward de Bono's 'Six Thinking Hats' and John C. Maxwell's 'How Successful People Think'. 

Assessment of situation, people, & process:

These are the 3 basic elements of business. They inter-play with one another. Of course, it is all about people. Yet, the differences in people are often underestimated. People create the process. Yet, sometimes they do not do a good enough job explaining what they have created. And, people regularly underestimate the impact situations have on people's behaviour....especially, tough situations.

Insight, to create options & best practices:

Some people appear to possess a natural gift of insight; some people rarely exhibit insight; any person who works at it can develop skills for insight. Business leadership and business development [sales & marketing] are two areas where insight is most essential. Here is an illustration of the importance of insight - the Entrepreneurial Dilemma

Support, of your solution implementation:

It is impossible to implement a solution if your people do not buy into it. It is difficult to make a good consensus decision; it is really tough to implement any decision without people buying in. For some people - and you will need their help - the path to change must contain small steps...at least, at first.

Evaluation against agreed benchmarks:

Business is an iterative process: building things you believe contain value and testing to determine those things actually do contain value. Here, I am talking about value for clients, value for owners, value for employees...i.e., value, as seen from these and other [different] perspectives. And, all these perspectives must be understood and used as performance benchmarks...to define success and guide behaviour. Then, with benchmarks understood - measure, report, adjust, etc.

Thought Tweet #566

by Rick Baker
On Sep 17, 2012

Thought Tweet #566 If you are spending too much time fighting fires at work, your career is getting doused.

 

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

The economy would get a serious boost if 10% of business people would apply the 80/20 Rule and spend more time doing work directly linked to building value [planning the work and working the plan] and less time fighting fires.

Tags:

Change: Creating Positive Change | I'm too busy! - I don't have time! | Thought Tweets

The Blades of Confusion Cut Deep

by Rick Baker
On Sep 6, 2012

Fighting business fires is a process. Business planning is a process. 

We choose the processes we experience and live with.

A business-planning meeting is a situation. An office fire fight is a situation.

We choose the business situations we experience and live with.

We get bogged down in unimportant details, false urgencies, and interpersonal stumblings.

So, from time to time, we need to step back and demystify our business.

***

Here's a simple-but-accurate way of looking at business:

Business contains only 3 things: People, Process, & Situations.

Processes and situations always involve people; people are integral. While this fact seems obvious as we sit and think about it, it is often lost during the heat of business fire fights. 

People, processes, and situations always provide the opportunity for forethought. We choose whether or not to apply that forethought.

And...

"He who has not first laid his foundations may be able with great ability to lay them afterwards, but they will be laid with trouble to the architect and danger to the building."

That's a quote from a book that has survived 5 centuries: Niccolo Machiavelli's 'The Prince' [written in 1513 and first published in 1532]. Granted, Machiavelli was writing about political leadership rather than business. Granted too, Machiavelli was writing about people - those wanting leadership positions and those wanting to keep leadership positions.

And, in Machiavelli's day, no question, the blades of confusion cut deep.

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