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Douglas Porter of BMO visits our CFFB

by Rick Baker
On Oct 7, 2011
Douglas Porter, BMO’s Deputy Chief Economist and Managing Director, helped CFFB kick of its 2011/2012 year.
 
Douglas was the keynote speaker at our September AGM and Program Launch.
 
To get a feel for the audience, the full crowd of family business people and their allies and friends, Douglas asked how people feel about the future.
 
He asked: “Do you feel Optimistic, Cautious, or Pessimistic about business?”
 
While we didn’t record an exact score, here is how the audience responded:
 
Optimistic about the future: about 50%
Cautious about the future: about 50%
Pessimistic about the future: 2 or 3%
 
Douglas said our level of Optimism is about double the national average.
 
Then he said something like, “that makes sense…you are family businesses”.
 
I talked with people after the presentation. I asked how they felt about that comment…and family-business people felt good about the comment. I suppose family business people see themselves as being a bit different than other business people. And, if part of that difference is ‘being more optimistic’ then that’s a good thing.
 
Douglas provided some positive economic indicators:
  • Oil price relief
  • Interest rate relief
  • Japan’s recovery
  • U.S. households in better shape
  • Corporate finances strong
  • More Canadians working now than ever before
  • Home prices are increasing and home sales are holding
  • Canada has a triple-A credit rating
Sure, there are some negatives too. But, with these sorts of positive things it is understandable that half of family businesses are feeling more optimistic than cautious.
 
Thank you, Douglas for doing such a good job of delivering a very well-prepared package of economic information to our CFFB members, sponsors, advisors, and friends. You helped our 2011/2012 year get off to a great start!

Tags:

Family Business and CFFB | Leaders' Thoughts

Business Only Contains 3 Things: People, Process, & Situations

by Rick Baker
On Sep 27, 2011
OK…you might think that’s true…or you may think it isn’t.
 
AND – you might think - even if it is true…what difference does that make?
 
Here’s the point:
 
Many people are struggling with their work.
 
I suppose people have said that for generations. But, now, struggling at work seems to be a worse problem than it used to be.
 
If you do not agree then please do not read on.
 
***
 
If you are still reading then you are interested in people struggling at work. Maybe you are a life-long student of self-development and you want to expand your knowledge so you can continue to excel at work…sharpening your saw…keeping your leadership tools up to date and in good working condition]
 
Maybe you are trying to figure out why your work seems to be less successful than it used to be…and you want some solutions.
 
Maybe you want to learn so you can help other people struggle less as they go about their work.
 
***
 
Back to Business contains only 3 things: People, Process, & Situations.
 
Q: Is that true?
 
A: Nobody has proven otherwise…until someone can prove there are more than 3 things we will not change our minds. There is no need to over-complicate things. In fact, the opposite is true: there is a need to simplify things. So, we challenge any over-complication of the content of business. Business contains only 3 things.
 
Q: OK, only business contains only 3 things – what difference does that make?
 
A: Since you are still reading, you know people are struggling in business. And, probably, you want to do something to relieve that struggling. One way to begin to relieve business struggling is to clarify and simplify things to the extent that is possible and practical. Do your part to clear the fog of business. Defining the components of business in a simple/straightforward way is the best way to start.
 
So – Business Contains Only 3 Things: People, Process, & Situations.
 
You can start with these 3 basic elements of business. You can focus on each one. You can focus on how each of the 3 interrelates with the other 2. Then you can increase your ability to understand the sources of the struggling at work that naturally happens when all 3 basic elements are  mixed together in your business workplace.
 
The more you know about the basic elements of business and how they interrelate the more you will understand the keys to reducing work struggles.
 
Footnote:
 
We have approached the topic – What is Business All About? – from several perspectives: psychological, social, and business-bottom-line to name a few.
 
We have read the education provided by numerous authors. For example, here are some thoughts and excerpts provided by Alvin Toffler in his book, ‘Future Shock’.
 
Related to what we call the basic elements of business, Toffler described 5 relationship experiences people have, ‘outside of themselves’. Toffler taught, people have only 5 relationship experiences, they are:
  1. Relationships with people
  2. Relationships with things
  3. Relationships with places
  4. Relationships with institutions and organizations
  5. Relationships with ideas and information
Quote: "These five relationships -plus time- form the fabric of social experience. This is why, as suggested earlier, things, places, people, organizations and ideas are the basic components of all situations."
 
This quote provides seeds you can use to help you develop a different perspective of people and the huge impact situations have on people. These are the 2 most-important elements of business and knowledge of and skills around these 2 elements are the foundation for great leadership.

Tags:

Business Contains Only 3 Things | Entrepreneur Thinking | Leaders' Thoughts

Business Leaders should help their followers

by Rick Baker
On Sep 21, 2011
You can help your followers overcome Bad Habits.
 
Every person has Bad Habits.
 
Often people wish to remove their Bad Habits.
 
But, their wishing doesn’t get it done.
 
Some coaches/guides say to us, "If we dwell on the problem then we will attract more of the problem". [see, for example, some explanations of The Law of Attraction]
 
You need to illustrate successful techniques if you want to show your followers how to overcome their Bad Habits.
 
You need to teach the techniques that have worked for you.
 
You need to ensure your followers learn other techniques for Good Work Habits.
 
And you need to open the doors wide for discussion of many paths that lead to Good Work Habits.
 
There are two keys to getting this done:
  1. New Things and
  2. People's Strengths.
New Things inject value two ways: they offer distraction from Bad Habits and, if packaged well, they offer comfortable ways to displace Bad Habits.
 
People's Strengths: these are the action-areas where your people can perform at their best…and they smooth out the paths to Good Habits.
 
***
 
It takes but one positive thought when given a chance to survive and thrive to overpower an entire army of negative thoughts.
Robert H. Schuller

Tags:

Leaders' Thoughts

The Leader, alone, is responsible for the Paths to Business Success

by Rick Baker
On Aug 17, 2011
Business is about people, process, and situations. People create the process and people create most of the situations.
 
So, when you boil it down business is about people.
 
We all know that.
 
And, we all forget it…at least from time to time each of us forgets it.
 
When it comes to people, each of us has some home-made putty to deal with: we can start with self. How can we expect to have any success leading other people if we cannot develop skill at leading self?
 
Napoleon Bonaparte had it right when he said, “If you do not conquer self, you will be conquered by self”. When we understand self we have a chance to guide self to better places. When we understand self we have a chance to increase our good habits and reduce our bad habits. When we understand self we have confidence and we are better-able to tackle new things.
 
This is what Napoleon taught when he said, “conquer self”.
 
Conquering self… 
 
Only after we have worked at that and had some success at that can we have the chance to guide other people to better places.
 
This business of understanding and conquering self cannot be left to chance or to best intentions. It requires forethought and focussed action.
 
That’s the business Leader's responsibility!
 
That’s the essence of leadership!

Tags:

Hero Worship | Leaders' Thoughts

Feel that Ooze of Abundance

by Rick Baker
On Jul 28, 2011
Most of the successful Leaders we have met with feel the ooze of abundance.
 
They are inspired by competition. They are solution-oriented. They are optimistic.
 
The Leaders who have an abundance mindset really stand out. They tell some amazing stories of how they have done things that many folks find counterintuitive.
 
Their businesses operate in no-bad-mouthing zones.
 
Optimism bounded by realism is a wonderful character trait. I wrote about that last week: Is our way of thinking affected by our personality?
 
Some folks are born with a tendency toward optimism and their life experiences taught them how to keep their optimism within realistic bounds. When compared to pessimists, these realistic optimists have a far greater chance of seeing the world as an abundant place.
 
As a Leader you will employ optimists, pessimists, and other folks who fall between the two extremes.
 
Given a choice you will want to help some of those people become more optimistic...you will want to help them feel that ooze of abundance.
 
How might you do that?
 
Feeling the Ooze of Abundance - the 4 major steps:
  1. Self-Assessment,
  2. Setting clear rules,
  3. Communicating those rules so they are sticky, &
  4. Leading by example
  1. Self-Assessment: you will need unbiased outsider help to do this. It isn’t a huge time-consumer but you must be a little tough on yourself. Better to air on the tough side than the lax side. That’s why unbiased outsiders are helpful.
  2. Setting clear rules: Depending on how strongly you feel about abundance mentality, this could be one of your “Master Rules”: the major rules that cannot be bent at your business. [refer to our Spirited Leaders’ Workshop #4]
  3. Communicating those rules so they are sticky: don’t just ‘tell’…inspire your followers. Describe your most-interesting real-life abundance experiences and how they have caused you to feel the ooze of abundance.
  4. Leading by example: as they say, ‘talk the talk and walk the walk’…and when the heat of major business stresses is burning down on you….run the run. If you slip up and fall into scarcity talk or scarcity action, and that may happen from time to time, remedy your error quickly and with full force.

Tags:

Abundance | Attitude: Creating Positive Attitude | Leaders' Thoughts

The K.I.S.L. Principle

by Rick Baker
On Jul 27, 2011
You know that K.I.S.S. Principle - Keep It Simple Stupid.
 
Now, isn’t that an annoying little saying!
 
People are not stupid…they just have more Bad Habits than you would like.
 
And, I am sure you can accept it’s their Bad Habits that make you a whole lot less interesting to them than you would like.
 
So, do not underestimate or pooh-pooh the intelligence of others. Do not assume people are stupid. Do not make light of intelligence or make light of yourself by using the word stupid when you describe what you are doing [and why you are doing it].
 
Instead, assume you better crank up your interestingness a bit and, even better, you better provide tools that will help people do the actions you desire as accurately, quickly, and painlessly as possible.
 
At our business, we use "1-Page Tools".
 
Design a terrific 1-Page Tool and give it to your people. They will use it.
 
While they may not give you a huge pat on the back...they will appreciate the effort you have made to minimize the disruption in their already-too-busy lives.
 
I hope you will now take the K.I.S.S. Principle and throw it in the garbage where it belongs.
 
Replace it with the K.I.S.L. Principle
 
Keep It Simple…Leader
 
Develop Good Habits:
  • for communication
  • for ‘sticky stories’
  • for expressing ‘rules’
  • for goal setting
  • for task assignment
  • for 1-Page Tools
Remember
 
It’s a double-edged sword:
 
People ain’t stupid…you just have more Bad Habits than they would like.

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