Opus Training

Why Are People Standing Around??

2009-06-03T09:15:00.002-06:00

Last night I popped into the Price Chopper grocery store near my home. I needed exactly one item. Spinach. Organic spinach.

There was exactly one checkout lane open. One. That's bad, but it was a slow night in the grocery biz and there was only one person in line in head of me. She wanted to buy stamps. Which were at the CUSTOMER SERVICE counter, not in the check out lane. A long, involved discussion ensued. Finally, the stamps were delivered to the check out lane. Unfortunately no one seemed to know how to ring stamps into the register.

During this entire time, there were SIX, count 'em, SIX Price Chopper employees standing around doing absolutely nothing. Finally, after even more time passed, one of the six decided it might be a good idea to wander down to another check out counter and take care of the line that was forming behind me and the stamp lady.

One thought went through my head: "What's up with this?" I'm not sure exactly what caused the problem and I don't pretend to know how to fix it. But something was way wrong. I'm not even sure why I'm still thinking about it or why I'm telling you about it. It just seemed wrong.

Phil Gerbyshak Makes It Great!

2009-06-01T09:41:00.005-06:00

While attending SOBCon '09 I had a chance to spend some time with Phil Gerbyshak. I'd known Phil online, but we'd never met in person before the conference. I found him to be a delightful human being. From the moment we shook hands, he was busy connecting me with "people you just gotta meet" and infecting everyone with his enthusiasm and insight.

Phil's book, 10 Ways to Make it Great! is a treasure – full of nuggets of wisdom and inspiration. Phil is a self-professed relationship geek and here's quote from the book that proves it:

"In order to make it great you absolutely must make the time to nourish the relationships that give you the most energy, provide you with the most insight, and are the best for you, whenever you can."

Now for the really good part: The first ten people who send me an email with "Make it Great" in the subject line will get a free copy of Make it Great!. Make sure you include your physical mailing address in the email, and sorry, we can mail only to addresses in the U.S.

Is He Nuts or Just Out of Touch?

2009-05-27T09:19:00.005-06:00

Eduardo Castro-Wright is the vice-chairman of Wal-Mart Stores. He was interviewed recently by the New York Times. In that interview he said:

"I think all of us read far too many business books."

Seriously? Let's consider a few of the published statistics:

42% of college graduates never read another book after college

70% of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.

80% of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.

Doesn't seem to me that reading is the problem.

Challenging the Axiom

2009-05-26T12:13:00.007-06:00

While reading The Breakthrough Company yesterday I came across this quote from Tom Golisano, founder of Paychex:

"Paychex hires attitude and trains aptitude."

I hear that a lot. At first blush, it makes sense. Unfortunately, it's misleading and potentially damaging. To begin with, I'm not sure we know what the optimal attitude is or how to spot it. But even if we did, hire attitude – train aptitude leads us down the primrose path.

Here's why: In most endeavors (including every job in your company and my company) the foundation of great achievement is great ability. If I'm not wired with great ability in accounting, I'm not going to be a great accountant – it's just that simple. And that's true no matter how fabulous my attitude might be.

Mr. Golisano built a spectacularly successful company. That doesn't mean he knows everything. (Keep in mind, at one time, Bill Gates didn't seem too sure this internet thing was going to take off.) Hiring great performers isn't simple and it isn't easy. Cliches like hire attitude – train aptitude minimize the effort and rigor required to identify great talent. Let's not fool ourselves.

What It Takes to Grow - Part Two

2009-05-20T07:00:00.002-06:00

Growth requires an developing the capability to sell more and the capability to produce more. But there are two other questions to consider:

It takes cash to grow – where does the cash come from?

It takes people to grow – how do we recruit, train, manage and stay in legal compliance as we add people?

Are these the organizing principles for a growth plan?

What It Takes to Grow

2009-05-19T08:07:00.017-06:00

I have the privilege of interacting with a lot of business owners. Almost without exception, the number one topic of conversation is growth. The question most business owners wake up with every morning is:

How do I grow my business?

But that's the wrong question. How do I grow my business? is an end-game question. Asking it too early in the process produces confusion, frustration and often, unproductive activity. Asking it at the wrong time can even sink the ship. What we need is a stepping-stone question. What we need to ask is, which of the following is most important right now?

a) Develop the capability to sell more

b) Develop the capability to produce more

I can here the chorus now, I need both! That's true, you do need both to grow. But, how to sell more? and how to produce more? are radically different questions with radically different answers. And virtually no one has the time, resources and brain power to answer both at the same time.

So, which one is most important to your business right now? Which one comes first?

Work That Matters, Really Matters

2009-05-13T07:00:00.000-06:00

This might seem patently obvious, but I'll say it anyway:

People don't want to waste their lives.

Full time employees spend around 40 hours at work every week. Virtually none of them spend that much time in any other single endeavor, maybe not in all their other endeavors put together. So if all they're doing is trading time for a paycheck and waiting for the weekend – well, that sucks out loud.

In the Art of the Start, Guy Kawasaki counsels would-be entrepreneurs to ask themselves, "Do I want to make meaning?" He suggests a few meanings of "meanings":

Make the world a better place.

Increase the quality of life.

Right a terrible wrong.

Prevent the end of something good.

Chances are, your business makes meaning in one of these ways. Or in some other important way. But often, the true meaning of the business gets buried under the crush and stress of daily operations.

When our people are focused on their own individual tasks and responsibilities, it's easy for them to get disconnected from the meaning they help make, easy for them to forget their work really matters, easy for them to feel like they're wasting their lives. But leaders can intervene. More later.

The Choice of Either/Or

2009-05-12T12:39:00.008-06:00

Right now, I can think of 25 or 30 things I COULD be doing. Every one of those 25 or 30 things would likely be of some value to our business. Some would add a little value, some would add a lot of value. But only ONE of them, would add the MOST value. Only ONE of them is MOST important, the TOP priority. Here's a truth that's hard for most of us to get our arms around, and even harder to act on:

If two things are most important, neither one really is.

The most productive people decide every morning what their top priority is for the day. They say to themselves: "If I don't get anything else accomplished today, I am absolutely, positively going to get (X) done." And in most cases, (X) is a result, not an activity. Peter Drucker suggests this question:

"What can I and no one else do, which if done really well, would make a real difference to this company?"

That's a good question for anyone who regularly picks up a paycheck, but it is a profound question for leaders. Every moment brings the choice of either/or. How we choose defines our companies and our lives.

Upbeat

2009-05-08T07:00:00.001-06:00

Rajesh Setty of Life Beyond Code has written a marvelous little book entitled, Upbeat - Cultivating the right attitude to thrive in tough times. Here are a couple of my favorite excerpts:

"The paradox in life is that shortcuts always take longer and/or cost more."

"If there is one metric that makes sense, it is the extra capacity you add in the life of another person in your network. With you being in their life, their life should be significantly better than without you being in their life."

Now here's the kicker – I'm giving away a copy of this terrific book to the first 25 people who email me with UPBEAT in the subject line of the email. So, don't wait. Send me an email and get a book that could just change your life.

UPDATE on UPBEAT: I should have been more specific in my post – this offer is for a traditional printed copy of the book. If you would like to receive a copy, please respond with UPBEAT in the subject line of your email AND include your snail mail address in the body of your email. This offer is limited to mailing addresses in the United States. Thanks.

SOBCon 09 - A Smashing Success

2009-05-06T08:25:00.007-06:00

I spent three days in Chicago for SOBCon 09 last weekend. I had made a spur of the moment decision to attend, not really knowing what to expect. I knew Liz Strauss was a power blogger with a strong following, and I was familiar with a couple of the presenters (Brian Clark of copyblogger and Chris Brogan).

But I really wasn't prepared for the vast amount of great information and the welcoming, supportive community I discoverd at SOBCon. It was truly an inspiration. And even better, it was FUN. I have to give a special shoutout to the Make It Great Guy, Phil Gerbyshak for introducing me to so many great people, and to Rajesh Setty, author of the Life Beyond Code blog for his amazing kindness and stunning insight.

Of course, there were other wonderful folks too numerous to mention. I'm looking forward to SOBCon 2010 – hope to see you there.

Friends Can Save Your Life

2009-04-27T09:58:00.007-06:00

A recent New York Times article referenced a 2006 study of almost 3,000 nurses who had breast cancer. The study found that women without close friends were four times more likely to die from their disease than women with 10 or more friends.

I find that both astonishing and obvious.

Friends connect us to something greater than ourselves. Friends weave us into the fabric of our communities and our companies. Friends strengthen us and give us a reason to try.

Without friends it's often hard to see that we can make a difference. Without friends we forget that each of us matters. Without friends emptiness engulfs us.

There was a time when friendship at work was considered inappropriate. Today we understand that friendship at work increases our productivity and our job satisfaction. Which is a pretty good reason for leaders to think about it. But certainly, not the best reason.

Some Can Lead - Some Can't

2009-04-21T14:47:00.011-06:00

I read a lot of books. Many of them on the topic of leadership. Over the past few years I've become increasingly disturbed by a theme rampant in many of the most popular books on leadership. That theme is, essentially:

Everyone can be a leader.

In one sense, perhaps that's true. But it's true in the same sense that everyone can play baseball. Most of us CAN dust off the 'ole mitt and play some right field during the softball game at the company picnic. Certainly, that's one level of playing baseball. But to play the game well, to play baseball at a professional level is something else altogether. So with respect to the authors and pundits I referred to previously, the real truth is:

Everyone can be a leader if you're willing to settle for ridiculously, pathetically, disastrously poor performance.

Not everyone can be a professional baseball player. Not everyone has the aptitude to be a good accountant. Not everyone is wired to be a molecular biologist. Not everyone has what it takes to be a great teacher or a great nurse. So why do very smart people suggest that "anyone can be a great leader"? It just makes no sense. Great leadership isn't magic, but great leadership does demand talent, knowledge and habits that most people just don't have.

Here's the truth: Some people can lead, some can't.

When Should You Fire a Client?

2009-04-15T07:00:00.001-06:00

My first response to the economic downturn was to tighten down our expenses. Probably the same response you had when things started going south. My second response was to figure out how to provide more value to our current clients. I talked about that quite a bit in our eBook, Kicking the Recession's Butt. My third response may seen a little counterintuitive:

I'm going to fire some clients.

When times are good, we can afford to accommodate client requests that are a little outside the scope of our engagement. When our revenue and margins are high, it's a little easier to over invest in a relationship or to be a little more flexible in our billing. But when times are tough, we need to evaluate our client relationships as carefully as we evaluate our employee relationships and our overhead costs. Here are some questions we need to ask about every customer and client:

Is this someone who truly recognizes the value we deliver?

Is this someone who is willing to pay for the value we deliver?

Does this client regularly ask for "deals" or is there often rework that we're not fairly compensated for?

Are our margins lower on this client than on others?

Are there significantly more problems with this client than with others?

Do the relationship style or operating procedures of the client make it difficult for our staff to deliver our best work?

These are just a few of the questions we need to ask. Not all clients are good clients. Not all good clients remain good clients forever. I appreciate every client I have ever had. I really do. But when an objective evaluation reveals problems, we need to address those problems – sometimes by firing the client.

When Leaders Are Never Wrong

2009-04-14T07:00:00.000-06:00

I grew up playing baseball. Loving baseball. Eating, sleeping and dreaming baseball. So opening day is a big deal for me. On opening day, the manager of the Kansas City Royals, Trey Hillman, screwed up big time. The Royals lost the game, probably because of Hillman's brain freeze. I won't bore you with the details, but trust me, 100 out of 100 people who knew ANYTHING about baseball would have played it differently.

But that's not the problem.

The problem is that Trey Hillman wouldn't say, "I was wrong." When he was asked about his questionable decision, he got testy and more or less refused to answer. He could have said a lot of things that would have been OK. Things like:

"As it turns out, I wish I would have done something else."

"I really screwed the pooch on that one."

"I had a gut feeling - must have been the burritos."

Really. Almost any form of "I was wrong" would have been cool. But, apparently Trey Hillman couldn't be wrong. Even when the whole world could see he WAS wrong.

My point is: If you can't say, "I was wrong", you can't lead. Oh, you might keep your job for awhile, but you can't lead because no one will follow. They see you. They see you're human. They see your mistakes. So when you refuse to admit those mistakes, people think you're a liar. And people don't follow liars. End of story. End of rant.

What is Clear Becomes Clearer

2009-04-13T15:32:00.005-06:00

America's favorite philosopher, Tom Morris, wrote a book some time ago entitled, The Stoic Art of Living. In that book, Tom draws on the ancient wisdom of Lucius Annaeus Seneca. Seneca seems to agree with my idea that leaders should get a tatoo that reads: Clarify. Amplify. Repeat. He did, however, say it a little more eloquently:

"Whatever is good for us should be discussed often and frequently brought to mind, so that it may be not just familiar to us, but also ready for use. Remember, also that in this way what is clear often becomes clearer."

The Number One Thing must always be made clearer. For the leader, that job is never done. It might seem like it's done. But it's not.

Clarify. Amplify. Repeat.

2009-04-10T07:00:00.000-06:00

I suggested that you always do the number one thing. If you're a leader, your number one thing is always this:

Make sure everyone knows THEIR number one thing.

When people in your organization (and mine) don't know what to do, what do they end up doing? Usually, not much. If there are multiple options, the process often grinds to a halt. So what's a leader to do?

Clarify. Amplify. Repeat.

Something else happens, too. Sometimes people are busy. Really busy. Looking worried and carrying clipboards. But if they're not doing the number one thing, they might as well take a nap. Activity and productivity are not the same. Great leaders are constantly helping their people develop and maintain a ferocious focus on their number one thing. Maybe this should be a tatoo for leaders:

Clarify. Amplify. Repeat.

Work is Infinite and Time is Finite

2009-04-08T07:00:00.000-06:00

You definitely don't have time to do everything you could do at work. You probably don't even have time to do everything you should do. In an article in Inc. magazine, Jim Collins said it this way:

"Work is infinite and time is finite."

That is a wonderfully simple way to embrace reality. So, if you can't do everything, what should you do? That's easy:

Do the Number One Thing.

What's that, you ask? It's the activity that will have the greatest impact on your success (or, at times, your survival). Before you make another phone call, glance at your email, or walk down the hall to visit with an associate – ask yourself:

What's the best use of my time right now? What's the number one thing? What activity will have the greatest impact on our success?

And please. Don't. Do. Anything. Else.

I'm Wondering ...

2009-04-07T07:38:00.004-06:00

Public Philosopher and all-around great guy, Tom Morris, posted a thought provoking article entitled Dr. Frankenstein, CEO. In the article he references literature such as Frankenstein, Beowulf and Moby Dick in an effort to underscore the importance of the humanities in our culture and to our leaders. It's compelling.

After I read the article, I couldn't help but wonder: Are the concepts Tom references powerful enough to defeat the greed that has propelled some much of the disasters we're experiencing?

My first reaction to that question was despair. It seemed unlikely that anything could defeat the greed. But then I had another thought: Perhaps it depends how habitual, how deeply ingrained and how acceptable the greed is in our culture and environment. Maybe if we instill ethical values early and often, maybe if we react decisively to the most minor infraction and maybe if we study the classics as Tom suggests – then just maybe we can begin to alter the equation.

Leaders must set the ethical parameters, but everyone in the organization has an obligation to perform in an ethical manner and to call BS on anyone who acts in opposition to what's right.

Why Jim Collins is Wrong

2009-04-06T14:27:00.004-06:00

The April issue of Inc. has an interview with Jim Collins of Good to Great fame. When Good to Great was published some years ago I thought it was one of the most important and thoughtful business books of our time. I still believe that. Collins' Hedgehog Concept helped us define our business in a way that has been productive and fun.

But that doesn't mean that Collins is right about everything. One of the principles Collins espouses is, First Who ... Then What. He revisits that principle briefly in the Inc. interview. As I understand it, Collins suggests that we not worry about things like what we're going to sell or how we're going to sell it or what our business model or strategy might be or how we intend to differentiate our companies. Just gather up some spiffy folks and let them figure it all out.

Couple of problems with that. Great people want to be part of something meaningful. First Who doesn't leave much room for an inspiring vision (something else Collins doesn't have much use for). But even more importantly, First Who doesn't address the absolute requirement of talent. That's a problem because great achievement starts with great ability – in fact, great achievement DEMANDS great ability. Apparently, in the world of Jim Collins, great people are equally great at everything they do. That's not what I observe in the world.

Great leaders and great managers match the talent of the individual with the task at hand – that's how they create outstanding results. If you don't know what results you intend to create (the What in Collins' vernacular) you can't possibly select the optimal talent for the task. And you won't get optimal results.

I know it's heresy to challenge Jim Collins, but I'll bet he doesn't mind.

Rigorous and Relentless

2009-04-06T07:00:00.003-06:00

Most of claim we're willing to see the truth. But exposing the truth, especially the unpleasant truth, takes courage and commitment. It requires a rigorous and relentless process of evaluation and accountability. Which is sometimes contentious and often uncomfortable.

To be completely honest, conflict is uncomfortable for me. But when I give in to my desire for harmony, I do a serious disservice to our company. In his book, The Five Temptations of a CEO, Patrick Lencioni asks these questions:

"Do you prefer your meetings to be pleasant and enjoyable?"

"Do you get uncomfortable at meetings if your direct reports argue?"

"Do you often make peace or try to reconcile direct reports who are at odds with one another?"

I'm so busted. But I'm getting better. Lencioni is right. We need productive conflict. We need people to disagree and challenge each other openly. We need a systematic process to seek the truth.

Truth: Expired

2009-04-03T07:00:00.000-06:00

In a previous post I suggested you gather the troops and ask the question: What used to be true in our business but no longer is? Here are some thought-starters:

Is there more or less aggregated power surrounding our business?

Do we have as many options for suppliers as we once had?

Is concentration in one (or a scary few) of our customers more pronounced?

In the market as a whole, is the supply of what we sell larger or smaller than it once was?

Do our customers have more or fewer viable options for buying what we sell?

Is it easier or harder to attract and retain the kind of employees we need?

Have total employment costs gone up or down as a percentage of our revenue, as a percentage of our gross income?

Is there an emerging channel or technology that could threaten our revenue stream?

These are just a few of the critical questions we all need to ask of ourselves.

Sometimes the Truth Sucks But It's Still the Truth

2009-04-01T07:00:00.001-06:00

Some years ago, Art Garfunkel sang a Bruce Johnston song with these lyrics:

"Reality, it's not for me and it makes me laugh ..."

Sometimes, reality just isn't that much fun. But confronting reality is the ante for just surviving in business. In fact, Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan wrote an entire book about Confronting Reality. In that book they said:

"To confront reality is to recognize the world as it is, not as you wish it to be, and have the courage to do what must be done,not what you'd like to do."

Doesn't sound that hard. But it is. To illustrate, get your key people together and ask them this question: What used to be true in our business, but no longer is?

NOTE: I wrote this post over a year ago. It seems even more relevant now than it did then.

Success Takes More Than Talent

2009-03-30T07:00:00.000-06:00

Malcolm Gladwell is a magnificent writer and a wonderful story teller. He also has a unique ability to weave disparate elements into a fresh narrative. He is at the top of his game with Outliers. Here are a few of the major ideas I took from the book:

* Opportunity plays a larger role in success than most anyone previously imagined.

* Culture and heritage have a surprisingly significant impact on certain attitudes, behaviors and aptitudes.

* People who practice a lot get better at their craft than those who practice less.

* Those who try harder and longer perform better than those who invest less effort and time.

I hope Gladwell's point is that success takes more than talent. To my mind, that makes perfect sense. But talent does matter. It matters a lot. Gladwell makes the point that most NHL stars from Canada are born in January, February or March. That is intriguing and enlightening. But it doesn't mean that talent is irrelevant. It means that players with a combination of talent AND "other advantages" (birth month and other factors) have the best shot at success in professional hockey. If these "other advantages" were the sole determining factor, every Canadian boy born in January, February and March would play in the NHL.

Even though I'm a little uncomfortable with some of the conclusions I believe Gladwell is pointing toward, this is a book filled with ideas well worth considering.

One More Time, With Feeling

2009-03-26T07:00:00.004-06:00

I know I said I'd stop talking about the black hole of payroll expense &ndash and I really intended to. But Seth Godin had a post that I just have to mention. In that post he said,

"Many businesses that are in trouble are in trouble for a simple reason: they're the wrong size ...A newspaper that only had a few dozen employees would be doing great today. But they have hundreds or thousands of employees because that was an appropriate scale twenty years ago. When I started my first web company fifteen years ago, the idea that you could be successful with six or ten employees was crazy, but today many of the most successful companies have not many more than that. That's 15,000 fewer employees than eBay has."

The way we were successful in the past isn't the way we're going to be successful in the future. Head count and payroll expense have to head south if we're going to prosper.

Business as Usual?

2009-03-25T07:00:00.000-06:00

It's hard to imagine anyone has completely missed the meltdown in our economy. But here's what I'm wondering:

How many people in your company have radically changed their behavior in response to the economic chaos?

As I look around, I'm guessing not too many. Maybe it's denial. Maybe it's fear. Maybe they just don't get it. But I'm seeing very little in the way of radical action. And if there was ever a time for radical action, this is definitely it.

Like most companies, ours needs to sell more. So I set a goal for myself – what Jim Collins and Jerry Porras call a BHAG – a, Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal. My BHAG is to contact 500 new business prospects in the next 100 days. It's impossible that something good won't come from that.