Category: Strategy

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Don’t End Up As The Best-Looking Horse In A Glue Factory

Your company is having financial problems. Products aren’t selling. You are not keeping up with competitors, and customers are heading out the door. What do you do? Redesign your website. Sure, there’s your top priority right there. If you change your colors to something innovative-looking and add some new content, then the rest will fall into place. With a website like that, well, people will think you’re Apple.

What you’re doing here is putting lipstick on a pig, something a lot of companies do. When performance starts failing at a business, CEOs and senior executives spend a lot of time focusing on the wrong things rather than understanding the real problems that are derailing them.

Stop Focusing On Symptoms

Most executives treat symptoms and never diagnose the underlying causes. If you were a doctor and did nothing but treat symptoms, never diagnosing core diseases, you’d be sued for malpractice. The truth is we commit malpractice all the time in business. Companies take steps to look better to themselves and the outside world. They remodel offices, write useless policies and forget about them, revamp they’re websites; and all the while their company is dying around them. They end up being the best looking horse in the glue factory.

Say, for example, a leader says, “I have a problem with morale in my company. I need ways to boost morale.” A less-than-adequate coach might say, “Have employee parties. Have a barbeque each month and hand out awards.” A real coach would ask questions like: “Give me some examples of why you think morale is bad. How is it manifesting itself? What behaviors are you seeing that make you believe morale is low? What do you think is causing those behaviors?”

Well, we find out that the company hasn’t given raises in two years and had a nasty round of layoffs. Now we’re getting somewhere. The solution isn’t a picnic. We need to look at the whole problem: people are afraid of losing their jobs. They’re insecure, worried, and, maybe even strapped for cash.

Focus On Solving Real Problems

No wonder you have a morale problem! Or rather – a morale symptom. You have to start by dealing with those problems. Communicate more about the layoffs and the company’s performance; talk about the initiatives you’ve undertaken to create more stability. That’s how you get morale back on track, not by putting more lipstick on the pig with parties or plaques.

If you’re treating the symptoms, you are letting the underlying cause grow and fester, and eventually, it will become so severe that you can’t ignore it. It’s going to force you to look at it, and it’s going to be ugly. You can save everyone some time, resources, and anxiety if you start digging now. Changing your website colors or adding new waiting room art can wait.

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Why Are Some CEO’s Lucky, While Others Aren’t?

Have you ever wondered why some people seem so much luckier than others? We all know of the CEO or business owner who always seems to win the big sale, hire the best staff, or make money on deals that others run away from. We talk about how lucky he or she is. We also know CEOs and others who never seem to catch a break. They lose the big sale, their biggest customer cancels a contract, and their best salesperson quits to go to work for his old friend from college. We shake our heads and talk about their bad luck. So we classify people as lucky and unlucky all the time.

General George Patton once said that when waging a war, he would prefer to have a lucky general vs. an unlucky general working for him. Who wouldn’t? But this makes “luck” sound like a skill, i.e., something that can be learned or developed. Wouldn’t it be great if we could increase our luck and that of the people that work for us? Well, we can! How often have you heard someone say: “You make your own luck”?

Max Gunther, the former editor of Time magazine, did a study of the behavior of lucky people and unlucky people, and found that they exhibit distinctly different attitudes and behaviors. He even wrote a book about it, titled: The Luck Factor: Why Some People Are Luckier Than Others and How You Can Become One of Them.

Here are the major five differences that Gunther found between lucky and unlucky people:

  1. Lucky people have large friendly networks of people. The bigger that network, the more opportunities that others can bring to you. If you don’t know a lot of people, the chances of someone tossing an opportunity your way is rather slim. Stay in your office and stop connecting with people, and your opportunities will dry up.
  2. Lucky people act on hunches. When they intuitively see something as a positive opportunity, they act on it, while on the other hand, unlucky people tend to ignore or downplay their hunches, and are reluctant to act on them. It’s not enough for an opportunity to present itself. You have to act on it to take advantage of it. Lucky people do that.
  3. Lucky people are bold. Unlucky people tend to be more passive and afraid to take risk. A lucky person acts boldly (but not rashly) when presented with a good opportunity.
  4. Lucky people know when to walk away. They know when something isn’t working, and they stop wasting time or money on it. Unlucky people tend to keep drilling dry wells and throwing good money after bad, trying to recover sunk costs. Lucky people cut their losses and accept that not everything works all the time.
  5. Lucky people have a healthy sense of pessimism. They know that things can go wrong, and when they do, the lucky person accepts it, and doesn’t anguish over their loss. Unlucky people tend to agonize over losses, and become even more hesitant to try a new venture.

If we study these five traits or behaviors, we can see that people can actually learn to be lucky, or at least improve their luck, provided they have the capacity to change their behaviors.

Look at yourself and your staff. Are you a lucky person? Does your staff exhibit lucky behaviors? If the answer to either of these questions is “no,” you might want to encouraging some attitudinal shifts. Expand your network. Analyze and act on hunches that look like they might pay off. Act boldly and without fear when you sense an opportunity might pay off. If it’s not working, stop doing it and cut your losses. And last, accept that not everything works out the way you planned. But don’t let that stop you from trying again.

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8 Characteristics of Great CEOs

Over the years, I have been able to work with, observe, and coach really great CEOs. It has become obvious to me that these great CEOs differentiate themselves by exhibiting certain characteristics that make them successful. My observations have led me to conclude that there are eight characteristics of successful CEOs. Here is what I found:

  1. They work hard to make a positive impact on everyone they meet.
  2. They treat others with respect, and because of that, they have large networks of people who respect them as well.
  3. They consistently surround themselves with “A” players who challenge them and elevate their game.
  4. They are realistic enough to realize that not every idea works out, so they will quickly pivot to another idea rather than giving up.
  5. They are relentless in their drive to overcome obstacles and adversity.
  6. They are willing to take risks when others would have walked away.
  7. They hate to lose more than they love to win.
  8. They love giving credit to others, and always show their appreciation for the contribution others make to their success.

You can call these what you like…principles, characteristics, or virtues…but keep in mind that they are powerful factors that contribute greatly to success.  If you can internalize and practice these characteristics in your role, your chances of becoming successful will be greatly enhanced.

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The 6 Fundamental Axioms of Leadership

An axiom is a statement or proposition that can be accepted as true without the need for proof. I have six axioms that I believe in and have witnessed over the years, and they no longer require any proof to me. They are:

  1. You deserve the employees you hire (and keep)
  2. If it can’t be measured, it doesn’t exist
  3. Accountability is a cultural thing
  4. Every day is “showtime”
  5. You aren’t one of the guys
  6. The Samurai knew what they were doing

As a leader, and specifically as a CEO, these six axioms are fundamental to your ability to lead and inspire your organization. Although I cannot guarantee anyone’s success in such a complex and demanding role as CEO, I do believe that following these six axioms will immensely increase your odds of success. Let’s examine each one here:

You deserve the employees you hire (and keep) – Since the most important decision you will ever make is who you hire, this axiom is probably the most important. If you are willing to hire and accept mediocre (B and C) players, then you deserve whatever results they give you. Following-up on their performance, correcting their mistakes, and watching them miss critical deadlines is a sample of the punishment you get for keeping them around. On the other hand, if you take the time to recruit A players, nurture them, and sustain them within your organization, you will reap the rewards. I have been told over and over again that one A player is worth three B players.

If it can’t be measured, it doesn’t exist – Researchers know this axiom, but it’s just as valid in business. I know there are people who will tell me that there are things that can’t be measured; concepts and emotions like love, hate, and fear. I could take exception and say this isn’t true. We do measure conceptual things. We measure intelligence (IQ) and emotions (EQ), and I’ll bet I can measure love and hate on a scale of 1 to 10. But even if they are correct in their criticism, let’s just agree right now that I am speaking of business. Everything in business can and should be measured. That’s the only way to know if you are achieving goals, making quota, delivering on time, keeping customers happy, managing staff turnover, and so forth. The more you can measure your key performance indicators, the better you can manage your business and guide it in the right direction (and make corrections when something is going off course).

Accountability is a cultural thing – We all talk about accountability, but it won’t matter if you haven’t established a culture of accountability. Your organization and employees must live and breathe accountability. Your culture needs everyone from the top down to accept responsibility and to be held accountable when things don’t go as planned. If your culture doesn’t foster accountability, you will have a very tough time trying to keep your people on track and responsible for their employees’ behavior, and more importantly, their results.

Every day is “showtime” – As a CEO or leader, you are always on stage. If you are having a bad day, your face, posture, and behavior will signal that something is wrong. Have an argument with your spouse in the morning, and then turn up at work with a scowl, and your employees will think the worst…something is wrong with the business. Are we having layoffs? Is cashflow OK? They don’t know anything about your home situation, just that you look as though trouble is brewing on the horizon and they will be impacted by it. This means that you must always put on your game face before you walk into the office. No matter how bad things are (maybe you are having trouble making payroll or the IRS is doing an audit that makes a colonoscopy feel like a walk in the park), you need to show confidence and that you are in control. You must be the consummate actor, always playing the role of self-assured CEO.

You aren’t one of the guys – Too often a CEO or manager within an organization begins to identify with their employees. Surely you have seen or heard of the department head that defends his employees and takes their side against the company. These people over-identify with their employees. This leads them to make decisions based on what’s good for their staff, not what’s good for the company. Leaders need to understand that they are not one of the guys. Employees really expect you to be different, even if you don’t think so yourself. You see yourself as nothing special, but to your employees, you are. They know that you can hire and fire them, give bonuses, take time off, buy a nice car, pay yourself big money, play golf at the local country club, and make decisions every day that affect their livelihood and morale. Don’t try to be one of them. They need you to be you. They need you to play the role of boss. Once you try to be one of them, you will find yourself digging a hole from which you will have difficulty climbing out. Once you bring yourself to their level, becoming the boss again will be a monumental effort. And it’s tough making decisions that go against your employees’ interests, which many business decisions do, if you identify too easily with them. Bottom line is that the company comes first, because without it, the employees won’t have a place to work.

The Samurai knew what they were doing – The ancient Samurai had an advantage in mortal combat…they had no fear of death. And by not fearing death, they could take risks and make decisions without apprehension, never second guessing themselves. This allowed them to overwhelm their enemies and strike fear in their hearts. Similarly, in the military, soldiers accept the fact that they may die in battle, and that frees them to do what needs to be done to accomplish their mission. If they constantly dwelt on the fact that they could be killed at any moment in combat, they would freeze and never succeed in battle. On a much less deadly note, CEOs also need to be fearless. They need to stop fearing the things that will freeze them in place and keep them from succeeding. Being sued, losing a key employee, failing to win a major deal, missing a bonus, or making a bad investment are just a few examples of the types of “death” that leaders face daily. If your decisions are based on avoiding these issues, you will not have the freedom or the ability to do what’s needed to take your company to another level. Constant fear of a bad outcome can paralyze a CEO into a risk-adverse cocoon, stifling growth and innovation.

I can assure you, from my own experience and my observations of the CEOs that I coach, that following these six axioms will strengthen your leadership and help you to become a better CEO. Make these six axioms part of your management style and corporate culture.