Tag Archives: leader

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Ask “Who” Not “How”

In a recent Dan Sullivan podcast, Sullivan stated that many small entrepreneurs stay small because they take on every task for every aspect of their business. Essentially, they get stuck in the “How?” mindset. They have an excellent idea and then get bogged down with the implementation details.

Conversely, small entrepreneurs that break this mold to grow into successful large companies don’t get bogged down like this because they have a “Who?” mindset. When they have an excellent idea, they ask themselves, “Who would be the best person to implement this great idea?” They spend their time finding the best person to execute on the idea and they then enable that person to be successful!

Without a doubt there are times when every entrepreneur needs to get their hands dirty and do the work needed to become or to stay viable. Bill Gates coded, Steve Jobs designed and Michael Dell assembled. However, there came a point in time where these guys realized that to remain viable they would need to find people to take on these roles so they could step up and lead their organizations.

Essentially, they were able to make the change from a How person to a Who person.

So, how do you become a “Who” leader?

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Growth is Not Easy But It is the Only Option

In order to grow in your ability as a business leader you must change. This is basically an empirical law . . . there are no exceptions to this!

 

GROWTH = CHANGE

Before you change, it is wise to understand that any change is accompanied with a certain level of disruption. This is also an empirical law. The amount of change you go through is directly proportional to the level of disruption you experience.

CHANGE ∝ DISRUPTION

And, with any disruption there is always discomfort! In fact, the level of disruption is proportional to the level of discomfort that you will feel.

DISRUPTION ∝ DISCOMFORT

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Play By the Rules But Be Ferocious

“Play by the rules but be ferocious” is the advice given by Phil Knight, co-founder and past chairman of Nike. I believe that all of us need to take this to heart and make some adjustments in how we lead and run our businesses!

There is no need to be ruthless, dishonest, nefarious, or unscrupulous in any way. However, if we want to grow our businesses we need a “fire in our belly” . . . we need to be ferocious!

Can you imagine if your favorite professional sports team was not driven to succeed? I know we always complain about the overall performance of our teams (like the Calgary Flames!) but when you watch them play, they do play the game ferociously. Anything less would be pathetic!

What if this season they decide they are going to play a non-contact style of hockey? Or what if their leadership fails to create and communicate a strategic plan for the season? What if they fail to assign team members to positions or to clearly define the roles each team member is to play? What if they don’t build a sales and marketing plan and fail to reach the sales targets they need to remain viable?

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Do You Have a Customer Service Chasm?

In a 2005 Bain and Company survey of 362 companies, a huge gap was identified between what customers experience versus what companies thought they were delivering.

The gap was not just huge, it was staggering! Only 8% of customers in this survey described their service experience as “superior” while 80% of the companies described the service they provide as “superior.”

Tom Peters calls this the 8/80 chasm!

I have experienced this 8/80 chasm on a few engineering projects over the years.

An engineering contract typically has a ton of detail built into it. Because of this, it is really easy to fall into the trap of “working to fulfill the contract” instead of working to understand exactly what the customer needs before you are too far down the design road to make adjustments.

When a project manager falls into this trap of managing to the contract, it is inevitable that they will encounter a customer who is not happy with the finished product. Usually, when this happens, the project is so far down the design path that the effort to get realigned with the customer’s expectations is extremely painful for both the project manager and the customer!

So what can businesses do to bridge this chasm or avoid it altogether?

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What Powerful Advice Do You Wish You Had 20 Years Ago?

Recently, I was a guest on “Ideas and Stuff”, a Calgary based podcast (episode 50). One of the questions they provided in advance for me to think about and prepare for was; “If you could go back to the day you started your business/career, what would you tell yourself?”

As it turns out, we had a great conversation during the podcast and never quite got to this question! However, the question did really get me thinking.

If I could back up my career, what do I wish I knew that would make a big difference?

As many of you know, I am an electrical engineer by education and practiced in this field for quite a few years.

As engineers, we are forced to focus on numbers, formulas, Lagrangian multipliers, and other theorems that would give most people nightmares! However, as the Dilbert stereotype so aptly illustrates, we are generally not taught the basic things about effective communication, teamwork, or leadership!

So, what would I tell myself if I could go back to the day I started my career?