I used to have six aquariums, the smallest was a 25 gallon, six inch deep room divider and the largest was 100 galleons.

One day I moved a small, about four inches, black ghost knifefish from the 25 gallon tank to the 100 gallon aquarium. Over the next year it grew to about 11 inches.

This happened because fish grow based on the concentration of a chemical they secrete into the water. Nature stops growth when the concentration indicates that the environment won’t support them further.

Human beings grow similarly—they will grow as long as the environment they are in supports their growth.

Curiosity, investigation, discussion, dissent and debate are the chemicals humans secrete, but the most important is curiosity.

Limit curiosity and you limit growth; shut it down and growth stops cold.

This applies just as much to parenting as it does to managing or “leading.”

Just think what would happen if each of us worked to encourage unlimited curiosity, investigation, discussion, dissent and debate in our own little corner of the world.

Think of the growth that would be unleashed; the happiness that would be generated; and the difference between that world and our present one.

Image credit: Derek Ramsey on Wikipedia

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No, it can’t be done.

No, nobody will buy it.

No, [insert your own].

Whether you have an idea that will change the world or a way to do what is already being done better, faster, cheaper or a combination of them, you are going to hear no.

Not once or twice, but many times a day.

You may hear it from family, friends, colleagues, investors and startup specialists.

A critical factor in innovation, whether for an entrepreneur or in small group in a large company, is the ability to unemotionally evaluate the quality and value of each ‘no.’

Some will be valuable in helping to tweak your idea to make a better product, while others only foster negativism.

You need to sort them out, use the good stuff and delete the rest—especially from sources who really care about you—no matter how often you hear them. (This applies to most advice.)

If you do get a bit discouraged when people keep raining on your parade just remember these others who heard the same thing.

• In 1936 the editor of the Pictorial Review refused the opportunity to serialize Gone with the Wind before its actual publication.

• In 1937 Roy Disney (Walt’s brother) said that Mickey Mouse was passé and should be phased out.

• In 1962 Decca Records rejected a recording contract with the Beatles because they didn’t like their sound and believed that guitar music was on the way out.

• In the late 1980s Ken Olsen said that business would never gravitate to personal computers.

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/scottrettberg/3207635/

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Have you noticed how often people mention ‘success’, whether talking about careers, companies, kids, politics, religion, pets and on and on.

The search results for quotes about success are pretty trite; but some to share and a few are from unexpected sources, so let’s start with the traditional and move out from there.

Winston Churchill is often quoted on a variety of subjects and I think his take of success is worth remembering, especially during those periods when nothing goes right, “Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.”

Donald Kendall offers a great insight for those who get a kick out of odd bits, “The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.”

I really like David Brinkley’s definition of success, “A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.”

Jon Bon Jovi’s definition (bet you didn’t expect him to be here) is another facet of the same gem, Success is falling nine times and getting up ten.”

And Warren Beatty sees it this way, “You’ve achieved success in your field when you don’t know whether what you’re doing is work or play”

Finally, there is the age old question: what is the nature of the link between success and happiness? I really like Ingrid Bergman’s take on it, “Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get”

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/clearlyambiguous/96998932/

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Every year I spend time with clients helping them understand the kind of planning they need to do now in order to be on the road to success the following year; I also like to share an outline of the process with you.

You have to have a plan
Anyone leading a company, even a company of one, needs to know

• what you want to do, and
• how you’re going to do it.

This brings you to the crux of the matter—how do you plan for a sustainable business?

Choose your approach

• SOP (seat of the pants): Used frequently throughout business history, and extensively in the late Nineties. The CEO (top dog) discusses her desires over lunch with other (hopefully) senior staff members. Separately, each manager prepares a budget, including headcount for his department based on
  • what he thinks is needed to accomplish what the head honcho says she wants and
  • increasing his own leverage within the company (although these two are frequently reversed).

• PBO (operating plan w/budgets and objectives): Requires more thought and effort, but is the approach of choice for well-run companies. It requires the
  • creation of a viable operating plan to achieve the objectives; and a
  • detailed budget by which to implement it.

SOP, in all its glorious variations, spells chaos (which can be accomplished with no help from me), so we’ll focus on PBO.

What’s PBO?

Three interlocked pieces—each critical to success.

1. A budget that states

• how much is available to spend during the upcoming year and
• who is responsible for spending it.

2. The specific objectives that the company needs to accomplish during the year,

• financial, e.g.,
  • increase revenues 10%
  • increase services to 25% of revenues; and the
• quantified managerial, e.g.,
  • raise productivity 8%
  • reduce turnover 15%

3. A description of how the company plans to achieve the objectives in order to move forward on accomplishing the company’s long-term twin goals of profitability and success.

The end result is a detailed business roadmap for the coming year.

Where’s the rocket science?
The three parts are interrelated and must be tightly linked, so changing one affects all.

That’s it. Simple, right? Unfortunately, many executives treat them as separate entities wreaking havoc on their subordinates. They don’t get, or don’t care, that it’s a domino effect and that when one changes they all must change.

Which are you?

• The boss who can’t be bothered to do the hard work and make the tough decisions and doesn’t worry about jerking his people around because ‘they’ll get over it’; or
• the boss who believes that with a good plan, known objectives and a viable budget all the managers—executives to the lowliest supervisor—will buy-in and execute intelligently throughout the year?

As always, it’s your choice.

Image credit: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/914885

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Saturday I said, “It’s innovation, no matter where it’s done, and MAP that drives jobs,” and that I would expand on MAP’s role today.

Ask people what an entrepreneur does and their description will usually say something about starting a company.

But there is a critical psychological difference between entrepreneurs that has nothing to do with investment, revenue or even employees.

• It’s the difference between creating a company and being self-employed—even if you have 50 employees and $50 M revenue.

• It’s the difference between trusting others and what those in the startup world call founder ego—the belief that you can do any job better than anyone you hire.

• It’s the difference between making yourself central to every action and decision within the company or hiring well, delegating and then getting out of the way, so people can do their jobs.

• Simply put, it’s the difference between holding on and letting go.

And it is that difference that often decides not just the company’s success, but whether the founder sticks around or leaves—willingly or with help from the board/investors.

Flickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/helga/3436664563/

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After Monday’s post I had several emails and calls wondering if the ROI for seeing the ‘whole’ was really worth the effort considering the frequency of switching jobs and even industries, not to mention the speed at which everything changed. One caller said he was exhausted just thinking about it. (He was being factious—I hope.)

So on this Friday, before you grab the beer to celebrate your freedom, let’s consider the ‘whole’ in terms of WIIFY (what’s in it for you).

The short answer is that wrapping your mind around the whole is the difference between being considered ‘good’, ‘OK’ and ‘competent’ vs. having adjectives such as ‘great’, ‘brilliant’ and ‘world-class’ attached to your name.

And making the effort to be a ‘whole’ person provides a major benefit for you, personally by reducing—even eliminating—boredom.

Even a constantly challenging job can become routine; the two things that keep it interesting are people, who are ever-changing, and the intricacies of understanding your and the job’s impact on surrounding people and tasks and how it fits into and impacts the whole.

It’s similar to enjoying a baseball game; if you think the most fascinating position is pitcher and that’s the only player you watch, you’ll miss a lot of the action. In fact, you’ll probably miss many of the game-changing plays.

You’ll actually find a lyric harmony in the ‘whole’ and will be much quicker to notice any discordant notes giving you a decided edge within your current company as well as a more accurate assessment of what is really going on.

Mixing metaphors is not good writing, but this kind of holistic, or perhaps I should say ‘wholistic’ approach will be far more accurate in predicting whether you should fish or cut bait.

How’s that for good WIIFY?

Flickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/irenetong/485727716/

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When you evaluate a task or project to you see the whole or the hole?

Most people are adept at seeing the hole, i.e., what needs to be added in order to succeed. What’s missing can include scope, skills, resources, etc.

Unlike donuts, holes don’t enhance your projects. Being sure the hole is filled is important, but it’s also difficult to fill it if you don’t also see the whole.

The whole is the overview of how that particular project fits into the larger picture. Understanding that helps you to identify and address the entire hole, so you don’t end up having to go back and fix the part of the hole you missed or, worse, move on leaving an unnoticeable hole that turns into a sinkhole down the road.

Seeing the whole means taking time to understand not just your own position/area, but the functions of those around you and how they all interact, your company’s competitors and trends in your market.

More work? Yes.

A pain in the wazoo? Yes.

The benefits to you, your team and your company? Priceless.

Stock.xchang image credit: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/758343

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Do you run a small or medium business (SMB)? If so, do you have a senior staff?

“Senior staff” doesn’t necessarily mean a bunch of vice presidents (for convenience I’m using that title), but it does mean the top people in your company who manage different functions (with or without staff). They are the people you rely on

• as a sounding board;
• for both tactical and strategic intelligence;
• to tell it like it is—even when you don’t want to hear it
• to see and understand the big picture;
• to lead the effort in employee acquisition, motivation, and retention;
• to support and strengthen the culture she envisioned;
• to not sabotage another group or start a turf war, and
• to help stamp out politics whenever and wherever it rears its ugly head.

And more, but you get the idea.

How to build your senior staff

The first item on your agenda is to determine what parts of your business/company beyond the standard finance, development, marketing, sales should report directly to you for peak performance. You don’t want a function that is absolutely critical to your success reporting through or responsible to someone else (agendas do get in the way).

It may be customer service (or whatever it’s called); it could be IT; if you are large enough to have someone handling HR it should definitely report directly to you.

Support functions, such as HR, are often left to report to someone else, which can prevent you from knowing what is really going on.

Where does one find talented VPs? Now and then you’ll be lucky enough to actually hire someone complete with all the bells and whistles that you want, but it’s more likely that you will find someone with the right potential.

Be aware that the main thing that separates good senior staff apart from other managers is a strong strategic ability, which means they see the entire team and understand how their department or area fits into the whole.

I’ve known many C-level executives who never grasp this, as well as director level and lower managers who get it.

All your staff needs a real understanding of business, including financials, and it’s your responsibility to make sure that they get whatever training and information is needed to do their job as a member of your senior staff.

Further, if you want the most powerful senior staff possible cross train them in each other’s functions and challenges.

Think of the phenomenal value of a finance person who understands the intricacies of manufacturing as more than a set of numbers; a head of product development who understands financials, customer service and inventory turns; an HR head who understands what actually happens in the different departments, etc.

Think of the power inherent in a senior staff that understands what it takes to turn an idea into a product and a product into revenue.

Think of what a difference it will make to your ability to do your own job, not to mention the overall success of your company.

Flickr photo credit to: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/909053

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Image credit: maurice.heuts on flickr

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Did you know that as nimble as an ordinary bat is when flying it can’t take off from a level place?
If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and painfully until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then it takes off like a flash.

That’s also a good description of what happens to workers who aren’t given what they need to succeed.

Whether it’s coherent instructions, correct and complete information, additional training, viable feedback, or something else, without it they struggle to survive, let alone thrive.

If you want your people to perform and succeed then it’s your responsibility to provide the slight elevation from which they can launch themselves.

Identifying and providing that slight elevation is your responsibility, whether you consider yourself a leader or a manager.

That small height isn’t one-size-fits-all nor is it necessarily what works for you, which means you need to learn through interaction and discussion what constitutes a feasible elevation for each individual and provide it.

That’s your job, whether you are a CEO, team leader or anything in-between, that is what you are paid to do.

So if doing it doesn’t float your boat and give you an adrenalin rush every time someone takes off you’re in the wrong position. You may like the paycheck, but you’re leaving your people to shuffle in circles and setting them up to fail.

And doing so will come back and bite you at some point.

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Image credit:  ZedBee|Zoë Power on flickr

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