The Decision Tree of Success or Failure

Did the leaders of Enron start out trying to lie to their investors? Did Bernie Madoff intend on defrauding those who trusted and believe in him? Did you wake up this morning intent on getting so upset in a 2pm meeting where you said things in anger that could cost you your job? No, but it happens every day.

Have you ever asked how did we get here?

Every day we are faced with infinite possibilities and hundreds of decisions. The path those decisions leads us on has us end up where we brought ourselves to. Without question there is randomness and luck involved in the decisions we face. Read Malcolm Gladwell’s excellent book Outliers on the impact fortune has on our lives.

What we do with those decisions is our choice and ultimately leads us to face the next set of choices along that path. Most of us have faced decisions to try cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, illicit activity, and to cheat, to lie, to over-indulge, we get to prioritize our lives as we decide. These become significant choices that significantly impact who we become. Each day we set our path face critical moments that propel us along.

How have the decisions you made as a teenager impacted you today?

How did your college choice change your perspective on life?

What did you decide six months ago that has you now reaping those results?

There is no one path to success or one path to ruin. We choose our own way. The critical moments occur in considering the choices you make on each decision. With each decision ask yourself, “Does this get me to where I want to go?” Whether it is personal choices or professional choices, you need to consider which direction each step takes you.

Know where you want to go.

Know the direction you want to take to reach that end point.

With each step make progress along the path of your choosing.

I often hear people wanting to experience success and they always ask, “How do I get there?” You can’t borrow another person’s playbook because it won’t fit your decisions you face. You achieve success with each step in the right direction. Choose your decision steps with the desired result in mind.

How Your Business Can Avoid a Death by 1000 Cuts

2009 was a season executives performed cut, cut, cut type of economic measures and hopefully your business wasn’t one of the many that died from self-inflicted 1000 cuts. Gruesome? Many businesses went under more because of their arbitrary across the board cuts bleeding them to death than the actually down economy. This year will also be an economic challenge as we all need to get more for less out of our businesses. Be a leader and don’t die at your own hand. Remember, you must avoid cutting your own throat when trying to get more for less.

Look into the details

The easy road is to do the simple stuff many companies do. Across the board cuts, wage freezes and slice and dice the budget. This is where you can cut your own throat. What if you need more personnel to properly run your department? What if cutting your marketing dollars removes more revenue than you saved by not advertising? What if you best talent decides to bail because of a second year of wage freeze?

Study the details of your organization looking for cost saving opportunities. What services are you outsourcing you could bring back in house using your staff? What tasks can be streamlined? Are you getting your employees involved in finding better and more cost effective ways to perform tasks? Could you do a better job of scheduling people for peak customer times?

Take each department of your organization and explore ways to make improvements without cutting deeply into profit-producing opportunities.

Have a plan

During difficult economic times a tight strategic plan is more critical than ever before because every meeting, every dollar, even step must be made in the positive direction toward accomplishing goals. When I see organizations missing the marks they set to achieve for the year and then use the excuses of the economy, how hard they worked to get what they did get, or how they did the best they can under the circumstances, I see an organization that is off the path.

Define your targets, your action items to reach those targets and set a timeline for each step along the way. Accountability is the easiest choice to get more for less. How accountable are you holding your executives to their responsibility of reaching their targets?

Put away the knife

Why do companies cut budgets instead of focusing on finding the additional revenue to meet the budgets? Because reducing costs is always easier than finding more revenue. Who said it was supposed to be easy? The job of every company is to make profits and grow the business to extend the longevity of the organization.

Stop the cutting mentality and spend more time finding additional opportunities to grow your business. Are you looking for more for less this year? I suggest you focus on the more and dedicating fewer days to figuring out the less.

2009: It Wasn’t Pretty

Let's face it, be real and call it what it was: 2009 was a bad year. No need to list the negative news the business world kept getting pounded with all year. Most every industry took a punch in the gut at some point. Some industries got hit a little harder and were dropped to one knee. Would you say this was one of the worst years in decades? Yes, I think that would be accurate. Now that that is out of the way...

What happens next?

Global competition didn't stop. Your national competitors are putting their brain trust to work on finding the solution to emerging stronger. 2010 is not the year to cut budgets, sit by and lick your wounds so you can consider it a year of getting back on your feet. That is what January is for. The rest of the year you need to have your track shoes laced up and double knotted for the race that will determine your next five years of growth.

Define your path to point B

Sure 2009 was a curve ball and your plan for getting from Point A to Point B no longer works because you no longer can see Point B. I hear many executives so confused with their organization's direction because of the turmoil of this year, they seem ready to just idle until the fog lifts and the picture gets a little clearer. The fact is, we are going to be traveling in foggy times for quite a while and no one can afford to just idle. Point B is still out there, granted the road to getting there has changed.

Map a different path to reach your destination.

Might it take longer? Yes, it probably will. Will it be a tougher road? I think over the last 15 years the path to business success has shifted dramatically and become much tougher. So have most avenues to success, but people still achieve tremendous accomplishments.

Use the beginning of the new year to prepare for the success you owe it to your organization to achieve. As long as you know the path, believe in the path and are willing to put in the leadership effort to walk the path, 2010 can become a much different story than 2009.

The End of Year Sorting… Through Your Mind

It's that time of year when many people decide to sort through files, desk drawers and office shelves getting ready for the new year. The annual office cleansing ritual is a way to prepare for a fresh beginning. But are we clearing out the right things to truly prepare for a fresh start?

I believe the files and desk clutter are not the most important cleansing needed to start a new year with a fresh start. Take one day for your physical clutter removal and spend the rest of a week removing the mental clutter because this is where the greatest obstacles exist for starting anew.

Remove the mental pain

"Sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me" may have been true in simpler times, but in today's world words cause much greater lasting damage. Remember the crushing remarks your boss make in the heat of emotionally-fueled conversation? Of course you do. How about the argument with a fellow executive where snide comments were made that still hurt? And that hundredth phone call that never got returned from a prospect? That was the day the phone became too heavy to pick up again.

This is the clutter that is a much greater obstacle to a fresh start than old files will ever be. Take the time to cleanse these memories if you truly want to make a fresh start on the coming year. To renew your vigor for the job and refresh the excitement for coming to work this is the right time to wipe this mental pain from your memory. If only it was as easy as washing a blackboard.

Cleaning office clutter is mindless work. Cleaning your mental clutter is intense work, and the payoff is well worth the effort. What are the memories you need to get beyond? What are the words that were said in the heat of the moment that have been given much greater credibility than they ever should have been given? What is still a thorn in your brain that triggers unwanted emotions? By working to clear this clutter you will return to the excitement you once had for your work.

Ask yourself 4 deep questions

When I do my annual end of year mental check list I find it best to ask myself questions to gain clarity to see if I am ready to take on a new year totally stoked and ready to hit it..

1. Do I still love what I do as much as when I started this business? If not, why not? And what am I going to do to restore that? Side bar: I hear so many executives tired this year, fed up with the negatives, concerned with the rapid changes that are happening, this may be the most important question you could ask yourself to prepare to be successful in the coming year.

2. Do I have the energy required to create a successful year? If not, what habits do I need to adjust in order to have that energy? (I'm not talking resolutions, I'm talking behavioral shifts!)

3. Where is my excitement level for the work I see coming in the new year? Base this on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 meaning I'd rather be anywhere else but here to 10 meaning my work is more enjoyable than vacation.

4. What areas within me are holding me back from delivering the ultimate performance in the coming year? What do I plan on doing about that?

I take the week between Christmas and New Year's Day to work on my mental de-cluttering and strengthening. It's the perfect time of year to cleanse, refocus, and clear the air in preparation for a running start to another great opportunity.

No Time for the Timid

At the end of one of the roughest economic years in recent memory leaders have a great challenge at hand. Government is having greater impact on significant industries such as auto, finance and health and the trickledown effect will be a tidal wave of impact.

Are you ready?

The leadership approach of "wait and see" is no longer an acceptable strategy. The longer you wait, the more changes are going to happen, the more behind you will get. Obviously, I'm not saying take a "ready, shoot, aim" approach because you will need to digest the volume of changes that are coming and interpret the impact on your organization. However, once you have that understanding to the best of your ability it’s time to take action.

Clear picture no more

Not that many years ago the business world was a clear picture of how to make profits, gain a bit of market share and know who the competition was. You can't wait for the clear picture anymore. Visionary skills at the top are more important now because the picture isn't so clear. A leader has to be able to see through the fog and recognize where their organization needs to be heading. Executive ability to lead in a storm is trait most needed in business today. These are not times for the timid.

Over the next few years businesses are going to fall into three categories and the leadership of each organization will determine which category those organizations fall into.

Passive

These organizations will be late adopters and want to follow trends. These executives are more interested in hanging in the middle of the pack and hoping others will determine the path the industry must follow. The only problem here is how fast things change now. By the time the passive organization joins the trend, the wants of consumers has already shifted and these organization will only be serving the stragglers. Passive organizations will always be looking to cut budgets and hope to make profits at the end of the year.

Old school

This category of organizations is the group that just believes in doing things the old fashioned way based on the thought it worked fine for the last 40 years it will work fine for the next 40. Old school organizations resistant to change have a short life expectancy. The Big Three auto makers are the best example of change resistance to the eternal detriment of the company. Change can be scary and sometimes executives just want things to stay the same. Unfortunately, business is progressing rapidly with increasing speed and these companies will be lost and left behind to suffer a fate of either closing, being purchased, or broken apart. In this category the smaller the company the shorter the life expectancy.

Aggressive

These organizations are going to be looking for every advantage they can possibly exploit and take the necessary risks to make it happen. They will shop for top talent, pay high salaries and take the occasional long shot. The workloads will be tremendous and the commitment extensive. This is a group that thrives on change, and desires to be in the forefront of the industry.

Some organizations will project well and make huge strides; others will miss the mark and most-likely cost the executives their employment. This is a gutsy group that lives for winning. The risk is high but so is the potential payoff.

As you can see, the business world, no matter which category you lead your organization into requires risk and courage. It’s up to you to decide which path you feel best to be part of. The day of the timid leader enjoying the ride is over.

14 Questions That Will Grow Your Business on Thoughtful Thursday

1. Based on your results this year how goal-oriented are you really?

2. What is your marketing mix for the Blink Buying process people are now in?

3. How well do your employees know the features and benefits of the products you sell? Quiz them to find out.

4. How accurately did you determine your costs for this year? How are you adjusting your projections for better accuracy next year?

5. How do you plan to position yourself in social media in the coming year?

6. What are your profit improvement strategies for the coming year?

7. Instead of eliminating programs, where can you find the money to fund those programs?

8. What profit center is lagging that could be a strong contributor next year?

9. How do you plan to shift that attitude in toward that profit center?

10. How are you using online video to promote your business? How well is it working?

11. On a scale of 1 to 10, how well would you rate the Seven P's of your company: Product, Price, Place, Promotion, Packaging, Positioning and People?

12. What does your perfect customer look like?

13. How are you building rapport with your customers so you become indispensable?

14. How many different ways can you sell your product? How many of them are you employing successfully?