Order of Magnitude CEOs

It's the Relationship that Matters - Sometimes there is no Wrong or Right Answer other than Having the Conversation

“I don’t understand why Allison is so upset.”

I was catching up with Earl in his office, a business owner who recently got into a disagreement with a long-term partner of his, Allison, who I happened to know as well, regarding a relatively small item.

(As an aside, I have noticed that almost all items are small in the long run but not so small in the short run)

Earl explained to me what happened and as he told me his version, I completely sided with Earl.

“You’re right Earl; I don’t know why Allison is so upset.”

But then I paused and asked Earl, 

“What do you think would happen if Allison called me up and explained that same incident to me?”

Earl thought about it for a moment and then chuckled as he responded, “Knowing you Jeff, I guess if I wasn’t in on the conversation you would probably take Allison’s side.”

“Well, I don’t think I would be taking her side Earl, I just would have an understanding of why Allison felt the way she did and of course she is entitled to feel that way.”

“That wouldn’t make her right Jeff; it would just explain things from her point of view.”

“I completely agree Earl, but at least you would understand Allison’s issue and why she feels the way she does and she would understand what happened from your point of view.”

As I was talking with Earl, he immediately picked up his cell phone and started dialing.

“We are in the middle of a conversation Earl; don’t you think it’s a bit rude to be making a phone call?” I said in a mock serious tone as I knew exactly who Earl was calling.

Earl glared at me and said, “Hey Allison, its Earl, got a minute?”

I walked out of Earl’s office to get some water and chat with some of Earl’s staff that I knew.

After a few minutes as Earl approached me I heard him wrapping up his call with Allison.

“Great Allison, I’ll see you Wednesday.”

“How did it go with Allison discussing the incident?” I immediately asked Earl.

“Oh yes Jeff, I forgot that was the original reason I called Allison.  I got to hear her perspective and understand why she was upset.  I also got to share with Allison things from my perspective, acknowledge her issue and actually agree that I would have felt the same way if I was her.”

“Of course Allison and I didn’t agree on everything but at least we discussed it and now we could move on. It really wasn’t a big deal for Allison, but I’m glad we talked it through and Allison was very glad that I reached out.  You know Jeff; I think this incident and conversation actually strengthened the relationship I have with Allison.  We are actually meeting Wednesday to discuss an opportunity that stemmed from this incident.”

Make sure you are not too busy running your company, sending texts, emails and preparing for that next meeting that you forget to have candid conversations with your staff, clients partners, and of course your family that are taking the journey with you.   Some of these candid conversations might be more important than others but almost all of these conversations will enhance the journey which is the point isn’t it?

Enjoy the Holidays!

If It's Important Then Write it Down - The Very Brief Story of How One Business Owner Found Out 2011 was a Good Year for his Firm (Hint: it started in 2010)

“Jeff, I am afraid I won’t be good company for coffee later on today as I am feeling a bit down.”

“What’s going on Derrick?”

I was speaking with Derrick in early October, an ambitious New York City business owner, who was not his usual optimistic self, who was cancelling our coffee scheduled for later in the day.

“Our team did not have a good 3^rd quarter - we missed our revenue numbers and some of my staff did not get as much done as I expected with their projects. There were other things that didn’t happen as well, but I can’t remember them all.  It got me pissed off and now I’m in a bad mood. ”

“That isn’t good Derrick, but that will happen, some quarters will be better than others.”  I was struggling what to say next to Derrick when I suddenly remembered something that I thought might help.

“Derrick, when we met at the beginning of this year, you told me you were excited that you had written down the outcomes you wanted for 2011.  Do you remember those outcomes?”

“Wow Jeff, thanks for reminding me, I forgot all about those outcomes and probably haven’t looked at those outcomes in a couple of months.  Good thing I wrote them down.  If you got a second, I can pull them up.”

“Sounds good Derrick.”  Within a minute or two Derrick had his firm’s 2011 outcomes that he had written down late in 2010 on his computer screen.

As Derrick quickly scanned his 2011 outcomes he started talking,  “Jeff, I don’t know if you remember but I grouped my expected 2011 outcomes into four areas – Sales, Marketing, Staffing, and Operations,” I could a hear a sudden change in Derrick’s voice, he was now excited.

“Why so excited Derrick?”

“So far, we have hit 8 of the 12 outcomes I had written down, like having three additional sales people hitting their quota and making a key senior operational hire which is going to give us a much stronger offer in 2012.  We also surpassed our qualified lead outcome for this past quarter which means we should be set up for a very good 4^th quarter.”

“What about the items you just mentioned that you didn’t accomplish in the 3^rd quarter?”

“Those items are not nearly as important as the outcomes I wrote down last year,” Derrick quickly replied.

“That’s neat Derrick, so I guess we can meet for coffee after all?”

“Are you crazy Jeff, I got to get ready for tomorrow, with a little effort and focus we can end up surpassing 10 out of the 12 outcomes.”

“Ok, we can postpone our coffee Derrick, but I got to ask, what about the two outcomes you won’t make?”

“Well, one just doesn’t make sense anymore, I should have replaced it earlier in the year and one we just won’t hit, it’s too late now.  Although, if I had been reviewing these outcomes, I could have made some different moves and made this outcome as well, so that’s a bit frustrating, but I’ll take surpassing 10 out of 11 outcomes.”

“That’s great Derrick, the only bad news is we won’t get to see each other for coffee.”

Derrick laughed, and said, “let’s put something in the calendar for next week, it will work better anyway for me.”

“Why’s that Derrick?”

“Because I just assigned myself the task to write down my 2012 outcomes ahead of our coffee next week.”

“Glad I can be your deadline Derrick for creating your 2012 outcomes, see you next week, same time.”

If you are not writing down what’s important for yourself and your firm in 2012, don’t be surprised if you don’t know if 2012 was a good year or not.

What’s the Best Thing You Can Do if You Lose a Deal or a Great Staff Member? Answer - Blame Yourself

“I can’t believe I lost.”

I was catching up with Paul, one of the most talented sales people I know.

“What happened Paul?”

“I was working on this large deal since the beginning of the year and I just found out what the client decided to do, and it’s not with me.”

“Who they are going with Paul?”

They are going with “Do Nothing.”

“So you really didn’t lose Paul, they just decided not to do anything.”

Paul glared at me for a full minute before he responded.

“I could always make up a reason why I didn’t get a deal, like the economy stinks, we are too expensive or my product is missing an important feature, but these excuses do not enhance my chances of winning the next deal.”

“What does increase your chances of winning the next deal Paul?”

“Simple, believing that if I lose a deal or a prospect decides to do nothing, it is my fault – that I wasn’t able to win the battle against other providers and the toughest competitor of all – Do Nothing. I must believe that everything is in my control. Over the long run, believing that it’s all me gives me the best chance day in and day out to do everything I can to win deals over competitors and the dreaded Do Nothing.”

“You really do hate Do Nothing Paul.”

“Sure Do, Do Nothing means my offer is not as good to my prospect as doing nothing at all. That can’t be so it’s gotta be….”

I jumped in, “Your fault Paul, right?”

“You got it Jeff, the more I blame myself for deals I lose, I find that the percentage of deals I win goes up and I end up making more money.”

Lose out on making a great Sales hire - Blame yourself so you don’t lose out on the next great Sales hire.

An “A” Staff member quits for a better opportunity – Blame yourself for not creating more opportunities, so you can retain your current “A” staff.

Your company not growing as fast you expected - Blame yourself so you will make more valuable and exciting moves going forward.

Blame yourself - not to change the past but to change your future!

The Three Keys to Better Conversations with your Staff - Listen, Empower & Don't Annoy Them

“Sometimes you annoy me Dad.”

Recently, my 8 year old daughter Sarah complained to me.

It was tough to hear as I let the words hang in the air.  My choices were either to ignore the comment, get angry at her (“you don’t talk that way to adults, and especially your parents”) or the direction I chose – find out what annoyed her.

“What annoys you about me, Sarah?”

I must admit I was already feeling a little saddened that I annoyed my daughter and was afraid she was about to rattle off a list of items that would further sadden me.

“Well Dad, actually, only one thing really annoys me about you,” Sarah paused before continuing,

“You know when you come home from work and ask me if I did my homework yet?”

I nodded.

“That’s annoying. I know I have to do my homework and you are not giving me a chance to do it.”

“What would be better Sarah?”

“Sometimes, instead of asking me if I did my homework, you ask me when I will finish the homework. Let’s say its 6pm and you ask me what time I will finish with my homework and then I say 7:30pm.  That’s much better for me Dad.  Do you remember when you do that?”

“Sure Sarah, of course I remember” (I even just blogged about it, I thought to myself)

“Well, I like it when you do that because I get to pick the time.  You’re just helping to ensure I do it before the night is over but it’s still my decision on when I do it.  That’s not annoying, that’s helpful and I appreciate it.”

“I can do that Sarah, if I slip and do it the other way, will you let me know because I don’t mean to annoy you Sarah, I just want to make sure you get your homework done.”

“Sure Dad, I can do that.”

There was a moment of silence and then I asked, “What else annoys you about me?”

(I braced for the response)

“That’s it Dad, except you won’t buy me an iPad.”

I drew a big sigh as we both laughed as I replied. “How about some cookie dough now and perhaps you will be a little less annoyed about not getting an iPad, because you still are not getting one, I don’t care how annoyed you get.”

Over the course of a year you will have thousands of conversations with your staff – each of these conversations can empower or annoy your staff. It all starts with listening.

How I Started Doing Huddles as a Soccer Coach - Who's Holding You Accountable?

“Did you do a huddle with Grace’s soccer team?” My 3^rd grade daughter Sarah asked after I had finished coaching my younger daughter’s soccer team last Saturday morning.

“No, I forgot to do it again, Sarah.”

It was the third week in a row that Sarah had asked me this same question.

Each week I responded that I forgot.

In reality, I knew about the huddle and had remembered that Sarah’s coach had done it in prior years and some of the other coaches of the teams we faced did huddles as well.

In those three weeks I sometimes would remember right before the game started or after the game had ended but I just could not bring myself to do it. 

I had a number of excuses that I made to myself:

“The kids are only in 1^st and 2^nd grade.”

“It’s too late now. If I coach next year, I’ll make sure to start making it a practice right from the beginning.”

“It’s not that big a deal if I do it or don’t do it.”

So yesterday morning it came as no surprise as we got into the car to head to the soccer games when I heard Sarah’s weekly refrain with one slight change:

“Are you going to do three huddles this week?”

“Three Huddles?” I asked Sarah.

This week Sarah elaborated a bit more than prior weeks.

“Sure, one before the game, one during halftime, and one after the game.”

“I don’t know why,” Sarah continued, “but the huddle gives me confidence and it’s more exciting.”

As we got out of the car and Sarah headed to her field and I went to another field with Grace, Sarah shouted to me, “Don’t forget to do the huddles today Daddy.”

Now I had no excuse.

Knowing Sarah was right, I did all three huddles and not only was the team more excited and played with more energy during the game, but, I was more excited as well.

And thanks to a late game goal, we ended up with a 1-1 tie. 

(The girl on our team who scored the goal just moments before had complained to me that she was getting tired.  Which I had replied with, “if you are tired, guess who is tired as well? That’s right, the other team.”)

If only we had made the penalty kick a few minutes earlier

As my younger daughter Grace and I walked over to Sarah’s field, somehow I was excited when Sarah asked me “Did you do the huddle today?” and I could proudly answer,

“We did three.”

Sarah was proud of me and I was proud of her for making me a better soccer coach.

Who’s holding you accountable to ensure that you are getting better at being an ambitious owner?

One of the Secrets of Why Order of Magnitude Business Owners are "Lucky" - A Great Top of the Funnel

A few days back I was listening in on a conversation between two business owners.

“You’re so lucky,” stated Ernie, a business owner who supplies services to Keith.

“What do you mean Ernie?” Keith replied, looking genuinely surprised.

“Well Keith, I love the manager you just hired.  As you know I’ve been interacting with your new manager.  He is so motivated and a pleasure to be around.  I’ve been having a hard time finding good staff and I know some other owners who have been struggling to find talent as well.”

Ernie paused a moment and then asked, “What’s your secret, Keith?”

Keith replied, “It’s the same secret, if you want to call it a secret that I have been using to increase my client base every year.  Come close and will I tell you, we don’t want anybody else to hear,” Keith smiled as he was obviously joking.

Ernie didn’t see it as a joke though and he leaned closer to hear what Keith would say, forcing me to subtly take a few steps closer to their conversation.

Keith started talking, “Well, let’s take it as a given that you already have a good offer because if you didn’t, nothing else matters.  To add quality staff and to grow your customer base, it is important that you allocate time and resources to building the top of your funnel.  It’s a numbers game.”

“Go on,” Ernie implored, “What do you mean, building the top of your funnel?”

“For instance,” Keith continued, “for my manager position that I recently filled, I advertised consistently over the last month as well as I told business colleagues in the industry that I was looking to fill this position.  I ended up getting about 100 resumes, meeting 10 people in person and hiring the manager you have been with these past few weeks.  So, although it may seem “lucky” to you, to me I made my own luck by getting 100 candidates at the top of the funnel which led to hiring one great person who is a perfect fit for my organization.”

“Wow, that’s a lot of work just to hire one person,” Ernie blurted out.

“Yes it is, creating a big top of the funnel requires work,” Keith replied, “now do you want to hear how I got lucky at growing sales these past few years,” Keith smiled again.

“Let me guess Keith, a big top of the funnel.”

“Exactly”, Keith replied, if I want to sign 10 new clients, and I know from experience that only 1 in 5 leads become clients then I need a funnel that is….”

“50 leads” Ernie jumped in and then continued, “Keith - You can be certain you won’t hear me calling you lucky again!” 

“I don’t care what you call me just don’t call me late for dinner,” Keith deadpanned.

They both laughed as Ernie replied, “I can tell you one thing, you chose the right profession - good thing you’re a business owner and not a comedian.”

"It's Fresh Outside" - Lead by Designing a Learning Culture Not a Critical One

Early in the morning a few days ago my wife bumped into our neighbor Phyllis who had recently immigrated to the United States. 

As they passed each other, Phyllis said, “Good Morning Michelle, it’s fresh outside today, isn’t it?”

Since they were both moving quickly in opposite directions, Michelle just smiled.

That evening Michelle relayed the story to me as she explained that in many other countries, “fresh” is used instead of “cool.”

That got me thinking, what is the best way to help somebody who is eager to learn but is still on the beginning of their journey – like indoctrinating new staff into your firm to truly “get” your culture or improve their skill set in a role or, perhaps getting the best performance out of your senior management team.

When I bumped into Phyllis a few days later, also early in the morning, I was ready.

Again, it was a relatively chilly morning and as we passed each other I decided to speak first.

“Good Morning, it is quite cool today,” I said to Phyllis cheerfully.

Phyllis replied, “Yes, it is quite cool this morning, have a good day.”

That was fun, I thought to myself.  Although, granted a small thing, I had taught Phyllis an expression in English without having to correct her or even let her know I was teaching her.

Since Phyllis was intent on improving her English, she immediately noticed and made the adjustment.

If you are looking to improve staff performance, instead of being critical or just telling people how you want them to act – lead by example:

You say you want your senior management to delegate and trust their staff.

But, instead do you rarely delegate and/or second guess their decisions you had delegated to them?

You say you want your staff to get better at their roles.

But, instead are you giving them no time or resources or opportunity to improve themselves?

You say you want your staff to express their opinions on how your organization can improve.

But, instead are you immediately critical to what you consider inferior ideas?

Lead by Designing a Learning Culture Not a Critical One and over time the value of your company will soar.

Like most worthwhile things in life though, implementing a Learning Culture is easy to say or to write, but is actually very hard to do in the moment.  Once institutionalized though you’ll find going to work a lot more exciting and rewarding for yourself (and for your staff).

Details Matter - Why It's Important to Not Have Cracked Paint in your Store Window (and for Your Children to say Excuse Me and Brush their Teeth Before Going to Bed)

Early last week I walked by the Wall Street location of Canali, a boutique Italian fashion brand for men.  I noticed cracked paint along the sides of the store window and snapped the picture you see here.  I wasn’t sure why at the time, but something really bothered me about the cracked paint that was so visible outside their store.

A few days later it hit me while having dinner and then movie night with my family.

“What?” my daughter Sarah said as my wife asked her to pass a napkin during the family dinner.

“Sarah, we say excuse me to each other,” I immediately said to her.

“It’s OK Jeff, it’s just us, it’s not like she said WHAT in a rude or fresh way to me, she just said What,” my wife Michelle joined in.

And Michelle was right that Sarah had not said “What” in an impolite way, she just hadn’t heard the request.

“I understand Michelle, the reason we want Sarah to say ‘excuse me’ with us is so when she is at a friend’s house, and the Mom asks her what she would like to drink, Sarah doesn’t say ‘what’ but ‘excuse me.’”  Once she thought about it, Michelle immediately agreed, and we moved on to other dinner topics. 

Later that evening, my younger daughter Grace looked very tired after movie night as she went upstairs.  I walked into her room and her pajamas were already on. 

“Did you brush your teeth yet Grace?” I asked Grace.

Grace thought about saying yes but she knew from past experience that I would make her breathe in my face.  Without saying a word, Grace immediately got out of her bed, brushed her teeth, and not more than three minutes later, she was back in bed and asleep.

Missing one day of brushing her teeth would not have mattered at all as far as the long-term health of Grace’s teeth but it is very easy to see how one missed day, leads to another missed day, which leads to a completely different pattern of taking care of one’s teeth over a lifetime.

As I watched Grace lay in bed with her freshly brushed teeth, my mind drifted back to the store window of Canali.  I have no idea how they are doing as a company but I do know that over time unless they do something about the “cracked paint” in their windows it is clear that Canali will have the equivalent of their employees saying “what” instead of “excuse me” and that not “brushing their teeth before going to bed” will start to be acceptable if it is not already in their culture.  

Details matter in building a great company and it’s best to get them right as early in your journey as possible.

Earthquakes, Hurricanes, Grand Slams, and Mortality (A most memorable week gets me thinking about a Steve Jobs’ speech about what's really important)

When I woke up this past Tuesday morning and headed into Manhattan, little did I know that this week is the kind of week that I will remember for the rest of my life.

On Tuesday, almost simultaneously I noticed a tweet from a good friend of mine in Northern Virginia just as I got a call from my wife about the largest Earthquake in Virginia in over 100 years (we have plenty of family in the Earthquake area). 

On Wednesday evening, as I was catching up on the day’s emails I got word along with everybody else that Steve Jobs, one of the greatest entrepreneurs in U.S. history, was resigning as CEO of Apple due to his health.

On Thursday, the New York Yankees became the first team in all of baseball history, to hit three grand slams in one game.

And, on Friday, I found myself preparing for Hurricane Irene, one of the largest Hurricanes to ever hit the New York City area.

On Saturday, today, these events got me thinking about what is really important as I await Hurricane Irene with my family.

I thought back to a Thursday afternoon conversation with Tom, a successful business owner, who reminded me of Steve Job’s 2005 Stanford commencement address.

On the train home that night, I pulled up the transcript of the speech on my phone.

And as I write this blog, I am just finishing watching this 15 minute speech which I had not done in a few years.

The speech has three great stories and a number of memorable quotes that will resonate with any ambitious owner.

If you haven’t done so recently, watch the speech now and think about what is important in your business and personal life.

Steve Jobs. 2005 Stanford Commencement Address

This week and this speech are the perfect backdrop to understanding how the daily tactical items relate (or do not relate at all) to what is truly important in your business.

As Steve Jobs says towards the end of the speech “Don’t Settle.”

You owe it your employees, clients, and family. But, most of all, you owe it to yourself.

Be Safe!!

The Sad Stories of Shoulda, Coulda, and Woulda (Meet 3 Business Owners You Don't Want to Be)

I recently caught up with 3 business owners that have struggled recently - Shoulda, Coulda, and Woulda.

Shoulda: “I shoulda invested my profits when my business was growing like gangbusters a few years ago like my buddy who had the same revenue and profits as me.   In fact, now that I think about it my buddy’s profits were even lower than mine.  When the downturn hit, I pocketed my profits now look where I am.”

“Where are you?” I innocently asked Shoulda.

“Well, my buddy’s profits are four times or more what ours were back then and mine have been cut in four.”    

“That’s nothing, at least you have profits,” said Coulda, who apparently had been listening in on my conversation with Shoulda.

“I coulda kept some great clients and staff and attracted new ones but I didn’t pay enough attention to their concerns and goals.  I didn’t see the market changing, instead, I just focused on what I wanted and now I have lost my top talent and my best clients.  And for the employees that stayed with me, I am now just a job for them and for my clients, just another vendor.  I am barely breaking even now.  I wish I knew then what I know now, I coulda done it so differently.”

“Your both amateurs compared to me,” barged in Woulda.

“I had some great employees but I never let them make decisions.  They kept coming to me and instead of helping them decide what to do, I always made the decisions for them.  I never let them make any mistakes that would impact the company; I never let them grow for fear of them making a mistake that might cost the business a new client or money.  Now, its 10 years later and I am still making all the decisions.  And, my last decision is shutting down my company at the end of the year.  If only there was a way to go back into the past, I woulda spent my time and resources developing my leadership team, my company woulda been so different now.”

Shoulda, Coulda, and Woulda all looked dejected and defeated as I surmised that each thought about what they might have done differently if allowed to start again from the beginning playing the game of business owner.

“Why so resigned about your future?” I cried out as they each shuffled out, heads down, “tomorrow is a new day, it’s not too late…” but Shoulda, Coulda, and Woulda, didn’t want to hear any of it, it was easier for them to be resigned about their future, based on their mistakes of the past.

Don’t be Shoulda, Coulda, or Woulda when it comes to your business.  It’s the future that matters not the past.