“As the leader, when you enter a brainstorming session – take the cotton out of your ears and place it in your mouth.” ~ Seen on a online Business Leadership Chat Site ~
Where are businesses focusing in this recovery? What is working for others? A 2010 Executive Market Intelligence Report surveyed executive recruiters to identify the top high-growth functions for executive placements in 2010. They were, in ranked order:
1) Business Development
2) Sales
3) Operations Management
4) Engineering
5) Marketing
6) General Management
7) Finance
8) R&D
9) MIS/Information Technology
10) All other disciplines
What does this tell you? If you consider the top five categories, there is a theme: Top line growth, bottom line control and adaptation/optimization of “what you have”.
If you haven’t gotten the message yet, the present and future are going to be all about change. As soon as businesses relax their hold on what used to work and begin to embrace the concept of change, new methods, new perspectives and new market adaptive directions - business should begin to accelerate into a drive-able recovery.
“Sometimes if you hold on too tight to what you have, you end up choking it.”~ Anonymous ~
REALITY: Most will agree that inflation is coming (no one knows when but it's coming) and that the economy is going to take a long time de-leveraging - so cash will continue to be tight for some time. Government stimulus programs will phase out later this year and the hand-off to the private sector for the recovery will take place. That hand-off will be felt in the form of a dip in the recovery. Businesses already have cut costs - so liquidity will have to come from revenue growth. The market WILL NOT ALLOW revenue growth from price increases. Revenue growth will have to come from sales diversification and market share growth. In other words - successful competition. Most businesses recognize that they need a plan for that. Such a plan involves much more than new advertisements and adding to the sales force.
BUSINESS PLANS AND THE RECOVERY. Small and Mid-size businesses (SMBs) intuitively know that there is no standard blueprint for their specific business – they have to draw it themselves. Yet, most SMBs don’t take the time to initiate and maintain even the most modest of business planning processes.
Successful businesses have plans. So why don’t more SMBs have one?
Here are FIVE reasons why:
Reason #1: Belief that a business plan is only required when borrowing or when soliciting investors.
Reason #2: Belief that a business plan will constrain the owner’s creativity, be too rigid and diminish the ability to flexibly operate the business.
Reason #3: Belief that those who will have to draft the plan are too busy to focus on a plan and that they don’t possess the knowledge or time to do it right – so why bother unless it’s absolutely necessary.
Reason #4: No excuse.
Reason #5: Your reason.
Reasons 2 and 3 are perhaps the most reasonable. It has been said that every business is either in a storm, coming out of a storm or going into a storm. There is never a convenient time to carve out the time to do a deliberate plan. But the reality of changing markets and circumstances really prescribes planning – even if the plan must change and adapt along the way. Business plans are not meant to be stagnant documents.
“I was wondering why the baseball was getting larger and larger – then it hit me!” ~ gotta be Yogi Berra ~
Larger companies employ Boards of Directors and Advisors who use a business plan as the subject of their fiduciary attentiveness. These Boards bring external perspective, experience and provocative ideas that stimulate thought and action for the good of the enterprise. Small business owners with their day-to-day perspective rarely have access to such talent and the accountability to success that comes with it.
Business planning is a project that becomes a process. I'm working with companies that undertook an internal business planning project that quickly identified other profitable projects of opportunity that presented themselves along the way. We took those new paths – and we’re still doing the business plan. That’s okay!
Through relationship oriented business advisor/management consultants like WayPoints Partners, you can bring an external perspective, objectivity and a sympathetic resonance with the issues of small businesses into YOUR small business. With it you will get fresh energy and sense of urgency for success at a fraction of the cost and without all the formality of a Board of Directors. You also get an advocate for your business through the many network contacts of your advisor - and, perhaps, some marketing and sales experience and intuition that will kick-in for REVENUE GROWTH.
The WayPoints Partners motto, “with you along the way … all the way” is a good example of the relationship orientation you will want from a business advisor/consultant such that any business planning process that you might jointly initiate doesn’t become a dusty document left on the shelf but part of an ongoing and evolving business success story.
All the best!
Bill
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
"LEADERS - Bring it on!"
“Do or do not. There is no try.” ~ Yoda ~
What Successful Leaders Bring. I like to read the websites of venture capital and equity investment firms – where they expound on their successes. A recurring theme; Their team or the CEO they placed into an investment entity was able to bring leadership, execution and sales growth. Indeed, any chief executive can’t be seen as just the boss but as one who stimulates activity and brings fresh energy into a company. Decisiveness is often a keynote trait of leadership and such behavior from a newcomer is often mistaken as change for change sake. Not so.
Execution is staying with the strategy (making decisions along the way) and not being distracted by the day to day. Fresh energy is found in the readiness to make decisions. Further, successful companies are started by entrepreneurs who had a vision and passion for a product – that met a market need - and who had a burning passion to sell. Somewhere along the line that passion may get diffused with time and the hand-off to a sales force that may or may not possess that same initiating passion in product meeting market need. Successful leaders bring that passion and a talent for sustaining aggressive and market adaptive efforts. Markets change – you must change. This market HAS changed.
“The only time a man has the right to look down on another is when he is helping him to get up.” ~ Author Unknown ~
BOWLING FOR SUCCESS: To gauge the success or failure of a system implementation, culture shift or new practice; apply the Bowling Ball Test. If you have laid the proper groundwork, explained the reasons and goals, provided the resources for success, trained the people, delegated authority and established buy-in, your new initiative will roll on its own after the initial push. If not, it will behave like a bowling ball in the sand – push, push all you want but it won’t roll after you stop pushing.
- OBSERVANCES -
May is a month of special remembrance of sacrifice. We observe Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day and Mothers Day in May. My words are insufficient - so I offer these;
Motherhood ~ Joaquin Miller (1839-1913)
The bravest battle that ever was fought!
Shall I tell you where and when?
On the maps of the world you will find it not;
'twas fought by the mothers of men.
Nay not with the cannon of battle-shot,
with a sword or noble pen;
Nay, not with eloquent words or thought
from the mouths of wonderful men!
But deep in a walled-up woman's heart -
of a woman that would not yield,
but bravely, silently bore her part -
lo, there is the battlefield!
No marshalling troops, no bivouac song,
no banner to gleam and wave;
But oh! those battles, they last so long -
from babyhood to the grave.
Yet, faithful still as a bridge of stars,
she fights in her walled-up town -
Fights on and on in her endless wars,
then silent, unseen, goes down.
Oh, ye with banners and battle-shot,
and soldiers to shout and praise!
I tell you the kingliest victories fought
were fought in those silent ways.
O spotless woman in a world of shame,
with splendid and silent scorn,
Go back to God as white as you came -
the Kingliest warrior born!
Thanks Mom …
All the best!
Bill
What Successful Leaders Bring. I like to read the websites of venture capital and equity investment firms – where they expound on their successes. A recurring theme; Their team or the CEO they placed into an investment entity was able to bring leadership, execution and sales growth. Indeed, any chief executive can’t be seen as just the boss but as one who stimulates activity and brings fresh energy into a company. Decisiveness is often a keynote trait of leadership and such behavior from a newcomer is often mistaken as change for change sake. Not so.
Execution is staying with the strategy (making decisions along the way) and not being distracted by the day to day. Fresh energy is found in the readiness to make decisions. Further, successful companies are started by entrepreneurs who had a vision and passion for a product – that met a market need - and who had a burning passion to sell. Somewhere along the line that passion may get diffused with time and the hand-off to a sales force that may or may not possess that same initiating passion in product meeting market need. Successful leaders bring that passion and a talent for sustaining aggressive and market adaptive efforts. Markets change – you must change. This market HAS changed.
“The only time a man has the right to look down on another is when he is helping him to get up.” ~ Author Unknown ~
BOWLING FOR SUCCESS: To gauge the success or failure of a system implementation, culture shift or new practice; apply the Bowling Ball Test. If you have laid the proper groundwork, explained the reasons and goals, provided the resources for success, trained the people, delegated authority and established buy-in, your new initiative will roll on its own after the initial push. If not, it will behave like a bowling ball in the sand – push, push all you want but it won’t roll after you stop pushing.
- OBSERVANCES -
May is a month of special remembrance of sacrifice. We observe Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day and Mothers Day in May. My words are insufficient - so I offer these;
Motherhood ~ Joaquin Miller (1839-1913)
The bravest battle that ever was fought!
Shall I tell you where and when?
On the maps of the world you will find it not;
'twas fought by the mothers of men.
Nay not with the cannon of battle-shot,
with a sword or noble pen;
Nay, not with eloquent words or thought
from the mouths of wonderful men!
But deep in a walled-up woman's heart -
of a woman that would not yield,
but bravely, silently bore her part -
lo, there is the battlefield!
No marshalling troops, no bivouac song,
no banner to gleam and wave;
But oh! those battles, they last so long -
from babyhood to the grave.
Yet, faithful still as a bridge of stars,
she fights in her walled-up town -
Fights on and on in her endless wars,
then silent, unseen, goes down.
Oh, ye with banners and battle-shot,
and soldiers to shout and praise!
I tell you the kingliest victories fought
were fought in those silent ways.
O spotless woman in a world of shame,
with splendid and silent scorn,
Go back to God as white as you came -
the Kingliest warrior born!
Thanks Mom …
All the best!
Bill
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
What's in YOUR Logic?
“Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers.” ~ Colin Powell ~
Deductive? Inductive? Abductive? Last month we looked at introverted or directional thinking and compared it with extroverted or intersectional thinking - which can vault companies and whole markets forward with great leaps of breakthrough innovation.
I recently came across a related article in Bloomberg Businessweek (January 25, 2010) titled "Innovation’s Accidental Enemies" by Roger Martin & Jennifer Riel. I have to share it.
Martin & Riel argue that most ideas provoke an impulse to demand proof of viability through deductive or inductive reasoning. In deductive reasoning, an idea is stacked up against a widely held rule. In inductive reasoning a new rule is developed from a base of accepted data. Great breakthrough innovations, however, often correlate to no established set of rules - nor can they draw on any font of data to derive a “certainty of success”. What to do? Toss it all to luck? Move forward on NO logical basis? The authors propose a third form of reasoning: ABDUCTIVE logic - the logic of what could be. Abductive logic can be used to make an inference – a leap in logic. I love this because it resonates so well with intersectional thinking.
To illustrate, here’s a paraphrased excerpt; “At Research In Motion (RIM), maker of the Blackberry, abductive logic is embedded in the culture. RIM’s founder encourages his people to explore big ideas and apparent paradoxes to push beyond what they can prove to be true in order to see what might be true. In the mid 1990s RIM was a modestly successful pager company but its founder wanted to get into portable email devices. He imagined something much smaller than a laptop but easier to type on than a cell phone. A super miniaturized QWERTY format keyboard had feasibility limitations (remember the Palm Stylus?) - UNTIL - he achieved a leap of logic: What if we typed using only our thumbs? A prototype quickly proved the logic and the Blackberry was born! Asking what could be true and jumping into the unknown is critical to innovation. Nurturing such ideas versus killing them is the tricky part. Once this hurdle is cleared the “proofs” can be developed and a vision of the future can be turned into fact.”
“When something is unsustainable – it stops.” ~ Anonymous ~
The “MOD QUAD”
Modified “Quad-Charts” can be used to reduce projects to their significant talking points and help succinctly visualize new opportunities (new product vectors). Quad Charts are great for provocative brainstorming because they force simplicity and keep cross functional management teams focused. They can be made a part of a strategic business plan for sustainable market relevance. Quad Charts are ONE page by design and deliberately succinct. Could you do one for your new development? Here’s a template:
How do you know when a change initiative has been successful? Just because you have concocted a plan and launched it does not mean that your execution has been successful. Initial employee enthusiasm from the CEO’s announcement, the big pizza party, the new incentive program, mugs and ball caps will fade and with it will evaporate your hopes of residual impact. Sustainable change is usually marked by four key indicators. These indicators will be observed from your employees.
• Declarations and testimonials are heard.
• There is appetite for more.
• Value adjustments are observed – culture shift is evident - change and productivity related peer pressure is evident at the shop floor level.
• Members become evangelists and the initiative has legs of its own without management prodding.
“Of the billionaires I have known, money just brings out the basic traits in them. If they were jerks before they had money, they are simply jerks with a billion dollars.” ~Warren Buffet ~
Zen and the Art of Raking (If you don’t have trees – you can skip this piece.)
It amazes me how much garbage falls out of the sky (or trees actually). Every year, as the seasons cycle, I’m constantly raking. My lawn is perpetually littered. I’m raking in the Fall of course, but I’m raking well into Winter. I rake in the Spring and all through the Summer too. It is truly incredible how much “stuff” trees shed in the course of the year. Leaves – sure, but bark, old branches, major limbs, the husks and fluff from spring buds. Pulled from the ground, converted into biomass and deposited on my lawn. Nature, self-pruning, making way for new growth. I partially heat my home with a wood stove and I never have a lack of kindling. I just walk outside and scavenge twigs and branches right off the ground. Fabulous!
Many large branches also fall in the dead of winter that were probably wounded by some big wind long ago. Unattended, those limbs eventually dried up, lost their leaves and stood naked until their brittleness succumbed to gravity. I often look up expectantly at the “not yet fallen”, out of reach – destined to fall and stoke my stove.
I think about people who, in their youth and strength, flail at life and receive for all their efforts wounds they often don’t even feel until much later in life. I know I’ve been wounded and I’ve wounded myself. I’ve wounded others. Someone once told me “we’re all victims of victims”. But I can tend to my wounds and those I’ve inflicted if I recognize them. It’s never too late. I don’t have to lose any limbs.
And then there’s the ground itself – the substrate of my raking. Freezing and thawing the ground seems to push things out onto the surface or gobble them up. I think it’s a function of mass. The winter loosens up the dirt like no cultivator ever could. When I recall how concrete hard the ground can get in the dry heat of August it’s amazing the see how frost-heave, soaking rain and time can so effectively loosen it up again. So patient, so efficient. I think about hardened people and how time works on them and softens them physically and emotionally. Most become fertile and more open with time. Some resist and stay hardened – and barren of new growth.
As I rake through the seasons I find meaning in Proverbs 20:29; “The glory of young men is their strength and the splendor of old men is their gray head.” I’d personally like to think that the author also meant “bald” head. Spring is upon us! Maybe the Winter has loosened us up a little (I think the recession surely has). Maybe we’ve reconciled some old wounds, healed them, done some spiritual pruning and readied ourselves for new growth. I’ll probably be raking this weekend … weather and soggy ground permitting.
All the Best!
Bill
Deductive? Inductive? Abductive? Last month we looked at introverted or directional thinking and compared it with extroverted or intersectional thinking - which can vault companies and whole markets forward with great leaps of breakthrough innovation.
I recently came across a related article in Bloomberg Businessweek (January 25, 2010) titled "Innovation’s Accidental Enemies" by Roger Martin & Jennifer Riel. I have to share it.
Martin & Riel argue that most ideas provoke an impulse to demand proof of viability through deductive or inductive reasoning. In deductive reasoning, an idea is stacked up against a widely held rule. In inductive reasoning a new rule is developed from a base of accepted data. Great breakthrough innovations, however, often correlate to no established set of rules - nor can they draw on any font of data to derive a “certainty of success”. What to do? Toss it all to luck? Move forward on NO logical basis? The authors propose a third form of reasoning: ABDUCTIVE logic - the logic of what could be. Abductive logic can be used to make an inference – a leap in logic. I love this because it resonates so well with intersectional thinking.
To illustrate, here’s a paraphrased excerpt; “At Research In Motion (RIM), maker of the Blackberry, abductive logic is embedded in the culture. RIM’s founder encourages his people to explore big ideas and apparent paradoxes to push beyond what they can prove to be true in order to see what might be true. In the mid 1990s RIM was a modestly successful pager company but its founder wanted to get into portable email devices. He imagined something much smaller than a laptop but easier to type on than a cell phone. A super miniaturized QWERTY format keyboard had feasibility limitations (remember the Palm Stylus?) - UNTIL - he achieved a leap of logic: What if we typed using only our thumbs? A prototype quickly proved the logic and the Blackberry was born! Asking what could be true and jumping into the unknown is critical to innovation. Nurturing such ideas versus killing them is the tricky part. Once this hurdle is cleared the “proofs” can be developed and a vision of the future can be turned into fact.”
“When something is unsustainable – it stops.” ~ Anonymous ~
The “MOD QUAD”
Modified “Quad-Charts” can be used to reduce projects to their significant talking points and help succinctly visualize new opportunities (new product vectors). Quad Charts are great for provocative brainstorming because they force simplicity and keep cross functional management teams focused. They can be made a part of a strategic business plan for sustainable market relevance. Quad Charts are ONE page by design and deliberately succinct. Could you do one for your new development? Here’s a template:
How do you know when a change initiative has been successful? Just because you have concocted a plan and launched it does not mean that your execution has been successful. Initial employee enthusiasm from the CEO’s announcement, the big pizza party, the new incentive program, mugs and ball caps will fade and with it will evaporate your hopes of residual impact. Sustainable change is usually marked by four key indicators. These indicators will be observed from your employees.
• Declarations and testimonials are heard.
• There is appetite for more.
• Value adjustments are observed – culture shift is evident - change and productivity related peer pressure is evident at the shop floor level.
• Members become evangelists and the initiative has legs of its own without management prodding.
“Of the billionaires I have known, money just brings out the basic traits in them. If they were jerks before they had money, they are simply jerks with a billion dollars.” ~Warren Buffet ~
Zen and the Art of Raking (If you don’t have trees – you can skip this piece.)
It amazes me how much garbage falls out of the sky (or trees actually). Every year, as the seasons cycle, I’m constantly raking. My lawn is perpetually littered. I’m raking in the Fall of course, but I’m raking well into Winter. I rake in the Spring and all through the Summer too. It is truly incredible how much “stuff” trees shed in the course of the year. Leaves – sure, but bark, old branches, major limbs, the husks and fluff from spring buds. Pulled from the ground, converted into biomass and deposited on my lawn. Nature, self-pruning, making way for new growth. I partially heat my home with a wood stove and I never have a lack of kindling. I just walk outside and scavenge twigs and branches right off the ground. Fabulous!
Many large branches also fall in the dead of winter that were probably wounded by some big wind long ago. Unattended, those limbs eventually dried up, lost their leaves and stood naked until their brittleness succumbed to gravity. I often look up expectantly at the “not yet fallen”, out of reach – destined to fall and stoke my stove.
I think about people who, in their youth and strength, flail at life and receive for all their efforts wounds they often don’t even feel until much later in life. I know I’ve been wounded and I’ve wounded myself. I’ve wounded others. Someone once told me “we’re all victims of victims”. But I can tend to my wounds and those I’ve inflicted if I recognize them. It’s never too late. I don’t have to lose any limbs.
And then there’s the ground itself – the substrate of my raking. Freezing and thawing the ground seems to push things out onto the surface or gobble them up. I think it’s a function of mass. The winter loosens up the dirt like no cultivator ever could. When I recall how concrete hard the ground can get in the dry heat of August it’s amazing the see how frost-heave, soaking rain and time can so effectively loosen it up again. So patient, so efficient. I think about hardened people and how time works on them and softens them physically and emotionally. Most become fertile and more open with time. Some resist and stay hardened – and barren of new growth.
As I rake through the seasons I find meaning in Proverbs 20:29; “The glory of young men is their strength and the splendor of old men is their gray head.” I’d personally like to think that the author also meant “bald” head. Spring is upon us! Maybe the Winter has loosened us up a little (I think the recession surely has). Maybe we’ve reconciled some old wounds, healed them, done some spiritual pruning and readied ourselves for new growth. I’ll probably be raking this weekend … weather and soggy ground permitting.
All the Best!
Bill
Saturday, February 27, 2010
"Jack be Nimble - Jack be Quick!"
"The Pessimist complains about the wind. The Optimist expects it to change. The Leader adjusts the sails." ~ John Maxwell ~
The Medici Effect
In December I suggested that readers consider viewing their “Vision” and “Mission” through the “Goodwill Industries” lens. On reflection some may have been inspired to refine their vision, mission and slogan statements. Perhaps the exercise prompted the thought and possibly the pursuit of new breakthrough market vectors.
The viability and relevance of your chosen markets and new market vectors calls for a discussion of what Frans Johansson calls the “Medici Effect”. In his book ("The Medici Effect", Harvard Business School Press © 2006) Johansson elaborates on market adaptive endeavors and Directional versus Intersectional business development. The book presents, as a backdrop, the Medici family of Florence, Italy who inspired and nurtured the remarkable Italian and European renaissance period in which cross-cultural interaction and collaborations flourished - leveraging Italy’s unique position as a crossroad for merchant trade.
The Directional approach might be considered the more traditional path of product management that can be described as linear, sequential, even narrow, myopic or in-bred in nature - INTROVERTED. (I apologize for the negative flavor of those descriptives – market loyalty is important – but not in the context of this piece.)
An Intersectional approach will be more interactive, innovative, non-traditional, exploratory, risk-taking, cross-pollinating, farsighted in nature – EXTROVERTED.
Introverted vs. Extroverted market thinking can be the difference between dying businesses and those that experience Great Leaps Forward. Supply chain collaborations and the creation of “virtual” organizations help constituent members get outside of “Directional” orientations that lead to uninspired drift and the death of product lifecycles and helps them swing - as nimble primates - to new vines of opportunity and new fruit bearing trees.
In a previous life at a global performance fiber manufacturer we “crossed a line” that was then viewed as unheard of and risky. We began to talk with product development people at prospective customers in industries in which we had never before conducted business. Some questioned our vague idea of ROI in the initiative, but leadership allowed the foray. We represented ourselves as a “solution” provider with certain “adaptive” technology capabilities. They described market opportunities and we created engineered products that met their criteria. We diversified, launched some new products and enjoyed periods of uncontested market dominance. We had gone ape - swinging to new trees and fruit!
If the goal of intersectional thinking and networking is to lead to innovation, a new concept alone does not constitute an innovation. Innovation in the commercial sense follows the following formula; I (Innovation) = I + I + I - where the right-hand variables are: Idea converted into an Invention that is Implemented
Most established companies and consumers are averse to choices for the new over existing and proven approaches and product lines. I am not an early adopter and neither is over 85% of the population. This involves risk. Aversion to innovation comes from a fear of a business momentum killing “stop to start” scenario. Remember that swinging primate image I gave you a moment ago --- what if he let’s go of the vine he has and the vine he grabs is a wet noodle? Answer: Don’t let go of the old vine. When to let go – if at all – involves decisions to commit capital to nurture or preserve existing CORE investments or to create new parallel CONTINGENCY options (see graphic below). Best of all would be the decision to invest in preserving existing technology that is adaptive to creating new options.
“Not all those who wander are lost.” ~ J.R.R. Tolkien ~
Last month I gave you half of a story on answered prayers. I admit it was a very literal example – I asked God for a sign about focus in my life and I immediately come across an orange construction sign washed up on the beach that read “ROAD NARROWS”. The picture I took of that sign was taken on a subsequent trip to pick up the sign (my Pastor asked for it when he heard the story). So here’s the other half of the story;
On that return trip several days later I decided to take my 8 mega-pixel 10X optical/digital zoom camera to document the scene. The camera was safely sealed in one zip lock bag inside another inside a “dry” bag in my cockpit under a neoprene spray “skirt”. (Writing that last sentence I realize I’m definitely a type “A”.) As I headed out onto the water I said a brief prayer and remember thinking to myself, wouldn’t it be neat to receive another “sign”, another special message? Bring it on God!
It’s a clear, calm morning - around 8AM. With the sun rising to my left I head toward the point beyond which is the sign. The panorama before me is a sight to behold. The point of land, all woods and trees to the shore. The backdrop beyond is the craggy white quartz cliff dotted with mature cedars called Crystal Cave point (the eastern slope of Mount Hope) rising out of the Bay. The sun is hitting it all just right, the colors are vivid. The perfect subject for a painting. But there’s more - the picture comes to life!
As I approach my turn point two deer step out of the woods onto the narrow strip of beach – twenty yards in front of me. I’m not kidding. A buck with a rack of antlers standing tall and alert like the elk in the “Hartford” logo and beside him a doe. Incredible! I stop paddling and freeze, they freeze, I drift toward them.
Now fumbling as I try to make as little motion as possible while I get out my camera, I know that I have about 10 seconds - tops - to get a shot before they figure out that I’m not a piece of benign driftwood, spook and bolt. Spray skirt opened, dry bag open, zip lock bag #1 open, zip lock bag #2 open, camera out, lens cap off, camera on – and the deer nonchalantly step into the woods and – vanish, evaporate – poof! - gone! COME OOOOON!
Last month I gave you half of a story on answered prayers. I admit it was a very literal example – I asked God for a sign about focus in my life and I immediately come across an orange construction sign washed up on the beach that read “ROAD NARROWS”. The picture I took of that sign was taken on a subsequent trip to pick up the sign (my Pastor asked for it when he heard the story). So here’s the other half of the story;
On that return trip several days later I decided to take my 8 mega-pixel 10X optical/digital zoom camera to document the scene. The camera was safely sealed in one zip lock bag inside another inside a “dry” bag in my cockpit under a neoprene spray “skirt”. (Writing that last sentence I realize I’m definitely a type “A”.) As I headed out onto the water I said a brief prayer and remember thinking to myself, wouldn’t it be neat to receive another “sign”, another special message? Bring it on God!
It’s a clear, calm morning - around 8AM. With the sun rising to my left I head toward the point beyond which is the sign. The panorama before me is a sight to behold. The point of land, all woods and trees to the shore. The backdrop beyond is the craggy white quartz cliff dotted with mature cedars called Crystal Cave point (the eastern slope of Mount Hope) rising out of the Bay. The sun is hitting it all just right, the colors are vivid. The perfect subject for a painting. But there’s more - the picture comes to life!
As I approach my turn point two deer step out of the woods onto the narrow strip of beach – twenty yards in front of me. I’m not kidding. A buck with a rack of antlers standing tall and alert like the elk in the “Hartford” logo and beside him a doe. Incredible! I stop paddling and freeze, they freeze, I drift toward them.
Now fumbling as I try to make as little motion as possible while I get out my camera, I know that I have about 10 seconds - tops - to get a shot before they figure out that I’m not a piece of benign driftwood, spook and bolt. Spray skirt opened, dry bag open, zip lock bag #1 open, zip lock bag #2 open, camera out, lens cap off, camera on – and the deer nonchalantly step into the woods and – vanish, evaporate – poof! - gone! COME OOOOON!
I can’t believe it! God! Why? - - - small, still voice: “No risk no reward ...”
But I was prepared – I had my camera with me – I deserved the shot! - - - firmer voice: “You deserved what? The camera was tucked away – capable yes, safe yes - and useless. No risk no reward. Protect your camera, wrap yourself in your preparation, you have the memory of the image. Be satisfied with that. The photo, however, is for the risk taker ...”
“Blessed is he who expects nothing (for himself), for he shall enjoy everything.”~ Saint Francis of Assisi ~
All the Best!
Bill
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Happy, Committed & Focusing
With the New Year still fresh, I am prompted to share something that I picked up in my reading. It’s attributed to Washington Capitals Owner Ted Leonsis who recently spoke on five traits of happy people. It is noted that happy people live longer, are healthier, have good relationships and enjoy a generally better life. No surprise there. But this is not just an attitude thing. Leonsis notes that (truly) happy people share certain traits;
• They are involved in more than one community. What this means is that they have multiple interests and multiple groups where they are involved and where they contribute.
• They have high levels of personal expression. In other words, they are able to articulate and express their feelings and their ideas – and they express them.
• They have high levels of personal, sincere and exercised empathy (a trait of great leaders).
• They talk less about “I” and talk more about the collective “we”.
• They have a higher calling in everything they do. They don’t just work for a dollar, they work for a mission, toward a vision. They try to make an impact.
“As a Man thinketh in his heart – so is he.” ~ Proverbs 23:7 ~
The Power of Commitment
With January behind us and the momentum of 2010 building it’s a good time to reflect on our ambitions and the likelihood of success as a result of commitment.
What issues, problems or opportunities, not acted upon, are dominating your thoughts?
The following is quoted from the book, The Scottish Himalayan Expedition, 1951 by William H. Murray;
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets: "Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."
Picking up where we left off in December on Relevance & Planning - a few more variables in the mix:
Business Unit Dissection
Better visualize your total business by mentally dissecting it into its true component sectors or units and analyze each unit independent of the others. Each component should stand on its own compelling merits. Plan for each. Some call this Product Management. Good business leaders consider and view their enterprise, initiatives, programs and projects in terms of their manageable elements. Organize to encourage competition for shared corporate (SG&A) resources. If you must carry losers – identify them and for how long you will carry them – as part of the overall “Plan”. The whole is the sum of its parts.
Small Business Working Capital, Business Loans & Investor Wisdom
A second wave of TARP money (tens of billions of dollars we’re told) will soon start cascading down the parched spillways of the banking system toward small businesses. Sounds great, but the irony of it is that anything coming down that chute will certainly not be offered in any fashion similar to the willy-nilly lending sprees of the past. Indeed, conservative lending is the rule (as it has been for most regional banks all along) and lenders are as risk averse as ever. Barring very compelling federal incentives for lenders to take risks – expect a tough “row to hoe” for that working line of credit.
Remember the 5 - “C”s of lending (Character ● Credit ● Capacity ● Collateral ● Cash Flow) - I elaborated last August. Think of it this way; if you are or have been accountable to Venture Capital or Angel investors you know that they invested because:
• your product or service met a real and compelling market need,
• your product performs,
• your product has a big market,
• they had confidence in your management team,
• they knew that you knew your market and your competition,
• you had a good business model and path to market and
• they believed your forecast for profits.
Your lenders require no less assurance except that a lender may factor “valuable” collateral ASSETS into the risk assessment. Key word: VALUABLE - in their eyes.
So what to do? Leases for capital equipment installed for immediate production and sales will be easier to leverage because the asset is new, contributing to current profits and revenues and the intrinsic asset value is known. Real Estate as collateral? –> expect a deep discount on assessed value. Accounts Receivable as collateral? -> your track record on collections and the quality of your AR portfolio will be key. Also, unless your lender has experience in your market and in factoring, they may not be interested in taking a risk on your AR – so seek another lender who has comfort and expect a very cozy lender relationship.
In this recovery, small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) should ANTICIPATE and take on the demeanor of an eager, lean new venture startup toward their lender/investors.
A Closing Note
Those who know me well, know that I’m a winter kayaker. I love to don my drysuit and head out onto the Bay this time of year. There are no other boats (except quahoggers, lobstermen and local commercial draggers), no jet skis or power boats, only nature. (No, I don’t hate powerboats – I like to go fast and in a straight line too sometimes.) The cold deadens whatever noise carries over the water from distant traffic or the occasional barking dog. The wind, waves, the cry of a canvasback gull, the flute-like sound of the beating wings of Buffleheads, the honks of Canada Geese and the nervous peeps of occasional Oystercatchers are all you hear. There is also the bonus of curious harbor seals that appear out of nowhere and shadow you as you paddle. On a few rare occasions I’ve had a pair of Swans fly directly toward me and pass inches over my head (not an intentional fly-by for certain – probably fooled by my low aspect ratio and relative motionlessness). And there’s all sorts of other foreign northern water fowl that winter here. All of these “visitors” appear sometime after Thanksgiving and disappear soon after Saint Patrick’s Day.
Well, a few weeks ago (January 16th to be precise) I embarked on one of my morning outings and as a common practice I said a prayer before setting out. This time I asked God to speak to me with a sign, something, some message about focus in my life. It was a request that led to some marvelous and literal responses. The picture below is one and I’ll share another in the next edition of “…View From The Crow’s Nest.”
“Every excuse I ever heard made perfect sense to the person who made it.”
~ Dr. Daniel Drubin ~
Contemplative Note: 2009 taught me to hold things more loosely - and the best of them came toward me on their own!
All the Best!
Bill
• They are involved in more than one community. What this means is that they have multiple interests and multiple groups where they are involved and where they contribute.
• They have high levels of personal expression. In other words, they are able to articulate and express their feelings and their ideas – and they express them.
• They have high levels of personal, sincere and exercised empathy (a trait of great leaders).
• They talk less about “I” and talk more about the collective “we”.
• They have a higher calling in everything they do. They don’t just work for a dollar, they work for a mission, toward a vision. They try to make an impact.
“As a Man thinketh in his heart – so is he.” ~ Proverbs 23:7 ~
The Power of Commitment
With January behind us and the momentum of 2010 building it’s a good time to reflect on our ambitions and the likelihood of success as a result of commitment.
What issues, problems or opportunities, not acted upon, are dominating your thoughts?
The following is quoted from the book, The Scottish Himalayan Expedition, 1951 by William H. Murray;
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets: "Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."
Picking up where we left off in December on Relevance & Planning - a few more variables in the mix:
Business Unit Dissection
Better visualize your total business by mentally dissecting it into its true component sectors or units and analyze each unit independent of the others. Each component should stand on its own compelling merits. Plan for each. Some call this Product Management. Good business leaders consider and view their enterprise, initiatives, programs and projects in terms of their manageable elements. Organize to encourage competition for shared corporate (SG&A) resources. If you must carry losers – identify them and for how long you will carry them – as part of the overall “Plan”. The whole is the sum of its parts.
Small Business Working Capital, Business Loans & Investor Wisdom
A second wave of TARP money (tens of billions of dollars we’re told) will soon start cascading down the parched spillways of the banking system toward small businesses. Sounds great, but the irony of it is that anything coming down that chute will certainly not be offered in any fashion similar to the willy-nilly lending sprees of the past. Indeed, conservative lending is the rule (as it has been for most regional banks all along) and lenders are as risk averse as ever. Barring very compelling federal incentives for lenders to take risks – expect a tough “row to hoe” for that working line of credit.
Remember the 5 - “C”s of lending (Character ● Credit ● Capacity ● Collateral ● Cash Flow) - I elaborated last August. Think of it this way; if you are or have been accountable to Venture Capital or Angel investors you know that they invested because:
• your product or service met a real and compelling market need,
• your product performs,
• your product has a big market,
• they had confidence in your management team,
• they knew that you knew your market and your competition,
• you had a good business model and path to market and
• they believed your forecast for profits.
Your lenders require no less assurance except that a lender may factor “valuable” collateral ASSETS into the risk assessment. Key word: VALUABLE - in their eyes.
So what to do? Leases for capital equipment installed for immediate production and sales will be easier to leverage because the asset is new, contributing to current profits and revenues and the intrinsic asset value is known. Real Estate as collateral? –> expect a deep discount on assessed value. Accounts Receivable as collateral? -> your track record on collections and the quality of your AR portfolio will be key. Also, unless your lender has experience in your market and in factoring, they may not be interested in taking a risk on your AR – so seek another lender who has comfort and expect a very cozy lender relationship.
In this recovery, small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) should ANTICIPATE and take on the demeanor of an eager, lean new venture startup toward their lender/investors.
A Closing Note
Those who know me well, know that I’m a winter kayaker. I love to don my drysuit and head out onto the Bay this time of year. There are no other boats (except quahoggers, lobstermen and local commercial draggers), no jet skis or power boats, only nature. (No, I don’t hate powerboats – I like to go fast and in a straight line too sometimes.) The cold deadens whatever noise carries over the water from distant traffic or the occasional barking dog. The wind, waves, the cry of a canvasback gull, the flute-like sound of the beating wings of Buffleheads, the honks of Canada Geese and the nervous peeps of occasional Oystercatchers are all you hear. There is also the bonus of curious harbor seals that appear out of nowhere and shadow you as you paddle. On a few rare occasions I’ve had a pair of Swans fly directly toward me and pass inches over my head (not an intentional fly-by for certain – probably fooled by my low aspect ratio and relative motionlessness). And there’s all sorts of other foreign northern water fowl that winter here. All of these “visitors” appear sometime after Thanksgiving and disappear soon after Saint Patrick’s Day.
Well, a few weeks ago (January 16th to be precise) I embarked on one of my morning outings and as a common practice I said a prayer before setting out. This time I asked God to speak to me with a sign, something, some message about focus in my life. It was a request that led to some marvelous and literal responses. The picture below is one and I’ll share another in the next edition of “…View From The Crow’s Nest.”
“Every excuse I ever heard made perfect sense to the person who made it.”
~ Dr. Daniel Drubin ~
Contemplative Note: 2009 taught me to hold things more loosely - and the best of them came toward me on their own!
All the Best!
Bill
Thursday, December 31, 2009
A Contemplation ...
You’ve heard the phrase, “why do bad things happen to good people” all your life. The phrase is fundamental to many people’s approach toward faith. The question is often a faith “qualifier”. When people ask the question it usually manifests as a challenge. The “ask” is rarely a true question in search of an answer, but more of an accusation … of fate … circumstances and God I suppose. It’s often an expression of exasperation, a defiant fist raised and shaking toward the heavens.
I wonder; what is “bad” and what is “good” in the context of that question? Considering the whole of it, I don’t think the question really addresses the root issue. Usually, “bad” has to do with extraordinary physical or mental suffering and loss. But that is not entirely accurate. In suffering, “bad” is relative. In goodness, “good” is relative. It doesn’t matter how good I think I am … there will always be found someone “gooder” than I. In that relative sense then, everyone is good – except, perhaps, that one poor soul at the end of the human relativity line!
If something “bad” happens to me, does the question matter? It certainly will from “my” perspective. But if my “bad” is not another’s “bad” then the matter is irrelevant except for me. If “bad” and “good” are then relative, let’s remove bad and good from the equation. We are left with, “Why do “things” happen to “people?”. That does simplify things a bit.
If “bad” is death or loss, then I guess we will have to chalk-up all of life as “bad” - if loss is the focus. Could we refine and simplify the question further to, Why does “life” happen to people? A great question but a bit too abstract for this discussion. A man I used to do business with in Turkey gave me a gift with this inscription; “When the heart weeps for what it has lost, the soul laughs for what it has found.” ~ a Sufi aphorism. ~
I’ve met a few people in my life who have a different perspective on the whole thing. They are people who have endured or who are enduring a prolonged “bad” time. I want to tell you about one. He’s an older gentleman. His wife was failing. He was enduring a “bad” time as far as I’m concerned. Her terminal cancer had her bed-ridden and he was her primary caregiver. His life was a cycle of visceral routines serving his wife’s every personal need as she slipped away. He went about his day quietly, pleasantly and never complained. This fellow’s mission and purpose in life had become his wife’s comfort and dignity. A bad time from my perspective – a call to serve from his.
I think he’s a “good” man. He certainly acts good. He’s courteous, he dresses well. I’ve never heard him swear. So, of course, that means he has never sworn, never been cross with his wife, has never been impatient, has never cried out “why!”. He’s always good – around me. Perhaps he’s just a really good actor - a poser. I say that because I’m a poser. We’re all posers.
Anyway, I asked him once how he was “bearing-up” through it all and he blew me away by telling me (in a hushed voice that trembled ever so slightly – reverently) that he believed that he was undergoing what he was to prepare him to help others who may one day undergo the same experience. wow.
Why do bad things happen to good people? Let’s re-phrase that; Why are those who will be used to help others taken through a trial that prepares them to serve others? Why? Does it really matter why? I’m just thankful that they are and I pray that they do endure it. But if I had to answer why, I’d say; because they bless us. And as far as “good people” goes, I prefer the word “grace” … people of grace. Grace: Pleasing, showing favor, beauty of form, composed, decent, thoughtful of others. I saw those qualities in that gentleman. He displayed a wonderful form.
I believe that we are all uniquely and purposefully gifted. The circumstances of life call-up our gifts into service. “Circumstances” present themselves as loss, change, hardship or opportunity – all depending on your perspective. If we relax our puny grip on life, if we lower our resistance and let the circumstances flow and submit ourselves to the moment at hand – we may find that there flows through us an energy and power that amplifies our gifts in wonderful ways. We find endurance and authentic purpose.
A close friend often describes life as a tapestry made strand by strand in which we submit the warp of our life to the weft of the master weaver’s hand. One day we will be able to stand back and behold the work of art that has been our life that day-by-day we were too close to perceive. A life of deeds and service performed through us rather than by us.
Well, it’s a new year. So, Happy New Year! May it be full of grace, endurance, purpose and challenges converted into service to others.
“If you’re going through hell … keep going!” ~ Winston Churchill (of course …) ~
All the Best!
Bill
I wonder; what is “bad” and what is “good” in the context of that question? Considering the whole of it, I don’t think the question really addresses the root issue. Usually, “bad” has to do with extraordinary physical or mental suffering and loss. But that is not entirely accurate. In suffering, “bad” is relative. In goodness, “good” is relative. It doesn’t matter how good I think I am … there will always be found someone “gooder” than I. In that relative sense then, everyone is good – except, perhaps, that one poor soul at the end of the human relativity line!
If something “bad” happens to me, does the question matter? It certainly will from “my” perspective. But if my “bad” is not another’s “bad” then the matter is irrelevant except for me. If “bad” and “good” are then relative, let’s remove bad and good from the equation. We are left with, “Why do “things” happen to “people?”. That does simplify things a bit.
If “bad” is death or loss, then I guess we will have to chalk-up all of life as “bad” - if loss is the focus. Could we refine and simplify the question further to, Why does “life” happen to people? A great question but a bit too abstract for this discussion. A man I used to do business with in Turkey gave me a gift with this inscription; “When the heart weeps for what it has lost, the soul laughs for what it has found.” ~ a Sufi aphorism. ~
I’ve met a few people in my life who have a different perspective on the whole thing. They are people who have endured or who are enduring a prolonged “bad” time. I want to tell you about one. He’s an older gentleman. His wife was failing. He was enduring a “bad” time as far as I’m concerned. Her terminal cancer had her bed-ridden and he was her primary caregiver. His life was a cycle of visceral routines serving his wife’s every personal need as she slipped away. He went about his day quietly, pleasantly and never complained. This fellow’s mission and purpose in life had become his wife’s comfort and dignity. A bad time from my perspective – a call to serve from his.
I think he’s a “good” man. He certainly acts good. He’s courteous, he dresses well. I’ve never heard him swear. So, of course, that means he has never sworn, never been cross with his wife, has never been impatient, has never cried out “why!”. He’s always good – around me. Perhaps he’s just a really good actor - a poser. I say that because I’m a poser. We’re all posers.
Anyway, I asked him once how he was “bearing-up” through it all and he blew me away by telling me (in a hushed voice that trembled ever so slightly – reverently) that he believed that he was undergoing what he was to prepare him to help others who may one day undergo the same experience. wow.
Why do bad things happen to good people? Let’s re-phrase that; Why are those who will be used to help others taken through a trial that prepares them to serve others? Why? Does it really matter why? I’m just thankful that they are and I pray that they do endure it. But if I had to answer why, I’d say; because they bless us. And as far as “good people” goes, I prefer the word “grace” … people of grace. Grace: Pleasing, showing favor, beauty of form, composed, decent, thoughtful of others. I saw those qualities in that gentleman. He displayed a wonderful form.
I believe that we are all uniquely and purposefully gifted. The circumstances of life call-up our gifts into service. “Circumstances” present themselves as loss, change, hardship or opportunity – all depending on your perspective. If we relax our puny grip on life, if we lower our resistance and let the circumstances flow and submit ourselves to the moment at hand – we may find that there flows through us an energy and power that amplifies our gifts in wonderful ways. We find endurance and authentic purpose.
A close friend often describes life as a tapestry made strand by strand in which we submit the warp of our life to the weft of the master weaver’s hand. One day we will be able to stand back and behold the work of art that has been our life that day-by-day we were too close to perceive. A life of deeds and service performed through us rather than by us.
Well, it’s a new year. So, Happy New Year! May it be full of grace, endurance, purpose and challenges converted into service to others.
“If you’re going through hell … keep going!” ~ Winston Churchill (of course …) ~
All the Best!
Bill
Monday, November 30, 2009
Relevance & Business Plans
Having enduring two years of bewilderment and blown confidence in things larger than ourselves at least two camps have emerged; those finding solutions in self-sufficiency and those yielding action to others “more competent”. Thankfully the sun rises and falls independent of the motives or efforts of any man or government.
The media offers facts wrapped in opinions backed by convincing commentary from countless analysts and talking heads. All claims are headlined - “V” Recovery, “W” Recovery, “Square Root” Recovery, hoard gold bullion! The backlash has started and people are beginning to “tune-out”. An old saying comes to mind – “To thine own self be true”. At the end of the day, there is little connection between Wall Street (except, maybe, in commodities) and the day-to-day matters of small businesses. Small Businesses (SBs) are the burden bearers of the developing recovery. With the agility to re-work their business plans SBs can make and implement tough decisions, leverage core competencies in new areas, re-think to diversify and pull levers to wring-out profits.
With uncertainty and lumbering inactivity abounding, opportunities are being seized by a few contrarians. Rather than wait for a return of “what was” or a “sure-thing”, consider the SB after-market auto parts manufacturer that viewed a reorganized Detroit, high unemployment and tightened consumer credit as signals that new car sales would decline. Reasoning that aging cars need repair this SB revamped for growth and injected fresh, focused and aggressive management talent. That company has gained market share and has diversified into related markets – e.g. commercial vehicle platforms. To those who try and are met with resistance, “The door of opportunity swings on hinges of opposition.” Push harder! Know what you know and act on it.
Relevant businesses have a role and a plan. They are players. Relevance rules markets. The capstone of any plan is a Vision (visualized outcome) to which an enterprise takes an ownership position with a Mission Statement that lends itself to a “Summary Phrase”. Your eyes rolled – not this again! Compare your statements to those of a humble not-for-profit.
Cite: Good Will Industries – you know - the stores that are like Salvation Army Thrift Shops right? Wrong! Their Vision: “Everyone in our community has the opportunity to achieve their fullest potential and to participate in a productive life.” Mission: “Provides training and career opportunities for people with barriers to employment.” Phrase: “Give a hand – not a hand-out”.
Good Will Industries has a focus, a role in society, clarity of purpose - relevance! Do your statements do that for your enterprise? Without these foundations you will forever find yourself, as Tommy Lasorda said, “ watching what happened or wondering what happened - rather than making it happen”.
"If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.” –Yogi Berra
“Outside In Thinking”- and what’s wrong with it. No company operates in a vacuum but Gary Harpst (Six Disciplines – Execution Revolution) points out that we fall into the trap of “Outside-In-Thinking” because (I paraphrase)“we’re flooded with information and become preoccupied with what everyone else is doing rather than focusing on what’s going on in our own shop – ‘marching to our own beat’ as it were. This focusing outward makes us good at being reactive but it flies in the face of “inside first” thinking.” Result: abandoning the plan and falling in with the “herd”. I’m reminded of the Serenity Prayer;
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.”
“If your ship doesn’t come in – swim out to it.”- Jonathan Winters
Beyond “Business Plans 1.0”By now you’ve already diligently re-scrubbed your competitive market analysis, SWOT, sales & financial forecasts, lean initiatives, new product developments, product life cycles, vendor and customer supply chains - etcetera. It’s agreed that needed growth must come from new ideas and adaptations to bring profitable “top-line” revenues cascading into our income statements – and surely - bringing job growth. Caveat – productivity is adversarial to (not against) the labor cost component - - -
The conventional lineup of Business Plan “elements”, however, may not provoke enough sustained leadership thought and management team planning and execution in ways that deliver the desired “outside of the box” results. Maybe we can add a few variables …
“It’s a small world after all” & your Business Plan.Receiving news that spans the globe, we develop opinions on cultures, regimes and markets we’ll likely never visit – yet we don’t fancy ourselves macro-economists. So must you teach a course on GDP, Balance of Trade, the Yuan, Free Trade, Fair Trade, Protectionism, Trade Sanctions or what have you to export a product? Of course not. You need a product or service that customers will buy at a U.S dollar based price they will pay. A few “helpers” known as agents (not secret agents) facilitate the details. The details are still 1) finding customers, 2) shipping product and 3) you getting paid. Some small/medium companies derive a third or more of their revenues from exports.
Not so fast you say. There’s cost of freight, language barriers, strange paperwork, letters of credit and fees, fees, fees you say. I say if you don’t explore exports you’re denying yourself. There’s a learning curve - but it’s not rocket science. The U.S. Dollar is significantly weak and likely to stay that way for awhile. That’s a big advantage. If you’re a B-to-B the opportunities are even better in my opinion.
Revenue growth from Exports
2010 can be your year to start exporting – if you plan it. Forget about Asia and start with the Western Hemisphere and Europe. By all means ignore countries with ridiculous import tariffs or those that “fix” their currency to thwart imports. THINK LOCAL-ACT GLOBAL. Do what makes sense for your local business in the global market.
Explore. Pick a market, find an agent (many cover several countries) and connect with a freight forwarder. Ask your bank to get involved on the credit side. Identify your product harmonized tariff codes (easy to get). Get acquainted with 2.2046 (converts lbs. to kgs.) and figure out how much of your “stuff” can be “stuffed” into a 20 or 40 foot container. Ask questions. Take an order and ship product. Collect money. All else will follow.
Tip: To identify a prospective overseas sales agent, ask several prospective customers who they respect most amongst the sales reps that call on them. That’s how I’ve done it.
“Never be ashamed to admit you were wrong. You’re only saying that you’re wiser today than you were yesterday.” - Dave Gilpin
Enterprise Valuations & Exit Strategies
When we think of exit strategies we think of VCs and Private Equity Groups. I agree that great companies are not created to flip, but to build and make a difference. But, the time to value a business is not when someone knocks on your door with an offer to purchase. More importantly, periodic “Enterprise Valuations” to benchmark against business plan trajectory goals keep a business focused on value enhancing activities. Stage-gated hurdles built into the business plan (mini exit strategies) focus you on objective plateaus in your growth and anticipate developing market forces (e.g. emerging market opportunities as well as competitors). Most business owners have a distorted perception of the value of their business. Work periodic enterprise valuations into your business plan.
I plan more discussion on the topic of Relevance & Business Plans in the next blog posting. I am a successful CEO and Management Consultant ready for my next signature leadership role and this blog is a service to my network.
And so 2009 proceeds to its close! As always - I wish you all the best and with that a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!
Bill
The media offers facts wrapped in opinions backed by convincing commentary from countless analysts and talking heads. All claims are headlined - “V” Recovery, “W” Recovery, “Square Root” Recovery, hoard gold bullion! The backlash has started and people are beginning to “tune-out”. An old saying comes to mind – “To thine own self be true”. At the end of the day, there is little connection between Wall Street (except, maybe, in commodities) and the day-to-day matters of small businesses. Small Businesses (SBs) are the burden bearers of the developing recovery. With the agility to re-work their business plans SBs can make and implement tough decisions, leverage core competencies in new areas, re-think to diversify and pull levers to wring-out profits.
With uncertainty and lumbering inactivity abounding, opportunities are being seized by a few contrarians. Rather than wait for a return of “what was” or a “sure-thing”, consider the SB after-market auto parts manufacturer that viewed a reorganized Detroit, high unemployment and tightened consumer credit as signals that new car sales would decline. Reasoning that aging cars need repair this SB revamped for growth and injected fresh, focused and aggressive management talent. That company has gained market share and has diversified into related markets – e.g. commercial vehicle platforms. To those who try and are met with resistance, “The door of opportunity swings on hinges of opposition.” Push harder! Know what you know and act on it.
Relevant businesses have a role and a plan. They are players. Relevance rules markets. The capstone of any plan is a Vision (visualized outcome) to which an enterprise takes an ownership position with a Mission Statement that lends itself to a “Summary Phrase”. Your eyes rolled – not this again! Compare your statements to those of a humble not-for-profit.
Cite: Good Will Industries – you know - the stores that are like Salvation Army Thrift Shops right? Wrong! Their Vision: “Everyone in our community has the opportunity to achieve their fullest potential and to participate in a productive life.” Mission: “Provides training and career opportunities for people with barriers to employment.” Phrase: “Give a hand – not a hand-out”.
Good Will Industries has a focus, a role in society, clarity of purpose - relevance! Do your statements do that for your enterprise? Without these foundations you will forever find yourself, as Tommy Lasorda said, “ watching what happened or wondering what happened - rather than making it happen”.
"If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.” –Yogi Berra
“Outside In Thinking”- and what’s wrong with it. No company operates in a vacuum but Gary Harpst (Six Disciplines – Execution Revolution) points out that we fall into the trap of “Outside-In-Thinking” because (I paraphrase)“we’re flooded with information and become preoccupied with what everyone else is doing rather than focusing on what’s going on in our own shop – ‘marching to our own beat’ as it were. This focusing outward makes us good at being reactive but it flies in the face of “inside first” thinking.” Result: abandoning the plan and falling in with the “herd”. I’m reminded of the Serenity Prayer;
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.”
“If your ship doesn’t come in – swim out to it.”- Jonathan Winters
Beyond “Business Plans 1.0”By now you’ve already diligently re-scrubbed your competitive market analysis, SWOT, sales & financial forecasts, lean initiatives, new product developments, product life cycles, vendor and customer supply chains - etcetera. It’s agreed that needed growth must come from new ideas and adaptations to bring profitable “top-line” revenues cascading into our income statements – and surely - bringing job growth. Caveat – productivity is adversarial to (not against) the labor cost component - - -
The conventional lineup of Business Plan “elements”, however, may not provoke enough sustained leadership thought and management team planning and execution in ways that deliver the desired “outside of the box” results. Maybe we can add a few variables …
“It’s a small world after all” & your Business Plan.Receiving news that spans the globe, we develop opinions on cultures, regimes and markets we’ll likely never visit – yet we don’t fancy ourselves macro-economists. So must you teach a course on GDP, Balance of Trade, the Yuan, Free Trade, Fair Trade, Protectionism, Trade Sanctions or what have you to export a product? Of course not. You need a product or service that customers will buy at a U.S dollar based price they will pay. A few “helpers” known as agents (not secret agents) facilitate the details. The details are still 1) finding customers, 2) shipping product and 3) you getting paid. Some small/medium companies derive a third or more of their revenues from exports.
Not so fast you say. There’s cost of freight, language barriers, strange paperwork, letters of credit and fees, fees, fees you say. I say if you don’t explore exports you’re denying yourself. There’s a learning curve - but it’s not rocket science. The U.S. Dollar is significantly weak and likely to stay that way for awhile. That’s a big advantage. If you’re a B-to-B the opportunities are even better in my opinion.
Revenue growth from Exports
2010 can be your year to start exporting – if you plan it. Forget about Asia and start with the Western Hemisphere and Europe. By all means ignore countries with ridiculous import tariffs or those that “fix” their currency to thwart imports. THINK LOCAL-ACT GLOBAL. Do what makes sense for your local business in the global market.
Explore. Pick a market, find an agent (many cover several countries) and connect with a freight forwarder. Ask your bank to get involved on the credit side. Identify your product harmonized tariff codes (easy to get). Get acquainted with 2.2046 (converts lbs. to kgs.) and figure out how much of your “stuff” can be “stuffed” into a 20 or 40 foot container. Ask questions. Take an order and ship product. Collect money. All else will follow.
Tip: To identify a prospective overseas sales agent, ask several prospective customers who they respect most amongst the sales reps that call on them. That’s how I’ve done it.
“Never be ashamed to admit you were wrong. You’re only saying that you’re wiser today than you were yesterday.” - Dave Gilpin
Enterprise Valuations & Exit Strategies
When we think of exit strategies we think of VCs and Private Equity Groups. I agree that great companies are not created to flip, but to build and make a difference. But, the time to value a business is not when someone knocks on your door with an offer to purchase. More importantly, periodic “Enterprise Valuations” to benchmark against business plan trajectory goals keep a business focused on value enhancing activities. Stage-gated hurdles built into the business plan (mini exit strategies) focus you on objective plateaus in your growth and anticipate developing market forces (e.g. emerging market opportunities as well as competitors). Most business owners have a distorted perception of the value of their business. Work periodic enterprise valuations into your business plan.
I plan more discussion on the topic of Relevance & Business Plans in the next blog posting. I am a successful CEO and Management Consultant ready for my next signature leadership role and this blog is a service to my network.
And so 2009 proceeds to its close! As always - I wish you all the best and with that a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!
Bill
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.jpg)
