Stuck between mediocrity and excellence

At some point through a sales process, something has to get on paper.  After it's on paper, then ideally you want to get all parties to agree as to what's on that paper.  The simple example is that if I go to Chick-fil-A and I place an order, what's on my receipt should match what I ordered.  All the "my pleasure's" are a bonus.  In the consultative sales process, there is a give and take between client and consultant on exactly what service is being provided and to what degree (i.e., scope).  The more you talk, the more risk there is of offering advice for free.  The more you put on paper, the less chance there is of "disconnects in communication."  Consultative selling is hard because it's a lot of work to articulate what you think and what you think the client is thinking into communication that gets both parties to agree.  On top of that, you have to inject a point of view which means that you may have to actually think.  ...

The thing about advice is that you can selectively choose which part of it you want to take.  In addition to that, you can also choose which benefit will result out of the selected piece of advice that you have decided to follow.  Example: If I do any of the Beachbody workouts, my before and after pictures will look just like the ones I see on the infomercials.  Forget about the fact that there is a nutrition plan that comes with most, if not all, of those workouts that you have to follow.  Doing Insanity and then eating at 5 Guys won't get you a T-shirt. There is a lot to be said for understanding the bigger picture.  There is even more to be valued when you understand the full extent of what you need to take on and execute to get the results that you want. How many of us can say that we've really been "all in" what we want to accomplish? 

All you need to do is move the needle.  Work paralysis occurs when you get bogged down in the timeline of where you should be.  You want to lose 20 pounds, but it has to be gone by tomorrow.  You want to be at the next level in your job and you wonder why it's five years after you expected to be there.  You want your business to transform overnight, but you forgot how many years it took to for it to become what it's become.  Ctrl-Z doesn't work in life because life is a journey and a marathon.  All you need to do is move the needle in the right direction--- whether you feel it's an inch or a foot.  As long as it's moving.

Feedback can be a b*tch.  If it's positive, then the world is great.  If it's negative, or "constructive," as many of us like to say, then it can become instantly personal.  A lot of things have to be right for feedback to stick and be impactful.  Trust has to exist. Trust only comes through respect, credibility, integrity, and competency. Not a lot of people in the workplace score high in all of these categories.  Emotional intelligence has to exist . The ONLY being I know that that is truly in charge of his emotions is Mr. Spock from Star Trek. And he's fictional. The reality is that we are all emotional human beings-some more than others. The growth mindset has to trump the fixed mindset.  There is a book that is out called Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday. It's probably for a good reason. In today's world of exhibiting false confidence and having swag, you eventually begin to believe how legendary you are. This immediately closes down all...

A question that can commonly come up in an interview process is, "Describe your ideal work environment."  My answers would be one where: I can wear many hats I can make decisions  I can lead people I have the support to grow personally and professionally I am always learning something new I am improving or making something better each and every day People are collaborative I work with others that are smarter than I am  Schedules aren't hard coded The one-liner is a work environment where I belong and don't just "fit." Because more than likely what I've done is mutated myself to make myself fit into the environment and the system.  In a world where nobody holds down one job for an extended period of time anymore-- that's a lot of square peg fitting into round holes. Do it long enough and you'll eventually end up not knowing what shape you are.  Isn't it worth it to define your ideal work environment and pursue that ...

Inherent in any organization is a system.  You can call it culture. You can call it the people. You can call it beliefs and values.  It's still a system.  The solopreneur has a system.  A group of partners running a small business has a system.  A multi-functional global organization has a system that is made up of many systems.  I'm not talking about technology.  I'm talking about how people behave. How decisions are made. How people treat other.  A system for how things get done. If you work in a large, global organization, the system is defined as "heavily matrixed," or "bureaucratic," or "influencing and persuading through relationship building."  People generally move ahead because they've figured out how to effectively work the office politics.  If you work for a small organization, the system is defined as "chaotic," or "one has to wear many hats," or "filled with growing pains."  ...

Leadership Advice From Kublai Khan

There are plenty of stories written in news articles and books about business turnarounds. Marcus Lemonis does it most of the time on The Profit . Jon Taffer makes it his sole mission on Bar Rescue to resurrect bars that should not even be in business.  Management consultants not only write about business turnarounds, but use them to support frameworks and points of view to help them sell service offerings.  Everyone loves the story of the 600 pound human that becomes the Biggest Loser .  There are 2 types of people in this world; people that don't want to change and people that want to help you change.  "People want to get better or improve. But they don't want to change." - Butchered Tony Robbins Quote If you are coaching a team or running a business, the hope is that you have more people that are in the category of wanting to change than the other.  If your team or company is filled with people that don't want to change, then it's ...

There are certain things that you take for granted when working for a corporation or a well run business.  These are usually the things that everyone complains about. They include: Processes and procedures Performance reviews HR policies HR in general. (ha) Templates and forms (e.g., expense reports) Management meetings Required training Etc...  As much as these things take us away from "doing our job," they are part of our job and are necessary to keep a company from becoming a big pile of mass chaos. The foundation of a company has to be stable and part of that foundation includes having a set of standards to live by.  No standards = inmates running the asylum.  No standards = inconsistency.  As Jim Collins said,  "The signature of mediocrity is not unwillingness to change; it's chronic inconsistency."  Businesses are made up of people.  People, by nature, are unique and variable.  Without anything...

Back in the dark ages when I was in business school, I decided to enter a supply chain case competition with a couple of classmates.  As a side note, both of those classmates are now supply chain PhDs.  It's safe to say that I was the not the smartest one on the team. My love for business books existed way back then. I vividly remember working long hours with my teammates and using strategic frameworks that weren't business school standard issued.  I figured that if we were going to win this thing, we should use something that would differentiate us from the other teams.  In this case, it was content provided by the book  Profit Patterns  by Moser, Mundt, Quella, and Slywotzky.  It was coming down to crunch time and I was spewing textbook rhetoric from the book for our case presentation. We were entering that period of working as a team where tensions were running high because of the time crunch and we had nothing in the form of a coherent s...

I was sitting in a class being led by Barry Deutsch  that addressed hiring and retaining talent.  I'm going to say that what I took away from the class is not what he wanted me to take away. That said, I still found the session entertaining because the look of fear from the people in the class around what he wanted them to do was priceless.  In one of our discussions on people, he talked about employees that have the case of the E and E's - Explanations and Excuses . (I love when speakers come up with a mnemonic or something catchy that resonates with a current situation that I am in). Everyone that reads this knows the type of people I'm talking about. Or, if you work in an environment that is solution driven and has a high caliber of talent, you have no idea what I'm talking about. I salute you.  When dealing with people that have a case of the E and E's, the easy thing to do is avoid them. I mean, if you keep going to the doctor and he has no cure as to ...

There is a word that becomes dangerous when declared enough times in a business or organization.  That word is "should." "Well... the process should be to notify our customer, but I've got too many things on my plate."  "We should be monitoring our inventory levels, but our systems don't allow us to get at that information quickly."  "Turnover really should not be this high. We're hiring the wrong people."  The reason that the word "should" is dangerous is because, like in the 3 statements above, an excuse typically follows.  Enough shoulds will equal a lot of excuses.  A lot of excuses equals organizational inaction.  Organizational inaction leads to a culture of purgatory.  Eliminate the word should from your vocabulary.  Replace it with "must" or "can" or "will".   Your organization will begin to move from inaction to action which will lead to the right kind of growt...

One of my favorite comic book characters is Bizarro .  Bizarro is the complete opposite of Superman and everything that he stands for.  Although, in one of my son's comic books, he does everything wrong, yet still manages to save the planet!  Businesses can be the same way. It is possible to do everything the complete opposite of standard and professional practices-- and still make money!  Profitability hides organizational dysfunction, substandard business practices, and a lack of leadership every day of the week. That's a shame. If you have a profitable business, then you are obviously doing something right (or something Bernie Madoff would do.) However, businesses are fragile entities. More than likely if you have found a way to be profitable, there is an 18 year old kid that can code his ass off that is ready to disrupt you in a heartbeat. So even though Bizarro, in this one instance, saved the world, the odds of him consistently doing it are not...

When is the right decision to tap out? If I meant this literally, you would do it before you either passed out, or were seriously / critically injured in a MMA fight.  Since I'm writing metaphorically, this refers to coming to the conclusion that enough is enough and it's time to take massive action and exit your current situation.  I'm not talking about disengaging from your job or work (i.e., just show up, take orders and collect a paycheck.) I'm talking about actively searching to get the f*ck out of your current role or responsibility.  If you are like me, the struggle in situations like these is wondering if your next situation is going to be any better. Also, if you genuinely want to make a positive impact, you really want to believe that you can solve every problem and fix anything.  Before you get too far into a situation, stay present enough when you first start to notice signs of danger.  There isn't a need to list what th...

My commute to work takes 40 minutes to a little over an hour each day.  In hindsight, picking a work location that is equidistant between two major arteries in Atlanta was probably not the right choice.  The fastest way for me to get to work is straight North from my house through a number of lights littered with cars that simulate the Office Space scene of Peter Gibbons switching lanes trying to get to work.  In an attempt to learn something along the drive, I've loaded my phone with audio books and podcasts.  One podcast that I've become addicted to is Tim Ferris's which can be found here .  Fast forward to the point of this post which is that I listened to Tim's interview with B.J. Novak , one of the producers of The Office and more importantly, the author of one of my favorite books, The Book With No Pictures.    In addition to being a successful writer, Novak also helped create an app called The List App. As a recovering management c...

Since my late 20's I've always had a writing utensil and a notebook to write in.  When I entered the management consulting profession, a Partner that I worked with had one of those record books that was hard cover and looked very professional.  I also wanted to look professional, so I too bought a $30 record book to capture notes in as I worked across my engagements.  It was then that I realized that taking notes wasn't enough. I had to have a system to follow in order to take notes. I would bullet things.  I would use color pens.  I would use a highlighter to keep track of important thoughts.  I even used the Cornell method of taking notes once in a while.  Fast forward to today and I still collect hard cover books to capture thoughts. (I also still do all of the things above this paragraph.) But now I have different sizes of notebooks depending on what I want to capture.  It is getting a bit ridiculous. Especially when I also u...

There is no shortage of people willing to offer you an opinion.  If I had a dollar for the number of times people tell me, "It shouldn't be this way...," or "I don't understand why you do it this way...," or "this place is just f*cked up..." I wouldn't even have to think about buying a Powerball ticket.  I'd be on a boat and own an island.  Don't get me wrong. I'm as guilty as the next person in offering up opinions.  Looking back on my career, I've made plenty of assertions thinking that I know what's best without taking the time to understand the "why."  In other words, I've called a baby ugly without understanding exactly what that baby has been through. If you are a consultant or in any type of advisory capacity, don't jump into a mindset that you have to try and offer instant value by proclaiming the advice that my mom can Google. And if you do that, you will end up doing more good than h...