Welcome to the world of an entrepreneur.
The concept that failure can be okay can be so difficult to absorb. Do we really need to experience a failure to learn and succeed? Maybe not, but tried and true success does come with bumps and bruises and lessons learned from the experience of failure. What is the “entrepreneurial mindset?” According to a common misconception, an entrepreneur is a bold, risk-taking, rule-breaking individual with the reputation of a riverboat gambler. Why would you want that in your company culture? But, in reality, an entrepreneur is confident and decisive, understands risk clearly and knows when to challenge the status quo. Above all, an entrepreneur truly believes “Anything is possible.” An entrepreneur is not just an individual associated with a business startup. It’s common to find them scattered throughout any business or organization, thus the term “corporate entrepreneur.”
UNDERSTANDING YOUR COMPANY CULTURE
Can you describe your company culture? Are your employees able to articulate it in simple terms to your customers, prospects and the business community? Culture is the personality of your company, which flows from the work environment, mission and vision, values and goals. Some traits are subtle, beneath the surface, while others are
very prominent. Do you see any traits of the entrepreneurial mindset in your culture? Are you comfortable with risk? Do you minimize failure? Do you make decisions quickly? Above all, do you show extreme optimism when developing a new business model, evaluating a new product or considering change against the status quo? By shifting your culture to reward entrepreneurial thinking, you tend to become more creative and innovative. Employee morale, in general, tends to rise with a more positive outlook toward risk, failure, and difficult situations. Stress levels trend downward when you migrate toward “anything is possible” and a “no fear of failure” mentality.
Some cultures in this industry tend to be steeped in conservative and deep traditions of doing it a certain way and not moving toward change as quickly as other industries. That could be attributed to the unique skill set of the gas and welding business. Knowledge is often home-grown and self-taught. There are no classes in the universities or trade schools on selecting the right gas blend for a welding application, creating solutions to manage cylinder inventory,
understanding a customer’s need to go bulk, troubleshooting a frozen liquid cylinder and on and on.
If you’re looking for reasons or justifications your culture might need an adjustment, consider these:
- Are you working harder for smaller efficiency gains? How much more cost-saving can you squeeze from your existing business model?
- Is our cost to acquire new customers and market share rising per unit? How much more revenue growth can you get from the same business?
- When you compare strategies with your closest competitor, is it getting harder to differentiate? If any of these hit home or you just have the intuition that change is needed, read on.
INTRODUCING THE MINDSET INTO YOUR CULTURE
Depending on how deeply you want to embrace entrepreneurial thinking into your culture, here are ideas and levels
of commitment to consider. The flow is in order of go lightly and start small to go big and be bold.
Basic Knowledge and introduction
Introduce the concept throughout your organization in short training workshop(s) and involve employees in feedback with ideas on how to implement and to what level.
“Homegrown” Champion
Is there someone in the organization who exhibits traits of an entrepreneur? Consider them for a special assignment and/or add duties to their existing position where they teach and/or mentor others on thinking the entrepreneurial way. This could also be an opportunity for career advancement.
Recruiting new talent
Is there a vacant position you’re recruiting for? Add heavy emphasis on entrepreneurial thinking to the skill set in the search. Open it up to any position—sales, admin or operations.
“Celebrate failure”
Find an opportunity to make a point of minimizing a failure someone in the organization has made. Reward them for
trying and missing. And then look for the next opportunity to celebrate another failure. Obviously not trying to fail but releasing the tension of trying something new without fear of retribution if it fails.
Create an “Entrepreneurship” Department
Develop a new department tasked with innovation, ideas and new business model opportunities. This is a big one; you’re all in when you go this route. But, why not. The rewards can be significant innovation and creativity are key to driving success. Everyone stands to benefit by adopting one or more traits of an entrepreneur, and when the mindset works its way into your company culture, positive change will follow. Confident and clear decision making, no fear of failure and the belief that anything is possible are characteristics of a winning team. Throughout the company, no matter the skill or position, learning to think like an entrepreneur is bound to lead to a more enriching work environment and ultimately to more success with your business strategy.
Seeing the positive in failure
We began this article with the concept of tolerance of failure, which is central to the philosophy of entrepreneurship. I’ll leave you with a few quotes on failure from well-known individuals who never let it get in the way of their success:
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
Albert Einstein
“I have not failed; I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
Thomas Edison
“If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” Tony Robbins
John Tapley is a business management consultant and entrepreneur with expertise in new business startup, innovative business growth, and marketing strategies and digital/social media marketing. He has significant experience in all facets of the industrial gas industry, both domestic and global. He is also a mentor at the Entrepreneur and Innovation Institute, Georgia State University.
John can be reached at: John.Tapley@itbpartners.com and (404) 314-8106
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North Fulton Business RadioX Interview, September 26, 2019
I landed a new client this week, referred to me by another of our coaches. The client, John, had recently purchased a franchise for an online business. He reached out to us because he’s having trouble generating revenue. John’s an occupational therapist. This is his first experience as an entrepreneur; however, he has the presence of mind to know that he needs help. As we were getting to know one another over the phone I asked about the training he had received from the franchisor. He provided a brief overview but admitted that he wasn’t comfortable with some aspects of the Brand’s training, especially regarding customer acquisition. That revelation gave me a clear direction for our first meeting. There is obviously a disconnect between John’s desire to have a business and his willingness to follow the franchiser’s model for success. To be helpful, I must understand his rationale for acquiring the franchise compared to his personal strengths and interests.
We recently spent 2 hours explaining to two business partners what their business was worth and why. They were disappointed but excited to understand the value and how they would manage the business going forward.
Convergence occurred when I remembered a conversation the prior week with another consultant, Faith. She had told me about an adverse situation created when a patient received a new heart, but the system hadn’t been updated to reflect the candidate’s eligibility for a transplant. That breakdown in the process created a question as to who’s responsible for the $1.4 million approximate costs of the procedure. Faith explained that this glitch was an administrative error as the candidate still needed the heart and was qualified to receive the transplant, however, an updated authorization wasn’t secured. I can only imagine how bad the situation could have been if the patient had died, prevented from receiving the transplant due to an administrative mistake. It occurred to me that the system has a fundamental flaw that can be mitigated with a technical solution. Faith continued by providing an overview of additional risk and complexity created by Federal Agencies and Laws regulating the Health Care Industry.
Last week, one of my clients filed for Chapter 11 Reorganization. Now, two of my clients are in Chapter 11, working to find a path back to solvency. In April, I was engaged by a new client to help them find a way out of Chapter 11. In the case of the two former clients, I can honestly say that I wasn’t responsible for the circumstances leading to their demise. In other words, I didn’t place any executives who caused these problems, and I haven’t been involved in consulting projects that resulted in adverse consequences. To the contrary, I placed an executive to help one client navigate through Chapter 11. Regarding the other client, I placed an executive to help them avoid business failure. Regrettably, Senior Executives sometimes fail to heed sound advice. In each of these situations, failure was predictable. Management failed to adequately penetrate their home markets before moving into new territory.
I’ve witnessed the results of many crazy decisions during my career. Some noteworthy situations include an ice cream brand selling franchises beyond their distribution capabilities. Or a California-based brand that tried to move into the Southeast with a single location. I’ve seen Southeastern brands sell franchises on the West Coast, thousands of miles beyond their management reach and distribution network. A Northern barbecue chain leap-frogged into Georgia with a few restaurants placed across the state. That decision was funny, in a sad way, as barbecue has a distinct regional appeal. Another brand added drive-throughs to dogs with the hope of turning them into profitable restaurants. Sadly, they created dogs with a drive-through. From my perspective, the most egregious yet consistent mistake is the urge for start-ups to enter new markets before adequately penetrating their home base. To be sure, many of those mistakes were made by rookies, entrepreneurs lacking experience or solid advice. However, these mistakes continue to be made by experienced leaders who should know better.
I can speak with authority on this subject as I spent most of my career working on retail expansion. I began my career as a financial analyst assigned to the new store development group. In this role, I performed analytical work on capital expenditures for new stores and other investments. I learned how to evaluate the prospects for a new store, and the penetration required to optimize the return from a larger market, i.e. city, SMSA, or region. I became a strategic analyst and planner shaping retail store development strategy for several national brands. Finally, I held general management positions where I was accountable for return on investment. In fact, one of my first assignments as a senior executive was to identify and prioritize markets for focused development. As a result, I am confident in my ability to build a retail brand, especially, food-service brands. I appreciate the value of achieving significant market share before developing new markets. Believe me, engaging in the development of a new market, before adequately developing a home market can be fatal to a business, especially so for a start-up.
So, if significant penetration of a home market is fundamental for success, why does management continue to violate this well-established rule? Over the years, I have asked this question of countless CEOs, CFOs, and Chief Development Officers. The only consistent response is “sometimes, management becomes so enamored of expansion that sound business practices are ignored.” Imagine, human emotions getting the better of Senior Executives. Who knew? The only solution is to hire accomplished retail development executives, among others, who won’t hesitate to tell the “Emperor that he has no clothes.”