Starting a business can be a roller-coaster experience. Even the most seasoned entrepreneur has ups and downs when starting a new company. As a new business owner, your best strategy is to plan for mishaps while avoiding as many as possible.
There are many missteps you should watch for, but some are more common than others.
Failure to use the Right Business Structure
You have several choices for registering your business. Some of the most common are:
Corporation
Limited liability company
Sole proprietorship
Partnership
S corporation
One of the simplest entities to set up is an LLC. It has various benefits for your company, such as flexibility, limited liability, tax advantages, and less paperwork than a corporation. If you decide an LLC is the best structure for you, check the rules in your state before moving ahead. States have different regulations regarding LLC formation. If you’d prefer to let someone else handle the upfront work, you can save on lawyer fees by using a formation service.
Failure to Plan a Product Rollout
A new product rollout can be a risky venture. At the same time, it may be vital to your growth. With so much at stake, it’s worth taking time to get it right. You could face a launch flop if you rush the process along or fail to plot each step.
Try using an online product roadmap template to make your product unveiling a success. This tool can help you outline your strategy and the steps to create a product roadmap. It can also organize each team member’s assignments. A template simplifies the process. You can:
Not everyone realizes the number of executive decisions you make as an entrepreneur — even without employees. Your company’s fate often lies solely in your hands.
Assess your weaknesses and strengths. Determine if you have some of the essential leadership abilities:
Consider taking online courses or hiring a consultant from ITB Partners specializing in leadership development.
Starting a Business With Family and Friends (Without Thinking It Through)
For some families and friends, going into business together works well. However, that’s not always the case.
Opening a “mom-and-pop shop” doesn’t have to be a recipe for failure. Before you do so, ask yourself a few tough questions, including:
Do you have compatible business values?
Do you have clearly defined roles?
How would it affect your relationship if your enterprise failed? According to statistics, about half of all new companies survive the first five years.
Are you capable of overriding your emotions when you need to make impactful decisions?
Finally, keep in mind that the market fluctuates. Along with it, your business may experience inconsistencies. These factors can change the dynamics of your working relationship as the balances of power or responsibility shift.
Underestimating the Competition
Even if you have a unique offering, consumers have alternative solutions. They can choose another product or just buy nothing. Tips for getting their attention include:
Providing a customer-centric experience by making your business about them, not your product
Establishing your credibility by being transparent and following through on promises
Highlighting why your product is different than others or why your customer can’t do without it
If you can learn from your mistakes while avoiding the big ones, you can successfully get your company off the ground. Preparation combined with some training can be your best bet as you set off on your entrepreneurial adventure.
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Our world and our workplaces are filled with people from broken homes and dysfunctional families. Research shows that over 60% of Americans grew up with some type of family dysfunction. As employers, we can make a real difference in people’s lives- inside and outside the workplace. Employees need our help, guidance, teaching, encouragement, love, and support to be successful and to feel like they belong. If they get that, they are much more likely to stay with us, work hard, be loyal and make a difference. Otherwise, they will just go through the motions, make minimal contributions, and always be looking for greener pastures.
I have been an employment attorney and HR professional for almost 30 years. I thought I knew a lot about people from other walks of life. But I was dead wrong. I really didn’t know much about life for people with different upbringings and socio-economic backgrounds until I had the opportunity to live with them. Literally. In 2006, my wife and I took a professional sabbatical and worked for seven years at Big Oak Ranch in North Alabama. Big Oak is a “Christian Home for Children Needing a Chance.” There, over 120 children live in homes with up to 8 children and a “Mom and Pop.” Over those seven years, Kim and I served as house parents and primary caregivers for over a dozen boys from broken homes (abandonment, neglect, poverty, abuse, drug abuse, alcoholism, imprisonment, death). During that time, we fed them, clothed them, helped educate them (in partnership with a great school), mentored them, disciplined them, cheered for them, laughed, and cried with them, attended proms, ballgames (hundreds!), school events, counseling sessions, medical appointments, hunting trips, vacations, provided driver training, and washed thousands of loads of dirty, stinky laundry.
In the process, we learned a LOT about life, love, and belonging. Some of our kids responded well and have prospered. Others have struggled with life outside the ranch. But we like to think they are all better off from having been at the boys’ ranch. I know that we are.
You don’t really know people until you get to know them- Everyone does not think like you do (in fact, very few do). Don’t stereotype or prejudge. Go to them and seek to understand how they see the world. You’ll be surprised at how differently people view things. Each person’s unique history provides an inimitable life perspective. Understanding a person’s background, values and worldview helps build bridges that will make you more effective as a leader and them as an employee.
Rules without relationships are meaningless– Rule enforcement and management directives without relationships usually result in resentment. It is important to develop real relationships with the people you manage. Otherwise, you will be in a constant battle to enforce workplace rules and it will be difficult to persuade employees to perform challenging tasks. Relationship always trumps rules.
Set boundaries and stick with them. How you start offsets the course for the future. Like cattle, it is human nature to look for the holes in the fences and test the boundaries. Employees want to know where the boundaries are. Set the boundaries and close the gaps. You can lighten up once trust is established.
Teach them not to be a victim and a finger–pointer– It is easy to claim “victimhood” and blame shortcomings on the past and on others. Employees must understand that they control their own destiny and that they cannot allow the past to drag them down. Encourage them to be chain breakers, victors, change-makers. Direct them to community or company resources if they have difficulty overcoming past trauma or experiences. Don’t allow employees to make excuses based on the actions of others. Help them stay focused on the things they can control.
First Impressions are critical- People need to understand that, if they really want to succeed, they need to look and act the part. I am not talking about stereotypes, but a clean, positive look makes a huge difference to others and will often set the tone for their future interactions. Sometimes, it is a matter of facial expression and good hygiene. Manners also make a big difference- On BOTH sides! “Hello,” “please,” “thank you,” and “you’re welcome” go a long way…
When you break the rules, there are consequences– Everyone needs accountability. If we allow employees to “get away” with unacceptable performance, we hurt them, the organization, and their co-employees. Discipline should be considered a teaching process, not punishment. Discipline should never be administered in a state of anger or passion. The best discipline is calm, methodical, and delivered in a spirit of caring and concern.
Everyone craves security- If they don’t get it from you, they will look elsewhere. At the ranch, we told the boys. “I love you; I will never lie to you; I will stick with you until you are grown and on your own; and there are rules, don’t break them.” An employer’s version of this might be, “You are a valuable person, and we appreciate you and your work; we will never lie to you; we will stick with you during good times and bad, and there are rules, don’t break them.” And then, do just that!
Find strengths and develop them- Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Our job as leaders is to develop our strengths and utilize them as effectively as possible. At the same time, when employees have weaknesses, we should do everything within our power to minimize those through education, training, coaching, modifying assignments, and, where necessary, utilizing discipline.
It doesn’t always work- Everyone is not coachable, and not everyone really wants to work. We owe it to them, their co-workers, and ourselves to help those employees find another career path. Sometimes that means separation– and we shouldn’t prolong that when an employee is not working out. Other employees may decide a particular job or company is not right for them. Don’t slam the door on them. Some will decide the “grass is not so green” and will want to come back. While the grass may look greener, there is always dirt on the bottom.
Love and a sense of belonging are more important than everything else. If employees feel that from their leaders, they will run through brick walls for them. Bricks hurt, so output goals will seem like a walk in the park.
Mike Perkins, President- Frontline HR Solutions
Mike is available to speak to your group/association and provides customized training for your frontline leaders. Contact him at mperkins@frontlinehr.com
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This past Friday, I delivered a presentation at the January 2022 meeting of ITB Partners. The theme of the topic was about building one’s independent consulting practice by leveraging your time. One of the participants was curious about how many members were following this strategy. He was interested in learning how the broader membership viewed this issue. Are we in a bubble? Are we victims of Groupthink? Not only did I think that was an excellent question, but I also promised to survey our wider membership to determine if their activities align with my recommendations. This exchange reminded me of similar situations I had encountered during my corporate career.
Wikipedia; “Groupthink– is a psychologicalphenomenonthat occurs within agroup of peoplein which the desire for harmony orconformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctionaldecision-makingoutcome. Cohesiveness, or the desire for cohesiveness, in a group may produce a tendency among its members to agree at all costs.[1]This causes the group to minimize conflict and reach a consensus decision withoutcritical evaluation.[2][3]”
Psychologist Irving Janis calls Groupthink “a deterioration of mental efficiency. The first time I heard about the concept of Groupthink, I was an undergraduate. I wrote a short paper on the subject. At that time, I did not fully understand Groupthink as a concept. I had not witnessed it personally. It took practical experience and responsibility as a team member/leader to complete my education on this phenomenon.
Back in the day, if we thought we were limiting the full range of consideration for a question, we would ask, “are we just talking to ourselves? Are we in a bubble?” We knew that something wasn’t working the way we expected, so we must be missing critical information. In other words, we need to get input from the market and our customers.
The most striking form of Groupthink I experienced was at the beginning of my tenure with Long John Silver‘s. During my corporate orientation, I attended a presentation from a marketing research firm. Their contract was to perform a strategic analysis of the brand. It was an incredible experience. Whereas the consensus opinion of leadership had been that our primary competition was Red Lobster, the research showed that the brand was part of a different industry segment. The consumer identified the brand as a quick-service restaurant concept, but they did not think we acted like one. The service wasn’t fast, the food was too expensive, and there were no Drive Throughs, among other issues. This revelation was a shock to leadership. The recognition that they had invested their resources trying to compete in a segment they could not win was daunting. Fortunately, those findings led to a very successful repositioning of the brand.
Effects of Groupthink
Group dynamics overrides effective decision-making
Inhibits learning
It may be a subliminal way to protect one’s reputation or institutional dogma.
How to recognize Groupthink
The leader has a most persuasive personality, domineering even.
Dissent is discouraged
The workgroup demonstrates a high degree of cohesion,
Peer pressure to conform,
Complacency, need to get along,
Belief in a group’s infallibility
Own the moral high ground
Tribalism
These actions lead to a lack of counterpoints and optimal decision-making. Fundamentally, it is a symptom of poorly managed human group dynamics and leadership.
How to prevent Groupthink
Recognize Groupthink as a pathology to be avoided
Develop a process to counter-act: explore options, evaluate alternatives, encourage ideas without judgment or negative consequences,
Test assumptions,
Place a high value on objectivity.
Assign a devil’s advocate – seek out the counterfactual
When we formed ITB Partners, one of our goals was to develop a learning organization that was inquisitive, collaborative, and supportive of our members. In other words, a high-performance team. Google conducted research to determine how to create high-performance teams. Their findings were surprising. “We were dead wrong.Whois on a team matters less than how the team members interact, structure their work, and view their contributions.” Groupthink is an inhibitor to high-performance teams. To avoid Groupthink and other risks that would conflict with our goal, we instituted an annual strategic review that included a survey of the members. The Annual Review helps us stay on course to achieve a healthy culture. It has been a helpful exercise that has prevented us from taking detours unsupported by the majority of the members.
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The Holiday Season is upon us as 2021 rapidly comes to a close. It’s been a crazy year but thankfully, not as much as 2020. Business is bouncing back. Those furloughed in 2020 are probably back at work. And, our children are back in school. That is not to say that we haven’t faced continued challenges created by the pandemic. There is a lingering imbalance in the supply and demand equation for labor. Supply chains are struggling to recover, and inflation is driving up prices. It is safe to say that we are in a better place than last year. I think next year will be better still.
It came as no surprise that everyone I talked with has a year-end closing routine. My colleagues talked about taking stock of their results compared to their professional and personal goals. They all talked about taking inventory of their accomplishments and shortfalls. Lessons learned and things to improve are memorialized. It is their first step in preparation for a prosperous new year. They use this process to determine goals and priorities for the New Year.
I noticed a few differences among them, however, mostly related to areas of emphasis. Some talked about a final push to maximize revenue and minimize accounts receivable. Others spoke about pushing income into the following year. They all spoke about accounting for expenses in the current year. It makes sense, of course, as professionals understand the importance of accurate accounting.
Year-End Closing Routine
Close the Financials
Recognize Employee Contributions
Evaluate Results/make plans to Close Gaps
Express Appreciation to Clients, Vendors, Mentors
A notable difference in approaches to the year-end routine seems to be between corporate employees and their entrepreneurial cousins. Corporate employees seem more internally focused, whereas entrepreneurs have a broader perspective. Also, there is a different focus between employers and those in private practice. Employers spoke to showing appreciation to their employees with year-end celebrations and financial rewards.
Still, others talked about reaching out to their clients to express gratitude for their business and check-in with prospects. The most exciting feedback was from those keen on expressing gratitude to customers, vendors, and mentors. One of my colleagues, Barry, said that he makes a point to call each of his clients and vendors to express his gratitude. He also calls prospective clients to remind them of his interest in helping them. Another talked about reaching people who had made significant contributions to their success. Recipients of such calls have said the impact is powerful! I like a personal touch, especially in an age when it is easier to send a fruit basket or an email. A personal phone call is much more meaningful.
Year-end closing routines are an essential component of sound business administration. Accurate accounting for the year’s results sets the baseline for planning and budgeting. Additionally, it reduces the risk that a spotlight will illuminate your business by the taxing authorities. However, this time also presents an opportunity to focus on key relationships and networking. Jobseekers should continue their networking efforts at an elevated activity level, while employers should recognize their employees’ contributions. Business leaders could thank their vendors and customers. Strengthening relationships may be your most crucial year-end activity. We should express our gratitude to key constituents who have contributed to our success. Consider making a personal call. It will make an enormous impact.
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As a small business owner, you are constantly alert for new ways to grow and improve your company. You know that your business success depends on your ability to plan well and wisely and stave off potential problems. So, what are the guiding principles you should follow to maintain optimal performance? In this article, Jim Weber, Managing Partner of ITB Partners, reveals how successful entrepreneurs stay ahead of the game.
Be a planner.
Goal Setting
Good business management is a continual cycle of planning. Before you even launched your company, you had to draw up a comprehensive business plan. And planning needs to be ongoing. Even if it feels as though your company can run on autopilot, it does not mean that you discard sound management practices. Your management system should include periodic financial forecasts with appropriate adjustments to remedy deficits to the plan. As Zenbusiness explains, failing to have a good plan in place is a common mistake that small businesses frequently encounter. So, avoid this pitfall by having everything organized and mapped out.
Be a Leader.
Your leadership skills may be the most critical part of successful management. No matter how great your vision, no matter how positive your workplace culture is, it is not possible for a company to thrive in the long term if it lacks clarity, discipline, and recognition. Poor leadership tends to trickle down from management into every part of a business, with devastating effects. You can maintain a high level of performance by using business technologies that help you schedule tasks, manage projects, keep track of inventory, communicate with team members, and recognize desired behavior.
Be a listener.
Have you ever had the experience of dealing with someone who didn’t seem to be listening when you spoke with them? Or someone who never seemed to embrace your message? If so, you know how frustrating this can be, whether in business or your personal life. Don’t be that person: make a point of listening to what your partners, advisors, clients, and team members have to say. Practice active listening, addressing their questions or observations directly. Active listening fosters a culture of creativity and responsibility. Make a sincere effort to hear, respect, and understand your team’s concerns.
Be flexible.
The logical progression for a leader is the willingness to change when necessary. Click To Tweet Change can be difficult when you are committed to a belief system or a particular course of action. And no, you shouldn’t deviate from your plan for just any minor issue. When it becomes clear that your goals are at risk, altering your plans is good management. Remember, good leadership means owning and correcting your mistakes.
Be current.
Good management also means staying abreast of current trends in finance, marketing, and technology. Business intelligence must be a team effort. As professionals, each of your department heads should be current in their field. They should share their learning, and you should update the company’s plans accordingly. As their leader, you must ensure that your team has access to high-quality information and resources to perform at peak capacity.
Be a good Corporate Citizen.
Failure to follow the laws and regulations that govern business activity can be costly. As a leader, you must work within the framework of employment law, permitting, licensing, taxation, among others, to ensure the success of your business. One area where new business owners risk expensive fines and penalties is in payroll tax compliance. Minimize this risk by using a sound payroll system with competent oversight. It’s also essential to choose the proper legal structure for your business. For many small business owners, a limited liability company makes the most sense, as it reduces paperwork and may yield tax savings. Save time and avoid added expenses by having an online service register your company as an LLC. Your lawyer and accountant can guide you in this area.
Think of good business practices as pillars supporting your business. Make sure your whole company understands and embraces these principles. By doing so, you will improve the likelihood of continued success and increased profitability.
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“But pattern-matching doesn’t equal comprehension.” Peter Watts
Stephen H Dawson, DSL
The thought of finding a perfect job applicant to fill any role in any organization seems impossible. It seems impossible because it is impossible. It is impossible because people are imperfect. They are imperfect as they tend to change over time.
The matching work at hand involves much more than only considering a suitable match between the job applicant and each role you have to fill. It also involves considering the match between the job applicant and the organization. Remember, your organization includes any matrix-supplied folks involved in doing work with your people, your customers, your strategic partners, and your supply chain network. The job analysis we discussed last week may not have included these attributes. However, they need to be in there. If they are not, then the job analysis must be revised to include them as applicable.
OK, let’s proceed from the point of having a satisfactory job analysis as we consider job applicants to see if you have a viable candidate for each role you need to fill. We need to first look at some terms before looking at applicants. These facts may seem harsh, but they are a crucial part of your assessment work.
ORGANIZATION ANTIBODIES
An antibody does the work to neutralize either a pathogenic bacteria or virus. The intent of the pathogenic is to help, but it instead causes harm. An organization antibody is a person who does not want to follow your leadership. They resist your leadership either passively or actively.
Nicholas Evans described how an antibody could suffer the pursuit of innovation. Evans cited an article by Mitra Best, who described antibodies in a corporate setting. Both Evans and Best provided recommendations about how to remediate each antibody form. What they did not do address in their writings is why an organization antibody has so much power over their boss.
Think about the folks in your organization who have been there a long time. They have not been promoted to a senior role because they have either a character deficiency, a skills deficiency, or both. They hold the belief they know it all and tell anyone who will listen to them they know it all. This person is an example of an organization antibody. Deep down, they believe they are running the organization. They believe they are doing what is best for the organization. They refuse to listen to reason. Therefore, they have no ability to have cognitive awareness to know they are causing harm. They are as cancer is to the body.
CANCER
Cancer is a disease defined by abnormal cell growth. It is possible cancer could be misinterpreted as a nodule, a small bump. A small bump could occur due to one of several conditions. The indication of a cancer being present does not appear until cancer grows to be a problem. Untreated cancer spreads in a condition known as metastasis. Early testing for cancer helps to overcome cancer unawareness. The value of proper testing here is beyond measure.
I shared several weeks back, “I cannot say a person is evil, as I do not believe it is possible. I can say their actions are or are not evil.” I maintain this position. I shared a few weeks later about evil. The attributes of organization antibodies and cancer have considerable overlap with one another. They both have no ability to have cognitive awareness to know they are causing harm. They both consume a massive amount of resources as they spread. They both spread through the host, either the body or the organization, in a progressive manner. The rate of spreading is inconsistent, so not relative to objective analysis. They both have a high mortality rate, both literally and figuratively.
An organization member allowed to mature into an organization antibody is an event that does not occur overnight. It is without question the presence of an organization antibody is the result of a failure by leadership, human resources, and learning & development. Note I do not identify either a manager or a team leader as responsible here. I hold this position because their roles are not able to have an overarching view of the organization. The reasons for such failures are endless, but the leadership, human resources, and learning & development staff hold collective responsibility for the damages caused by an organization antibody.
I hold the position the only way to treat an organization’s antibody is to remove them from the organization and place their leader on a rapid performance improvement plan. If I do not see substantial adherence to the performance improvement plan by their no-longer leader in my eyes, then their no-longer leader is no longer a part of my organization. The corrective action to address the human resources poor performance is to replace the human resources business partner serving my organization immediately. The corrective action to address the learning & development staff performance is to replace their leader serving my organization and place all learning & development staff on a rapid performance improvement plan. All activities and I mean all activities, performed by the learning & development staff for my organization cease until there is credible evidence they are each qualified to perform learning & development work. The support necessary for the human resources and learning & development staff corrective actions may require support from your boss. You should be able to get it without difficulty since you have credible proof of the harm caused to the organization by their respective failures to deliver quality work.
SKILLS
The term credential is the combination of work experience, education, degrees, certifications, and licenses earned and held by an individual that each has relevance to each role you need to fill in your organization. These individual credentials then feed into forming organization credentials. All aspects of any credential must be validated during the job application process by your organization. You must hold, without a doubt, a clear understanding of the abilities each job applicant holds today. What credentials they held in the past may be nice to know, but that was then. You are evaluating now.
Gaining credentials from a source that is not accredited is possible, but the validation process becomes much more costly to accomplish. It may not be possible to validate a credential that is not from an accredited source. A non-validated credential is termed as hope but not a credential.
PERSONALITY
We discussed last week the value of third-party testing. The cost of testing each applicant may not be worth the expense. The need is still present to know the personality of each applicant. If you do not have the ability to fund personality testing a job applicant you advance to candidate status to know if they are a viable candidate, then your ability to advance applicants through your evaluation process is reduced. How much of a risk can you afford to take at this point in the assessing-to-matching process?
You have rooted out those job applicants who do not hold the skills necessary to fill each role you need to be filled in your organization. You know you cannot afford to interject harm to your organization by bringing in an organization antibody. You are wondering if you can afford to measure a personality without an objective third-party test. The answer is you cannot. You will have to bear the risk of going forward without measuring personality should you chose not to use third-party personality testing. This risk will have to be managed as any other risk.
WORLDVIEW
We discussed worldview a few weeks back. You are wondering how the applicant’s worldview matches both your worldview and the worldview held by those in your organization. You can get this information from the screening call. I addressed last week how to go about this action during the interview you conduct with them. Specifically, you are looking for their position on social and political matters. You must follow fair employment laws to be a credible leader. So, how do you get this information?
You get this information by asking three questions. One question focused on a social aspect. One question focused on a political aspect. Then, one question overlapping both a social and political aspect. Use three different aspects in these three questions. Write the questions to be as figurative as possible. Look for timeless topics common across all cultures, present in all points of history, having reasonable belief they will be present in the future. These answers will provide you enough information to know if you have an applicant that can advance to a candidate.
RECOMMENDATIONS
If you are matching applicants without a third-party personality evaluation, then you must accomplish this evaluation in the next step of your interviewing process. You cannot experience success in finding a suitable candidate without performing a clear personality evaluation. Prepare for the costs of third-party personality evaluations.
Record all screening calls. Have the calls transcribed. Read the entire transcript. Listen to the parts of the audio recording you find interesting by way of the transcript.
Match the notes of the person conducting the screening call to the call transcript. Identify any mismatch in what the caller observed in comparison to the response of the applicant. This mismatch will help you understand if there is a personality or worldview mismatch with your organization. It will also help you qualify the work of the person conducting the screening call. This collective understanding will arrive because you have a satisfactory job analysis, you wrote the questions for the screening call, and you placed boundaries on the screening call. This reasoning is found in the plan we discussed last week.
I recommend you take time this week to consider the impact of an organization antibody in your organization. Prepare your screening call questions based on the material we covered this week. Finally, look for providers of counseled results interpretation to assist you in selecting applicants to become candidates based on the plan we discussed last week.
So, I ask you: where do you want to go? I hope your answer is to develop the plans necessary to accomplish the strategy you know you need to achieve to arrive at your desired destination. If this is the case, then let’s get to work. If not, then I wish you the best of everything.
I hope we will see each other here next week. Email me if you need to talk before then.
Stephen Dawson is an executive consultant of technology and business strategy, serving significant international organizations by providing leadership consulting, strategic planning, and executive communications. He has more than thirty years of service and consulting experience in delivering successful international business development and program management outcomes in the US and SE Asia. His weekly column, “Where Do You Want To Go?,” appears on Thursdays.
Dr. Dawson has served in the technology, banking, and hospitality industries. He is a noted strategic planning visionary. His pursuit of music has been matched with his efforts to lead by service to followers. He holds the clear understanding a leader without followers is a person taking a long walk alone.
Stephen has lived his life in the eastern United States, visiting most of the United States and several countries. He is a graduate of the Regent University School of Business & Leadership. Contact him at service@shdawson.com.
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“We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are.” Max De Pree
Stephen H Dawson, DSL
There is only one person who matters when defining what must be done in any situation. That person is our self. The reality of our impact both now and tomorrow is the challenge of living what we believe by doing what we believe. This impact is the linear connection of worldview, ethics, morality, and virtue.
We are working to resolve your delay in accomplishing your strategic planning work by swapping out some folks in your organization. You have decided to become what you need to be by not remaining what you are now. You are completing your materials summary, your Love Action Items list, and scheduling the first meeting with your boss based on the plan we covered recently. Today, let’s cover what I, in both a dignified and proper manner, call…the stuff. The stuff is the linear combination of worldview, ethics, morality, and virtue. Think of them as indispensable blocks to build your life, your organization, your society, your country, and our world.
I held off discussing the stuff with you earlier, as I did not want to overwhelm you with too much to process at one time. You are growing as a healthy leader by going through the process we are working out together. We are not late discussing the stuff, as you are now working on completing your materials summary and your Love Action Items list. Now is the time to discuss the stuff, to help round out your writing and prepare it for your first stop: your boss reviewing your written forthcoming leadership plan.
I will not bore you with the background of the Greek philosophers who became famous from their perspectives on worldview, ethics, morality, and virtue. They did not invent the terms, they do not own the terms, but they did much to help people understand the terms. I appreciate their help in my learning these terms. Yet, we do not answer to them. We answer to reasoning that can withstand scrutiny.
Here is how I see the stuff: No one cares about what I care about in life unless they are willing to pay me for what I care about in life. Their payment to me can come through countless options. I urge you to adopt a similar perspective. I will now teach you all there is to learn about the stuff in less than five minutes, holding our shared understanding that it takes a lifetime for everyone to do the stuff to prove to our self’s we know our stuff.
WORLDVIEW
What a person believes. It is a singular term. It is the list of items a person believes. The listed items do not need to be defined clearly to the person believing them. There is no mandate to one’s self to prove what that person does by self-debate. Worldview defines the subset of truth to the person but does not define truth entirely. Click To TweetOne does only need to believe something for it to be a part of their worldview. Worldview is nothing more than what a person believes.
ETHICS
What a person does. It is a plural term. It is the list of items a person does. The listed items do need to be defined clearly to the person doing them. Each ethic is performed both consciously and purposely. There is a mandate to one’s self to prove what that person does by self-debate. Ethics are nothing more than what a person does.
MORALS
What a person must do based only on their worldview. Morality defines right and good. It is a plural term. It is the list of items a person must do as the subset of what they could do to fulfill their worldview. The listed items do need to be defined clearly to the person doing them. Each moral is performed both consciously and purposely. There is a mandate to one’s self to prove what that person does by self-debate. Morals are nothing more than what a person believes they must do.
VIRTUES
The items at the top of a person’s morality list. It is a plural term. It is the list of items a person must do as the prioritized subset of what they could do to fulfill their worldview. The listed items do need to be defined clearly to the person doing them. Each virtue is performed both consciously and purposely. There is a mandate to one’s self to prove what that person does by self-debate. Virtues are nothing more than what a person believes they must do before doing anything else.
Congratulations. You just mastered understanding the terms worldview, ethic, morality, and virtue. I hold the worldview more folks in this world should master what you just learned.
Please understand it is not my intent to trivialize these terms. It is my intent to keep them from causing you harm. You have been doing the stuff since the moment you took your first breath. You will continue to do the stuff until the moment you take your last breath. It is best, as with all doing, one knows what they are doing after a suitable period of learning occurs. We talked about this consideration when I asked if you wanted me to use heavy equipment before I learned how to operate the heavy equipment.
A common phrase in social and political circles today is moral responsibility. I struggle to find a meaningful definition of this phrase as a term, so I do not identify this phrase as a term. A moral can only be held between two people when they perform similar ethics based on their similar worldviews. What the verbal assailant is doing with this phrase is attacking your virtues, not your morality. It is a form of intellectual cowardice, as they refuse to learn the terminology they use in their statements.
I encourage you to remember the linear relationship between worldview, ethics, morality, and virtue the next time someone tries to push you around with their demand that you supply them your morality as they see fit. Think back to our discussion on power when you hear them place such a demand on you.
CONCLUSION
I know we covered some heavy topics this week. Fear not, for indisputable facts help strengthen your leadership ability. Take the stuff for what it is: your stuff. Remember, there is only one person who matters when defining what must be done in any situation. That person is our self.
I encourage you to spend time this week completing your materials summary, your Love Action Items list and schedule the first meeting with your boss based on the plan we covered recently. Also, consider how your followers speak and act in light of what you have now learned about the stuff. Finally, consider how much of an overlap there is between each follower’s worldview and your worldview by considering what they do…their ethics. We will look at their morality and their virtues during future discussions.
So, I ask you: where do you want to go? I hope your answer is to develop the plans necessary to accomplish the strategy you know you need to achieve to arrive at your desired destination. If this is the case, then let’s get to work. If not, then I wish you the best of everything.
I hope we will see each other here next week. Email me if you need to talk before then.
Stephen Dawson is an executive consultant of technology and business strategy, serving significant international organizations by providing leadership consulting, strategic planning, and executive communications. He has more than thirty years of service and consulting experience in delivering successful international business development and program management outcomes in the US and SE Asia. His weekly column, “Where Do You Want To Go?,” appears on Thursdays.
Dr. Dawson has served in the technology, banking, and hospitality industries. He is a noted strategic planning visionary. His pursuit of music has been matched with his efforts to lead by service to followers. He holds the clear understanding a leader without followers is a person taking a long walk alone.
Stephen has lived his life in the eastern United States, visiting most of the United States and several countries. He is a graduate of the Regent University School of Business & Leadership. Contact him at service@shdawson.com.
I hope you enjoyed our point of view and would like to receive regular posts directly to your email inbox. Toward this end, put your contact information on my mailing list.
Your feedback helps me continue to publish articles that you want to read. Your input is very important to me so; please leave a comment.
“Only a life lived in the service to others is worth living.” Albert Einstein
Stephen Dawson, DSL
I met Melissa in the summer of 1983 at a teenager retreat. We spent a lot of time together with the other teenagers and alone with each other during the retreat. We became quite fond of one another. We lived several hundred miles from one another. We ended our time together, wanting more of a relationship. Melissa wrote me a letter a month later she had decided there is no future for our relationship. She planned to spend some of her college years in both the United States and France. She did not see a way we could grow our relationship with distance.
I cried for an hour after I read the letter. I knew she was 100% correct. She had much more intelligence than me, much more class than me, and her family was much more wealthy than mine. There were no viable means to grow our relationship. I ran into her several months later, unexpectedly. Our conversation was awkward. We wanted to continue our relationship, but the spark was gone. I have not talked with her or seen her since that day.
Melissa served both me and us with her leadership demonstrated in her letter. She considered the facts, made a choice, and communicated herself well. Her efforts form the basis for a successful leadership strategy.
Consider the attributes of this story. Then, consider how your people, the followers of your leadership, are wondering how to grow a relationship with you. Who makes the first move? Who makes the next move? How will these moves be made? Oh, and there is accomplishing the work they are being paid to do.
I shared in-depth recently about love. I also shared leading by serving is a formal leadership style. I shared over the past several weeks how leaders I identified have demonstrated love to their followers, along with those outside of their organization. If things went well for you this past week, then you are wondering now how to deliver love to your followers. If things did not go well for you last week, then you are wondering now if loving your followers is worth the hassle. Let’s talk about the second item first, and then we will cover the first item.
HASSLE AVOIDANCE OPTIONS
I see there are three options when it comes to relating to people. The first option is to love them. The second option is to hate them. The final option is to care less about them. This final option may be considered to be a form of hate, but I identify it as a form of ambivalence. It is not a form of apathy.
If I know my leader hates me, then there is no point in my trying to follow them. I may be forced to follow them, but I will not perform at my best potential to deliver my work. It seems to me this combination is an inescapable attribute of humanity.
If I know my leader is unsure of either their love or hatred for me, then I am thinking the day will come when they chose to either love or hate me. I will wonder which option they will choose with more and more thought devoted to this wondering until the day comes when they make their choice. I will not focus entirely on my work, as I will have part of my attention direct elsewhere. It seems to me this combination is an inescapable attribute of humanity.
If I know neither hatred nor ambivalence empowers my followers to work fully to accomplish their work, then it makes sense to be the only viable option is to love them. I know of no credible evidence where I should conserve love. Conserve, in the form of holding back at some point. I may be too tired to give love, but this condition is a call to rest instead of a call not to give love. If I want the best return for my investment of time, money, and perhaps even a bit of social status, then it makes sense to me to maximize my investment of love into my followers so they will have the best potential to deliver to me the work I ask them, and perhaps am even paying them, to accomplish.
LOVE DELIVERY OPTIONS
A relationship involves two or more people. If I have thousands of people in my organization, then it is impossible to spend individual time with each other. I must work with my direct reports to accomplish loving all followers of my leadership. I must instruct, model, and require my direct reports to love their direct reports, all the way to the lowest level of the organization. This step is what I call a mandate.
Next, I must know my direct reports are doing what I mandate of them. I must go to those at different levels in my organization and ask them individually to tell me their understanding of the mandate to understand what I required in my mandate is being accomplished. Talking in person is better. Talking by video is better than only audio. However, audio talking is better than not talking. It is more effective to go to the middle of the organization first, then the bottom when having these talks. This approach gives me accurate first-hand findings quite quickly. This step is what I call a measurement.
Next, I take any corrective action necessary to match what I mandated with what I measured to eliminate any variance. This action occurs speedily over a day or so. This step is what I call a demand.
If any of my direct reports disagree with my leadership, then it is best either I change my leadership, or they cease reporting to me. I am willing to discuss how I accomplish my work. I am not willing to discuss what I mandate. A mandate is derived by what I know must happen to preserve the organization, to grow it, and perhaps even turn it over to another leader at some future date. I know a mandate by the intersection of my worldview, my ethics, and my morals.
So, how about the followers? There must be enough of an intersection between leader and follower in their worldview, ethics, and morality for them to be able to accomplish the work in their hand. The best practices of both diversity and inclusion tell me I have a better chance of success with as much input as I can receive. Yes, there is a condition known as analysis paralysis. This condition is when a person cannot act on their work because they are taking in too many considerations. We covered this condition when we discussed being scared. The inputs never stop. So, it is best to have as diverse a follower set as I can have in my organization to ensure I have the most inputs possible. Furthermore, I had better love each of them if I expect each of them to be included in my organization by their choosing to do the work I have put into their hand.
BONDSERVANT
It is my considered position my loving anyone is a choice I must make daily. I must choose to make myself indebted to love. I do not force anyone to love me. It is impossible to achieve this action, so there is no reason to try and do it.
The idea here is to have a continuous conversation that matters. Matters, in the form of contributing productively to the desired outcome. It is spending the time talking about what organization members are supposed to be talking about: their work. Then, the purposeful conversations occur at all levels of the organization.
CAPTURING
Now, it is time to write out your action plan to know with certainty how you are going to lead your followers by means of love. Review the material we covered in our discussion on the topic of love. Then, write out a table with the following structure:
Column One, HOW. Write a sentence of how you will deliver love to your followers.
Column Two, STORGE. This column is populated with entries of YES or NO based on HOW you deliver love.
Column Three, PHILIA. This column is populated with entries of YES or NO based on HOW you deliver love.
Column Four, EROS. This column is populated with entries of YES or NO based on HOW you deliver love.
Column Five, AGAPE. This column is populated with entries of YES or NO based on HOW you deliver love.
This table now contains your Love Action Items list.
You should be able to write out twenty sentences of HOW you will deliver love without expending much effort. I encourage you to keep each sentence as short as possible while maintaining your clarity. Write out the HOW entries first, then come back and identify which love definition each HOW item matches. The result is each row in your table telling a specific action, matched with one or more specific love definitions, for anyone impacted by your leadership to understand your leadership style better. If you need some help with the HOW part, then read some of the work accomplished by Gary Chapman. Chapman realized there are five common love communication mechanisms.
My strategic partner David Daniels shared with me his thoughts on forming the Love Action Items list. “I have always welcomed different points of view, as long as they came from a positioning of the organization’s values and mission. However, once a decision was made, I fully expected my team to embrace and support the direction. I have watched so many situations where leadership gave the appearance of support to the leader and then went out and trashed the direction or lent unenthusiastic support of it.” I agree with David’s viewpoint. It is best to write your Love Action Items list from the position your people changes may involve changing some of your people who report to you directly, whether or not they serve as leaders.
Your analysis of your table containing your Love Action Items list will help you plan to deliver love to your followers. The best news is your followers will know how you are planning to act, know instantly how your actions match your plan and are empowered to contribute to your table by adding rows as you approve. The key here is your HOW items need to be received by your followers, and your followers HOW items need to be received by you.
Now, some good news. The four types of love expressed through five different options work out to be 465 different combination options. Clearly, there is no shortage of options available to anyone desiring to love anyone. Do some reading on permutations and combinatorics to learn more about combinations. Remember, the leader-follower relationship must work in harmony and not be forced to be effective. We will discuss the work you accomplished with your Love Action Items list next week.
So, I ask you: where do you want to go? I hope your answer is to develop the plans necessary to accomplish the strategy you know you need to achieve to arrive at your desired destination. If this is the case, then let’s get to work. If not, then I wish you the best of everything.
I hope we will see each other here next week. Email me if you need to talk before then.
Dr. Stephen H. Dawson, DSL
Executive Strategy Consultant
Dr. Stephen H Dawson
Stephen Dawson is an executive consultant of technology and business strategy, serving significant international organizations by providing leadership consulting, strategic planning, and executive communications. He has more than thirty years of service and consulting experience in delivering successful international business development and program management outcomes in the US and SE Asia. His weekly column, “Where Do You Want To Go?,” appears on Thursdays.
Dr. Dawson has served in the technology, banking, and hospitality industries. He is a noted strategic planning visionary. His pursuit of music has been matched with his efforts to lead by service to followers. He holds the clear understanding a leader without followers is a person taking a long walk alone.
Stephen has lived his life in the eastern United States, visiting most of the United States and several countries. He is a graduate of the Regent University School of Business & Leadership.
I hope you enjoyed our point of view and would like to receive regular posts directly to your email inbox. Toward this end, put your contact information on my mailing list.
Your feedback helps me continue to publish articles that you want to read. Your input is very important to me so; please leave a comment.
Think back in your life to a moment when you felt so inspired that you were ready to run through a brick wall to get what you desired. What was it that inspired you? Was it a speech you heard? Was it a YouTube video? While speeches and videos can be motivating, my guess is that’s not what revved you up to the point of running through a brick wall.
For me, it has been those moments when I have received feedback from someone who was great at delivering it. I have been fortunate to know more than one of those people in my life and I am grateful not only for the feedback they freely gave, I am grateful for the way they gave that feedback because it inspired me to do better and be better. I am also grateful for the example they set which I have attempted to emulate.
Let me take a step back and talk a bit about what feedback is and is not. Simply put, feedback is information received in response to some action on our part. From the moment we are born, we begin giving and receiving feedback. When a baby cries in response to being born, that’s feedback. It tells everyone within earshot that the baby is breathing and alive. As we grow, we get a lot of feedback from our parents, siblings, and surroundings. That feedback teaches us valuable lessons and inspires us to do things that are productive. When we touch something hot, the pain we feel is feedback teaching us to not repeat that action. When we take our first steps, the hugs, kisses, and cheers inspire us to take more steps. As we grow older, feedback comes in more sophisticated forms. We begin discerning the relative value of it and accept or reject it based on our value judgment. It becomes not just about the feedback itself but the way in which it is delivered. If the information (feedback) is correct yet delivered in a way that offends our feelings, it is often rejected. We call that criticism.
That leads me on a slight tangent. If you are currently using or have ever used the term “constructive criticism”, please stop. There is nothing constructive about criticism because it is seldom or ever meant in a constructive way. It is called “constructive” criticism because it makes the person giving it feel better about knocking the other person with no real intention of helping them. Criticizing someone may cause someone to change to spite the criticizer but that in my opinion is not inspiring.
Now, while giving great feedback is critically important, it is not the same as being great at giving feedback. How you deliver feedback is possibly more important than the feedback itself. After all, the feedback we give is a representation of how we perceived the other person’s words or actions. While it is 100% accurate from our perspective, it may or may not be 100% factual in an objective sense. So here are some elements of giving great feedback.
Start with the good stuff. Be specific – Start by relating what the person is doing well or reviewing a recent positive result from their behavior. It must be something behavioral. It cannot be that they are a nice person or that they mean well. Everyone has things they do well. Pick at least two, tell them specifically what they are, how these actions benefit others, and be clear that you are encouraging him/her to keep doing those things.
Describe an opportunity for improvement – Rather than telling people what they are doing wrong, share opportunities for them to improve. It may sound like semantics but it is an important distinction. No one likes hearing what they are doing wrong. On the other hand, everyone has opportunities for improvement. Combining this with telling them what they do well first causes them to be more receptive to hearing their opportunities. Make it about their behavior. Keep personalities out of it. Also, keep it short. One opportunity at a time. More than that is overwhelming. The adage of one thing at a time applies.
Share feedback immediately – As Ken Blanchard always says don’t save it up for a holiday. Immediate feedback is more impactful because it is fresh in the person’s memory. Waiting makes them have to remember what happened and dilutes their focus on the opportunity.
Make time to discuss the how – Sharing opportunities to improve is less than 50% of inspiring improvement. Discussing how they can improve is where the inspiration takes root. Ask the person if they agree with the opportunity and then ask how they think they can realize the improvement. Human beings by nature are more committed to their own ideas. If all you offer is your own thoughts it will seem like you are telling them what to do and how to do it. Remember, feedback is not about you; it is about them. You want to show you are all about helping them. But a caution, be sincere about helping. They will see through insincerity in a heartbeat.
When you provide feedback in this way you will not only inspire improvement; you will inspire gratitude. Speaking from experience, I have had countless people not just thank me for the feedback they have asked me for more. When I have followed these four steps, I have always left people inspired to improve. I know that because when I see them next, they have greeted me with excitement, shared with me proof of their improvement, and asked for more feedback. As a mentor and coach, there is no better feeling. It shows me I am adding value to their life and after all, what’s better than that?
About Dave Roemer
David Roemer
Dave Roemer, Franchise Consultant with 30+ years in the industry will provide an overview of the franchise industry. Roemer will discuss a brief history of franchising along with the state of the industry today. He will give an honest assessment of the industry including the effort to increase regulation and why those efforts are growing. Finally, he will share why he believes franchising remains the best way for people to own a business and how interested parties can get help achieving their goal of business ownership
Today, Dave is an independent Franchise Consultant who helps people interested in purchasing a franchise determine which brands are the right fit and then helps them through the due diligence and discovery process. His services are free to the client as his fees are paid for by the various franchise brands with which he works.
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“War is a grim, cruel business, a business justified only as a means of sustaining the forces of good against those of evil.” Dwight Eisenhower
My maternal grandfather came over from Germany to the United States in 1926. He saw what was shaping up in Germany, concluded it was not good and decided it best he leave. He died when I was in grade school. I heard him often say, loudly, he was an American. I asked him how he knew things were going to go bad for Germany at such an early point in the events. He told me he saw people standing on others. This response is all he would share with me for his answer. I knew he was not talking about a cheering squad standing on shoulders. I liked him, but he was a stern man at times. He was nice to me. I miss him. I have learned over the years standing on others always goes bad. Standing on anyone is called oppression. A more accurate term for oppression is evil.
Dwight Eisenhower never served a day in combat. I am not sure how he rose to be the head of the effort to win World War II. Eisenhower worked for Douglas MacArthur about a decade earlier, but he ended up being MacArthur’s peer and boss even though Eisenhower was much junior in tenure to MacArthur. Life has no shortage of surprises when it comes to work promotions, demotions, and terminations. Eisenhower traveled across much of Europe after World War I to observe the terrain of the battles that occurred there. This first-hand information served him well in his role as leader. It seems to me he knew he would one day need this information gained by direct observation. It turned out to be part of his research for the strategic planning he did not know he would be forming in his near future. I wonder if he knew during his walks across the European terrain then how many people from such a diverse group would want to be included to help eradicate evil at Normandy.
We have found your effort to accomplish your strategic planning work is not going well for you. We determined you have a people problem causing your work not to be accomplished as you prefer. We are considering if this problem can be fixed and, if so, how to best fix it. You are looking to swap out some of your people by either changing their work assignments or having them leave your organization. You are looking for some new faces to do the work you need to be accomplished. Let’s see if working to keep evil out of your organization will help you find new faces to work for you.
EVIL
The definition of evil is simple: death. Evil always causes the result of death. There are times when death is welcome, necessary, even good. It is a matter of how each death occurs. I am saying evil is not good, and good is not evil. If I cause death to help my organization, then I am doing evil. Destruction is not death. I could raze a building to put up another building at the same site. If I harm anyone, then I hurt the organization I lead. This anyone list includes those who work for me, any matrix-supplied folks involved in doing work with my people, my customers, my strategic partners, and my supply chain network.
HOW MUCH HARM?
Anger is a prelude to violence. Violence is a prelude to conflict. Conflict is a prelude to war. I talked about abuse last week. It has been my experience strategic planning work that is behind schedule in any organization does not help form tranquil conditions in either those organizations or for anyone external to the organization who needs the strategic planning work accomplished. Tension among work relationships is often high when work is behind schedule, to the point of anger being more frequent among members of the organization. If these attributes are not the case, then the workers do not care about doing the work. The answer to resolving this condition is simple: get rid of those who do not care about doing their assigned work. They may pretend to care about their work, but what evidence do they provide to you to prove their assertion? They have contributed to the work delay by hiding their work values from you as their leader. They have enabled the conditions to happen in your organization. There is neither a viable reason nor means for them to continue to be a member of your organization. Reassignment is not an option. Their actions are an example of evil. It is best for the organization to end their membership, and do so promptly. Then, you have to consider how you let this happen in the first place.
THAT BAD?
If evil is bad, then how much bad do you want in your organization? Can you afford to have any form of evil occurring in your organization? How can you stop all evil? The answer is you cannot. What you can do is not allow it to continue once it is realized. I shared recently people conditions change, so they must be measured frequently. Frequently can be a matter of seconds.
The events of US Airways Flight 1549 ending up in the Hudson River show a good example of the work progress matter we are discussing. There was a clear plan: fly from New York to Charlotte. An in-flight accident occurred. The pilots landed the aircraft on the water where the aircraft would float. The flight crew then had the passengers disembark the aircraft by standing on the wings in an orchestrated manner. Boats arrived at the aircraft, taking the passengers onto their boats. Here is the key to the success of their collective efforts: no one panicked. The aircraft captain made it clear within seconds of landing what will happen next. If panic would have occurred, then it is probable at least one death would have occurred. It is also probable the aircraft would have sunk within seconds. I encourage you to watch the film Sully to gain a deeper understanding of these events.
How about you? How do you foresee you would have responded to these events as a passenger, as a member of the flight crew, or as captain of the aircraft? I will go out on a limb here and say I do not see evil occurred by either the flight crew or the passengers. I make this statement because I do not see evidence of it. I cannot imagine how anyone on that plane felt during that experience. I can say, for certain, a leader must be ready to handle such events in the minutia of their work. Planning, training, scenario concepts, and…here it comes…a strategy for what to do in your planning, training, and conceptualizing efforts. Meaning, you must live as a leader performing continuous strategy development to stay out of whatever conditions you define as bad.
David Daniels and I discussed the best practices of inclusion in the concept of diversity. Dave shared, “Tangible mission statements and values allow successful organizations to align diverse ideas while creating an environment that allows everyone to bring their best by inclusion. Inclusion, bringing the best out of everyone, is one of the critical strategic imperatives in any successful organization.” My experience with successful organizations shows those organizations determine how to achieve inclusion well before they face difficult circumstances. They overcome the difficulties by having their people placed in roles that suit them well, thereby structuring the organization to be focused on the same mission by living what they value.
CODA
I am averse to conflict. I am no longer into violence. I, for many years now, would much rather walk away from being ill-treated than to respond with like-kind behavior. Having made these statements, I both have fought and will fight tooth-and-nail to defend those who I love. I will define the term love to you in a forthcoming column. I speak in both the literal and metaphorical for the term fight. I would rather suffer harm defending them than have them suffer harm. I am fortunate I have only had a few life-threatening events in my life. I hope you never have one in your life.
You as a leader are asking your people to trust you in many ways with each second you serve them as their leader. I have no interest in risking either harm or experiencing any form of evil if I can avoid it. Any leader I chose to follow must have a good reason as to why they would need to subject me to harm in my followership of them. I will not, repeat…will not…allow any leader to expose me to any form of evil by their choice, whether their choice is planned or unplanned. The point here is their choice. We, they as my leader and I as their follower may face evil on the journey we are taking together. It is then a matter of what we allow to continue.
How about you? What are you asking your people to do for you? What conditions are you asking them to experience as they do whatever it is you have asked them to do for you? How much productive work output do you expect your people to accomplish as they work either with or in any form of evil you allow to exist in your organization? What is the quality level estimate you foresee for the work output your people deliver to you while working either with or in any form of evil you allow to exist in your organization?
Read the letter from Eisenhower to his people dated June 1944 to see if you have the same level of commitment to your followers. Then, decide for yourself if Eisenhower was serious about his commitment to his people. Then, read the radio announcement from Roosevelt to the United States to decide for yourself if Eisenhower had the support he needed to execute the planned strategy. Finally, read the note Eisenhower wrote to Roosevelt a few hours before the execution of the planned strategy. “If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone.” These words are evidence of a leader.
If you view your job where you serve as a leader as too small to come close to the colossal events experienced by Eisenhower, then you would not be alone. I suspect your followers view your role as their leader as quite important to them. Lead them by serving them as their leader, holding the scale of your leadership work to give it the respect it is due. Then, see how fast things improve for your strategic planning efforts.
Please spend time this week watching the Sully film to see how Chesley Burnett “Sully” Sullenberger III, Eisenhower, Roosevelt, and you line up in your work today as a leader. Think about the present status of your strategy work effort. If the result of evil is always death, then what form of evil do you see in the midst of your organization?
So, I ask you: where do you want to go? I hope your answer is to develop the plans necessary to accomplish the strategy you know you need to achieve to arrive at your desired destination. If this is the case, then let’s get to work. If not, then I wish you the best of everything.
I hope we will see each other here next week. Email me if you need to talk before then.
Dr. Stephen H. Dawson, DSL
Executive Strategy Consultant
Stephen Dawson is an executive consultant of technology and business strategy, serving significant international organizations by providing leadership consulting, strategic planning, and executive communications. He has more than thirty years of service and consulting experience in delivering successful international business development and program management outcomes in the US and SE Asia. His weekly column, “Where Do You Want To Go?,” appears on Thursdays.
Dr. Dawson has served in the technology, banking, and hospitality industries. He is a noted strategic planning visionary. His pursuit of music has been matched with his efforts to lead by service to followers. He holds the clear understanding a leader without followers is a person taking a long walk alone.
Stephen has lived his life in the eastern United States, visiting most of the United States and several countries. He is a graduate of the Regent University School of Business & Leadership. Contact him at service@shdawson.com.
I hope you enjoyed our point of view and would like to receive regular posts directly to your email inbox. Toward this end, put your contact information on my mailing list.
Your feedback helps me continue to publish articles that you want to read. Your input is very important to me so; please leave a comment.
This past Friday, I delivered a presentation at the January 2022 meeting of ITB Partners. The theme of the topic was about building one’s independent consulting practice by leveraging your time. One of the participants was curious about how many members were following this strategy. He was interested in learning how the broader membership viewed this issue. Are we in a bubble? Are we victims of Groupthink? Not only did I think that was an excellent question, but I also promised to survey our wider membership to determine if their activities align with my recommendations. This exchange reminded me of similar situations I had encountered during my corporate career.
The Holiday Season is upon us as 2021 rapidly comes to a close. It’s been a crazy year but thankfully, not as much as 2020. Business is bouncing back. Those furloughed in 2020 are probably back at work. And, our children are back in school. That is not to say that we haven’t faced continued challenges created by the pandemic. There is a lingering imbalance in the supply and demand equation for labor. Supply chains are struggling to recover, and inflation is driving up prices. It is safe to say that we are in a better place than last year. I think next year will be better still.
Your leadership skills may be the most critical part of successful management. No matter how great your vision, no matter how positive your workplace culture is, it is not possible for a company to thrive in the long term if it lacks clarity, discipline, and 
Good management also means staying abreast of current trends in finance, marketing, and technology. Business intelligence must be a team effort. As professionals, each of your department heads should be current in their field. They should share their learning, and you should update the company’s plans accordingly. As their leader, you must ensure that your team has access to high-quality 
