Category Archives: Business

Key Goals for Any Business

One day while my son was studying Economics he came home and dropped a question on me. At the time I was a senior executive at a company so I should have been ready. He asked me a simple question – “What are the key goals for any business?”. I couldn’t quickly and clearly summarize my thoughts so he bailed me out. He walked me through the points below.

Key Goals for Any Business

Simple and clear instructions for anyone in a leadership role and I have kept these on my dashboard ever since. I learned two leadership lessons that day – you learn lessons from all directions (in this case from my son) and to ensure all business plans, strategies and plans address these key areas.

Lead From The Front

“I’ll always be the the first person on the battlefield, my boots will be the first boots on it, and I’ll be the last person off. I’ll never leave a body.” Let. Gen. Harold G. Moore

You may have read the book or caught the movie starring Mel Gibson titled “We Were Soldiers”. They both tell the story of Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore. One of the great leadership lessons Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore had was to always lead from the front – you lead by example, you demonstrate passion for your job and most importantly never ask someone to do something that you would not do. Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore set an example for this team, leading his team onto the battlefield and ensuring he was the last one off.

As leaders we need to keep the same rule. Whether sacrificing work/life balance temporarily to meet a deadline, admitting that you made a mistake or having a difficult discussion with a team member, never ask someone to do something you would not do.

The Gap Between Stimulus and Response

“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” – Epictetus

We hear it over and over again – we can only control our response to things outside of our control. My journey has included a focus on extending the zone between stimulus and response. Rarely do we need to react immediately – typically life saving moments only – and in these cases the time between stimulus and response shrinks and becomes an impulsive reaction. Impulsive reactions can happen out of anger, anxiety or habits – good and bad.

I remember walking to a parent/teacher interview one evening with my wife. It was about a 15 minute walk and when we sat down with the teacher he went on to tell us how disruptive our son was in class and that he needed to bring more focus each day. Sounded strange but he did use my son’s first name when giving us an example of a situation. That 15 minute walk home went by pretty fast. When we arrived home, we started lecturing our son only to find out it was another student by the same name in his class causing the disturbances. We turned a 15 minute gap into a impulsive situation.

At work I make it a point with my teams to never worry about bringing bad news. I tell them it is neither good or bad, it is just news and we will react accordingly. Earlier in my career when confronted with issues I was very impulsive with my reaction. I was known for swiftly fixing problems but learned one day when one of team members challenged me – Give me a chance to deal with this! I did and a better solution resulted.

What do we do? A number of years ago I had a friend recommend a local Mindfulness class. It was one of the best decisions I made and practice Mindfulness Meditation to this day. The time between stimulus and response is my time and I am in full control of how I will react. Use the time between stimulus and response, think over solutions, get advice, investigate and respond when you’re ready.

The Comfort Zone

I came across this graphic one day and it really hit home for me. You hear the suggestion over and over again – you need to get out of your comfort zone. It is true, to learn new skills and to have new experiences, we must all escape our comfort zone. I worked at the same company for twenty five years, promoted through many roles until I became President. I knew every process, I knew the products inside and out and I felt in control.

The day came when another opportunity was in front of me, a new challenge to lead another company where I did not know any of the processes. I was not familiar with any of the products and had no connection with the team. In my previous twenty five years, I had built my skills and confidence. I left my comfort zone, went into the learning and growth zones. I had confidence from previous experiences and the culture of the company was one that promoted team members to obtain new skills.

Not everyone has confidence when leaving their comfort zone. In life or business, our role as leaders is to help others through the fear zone. Eliminate the fear zone by creating a safe zone, a zone where it is ok to try new things and sometimes stumble. A safe zone does not mean there are no rules, rather it means the rules are very clear and we will all abide by them. These can be values, behaviours or a code of conduct. Humiliation, mockery and other demeaning behaviours can not exist in a safe zone.

Run a meeting, if it doesn’t achieve the desired results you can try again tomorrow. Try a new form of dance or a new sport, if you are not passionate about it you can try another. If you enjoy it, set goals, practice and improve. So while it is important for all of us to get out of our comfort zones, as leaders or parents our work is to create safe zones where people can grow and achieve their dreams.

Leaders Need to Model The Behavior

We are in funny period with our fight against the pandemic. It is very clear that the spread of the virus 🦠 is reduced when we reduce our mobility and congregating in large groups. Our leaders are frustrated with the public and how they will not adhere to the rules. Pause and look at what our leaders are doing. The first step in changing behaviour for any leader is to model the desired behaviour- whether you are a parent, government leader or manager. I find it almost comical that our public leaders in both government and our health industry are travelling outside of the country to visit their vacation homes or to get some time on the beach. The easiest and most important step for any leader is to model the desired behaviours. Walk the talk.

(Ego + Coachability) x Learning Culture

Quite often as leaders we confuse high performing individuals as having too big of an ego. On the contrary, we want our team members to have big egos. “Ego” can be defined as “a person’s sense of self-esteem or self-importance”. Shouldn’t everyone be proud of themselves and proud of their achievements and excited about their potential? We have to look no further than the current world class talents in soccer – Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. As explained in this article when you have a team member with a big ego that is coachable, it is your responsibility as the leader to provide a learning culture for that individual to thrive in. (Ego + Coachability) x Learning Culture = World Class Results

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/33255194

Skills vs Values

When putting a team together do you consider skills and values? Do you prefer one over the other? Most high performing teams have a similar set of values. Two articles below relate to Alex Anthopoulos and his journey as the GM of the Toronto Blue Jays. Take some time and consider how you evaluate skills and values.

Toronto Blue Jays and Skills vs ValuesDownload

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/13101638/josh-donaldson-russell-martin-making-impact-toronto-blue-jays

Passionate Team Members

Have you ever read the Animal School fable? If not, I have attached it below. Too often, in business or life we fail to maximize the potential of our teams by failing to put the team members in roles they are passionate about. Following your passion is one of the keys to success. Not everyone knows what their passion is and needs to discover it along their journey. Take time along your journey to understand what you are passionate about and choose to do more of that.

The Animal School: A Fable (by George Reavis)

Once upon a time the animals decided they must do something heroic to meet the problems of a “new world” so they organized a school. They had adopted an activity curriculum consisting of running, climbing, swimming and flying. To make it easier to administer the curriculum, all the animals took all the subjects.

The duck was excellent in swimming. In fact, better than his instructor. But he made only passing grades in flying and was very poor in running. Since he was slow in running, he had to stay after school and also drop swimming in order to practice running. This was kept up until his webbed feet were badly worn and he was only average in swimming. But average was acceptable in school so nobody worried about that, except the duck.

The rabbit started at the top of the class in running but had a nervous breakdown because of so much makeup work in swimming.

The squirrel was excellent in climbing until he developed frustration in the flying class where his teacher made him start from the ground up instead of the treetop down. He also developed a “charlie horse” from overexertion and then got a C in climbing and D in running.

The eagle was a problem child and was disciplined severely. In the climbing class, he beat all the others to the top of the tree but insisted on using his own way to get there.

At the end of the year, an abnormal eel that could swim exceeding well and also run, climb and fly a little had the highest average and was valedictorian.

Why Lead?

As my leadership journey at work started it was simple, I was an effective worker accomplishing goals, meeting deadlines and helping to increase profits. The hope from my leaders at the time was that as a leader I would motivate others to succeed. It wasn’t until years later as my scope increased and also welcoming children into my life that I realized the power of leadership comes from understanding your why? I love the song Sunday Best by Surfaces and the simple message:

Every day can be a better day, despite the challenge
All you gotta do is leave it better than you found it

My leadership goal is simple – leave people, processes and teams better than when I found them. There is nothing more gratifying than helping others.

Yes, If vs No, Because

Walt Disney and his team of Imagineers became famous for innovation and continue to be successful developing new ideas. Part of this success comes from their Yes, If mindset. When looking for solutions it can be very easy to get caught in the trap of No, it won’t work because we tried it before. No, it won’t work because it will take too long. No, I can’t lose a few pounds because it is genetics. When you find yourself in that zone try something Walt Disney did. With the Yes, If mindset you move to different solutions. Yes, it will work if we get additional training. Yes, it will work if I go for a walk three days a week. Next time you think something is not possible shift to a Yes, If mindset. If you can do this in a group setting even better, ideas build off one another and working together dreams can become reality.