Category Archives: Leadership

what happened to the barf bag?

What happened to the barf bag?

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The flight was relatively smooth and uneventful. So it was a surprise when five people got sick. The flight attendants scrambled to get plastic bags and paper towels to clean up the mess. One of them remarked to me that he felt badly for the people, but was surprised since there was no turbulence. The incident left me thinking it has been some time since I saw the bag in the seat pocket. I checked, and sure enough, there was nothing there. The thing is, the bag isn’t needed most of the time. But when it is needed, it is needed immediately.

In business, there are tools put into place to mitigate risks. But if you take away those tools, you may find a little mess becomes a big mess. Just like turbulence and people getting sick can be predicted, you have situations in your business that can be too. What can you do to put tools in place to mitigate the mess before it happens?

missed sales

Are you missing opportunities that are right in front of you?

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There are several prime parking spots. They are a little wider than the others, nearly a guarantee that you won’t have to shimmy into your car when you come back due to someone parking too close to you. People hold up the line behind them just to get one of these spots. So, it was interesting to watch more than a dozen people drive right by an empty spot. People were looking left to go up the ramp and missed looking right to see the spot.

Achieving results in business is all about where you place your focus. Sometimes the focus is so narrow we miss opportunities right in front of us. How are you making sure you don’t miss opportunities in your business?

Your mindset impacts how you show up

The way you show up has ramifications beyond you

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Your personal leadership style ripples through your company and community. If you go to work as a grump, everyone will feel stressed and they’ll suffer. If you go to work feeling optimistic and centered, people will want to accomplish big things. The way you show up has ramifications far beyond you.

you can't skip the basics

Not knowing the basics can lead to big problems down the road

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After dance class last week, a few of us gathered to talk for a few minutes. We had noticed a few of the people in class didn’t know the basics and thought it would be helpful for the instructor to cover them next time. You learn the basics when you are younger, so as an adult, they are not normally taught. But if you come into class without having taken dance earlier in life, you don’t know what you don’t know.

The same is true in business. At one point in my career, I spent a lot of time looking at why some projects fail while others are wildly successful. One of the key findings was people. When people were put in a position to run a project and didn’t have the basics, the projects failed. You can’t skip the basics. How are you making sure your people are getting them?

How do you make space for ideas?

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how do you make space for ideas?I’m in the final stretches of writing my book. And sometimes I’d get a little stuck. The same has happened in trying to think through problems and opportunities over the course of my career. The ideas come when I make space for them. Sometimes while walking my dog, sometimes in the shower, and other times while listening to the radio.

How do you make space for ideas? If you don’t, what is holding you back from getting started?

Are you building redundancy into your processes because they are broken?

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are you building in extra work because your processes are brokenI went to the bank to update a signature card. It seemed like it should be a straightforward process. But it wasn’t. The fellow on the front line asked me to sign on a little pad several times even though I couldn’t see what I was actually signing for. After a few signatures, he asked me to wait a minute while he printed out the document. He needed additional signatures there as the system automatically deletes the electronic signatures about half the time. Huh?

Imagine if this was your business. Would you want your peoples’ work load to be double because the system doesn’t work? Would you want your customers to experience this type of situation? Most businesses are trying to find a way to increase productivity and engagement. This one little instance indicates there is probably a lot of opportunity. How are you building mechanisms into your business to report and fix problems proactively?

Are your people jumping through hoops?

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jumping through hoopsHave you ever been asked to jump through hoops? It happens with regular frequency. Someone recently relayed their experience with me. It began with a request for information to be turned around in an hour. The requestor let the information sit for a week and a half before responding with a minor clarification. A week and a half later, a flurry of email requests ensued over the course of a weekend. More requests were made the following week with multiple demands for information to make it easier for the requestor and incredibly more difficult for the person responding. After jumping through the hoops after hours, the requestor decided not to use the information.

Jumping through hoops causes drops in productivity, diversion from key goals and frustration for the people on the receiving end. How often do you have fire dills or ask people to jump through hoops in your organization? What can you do to avoid them?

Have you actually established trust?

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are you establishing trustEach time I head out of town, I take my 75 lb yellow lab to the doggie hotel. They do a great job there and she is well cared for. But, she is a rescue dog and I’ve only had her a year and a half. I don’t know her history, but clearly she was abandoned. The last two times I’ve dropped her off, she shrieked at the top of her lungs while I walked out the door. I know I’m coming back. And even though I have eight or so times, she doesn’t yet trust that I will. Each time I drop her off, that trust is broken a little bit and needs to be rebuilt.

It takes a long time to establish trust—much longer than you think it will. And it is really easy to lose. As a leader in business, your promises and actions either establish trust or break it. And even though you state you promise to do something, it takes keeping that promise a number of times before people actually trust that you will. How are you establishing trust in your business?

Longevity and Customer Service-A lesson from the oldest business in the world

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longevity and customer serviceLast week, I was working on my book and got curious about the oldest business in the world. Founded in 705, Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan is a hot spring hotel with 37 rooms in Japan. It has been operated continuously by 52 generations of the same family. Known for its hospitality and hot springs, it is an a worldwide attraction. The pictures of the hot springs are stunning—and so is its longevity. Can you imagine running a business for 1,300 years? It is a great example of knowing what the customer values and delivering it. And that leads to longevity. How are you delivering what your customers value?

Take a deep breath and don’t panic

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Don't panic and take a deep breathAs I write this, the Dow just dropped more than 1,500 points and it is happening quickly. This following significant declines last week—on good news (jobs growth and higher wages). Concerns about inflation and the impact of a new Fed chair are getting a lot of focus, as is the impact of electronic trading. Opinions vary between “there is a lot of upside in the year” to “a correction is overdue.” Sometimes it is better not to panic and just take a deep breath. The thing is, it will eventually go back up. And there may be a few opportunities along the way.

In your business there will be times when panic and inertia take hold. The key is to keep focused on the fundamentals and not to panic. As a leader, you can bring calm. And in that calm, you may find a few opportunities. How are you making sure panic doesn’t gain hold in your organization?