Business Fundamentals.

Rules.

Each of these disciplines have rules at the heart of them.

So why do I find myself constantly going back there to think and act out of the box? Isn’t getting out of the box, out of the rut, all about breaking the old rules?

No. This is a complete failure of insight. We are not boxed by rules. We are boxed by habits, instincts, and unexamined emotions. One prejudice creates a prison of a box more . . . → Read More: Back to the Middle to Get Outside]]> Share/Bookmark

Information theory. Physics. Classical music & jazz. Monastic orders. The sciences of the brain and cognition. Statistics and probability.

Business Fundamentals.

Rules.

Each of these disciplines have rules at the heart of them.

So why do I find myself constantly going back there to think and act out of the box? Isn’t getting out of the box, out of the rut, all about breaking the old rules?

No. This is a complete failure of insight. We are not boxed by rules. We are boxed by habits, instincts, and unexamined emotions. One prejudice creates a prison of a box more secure than all the laws of physics combined.

Despite the popular conception that the ‘box’ is the world of rules, order and structure, it is the opposite. The box is our emotions, instincts, and habits… all the stuff we are supposed to ‘get in touch with’ to get out of the box. It is a box of comfort. The box is not really a box at all. It is a groove, a deep groove of habits of thought and actions, made deep by our going over the same ground again and again.

The best way to get out of the box is a reality check. A real-ity check: a return to the world prior to, and impervious to, our assumptions and prejudices.

This is why even a cursory understanding of the laws of thermodynamics or probability trumps ‘common sense’. This is why learning to read a statement of cash flows is more valuable than reading one more woowoo pop psychology The Secret of Blah Blah Blah Success book. This is why understanding that you multiply two unrelated probabilities (for example the probability that you will have an opening for an employee next month, and the probability that some great talent will walk through your door looking for a job), that you don’t add them, is more valuable than clinging to the law of attraction. It is why understanding the Pareto distribution is more powerful and freeing than $1000′s in inspirational speakers.

The next time someone says: “we need think outside the box,” notice what happens next. If it is some kind of pseudo-brainstorm group-think  exercise, or even worse, the not-laws of The Secret, then all you are going to get is new layers of crud built on old layers of crud. In a weird MC Escher-like journey you will think you are making forward progress, when you will only find yourself exactly back where you started… less the energy you had when you started (check out the laws of thermodynamics for why that happens).

On the other hand, if the “getting out of the box” exercise begins with someone reaching for a giant scraper, to scrape away the layers of unexamined assumptions and habits, while saying something like “Let’s get back to fundamentals and rebuild,” then you know you have a hope of getting out of that box.

 Want to improve your communication with employees, partners, and customers? I help organizations improve communication through leadership & management-level workshops & coaching. Check out my website to learn about the different ways I can support your organization.

There’s more! Looking for success in your small business? Read my Small Business blog at Small Business Fundamentals (www.smbfundamentals.com).

Too shy to leave a comment? That’s cool. +1′s and tweets are appreciated too!

In music we keep going back to the fundamentals over and over again. You keep practicing all the time. Inspiration and creativity matter, but if you are a professional, it is your chops that really matter. No one expects to get it right the first time. You make mistakes, but you keep practicing until you don’t make mistakes any more. Yes originality . . . → Read More: Play it Again. And Again. And Again.]]> Share/Bookmark

Ideas are easy. Consistency is hard.

I think that one of the reasons I return to that epigram so often is because of my music training. The business world has much to learn from the musical world.

In music we keep going back to the fundamentals over and over again. You keep practicing all the time. Inspiration and creativity matter, but if you are a professional, it is your chops that really matter. No one expects to get it right the first time. You make mistakes, but you keep practicing until you don’t make mistakes any more. Yes originality matters, but at least in the worlds of jazz and classical music, you won’t get a lick if you can’t perform.

I heard an interview with Paul Simon a few weeks ago. Simon made a comment about having some great material in his head for another recording, but he had put it all on hold because he was on tour now. The interviewer asked, clearly perplexed, if that meant he just stopped writing, if he just put his creativity on hold. Simon response was that he was a professional. He didn’t sit around waiting for inspiration. He had a job to do, and when it came time to write, he would write.

Paul Simon has, among a crazy wealth of other abilities, solid writing chops. It is his craft, and he practices it.

That’s the way it is. So close your copy of 10 New Laws of Success I Just Discovered or any book with the words new, secret, laws, or success in the title, and start acting like a musician.

Practice your Craft

Business is an art and a craft. Practice it. Learn the fundamental rules of finance, social sciences/psychology, operations & logistics, communication and information theory. Understand the real laws of cause and effect that are the constants of your world much as the laws of acoustics, theory, and rhythm are the constants of a musician’s world. Study, study, study.

Then then practice. Practice, practice, practice. There are no shortcuts, no magical ‘laws’, no real silver bullets. The 10,000 hours that Gladwell writes about in Outliers won’t be ignored. Honour them or you will get nowhere.

Do you have to love what you do? Of course. Who wants to do something for ten thousand hours that they don’t love? But if you want to excel at it, if you want to make a living at it, it becomes a labour of love. The love must come first, but the system, the labour, the practice cannot be ignored. And if you want to be successful as a business owner, it is the practice of business that you must focus on. Not what got you into the business: baking or sales or mechanics or construction. The business itself is now your craft.

In music school, I spent 1,000’s of hours in study cubicles and Wenger practice studios. In the cubicles we were mastering the theoretical fundamentals of our art. In the tiny practice modules we were all practicing the performance of that art. And in the middle of all those hours, what struck me was not how hard I was working, it was what I heard when I took a break in the common area: the sounds of pianos, voices, trombones, trumpets, violins, double basses, percussion… heard faintly through the almost-soundproof doors of the other Wenger studios. The same scales, the same passages, the same failures and triumphs over and over and over again. The relentless patterns of the search for mastery.

I just don’t hear enough of that in the world of business.

 Want to improve your communication with employees, partners, and customers? I help organizations improve communication through leadership & management-level workshops & coaching. Check out my website to learn about the different ways I can support your organization.

There’s more! Looking for success in your small business? Read my Small Business blog at Small Business Fundamentals (www.smbfundamentals.com).

Too shy to leave a comment? That’s cool. +1′s and tweets are appreciated too!

When was the last time you put off eating that ice cream because it was too much bother? How about finding all kinds of excuses not to cash in that cheque for 10K.

No?

How many of us pack the car in a flurry to hit the road and get to that fishing or camping spot before everyone else? Gardeners getting lost for hours in their gardens? Those of us who love to cook, unwinding in our kitchens, cooking 4-course meals?

Where are the procrastinators?

Every time I work . . . → Read More: There are No Procrastinators]]> Share/Bookmark

We all procrastinate. But most of us are not procrastinators.

When was the last time you put off eating that ice cream because it was too much bother? How about finding all kinds of excuses not to cash in that cheque for 10K.

No?

How many of us pack the car in a flurry to hit the road and get to that fishing or camping spot before everyone else? Gardeners getting lost for hours in their gardens? Those of us who love to cook, unwinding in our kitchens, cooking 4-course meals?

Where are the procrastinators?

Every time I work with a client to find out why they consistently avoid certain tasks, we dig through a layer of self-accusations about laziness and procrastination. But as I point out to them, that makes no sense. They are working 10 hour days, 6 days a week. They have built a business and put kids through college. Where does the lazy fit in?

No, it’s not about lazy. It’s about avoiding stuff you are not good at, and not meant to do.

One of the most important jobs you have as a business owner is to work your way out of your business one unpleasant task at a time. From bookkeeping to answering the phones, from sales to hand-holding employees. There are a myriad of things in a small business that must be done, but you may not like doing them. And when we don’t like what we are doing, we don’t do the job as well as someone who loves it.

If building a great team is the #1 critical success factor, then the list of things you hate to do can form a checklist of whom to hire first.

Growing a business is not just about increasing revenues and profits, or about bragging rights, or security (though all 3 of those things are fun or valuable), it is also about getting it to that place where you don’t have a single day of procrastination.

Many of us started our businesses because we loved doing one thing: painting, wrenching, baking, building, helping, healing… Then we realized that running a business doing those things involved doing so many other things we weren’t good at and didn’t like. So we need to grow to get back to that place. Not the same activity necessarily (I know lots of business owners who started a business for one reason, but fell in love with a different aspect of it later) but back to that place of loving what you do every day.

You are not a procrastinator, you are just ignoring reminders to keep growing back to that place where every morning, work can’t start soon enough.

 Want to improve your communication with employees, partners, and customers? I help organizations improve communication through leadership & management-level workshops & coaching. Check out my website to learn about the different ways I can support your organization.

There’s more! Looking for success in your small business? Read my Small Business blog at Small Business Fundamentals (www.smbfundamentals.com).

Don’t want to leave a comment? That’s cool. +1′s and tweets are appreciated too!

Its not that I’m against freebies and discounts. Used right they can be powerful tools for building relationships with customers and employees.

What I’m against is businesses or employers that give good stuff away quietly.

When you don’t let customers know they are getting a deal you lose a huge part of the benefit that such a gesture can give you. Its all investment, no return. When you go out of your way to arrive at a special price or throw in more service than the customer is paying for make sure they know . . . → Read More: Your Weekly SMB Success Factor – February 14]]> Share/Bookmark

Don’t give it away quietly.

Its not that I’m against freebies and discounts. Used right they can be powerful tools for building relationships with customers and employees.

What I’m against is businesses or employers that give good stuff away quietly.

When you don’t let customers know they are getting a deal you lose a huge part of the benefit that such a gesture can give you. Its all investment, no return. When you go out of your way to arrive at a special price or throw in more service than the customer is paying for make sure they know it! Want to give a customer a discount for a great referral? Write it right on the invoice or give them a rack card that says “We’ve given you 25% off for your amazing support!”

A special is called a special for a reason. Its supposed to be special!

The same goes for benefits to employees. One of the most frequent complaints I hear from employers is that they and their efforts to provide for their employees are taken for granted. When I check in and ask “When was the last time you reminded them of what you do for them?” The answer is far too often something like: “Why should I have to tell them? Isn’t it obvious?” Nope. It’s not. Not unless they live inside your head. Remind them, every day if you have to. Most people live crazy busy lives, often surrounded by a lot of stresses and negativity. The good stuff gets lost.

In personal relationships going out of your way to point out your contributions is not cool. But in business you have to weave the benefits and value you provide to both customers and employees into everything you do.

What are you doing this week that is ‘above and beyond’ for your customers or employees? What will you do to get mileage from that gesture?

I provide small businesses with the planning and process to take them to the next level. Want more? Contact me at clemens@clemensrettich.com.

Its not going to get better. Get over it.

When I interview a potential client (I call it “seeing if we can stand to be in the same room together”) one of the things I listen for is conditionals. I listen for things like “When that new employee is fully trained…” or “I just need to get month-end behind me, and then I’ll get my my operations manual done” or “If I can get my line of credit paid down, then I’ll invest in …” When I hear those things, I know I am in . . . → Read More: As Good As it Gets?]]> Share/Bookmark

Image by Clarita

Its not going to get better. Get over it.

When I interview a potential client (I call it “seeing if we can stand to be in the same room together”) one of the things I listen for is conditionals. I listen for things like “When that new employee is fully trained…” or “I just need to get month-end behind me, and then I’ll get my my operations manual done” or “If I can get my line of credit paid down, then I’ll invest in …” When I hear those things, I know I am in conditional-land and we have work to do.

The first step to dealing with this is to play a game called “Let’s Imagine It’s Not Going to Get Better – Then What?” What if this current reality is as good as it gets? What if ‘good’ or ‘bad’ aren’t even useful words. What if the current mix of the predictable and the chaotic are just the way it is?

Then you realize that more often than not, now is the time to act. And it’s not about time management, it’s about priority management. You can’t manage time. There’ll be 24 hours today, and 7 days this week, no matter how many time management books you read. What you can manage are your priorities. Know what your main goals are for this month, this quarter, this life… and then evaluate how you are spending each moment of each day in relationship to those goals. It’s not that the conditionals are not important. They are. The problem is, there is no sense of where anything fits. There is no sense of what the return is on doing those things rather than something else. And when time is limited to 24 hours, you have to choose.

And its not about balance. A “balanced” life is another verbal trick, like “managing” time. What exactly is it you are balancing? Time? Is your life more ‘right’ when you spend 8 hours sleeping, 8 hours with family, and 8 hours working? That’s pretty balanced. But what if a key relationship needs your focus right now? What if your professional goals need you to put in 14 hours right now? Do you think Wayne Gretsky, Lady Gaga, Nelson Mandela, Wolfgang Puck, Steve Jobs, or Albert Einstein are or were ever ‘balanced’ people? Did they get what they got through careful time-management? Did they wait for things to ‘calm down’ before taking the next big step?

I’m thinking not. I think all those if’s and when’s are just the future tense of shoulda’s and coulda’s. It’s all part of a world of magical thinking where time can be managed and a life can be balanced.

I think it works like this:

1. Through accident or stubborn searching (most likely a mix of both) you zero in on what really matters. For you. That work that energizes you when you are exhausted. That thing you just have to do. That you would do for free if you didn’t need the money. Focus and precision matter here, not balance. As Marcus Buckingham states: genius is precise. Genius does not live in a conditional world of if’s and shoulda’s.
2. Having ‘figured it out’ you spend unbalanced, unhinged amounts of time doing it. You figure out by design and by chance what kinds of practices, decisions, and actions best feed the beautiful monster, and they become your focus every day. They are the things that get done before other things. They become the necessary priorities.
3. At the end of the day, and at the end of your life, you fall into bed exhausted. As the dark pulls around you, you close your eyes knowing you have made a difference.

How do we make that work in our typical lives? When we have children and partners to love and care for? When accidents happen, and we find ourselves bouncing around in a Drunkard’s Walk, sails torn and compass spinning?

I am still working on that, but one thing I believe: conversations matter. Focused, highly tuned conversation where everyone spends as much time listening as speaking. Where everyone listens not only to the words, but the suggestions and hints behind the words, and the unspoken things that lie between the words. In conversations with those we love or trust (ideally both) we find what our genius intends us for. And sometimes we even learn how we are to get there.

In the real world, with obligations and distractions all around us, I believe it is in great conversations that we figure it out.

Clemens provides coaching services for professionals, business owners, and managers. If you are ready to take that next step to become even more successful, send Clemens a message.

David Rendall’s excellent Freak Factory site has a sub-title that reads “Embracing uniqueness by flaunting weakness”. Flaunting is what Rendall and his writing are all about. Instead of trying to balance, compensate, improve, or fix our weaknesses, his thesis is that by celebrating what we suck at, we are also celebrating what makes us unique and valuable.

This is a natural progression from the work of Marcus Buckingham and many others on strength-focused development. Buckingham, especially in The One Thing You Need to Know… About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success, drives home . . . → Read More: David Rendall’s Freak Factory]]> Share/Bookmark

Image by Clarita

David Rendall’s excellent Freak Factory site has a sub-title that reads “Embracing uniqueness by flaunting weakness”. Flaunting is what Rendall and his writing are all about. Instead of trying to balance, compensate, improve, or fix our weaknesses, his thesis is that by celebrating what we suck at, we are also celebrating what makes us unique and valuable.

This is a natural progression from the work of Marcus Buckingham and many others on strength-focused development. Buckingham, especially in The One Thing You Need to Know… About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success, drives home the idea that the best approach to the management of others and to identifying pathways to personal success, is to focus on maximizing strengths rather than ‘repairing’ weaknesses.

Rendall takes this and both turns it on its head and pushes it one step further. Not only should we maximize our strengths rather than waste energy on fixing our weaknesses, we should actually find our strengths in our weaknesses. As Rendall wrote in a 2006 post What’s Your Problem:

“My parents and teachers had one primary goal during my entire childhood. They wanted me to sit down and shut up. I had a weakness, a big weakness, since I had to spend 12 years of my life in school, sitting still and listening . . . or at least trying to. Because of my weakness, I was told repeatedly that I was obnoxious, had a bad attitude and lacked self-control.

How did I overcome this problem? I didn’t. I became a college professor and a professional speaker. Now, I get paid to stand up and talk. I make a living on my weakness. I make a living on my strength. I never got “better.” I never fixed my weakness. To this day, I remain unable to sit still or keep quiet but I don’t have to.”

I am highlighting Rendall’s site for two reasons: it pushes a line of thought past the obvious and the intuitive, into a truly new perspective, and it has that blend of lessons for life, leadership, and business that I find attractive.

Here are some areas of the Freak Factory site worth exploring:

• The home page sets the contrarian tone. There are two ‘freaky’ quizzes and a list of recent blog posts with titles like “The Ten Unbreakable Rules of Blogging (and the reasons you can break them)”
• The Resources page is one of the best I have seen. It is clean, easy to navigate and FULL of great resources on the topics Rendall writes and speaks about. The page includes all of the formats his book Four Factors of Effective Leadership is available in, free PowerPoint and handout downloads for both book and seminars, and CD’s and DVD’s of his presentations. There are even two nicely done eBooks for free download. I wish all of my favourite writers had sites that made accessing their material this easy.
• The Freak Factor blog. Amongst all of Rendall`s strong writing I think the pieces I like the best are the Freak of the Week. These pieces, like “Freak of the Week: Lance Haun” give us glimpses into the lives of people who have drilled down into their weaknesses and challenges to see what unique advantages they hold.

As a coach I am always looking for that unique perspective that might break through the numbingly repetitive messages we tell ourselves, and that trap us in mediocrity. David Rendall’s work makes a difference because it provides that fresh perspective. After reading Rendall’s articles and following him on Twitter (daverendall) my perspective has shifted. I have looked at my own ‘weirdnesses’ and realized that there is a lot there that makes me unique and is the source of much of the value I bring to others.

I work with my clients to help them focus on their strengths, or the strengths of their employees, and find ways to create the greatest engagement for those strengths in their organizations. I tell them if they are waiting for someone to change, or ‘fix their problems’ before they can move forward, they will always be stuck. Maximize the strengths that are there, and move on.

Rendall’s work brings a new twist, and a new energy to that work. Our strengths need to be maximized, but the next step is to understand that our perceived weaknesses can be strengths. They don’t need to be fixed. They need to be acknowledged for the role they play in making us who we are as independent and unique individuals.