Posts in In Your Face Friday

Do You Have A Business Plan

Business Consulting In Your Face Friday Meandering Genius Strategic Planning

Two thirds of all small businesses do not have a plan (according to a recent survey). However, I believe that number is much higher!

Are you an entrepreneur? Run your own business, even if it’s as a realtor, having a side hustle, or pushing a MLM product? Do you have a written business plan? I’ll bet 9 times out of 10, the answer is, “No.”

Those that actually have a written business plan, when was the last time you looked at it? When was the last time you updated it? When was that last time you used it to drive business decisions? Again, 9 times out if 10 the answer will probably be, “Never.”

Small businesses are twice as likely to succeed when they have a business plan. If it’s a well designed plan, and not something filled in off the internet, the likelyhood significantly increases!

A well designed business plan, built by someone that knows what they’re doing, costs very little. Especially, when you consider the amount of money and time you spend to start and run your business–why would you not invest just a little to increase your likelihood of success two or more times?

Do you have your own business–what is it?
Do you have a business plan?
Do you use your plan?

Bad vs Good Leaders

Business Consulting In Your Face Friday Leadership Meandering Genius Organizational Commitment

Poor leaders ask you what you think about them.

Good leaders know!

Let’s face it, if you’re a good leader, you are “plugged into” your people. You know what they’re doing. You know what they’re thinking. That’s because you’re engaged with them!

In reality, bad leaders know they suck. Who wouldn’t know? No one can be that clueless! Why are they bad…so many reasons: micromanagement, absent, unengaged, poor communicator, etc.

These are the leaders that ask you for you opinion of them in 1:1s. Why, because they know they’re bad…and they know you won’t be honest, because their life will be a living H$%% of honest. Bad leaders know you will lie to their face to prevent retaliation.

And, in their sad, demented, world, this will make them feel good about themselves and confirm their veiled delusions that they’re a great leader.

How do we “flip the script?” How do we stop the madness?

Stop Dumbing Down Your Work!

Business Consulting In Your Face Friday Leadership Meandering Genius

I’m not sure who started teaching leaders that “less is more.” I have watched the move away from presenting and providing detailed information about an issue, project, effort, etc. Today, we’re sharing so little detail on the item that leaders don’t have enough information to make sound decisions.

This is a terrible trend! This is creating a culture of employees only doing enough work to provide three bullet points on a single slide–the result of an organization becoming “PowerPoint Deep.”

Leaders think they’re too busy to need all the data and information to make a decision. The higher you go, the less detail. I’ve attended training classes on executive level presentation. We expect people to be brief and concise in their message to the point of obliterating the facts.

Stop!

Leaders — get out of their glass tower, walk around, and really understand what’s going on. You need to see the data and research. You need to understand the problem. Otherwise, the culture you’re setting is that no one that works for you understands the work. Why would they go to the trouble of researching a subject, collecting data, and analyzing the findings if the you aren’t going to look at it?