A friend of mine, the owner of a small business, recently told me that an opportunity came his way that he was very excited about. The only problem? He had a feeling that the potential client thought that his company was larger than it actually was. Should he accept the offer anyway? Should he explain that he’s actually a small company, and possibly risk them backing out?
The other day, I posted the following on LinkedIn, asking people to fill in the blank. “Nothing great has ever been achieved without ______.”
A couple days ago, billionaire Elon Musk’s company SpaceX launched a rocket into space, the first time a rocket this powerful has been sent into space by a private company.
In a fun, creative twist, rather than the usual nondescript chunk of metal, the rocket carried Musk’s red Tesla convertible
. . . with a dummy wearing a SpaceX spacesuit strapped inside. 😉
They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
By this definition, I think quite a few business owners would qualify as insane.
But in all seriousness—as entrepreneurs and business owners, so often we get stuck in our own ways of thinking, imprisoned in our own perspectives. Like spiders spinning the same web over and over, we’re unable to see a different way through our challenges.
If this resonates with you, then answer this: Who do you have in your life that you can talk with honestly and openly about your struggles in your business? Who do you have who can listen and encourage and guide you when the going gets rough?
The calendar has recently turned, and, with the change in year comes one constant: people setting grand resolutions and failing spectacularly.
No, this isn’t some deep-seated lack of faith in humanity – it’s fact. Research shows only eight percent of people actually achieve their New Year’s resolutions. This failure has, unfortunately, become so comically commonplace that it’s expected.
The question is, why? Read more
Here’s a scary thought: Try and picture a world without email.
Spooky, no?
Indeed, it’s hard to fathom our world functioning as we know it without the wonder that is email. It’s cheap, it’s fast, it’s convenient, it’s just… easy. Few words can be as harrowing and bone-chilling for a business as “email is down.”
But for all its immeasurable benefits, there is a dark side to email. One that can eat away at the very core of any business – even the most successful.
Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer, of Stanford University, accurately summed up the responsibility of a leader:
“Your most important task as a leader is to teach people how to think and ask the right questions, so that the world doesn’t fall apart if you take a day off.”
Perhaps no concept in business is more essential, and at the same time so colossally misunderstood, than delegation. Any rational person knows that they have strengths and limitations. It follows, that tasks should be divvied based on each employees abilities.
Yet for some reason, many business struggle to properly delegate—and the consequences are severe. Sloppy projects. Missed deadlines. Angry clients.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
As humans, we’re all creatures of habit. We have our morning routine. Our work routine. Our pre-meeting routine. We all just like to get into a rhythm and keep it that way.
After all, sticking to a routine is the key to being productive. Successful people are well-known as sticklers for routine. Routine provides structure. It establishes a sense of security.
Which makes having to change routine so hard.
It means tearing down the habits we worked so hard to create. It means demolishing the cocoon of security around us. Forgetting what we always knew.
Yesterday, I learned this lesson firsthand.
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