Successful Blog

What George S. Patton Said That’s Crucial to Your Business

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A Historically Relevant Guest Post
by Terry Crenshaw

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Historically Relevant

Generally speaking, it’s probably fair to say that the principles of success possess a kind of across-the-board relevance, an applicability to most any endeavor you could mention; while the particular precepts of success may vary from one enterprise to the next, the universal concepts are basically the same. Maybe it’s for this reason the business world is one so pregnant with analogies. Sports metaphors come into play in the business world all the time, but even more prevalent might be military analogies – metaphors suggesting that the very traits that make for a successful general might also yield an effective business owner.

Loyalty

In that spirit, there’s a familiar quotation from General George S. Patton that’s worth mentioning in the context of business success. The war hero once famously said,

“There’s a great deal of talk about loyalty from the bottom to the top. Loyalty from the top down is even more necessary and is much less prevalent. One of the most frequently noted characteristics of great men who have remained great is loyalty to their subordinates.”

Loyalty – not from an employee to the company, but from the company itself to the employees. What a novel concept.

I can’t help but think of this principle as I consider the examples of businesses such as Whole Foods – a company that is consistently voted one of the Top 100 best places to work, and a company that performs well against its many competitors. There’s something to be said for Patton’s philosophy, and it seems like no big stretch to say that it’s applicable to companies like this; could the fact that it’s both a highly profitable business and a business that treats its employees well truly be a coincidence?

I doubt it. At any rate, the factors that could be at play here are numerous, and while they’re not particularly obscure or hard to deduce with the simple tools of common sense, they might warrant a brief repetition. For starters, there are some obvious financial considerations to be made here. We know that happy employees are more likely to stick it out with their jobs rather than go looking for employment elsewhere; less turnover means less time wasted on the recruiting and training of new employees. It means a more streamlined and efficient business in general, even.

And if you think that loyalty is the only military virtue that translates into a business setting, just consider these further examples – historically relevant business strategies that resonate even today.

Adaptability

For one, we could champion the virtue of adaptability. This is obviously a crucial military trait; a strategy must be altered to fit the nature of the enemy forces, and even the terrain on which the battle is being fought. In much the same way, a business has to adapt to the times, and to its competitors. We have seen airlines adapt to the changing demands of air travel – in particular, we’ve seen Southwest abandon the hub-and-spoke model, and they should at least be given credit for trying to change with the times. On the flipside, we’ve seen McDonald’s adapt to the changing needs of consumers, and to new economic realities; they’ve cashed in on the premium coffee and smoothie trends furthered by companies like Panera, but also ensured that these products are priced to meet the budgets of recession-affected diners.

Strategizing

We could go on. What about strategizing – the importance of long-term thinking about the future? Barnes and Noble did it with the introduction of their E-Reader, the Nook. They saw where technology and reading were headed and jumped on the bandwagon – leaving companies like Borders to flounder

Expansion

And what about expansion? The history of military conquest is one of empires gradually expanding their domain, in much the same way that Amazon steadily grew from a bookseller into a merchant of just about anything you could name.

These are all companies that have learned from the military – and more broadly, from history in general. And what they have to show us is that changing with the times – strategizing, planning, adapting – is important, but there’s also something to be said for time-honored principles. This fine line is tough to walk, but of course, we can always look to the past for sterling examples of how it is done.

What have you learned from history?

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Terry Crenshaw covers economic trends in the United States and writes for www.peterorszagsite.com. Terry is especially interested in tracking the ideas of Peter Orszag and other economic experts as the economy attempts to recover from the recent recession.

Thanks, Terry, for the reminder that great thinking has always been what wins the day.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

7 Steps Get the Best Leadership Thinking from Your Team

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10-Point Plan: Teaching Leaders to Think

“I Don’t Pay You Think” Doesn’t Work Anymore

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For years we marketed one-size-fits-all solutions, it worked to grow the numbers higher and higher by allowing companies and corporations to focus on how to give us more for less. We had access to more products at lower prices because of it.

And in that one-size-fits-all environment, it’s fairly certain that at least once in your career you heard a manager say the famous words, “I don’t pay you to think.” In fact the system relied upon carefully controlled decisions … only a few people were allowed “to think.”

Rogue thinking upset the carefully constructed system of industrial production that made the whole thing work. Even customer conversations were perfected down to scripts so that no maverick thought could undermine the “perfected” process of handling relationships.

Except customers never did find those scripts the making of a perfect relationship and now as customers have ways of connecting with each other, they’re letting us know that they’re spending their attention, time, and money with companies and corporations who build one-of-a-kind things, offer customized and personalized service, and develop true and loyal relationships.

What 20th century company or corporation was designed to manage that?

7 Steps Get the Best Leadership Thinking from Your Team

It’s been decades of businesses that have preached the mantra “I don’t teach you to think.” Leadership reaches out to build together what can’t be build alone. Ironically, it gets stronger when everyone thinks.

How does a leader build a team that leaves behind black-and-white safety of scripted relationships to the gray decision making that actually serves customers and the company? Without the right environment, support, and commitment in place it’s likely to be a mess of good intentions that foul up things.

Here are 7 steps to building a thinking, influential leadership team.

  1. Trust your team. It goes without saying that if you picked the right team, they’ll do the right job. If after reflection, you find that trust isn’t going to come. It’s time to change your own thinking about the people you want on your team.
  2. Start with a small crew. A change in management style cannot be made via a toggle switch or a pendulum swing. Rather than announcing new “rules of behavior.” Enlist a small crew who has already shown they understand both customers and what drives the business.
  3. Agree on the definition of a good result. Strategy always begins with knowing where we want to go. Set a goal. Define what a successful completion of that goal would be.
  4. Let the crew plan how to get from here to success on that one thing. You’ve agreed on the outcome and you’ve chosen the right crew. Let them show you their most efficient process for achieving it. Let them work out the details without you.
  5. Review the plan by asking questions. Have a short meeting for the crew to show you what they’re going to do. Limit yourself to questions rather than advice. You now have the benefit of being outside the thinking and so you can test it for holes and hidden assumptions — something you couldn’t do when you were part of building the plan. You can learn from the new ideas they bring to it.
  6. Stay out of their way as they execute. Ask them to keep you apprised via status updates and meetings, but stay in question so that you can be tester of the thinking rather than the only thinker in the room. When people look to you for an answer, answer with, “You have more information, than I, what seems the most appropriate action to you? Why do you think so?”
  7. Celebrate Success and Value What You Learn Every status meeting take a moment to celebrate successes. Invite the crew to do the same with you. Also take time to highlight and value new things, surprises, and misfires that teach what not to do.

The days of “i don’t pay you to think” are thankfully long over. True leaders are people who don’t want to do all of the thinking. Leaders are people who want to build something innovative, elegant, and useful that they can’t build alone.

Care-filled thinking, well-thought action, and thoughtful response has become the gold standard of business growth, innovation, and loyalty relationships. When everyone is thinking, the customer and the company become a community and the business thrives. Thinking is the new ROI.

The way and the level at which we value our teams’ thinking is directly proportional to the value of the thinking they return.

How do you get the best thinking from your team?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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5 Reasons You Absolutely MUST Share Your Vision Early and Often

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(Updated in 2020)

10-POINT PLAN: 1.1 Articulate the Vision

Why Define the Vision?

Tom Peters says that a business either supports the over-achievers or the under-achievers. The ones who feel supported call up their friends to say “This is a great place to work!” The other group feels unappreciated and leaves. My experience has shown over and over again that this is true. A business reinforces gets the behaviors it reinforces through its models and processes.

Zappos is a great case study in a how to build a internal community of brand loyal fans. What makes the Zappos culture uniquely strong and attractive is the commitment they make to the core values of the community. The vision is articulated clearly and acted upon in highly visible ways.

“Everyone that’s hired, it doesn’t matter what position–you can be an accountant, lawyer, software developer–goes through the exact same training as our call center reps. It’s a four-week training program and then they’re actually on the phone for two weeks taking calls from customers. At the end of that first week of training we make an offer to the entire class that we’ll pay you for the time you’ve already spent training plus a bonus of $2,000 to quit and leave the company right now.” — Tony Hsieh, CEO Zappos, as interviewed in Fast Company, The Happiness Culture …

They pay new employees to leave!

It’s Not How Or What … It’s Why That’s Important

Zappos says that it’s not a company it’s a mission — the Happiness Culture. That says something about who they are and why they do what they’re doing. Read the the core values of the Zappos culture.

The Zappos Core Values are:

  1. Deliver Wow Through Service
  2. Embrace and Drive Change
  3. Create Fun and a Little Weirdness
  4. Be Adventurous, Creative and Open-Minded
  5. Pursue Growth and Learning
  6. Build Open and Honest Relationships with Communication
  7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
  8. Do More with Less
  9. Be Passionate and Determined
  10. Be Humble

They explain why people work there, why people do business there, and why people talk and write about them.

Tony Hsieh has articulated, built, and protects the community values that make Zappos a great place to work and a great company to work with. No wonder Zappos has such a huge and love-them loyal fan base.

That vision built a company in an enviable position. There is Zappos! and the companies who wish they had what Zappos does.

It’s Not the What or How, It’s the HUGE WHY Behind It

Leaders know where they’re going — direction and vision. They know how they will get there — a strategy and tactics. Leaders who are community builders articulate that direction and strategy with intelligence and resolve, with clarity and passion, and through a generous invitation for collaboration.

At the core of community building are three key understandings:

  1. A community-building business offers financial, professional, and philosophical/political growth for the community. As we invest our time and resources, a thriving community and its members become more successful at earning income / revenue, gain more visibility and professional authority within their industry, and know that their work has meaning and contributes to a higher purpose.
  2. A community-building business looks to align goals rather than trade services. Communities collaborate and communicate to raise a barn. Gone are the hierarchies and silos that used to negotiate to build a coliseum. The difference is in shared ownership of ideas, interactive problem solving, and commitment to the vision. Invest in people and they will return the investment.
  3. A community-building business knows that the people doing the work know what’s working and what isn’t. The exact interpretation of how the HUGE WHY vision is put into action is defined at the team level. Teams discuss and design simple decision models based on the agreed upon core values. As a result, people at every level know how to respond to new situations with positive action.

The vision of where a community-building business is gone draws from those three understandings. It’s good to know them, but it’s not enough.

5 Reasons You Absolutely MUST Articulate Your Vision

It’s critical to put the three key understanding of community building into action by defining and sharing a distinct vision. The vision sets the value of the business and the higher purpose that attracts and unites the community. It defines the internal brand and affects everything from hiring decisions to how employees treat customers.

Here are 5 reasons you absolutely must share your vision early and as often as you can:

  1. To make the thinking concrete and achievable. We all know things better when we have to communicate them. By articulating our vision, we internalize our commitment, begin to know it, and see the reality and flaws our thinking.
  2. To fulfill your leadership responsibility. It’s the role and responsibility of the community leader to define the reality of the community. The vision is and will be what attracts and retains the best employees, vendors, partners, and customers as part of the community.
  3. To visibly underscore the community values. Once the vision is articulated, the core values of the community can be listed, illustrated, discussed and integrated into every part of the business.
  4. To unify the community around one well-defined vision. Without a well-articulated vision, each community manager and member will be forced to make his or her own definition of what the community stands for and how those values are best incorporated into decision making.
  5. To empower and protect the community. In the same way that a budget or a schedule allows people to make decisions with confidence, the definition of the vision allows people to make decisions. A strong vision statement lends confidence to people who want to do the right things for the business.

A loyal internal community is a huge advantage. Every employee becomes a brand ambassador who invests emotionally in building the community as well as the company. Even in a solo practice, not to set your vision is to leave yourself in a place where your idea of where you’re is open to redefinition and loss of focus far too easily.

The strongest businesses know where they’re going and can share that with confidence and clarity. Yet too often we assume that folks understand the importance of where we’re going and why we’re going there. We have to share our vision or folks won’t see it and believe it’s going to happen.

Have you set the vision for your business? Is it HUGE enough to include everyone who helps your business thrive?

Related
To follow the entire series: Inside-Out Thinking to Building a Solid Business, see the Successful Series Page.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Be the ONLY: How to Claim Your Ground and Own It

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A Real Contribution

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Last week, Jeff Bezos announced plans to release a new-generation Kindle that will be even cheaper ($139) than the current generation, but will make only a few modest improvements in quality and performance. Even as analysts applauded the success of the Kindle thus far, they wondered why Bezos and his colleagues weren’t making the device much more functional, colorful, and powerful. In other words, why weren’t they taking the simple Kindle and enhancing it to go head-to-head with Apple’s iPad and other companies searching for an iPad killer?

To which Bezos offered a strategic insight about his business just as compelling as Andrea Guerra’s take on his business. “There are going to be 100 companies making LCD tablets,” he told the Wall Street Journal. “Why would we want to be [company] 101? I like building a purpose-built reading device. I think that is where we can make a real contribution.” — Bill Taylor, Do You Pass the Leadership Test, Harvard Business Review. Aug. 03, 2007

It was still the 20th Century when someone told me that I could count on these four words to always be true …

This too will change.

And since the 21st Century has arrived, those same four words have become a part of my daily reconnaissance.

Like Jeff Bezos and Bill Taylor, who wrote about him, I believe that being good at something is no longer an option. In this ever-shifting, high-noise environment, we

  • have to be the only and best at something
  • have to be the first trusted source
  • have to claim our ground and own it.

And this is more than 20th century specialization, it’s making a real contribution. It’s leadership focused to serve a distinct customer group with a clear solution. It’s irresistible service.

In the 20th century we had the advantage of geographic protection. People could only find sources as far as their shoes, their cars, and their catalogs would show them. Now the Internet has not only brought the world to their door, but Google is willing to sort it for them.

The Ground Rules to Claiming Your Ground

Apply what Jeff Bezos said to the massive opportunity that is today’s marketplace and it becomes obvious that our ideal customers are faced with overwhelming choices. The number of options for whatever anyone wants to purchase are outlandishly huge at every level: value, relationship, and cutting edge-luxury niches.

The leaders in the field have decided exactly which customers they are selling to and they signal their commitment to serving those customers on every level. Narrow your niche and you’ll still have a world of ideal customers, but you’ll be able to serve them.

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Every choice of text, image, offer, or even white space in the Apple Education website reflects their commitment to educators. That focus is key to becoming the first, trusted source to the ideal customers you want to serve. But before you can own that space you have to be able to name that space and claim it.

Three simple questions can help you identify a space that holds the best opportunity for your skill set and your brand. Let’s call them the Ground Rules.

  • Where do the rules of the game / industry / current trends favor you? Make your own game. Check where your skills cross your mission. Look for opportunities where they meet. The same computer can be positioned and packaged differently to meet the needs of a specific trend or group. We can do that too. Be the best, the most, the fastest, the only. Do you write the lightest code, offer the most unique design, or maybe tailor your service to each individual?
    Example: Let’s consider that last one. As technology moves us faster, people have less time to do what they used to do and less time to do things that are meaningful. Can you configure be the simplest, fastest solution and still an outstanding value? Can you do one outstanding thing for less cost in less time? Can you make that contribution easier, faster, more meaningful, more fun?
  • What ground works for you? Be obsessed with easy. Reach out to the customers you can reach easily. If you can’t reach the customers for your idea, partner with someone who can holds that ground …. or recongfigure your idea for the customers you can reach. Repurpose products you already have to attract new customers to you. Build for the customers who already love you.
    Example: Amazon started with readers and moved out from there. Apple moved into education by offering their computers to schools and grew new customers. Software companies extend their reach by partnering with computer companies who load their offer on new computers. Who has a list that serves the people you want to reach? Who is already within your reach now?
  • Where will you find the best rewards? Claim an audience and serve them. Don’t claim a tool meant for everyone. Tools don’t make relationships people do.
    Example: It’s better to claim service professionals moving online than to claim to sell a service to all small businesses. If you clearly claim a group, you can serve them well. They’ll tell their friends about you. Not everyone who buys a book on Amazon reads it. Some give books as gifts. Some use them to fill their book shelfs. Some intend to read and never do. It’s easier and more efficient to grow a clarified customer group than to try to grow a group from individuals who have nothing in common.
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Narrow your space to your ideal customer group and your unique expertise become clearer and more defined. It’s true. Show up with the skills, expertise, integrity, and competency and deliver on what you say you do.

Once you own your ground everyone else becomes a “knockoff.” You become the barrier to entry … the ONLY. There can be only one Cirque du Soleil, only one Mac, only one SOBCon – those who follow will be facsimiles.

Look around at the winners, they claimed their ground before they owned it. Amazon claimed the world’s readers before they captured that market and now they serve readers products of every sort … including a simple Kindle that will never compete with the iPad.

What space can you claim? What unique value will you deliver to the people you want as your ideal customers?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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Worse than Pick Your Brainers: Meet the Network Rustling Cowboy

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Recently two folks I admire — Jason Falls and Gini Dietrich — have written some great thoughts on people who over stress a professional relationship by asking if they might “pick your brain.” If you’re a service professional — doctor, lawyer, social media practitioner — and you’re having this problem, follow those links; read the posts and the comments that they carry.

It’s those two posts that inspired this one.

Have a seat by the campfire and I’ll tell you a story of the cowboys who make the “pick your brain” folks look almost harmless — as if they’re merely apprentices to the people who write the bad PR bitches that keep showing up in our email inboxes. After all, so many of those “pick your brain” folks don’t realize they’re looking to learn at the expense of another.

The cowboys I’m thinking of are practiced at what they do.

Whoa Cowboy! We See You Trying to Rustle Our Netwworks?

Early this year, a cowboy rode into town. he took out his LinkedIn account, his email lists, and his telephone. He contacted people he never met immediately asking … asking everyone the same set of questions in about the same way and causing the same uncomfortable feeling in the people he contacted.

Cowboy’s First Phone Call

So the cowboy was efficient. He would bother to show much interest in the people he called and in fact, never started by asking them to participate in the event he was planning. When he called me, I let him talk for quite, asking questions about his event and how it worked and what he was looking for …

This is what the cowboy wanted from me.

  • Connections to my network to get speakers for his event.
  • Information on how to market to this city.
  • Access to my list even though he’d never met me.
  • Promotional help even though he made no offer of value in return.

I listened for about a half hour to be sure that he didn’t know a thing about me … other than I had a network in Chicago that might be worth tapping into.

I listened long enough to be sure that he never offered anything in return for what he was asking. Then I told him that I thought it was curious that he would be asking for my advice on his event and for access my network, but not being the least interested in who we are or how to return the value.

I called of few of my friends around the city and their stories were even more blatant than my own. I figure that might be because my friends are much nicer in situations like this than I am.

This cowboy wanted to rustle my network and we weren’t supposed to notice?

To Network Rustlers Everywhere

So, to cowboys out there everywhere, I’d like to say something clearly.

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Take this word from me …

The people in my network are people not cattle.
I value them. I trust them.
I hold their trust as priceless.
I don’t and won’t ever sell them or their time for your money or your promise of attention.
I might occasionally be stupid enough give away my expertise,
but don’t try stealing my friends’ time or expertise

I’ll call you on it.
If you’re using me to get to them, I know you’ll just use them too.

Compared to their trust, whatever you need is irrelevant.

So get along now little doggie. We don’t cotton to folks who rustle networks around here. Build your own network. Do your own homework. Make your own relationships in ways that build community.

I had such fun writing this.

Have you had experience with network rustling cowboys?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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The Difference Between Begging for and Building Influence

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The Economics of Influence

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People are using the word influence to mean many things these days. It’s easy to confuse influence with popularity.

Recently Jason Pollock commented on Twitter about the Fast Company Influencer Project Project @Jason_Pollack said, I signed up for the “influence project” but quickly realized those at the top were just being very spammy to be there.

Robert Scoble replied with some true words of wisdom … @Scobleizer said, “Seems to me @Jason_Pollock that people with real influence never have to point it out or beg for it.”

They have a point.

Are You Producing Influence?

People rich with influence understand it as a currency. True and lasting influence — like true and lasting wealth — is earned through investment of time and resources. But it’s also a way of thinking and valuing what we do and the people we do it with.

The difference between begging and building influence is the difference between giving to get and investing wisely.

  • The exchange rate. In economics, influence would be a local currency. It’s value is only worth what your network agrees that it might be. The ideal is that you might take a single contact to move people to action. Contests that require millions of votes to choose a winner are an example of hyperinflation.

    Power up your network. Be willing to work to prove your value.

    How can you connect with the people who most represent what you value?

  • The production costs. Producing influence takes resources — spent in building quality relationships, systems to maintain them, content to keep connected with them, and ways to grow those relationships. True influence grows from aligning our goals with others.

    Share your influence as an equal partner.

    How can others be better because you helped?

  • Specialization. People rich with influence have integrated their passions and skills into their sphere of influence. They choose their networks on values and ethics and by doing so have established an automatic barrier to entry.

    Know and value what has drawn you to each and all of your contacts.

    How do you describe your network?

  • Scarcity: Supply and Demand. If oak leaves were currency. They would only be valuable where oak trees don’t grow. People who have influence choose and feel no need to showcase their influence bank account. Their generosity is from a place of strength. They promote what they value in others, not what they hope will return.

    Value your word and the power it has.

    How do you know what not to influence?

When we know the value of our influence, we can invent it wisely in the people who invest back. We don’t feel a need to give our value promiscuously to every person who asks.

Who influences you by the way he or she influences others?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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