What is it about these Wake Ups?

I’ve been writing the Monday Morning Wake Up (MMWU) for more than three years. My mission is to have every MMWU tap into the thinking and behavior at the core of a true no-compromise leader. While other leadership experts write about the “what to do,” I write, teach and coach about the thinking and behavior that must exist in order for each “what to do” to work. What’s the sense of implementing a new system, structure or approach if the leader’s wiring (his or her current thinking and behavior) is contaminated with procrastination, inconsistent accountability, lack of follow-through, inflated ego, time-management issues, poor communication and listening skills, and self-entitlement?

The survival rate of any change initiative is slim to none when the leader’s own thinking and behavior is getting in the way. This means that all change initiatives must begin with the leader’s commitment to change first. And in many situations, it’s the leader who created the issues the change initiative is supposed to fix. The byproduct is frustration and disillusionment. The good news is that all leaders possess the power to rise to the challenge and change their thinking and behavior.

When good isn’t good enough

You run a good company. You built a good brand identity. Your sales are good. You have a good team and a good culture. So if everything is so good, why are you frustrated? Why do you feel like your company’s engine isn’t firing on all cylinders? Congratulations! You and your company have finally arrived at the pivotal point where good is no longer good enough. Good got you to where you are. Good doesn’t have the horsepower to take your company to the next level. Good is status quo.

Good simply means that you’re executing a lot of things well. Good is certainly something to be proud of, but competitors will methodically nip and chip away at your good until it becomes average. The gap between good and average is small. The gap between average and irrelevant is even smaller, and the decline can be rapid.

Earning Predictability

Your long-range plan is clear. You build projections, budgets and cash-flow plans. You narrow your focus to 10 major initiatives to complete this year. You create organization charts to establish chain of command. You have job descriptions nailed down. Your information-flow systems are up and running. You’re screening job applicants better than ever. Employee training is thorough and weeds out the misfits. You have a system for damn near everything. Then why the heck are fires still erupting in your company? If you have all this stuff in place, why are things going off in the wrong direction? Where’s the predictability?

Creating predictability in a business is an essential quest. You have to do it. You have to find it – or at least get as close as you can to it. The problem is that things can be predictably good or bad. Whenever you say, “I knew that wouldn’t work,” what you’re really saying is the planning and preparation was flawed or inadequate, that the commitment, effort and execution were not equal to the task. In contrast, when things go predictably well, it means that planning, preparation, commitment, effort and execution were dialed in. FACT: Predictability, good or bad, is earned. Good predictability is hard work. Bad predictability usually means you hit the “easy button,” crossed your fingers and clicked your heels threes times.

Ten NCL Resolutions for 2012

The start of a new year is a great time to re-evaluate where you’ve been, and what you want your business to look like going forward. Reflecting on four years of writing Monday Morning Wake-Ups, I offer you the following no-compromise resolutions for 2012.

1. Stop tolerating the intolerable: Period. There’s funky stuff going on in your company that needs to go away – and it’s your job to get rid of it. The funky stuff has to do with behaviors, thinking, entitlements, double standards, cliques, missed opportunities, procrastination, missing or failing systems, inconsistent customer experiences, indifference and so on. You complain about it all the time, but you continue to tolerate it every day. Do you want to drag all that stuff into this beautiful new year? It’s time to go no compromise.
2. Leave nothing unsaid: You’re wrapping up a performance review. You discussed a whole bunch of stuff and hit on some important issues. But there’s one big elephant in the living room that’s been driving you crazy – and you end the review without mentioning it. You blew it. Leaving things unsaid enables inconsistent and unacceptable behaviors and performance. It’s the leader’s job to leave nothing unsaid because that’s the only way to coach an employee to reach his or her full potential. Do it with respect, integrity and commitment to achieving the right outcomes. It’s time to go no compromise.
3. Everyone is responsible: “They” isn’t on your payroll. The instant someone on your team says or thinks, “It’s not my job,” that employee has made the choice to be dispensable. It takes commitment, tenacity and courage to be indispensable. Build a culture based on “everyone is responsible,” and you’ll redefine your definition of efficiency, productivity, sense of urgency and teamwork. It’s time to go no compromise.

Why leaders obsess – and what to do about it

It’s our job as leaders to obsess. In fact, if we weren’t obsessing about something, we’d obsess that we have nothing to obsess over. If you think about it, obsessing is much like your shadow: It follows you everywhere. We obsess about all kinds of stuff, some of which is actually worthy, even critical, to obsess over. And then there’s all that low-level interference stuff you obsess over even though you’d be hard-pressed to explain why.

I am proud to admit that right now I’m obsessing over a few big projects I have on my plate: sales, cash flow, challenges coaching clients are having, ramping up new coaches, and a few other worthy issues. Yup, I always like to have my “things I’m obsessing over plate” nice and full. You’re probably thinking, “Hey, my obsessing plate is just like Neil’s.”

I’m also obsessed about writing the January 2nd Monday Morning Wake-Up that I need to write immediately after this one, whether the capacity of the 3-hole punch tray in the new printer we’re testing will meet our needs, that for the first time this year I do not have a flight booked to anywhere, whether we’ll have good weather next June for the MS Cape Cod Getaway Ride, will I like the new salt and pepper grinder set I just ordered, if Republicans and Democrats could agree on what today’s date is, and other truly worthless mind garbage. One more thing – I obsess over e-mail. I hate when it piles up. Drives me crazy. So I check it all the time. Now that I think about it, I think I check e-mail just to take a break from obsessing about other stuff.

Here are my no-compromise absolutes on obsessing:

• Essential obsessing: Leaders obsess because our decisions impact the lives of others. It’s our job to make the tough decisions to grow our companies. Those decisions may take away a family’s primary source of income or jeopardize our personal assets. Tough situations and decisions keep you awake at night. It’s the stress that comes with the job. Essential obsessing is best described as the process of critical thinking where issues are defined, options assessed, and the best decisions made.
• Non-essential obsessing: Hey, it’s OK to obsess about the little things – but not if you’re doing it to avoid obsessing about the essential stuff. And here’s a thought that will make your day: Think about what would happen if you didn’t waste time obsessing on the little stuff. Guess what? The only thing that would happen is your attitude and outlook would probably find its way to a state that is less stressful, lighter and – if you can handle it – more enjoyable. If anything, it will give you more time to do some high-quality obsessing on the essential stuff.
• Decisions and actions: Obsessing usually ends when the decision is made and action is taken. Even if the decision is the best from a list of tough options, the decision itself triggers your stress-relief valve. Then, you can obsess about taking action to execute your decision. Once again, action will trigger your stress-relief valve, leaving a temporary vacuum that once was filled with the stress of obsessing. Taking action is like working out. It gets your body moving and your heart pumping, making you more productive and moving you toward your objective.
• It’s a choice: I’m an “obsessor.” I know it – and so do the people in my inner circle. And I know I can control it. I can turn it off, if I want to. But doesn’t that sound like an excuse to keep on obsessing to my heart attack’s content? It sure does. The true answer is that I can control my obsessing nature if I give myself permission not to obsess. Give yourself permission to do stress-relieving things; it’s an amazing gift. I feel less stress just writing this.
• Driving them crazy: Hey, if we know our leadership obsessing is driving our employees crazy, let’s do them a favor and get it under control. You’re not going to get better results stressing everyone out. Leadership is about inspiring others to achieve their full potential so you can achieve yours.

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Please share your thoughts with me about today’s Monday Morning Wake-Up. Click above to comment.

Neil Ducoff, Founder & CEO of Strategies and author of No-Compromise Leadership

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When leaders have epiphanies

Bam! In a gush of mental processing, you figured out the puzzle pieces and achieved a breakthrough of extraordinary, life-altering magnitude. Not only has your epiphany enlightened you, it has illuminated the path before you. You are in a different place where you see everything clearly. As a business trainer and coach, I witness leaders having epiphanies all the time. Heck, it’s my job to guide leaders to have those epiphanies.

The good news is that when leaders have epiphanies, they are massively empowering and ignite a sense of urgency to innovate something new, do things differently and just get the change train out of the station. The bad news about leaders having epiphanies is that people around them often don’t have a clue what’s going on or where the train is going. How could they, with the leader up front in the engine flailing his engineer hat around, shouting “woo hoo” and pushing the throttle to full speed ahead?

Why current reality is never good enough

As a consultant and business coach, I often wish I could have my clients lie on a couch while I sit in a big leather chair asking deep questions and taking notes. I’m not a psychologist nor do I want to be one. But just as a psychologist’s job is to help patients seek understanding and clarity, my job is to help leaders navigate the unpredictable waters of leadership, business, finance and human dynamics.

In many ways, it’s the leader’s job to obsess over darn near everything. It’s the leader’s job to constantly move the company forward. If the company is stuck or in the fiery pits of hell, it’s the leader’s job to unstick it and get the company on the path to daylight. When the company hits goal or has any sort of a big win, it’s only a short respite to celebrate, and then it’s back to the game of business.

Current reality can never be good enough when you’re a leader. A problem needs to be solved because another problem is on the way. Today’s innovation will become tomorrow’s commodity. A win needs to be followed by another win. The relentless pace of change recognizes current reality as imperfect. That makes current reality every leader’s nemesis. It’s pretty exhausting when you think about it.

To build a company that endures

Imagine a business law that stated, “If you start a company, it must endure for generations.” As an entrepreneur myself, I must admit that when starting a company, even Strategies, the last thing on my mind was designing it to endure for generations. The sense of urgency is to get the doors open, start generating cash and push through the crazy, exciting and scary start-up phase. When you bet everything you have on the vision of your new company, your attention is on the here and now – not on what your company should look like long after you’re gone. But what if it was mandatory that you build a company to endure for generations? How would that change your thinking?

Entrepreneurial businesses are born with a fatal flaw. They are the manifestation of their founders. As such, the separation between the founder and the company is blurred. Founder and company are one and the same. However, under the right conditions and a little bit of luck, the company can grow beyond the emotional bonds of its founder. The fatal flaw is that most start-up companies not only grow and mature with their founders – they age and die with their founders.

The ‘New Normal’ Org Chart

The “New Normal” is how I describe the state of doing business today. Think of it as a tidal wave of change that is relentless and moving at high speed. The pace is so fast that it has rendered many tried-and-true leadership approaches and systems grossly underpowered or totally ineffective. To survive and thrive in a change-on-steroids economy, leaders need to rethink everything quickly or drown in the wake of change. I’m not being overly dramatic – just stating what every leader knows to be true.

It’s hard for a company to be fast, responsive and innovative when its organizational structure is complicated and, in many ways, designed to be territorial. This is exactly what happens when org charts are built around titles and functions. In the New Normal, organizational structures must be streamlined, simplified and focused on what’s truly important: the outcomes.

Cynicism: forever your nemesis

The role of leader can be a solitary existence. You are the ultimate decision maker. You are the creator and protector of the company vision. You shape and nurture the company culture. You inspire individuals to achieve extraordinary things through the power of teamwork. You are responsible for the livelihoods and wellbeing of your employees and their families. You revel in your successes and pummel yourself with every failure. You cherish your strengths and, deep down inside, you are aware of your shortcomings. If accountability is your leadership watchword – cynicism is forever your nemesis.

I just completed leading Strategies’ four-day “Beyond Being the Boss” leadership course. On the afternoon of day one, I asked the group to define the word “cynical.” It was as if Pandora’s box burst open letting loose a barrage of emotions. Perhaps the most prevalent was the conflict between wants and needs as individuals versus the wants and needs of their companies. Some leaders want to kick back and enjoy their success. Some are just so tired that they want to get out. Others want to grow their companies but resist working through their leadership blockages.