It’s hard to grow dragging yesterday’s debt

Debt is easy to accumulate. The simple act of turning on a light creates debt to your power company. When you purchase products to sell or materials and supplies to run your company, an invoice will be heading your way. The moment an employee shows up for work, you owe that employee a paycheck. Anything you purchase without paying cash creates debt. But operating expenses, payroll, payroll taxes and the like represent debt that you clear up before it accumulates. If you don’t, the weight of that debt gets heavy fast. Add the weight of big loan payments, high-interest debt and credit-card debt, and you have all the ingredients to keep your company on the financial brink.

Think of debt as a chunk of lead. A small chunk is easy to carry around all day. Add heavier chunks, and you’ll begin to struggle. Add even bigger chunks, and you’ll need a cart in order to keep moving. If you keep adding lead to the cart, it will reach a point that is beyond your strength limits. Now it will require all of your attention to begin eliminating chunks of lead until you can get the cart moving again. And while you’re busy eliminating weight, all progress is stalled. This is what debt does to a company.

What don’t you want following you in 2010?

Congratulations! You survived 2009. Without question, 2009 was a scary and challenging year. Other than the government, everyone put a lid on spending and took a meat cleaver to trim expenses. Businesses and consumers alike shifted into “find the best deal” mode. Clearly, the final days of 2009 are ending on a more optimistic note than the gloom and doom this time last year. So, take a deep breath. 2009 is almost in the history books.

It’s delightful how a new year inspires feelings of hope. But creating a wonderful 2010 means that you must make some big decisions and back them up with your commitment to go the distance.

So the question I pose to you in this Monday Morning Wake-Up is, what are the problems, frustrations, behaviors, issues and situations that you don’t want following you into 2010? What are you going to do about it?

It’s about delivering on your promise to your customer

Seems the recent full moon has been bringing out those annoying behaviors that drive leaders crazy. I’m talking about things like lateness, absenteeism, missing daily huddles, not following procedures, right up to the ever-present “it’s good enough/it’s not my job” mentality. Yes, it’s all that behavior stuff that ultimately leads to one dramatic and sad conclusion – breaking the company’s promise to the customer.

What’s this big promise I’m referring to? The answer is pretty simple. You promise quality, personal attention, reliability, consistency, fast resolutions to problems, going above and beyond, integrity, team service and so on. Your promise contains all of those lofty and inspiring experiences you want the company you lead to deliver in mass quantities to your customers.

A Year of No-Compromise Leadership

It’s hard to believe that it’s been one year since my book, No-Compromise Leadership, was released. From the pride I felt the first time I held a printed copy of the book in my hands to the many speaking engagements I’ve done since, what an amazing learning experience it has been. The real reward is how the book and the concept of no-compromise leadership is changing the lives of leaders and their companies. I’d like to share some insights from the first year of No-Compromise Leadership.

• “You wrote Part One about me.” I wrote about the decisions leaders make every day and how those compromises degrade and chip away their company culture. Procrastination, double standards and leadership blockages, such as confusing fierce conversations with confrontation. It was interesting how many leaders saw themselves in the examples and stories. I knew the “reflection in the mirror” approach worked when I heard leaders using the no-compromise mantra to begin the change process.

When long-time top performers drop

It’s a reality that every leader must face. Top performers are those exceptional employees that get the work done. They’re self-starters. They’re loyal. They’re mentors and role models for their teammates. They have stood by you in both the good times and bad. Simply put, trust and appreciation flow both ways. But time, business evolution, the economy, and shifts in personal behaviors and priorities, bring leaders face to face with the toughest of business dilemmas: what to do when top performers begin to drop?

A dilemma is a situation where the possible solutions are undesirable, difficult and challenging. Long-time top performers were a joy during their quest to reach the top. They established new performance benchmarks for others to strive for. They brought consistency and predictability to the company. In the process, top performers become top income earners. The dilemma for leaders is what to do when the performance of top performers drops and/or the company can no longer afford or sustain their high incomes. Like it or not, you need to find a solution. In these economic times, avoiding or procrastinating can and will jeopardize the financial integrity of the entire company.

Leadership and creating great sculptures

Imagine taking a massive block of granite and turning it into a magnificent sculpture for all to admire. For hours you stand and stare at that granite and the possibilities of what it can become. Finally, a vision of your sculpture crystallizes in your mind. You pick up your hammer and chisel and begin to chip away. What you’re actually doing is chipping away all of the granite that doesn’t belong until all that remains is your work of art. The sculpture existed in the granite, but only you knew what needed to be meticulously removed to reveal it.

As a leader, you are a sculptor of great company culture. Like the massive granite block, you take individuals with diverse backgrounds, personalities, ambitions and levels of determination and shape them into a highly functional company culture. You know that not all individuals will fit into your culture. In essence, you need to chip them away. If you don’t, you compromise your culture. It will never become the “work of art” culture you envisioned at the start. It’s hard and painstaking work.

Countdown to December 31, 2009

2009 will be remembered as the year the rules of business changed. The year began with the economy in the throes of the worst global recession on record. Business leaders were being pummeled by one ugly piece of economic news after another. Unemployment was soaring, financial institutions were crashing, automakers were on life support, and the government was doling out bailout and stimulus money like Halloween candy. Simply put, consumers and businesses alike initiated a lock-down on spending.

As we approach mid-November and officially enter the mad dash from Thanksgiving to the New Year’s holiday season, we are clearly in different economic times. Bad recession news is giving way to encouraging recovery news. Consumer spending is up just a notch. The housing market is actually showing signs that it has a pulse. Ford is reporting a profit. A leaner GM is making a comeback. Chrysler, now owned by Fiat, still can’t find the on-switch to its business GPS. Yes, unemployment just hit 10.2%, the highest since April 1983, but with “run lean” as the mandate, this was expected. In fact, it would take explosive economic growth to drive down unemployment and that’s just not on the horizon.

INDIFFERENCE: When “I don’t care” infects your company

Every company suffers from indifference. Without question, it is the single most toxic behavior that wreaks havoc on company cultures and performance. It can be as subtle as someone saying, “Why should I do that?” or “That’s not my job – I’m not paid to do that.” In contrast, indifference can be as blatant as people collectively refusing to follow new company procedures or systems and sounds like, “If they’re not doing it, why should I?” No matter how you view it, indifference is a toxic behavior that can spread rapidly throughout an organization.

In business, there are two areas of indifference. The first is leadership indifference that can be observed in many forms. It can be a leader who lacks compassion and respect for his or her employees. Leaders who talk down to people or reprimand in public. When a leader refuses to follow the same rules and procedures that employees are held accountable to. It is indifference when a leader lacks concern for budgets, employee feedback systems and other essential responsibilities. Yes, indifference begins at the leadership level and the trickle down quickly becomes a raging river.

LEADERSHIP: To be everything (including what you’re not)

If you had to describe what your role as a leader is, what would you say? What’s interesting about this question is that every leader will offer a slightly different perspective that is unique to his or her leadership abilities and experiences. Some revel in the thrill of leading a start-up or turnaround, only to find boredom and frustration in the day-to-day running of the business. Some leaders are innovative visionaries who can see opportunities where others do not. There are leaders who can communicate with extreme clarity and purpose while others struggle to find the right words. There are leaders who master the process of having fierce conversations while others dread and avoid them. And there are leaders who love data, numbers, systems and structure while others find them confusing and confining. The list goes on.

I bet you have high expectations for yourself as a leader – and you should. As leader, you must envision, guide, mentor, plan, solve, track, analyze, praise, discipline, inspire, understand, be accountable, hold others accountable, make tough decisions, drive sales, create profit, manage cash flow, be compassionate and create just the right company culture. I don’t know about you, but I felt my stress level increase just writing this. It’s as if the title “leader” will somehow magically bestow all the qualities of a great leader upon you. But alas, leaders are not superheroes. They’re simply individuals with the drive to find their own version of fulfillment at the top of the success ladder. The crowded middle and lower rungs just don’t do it.

Business is really about connecting with customers

“A place where everybody knows your name.” That’s the famous line from the TV show Cheers. Every time Norm entered the bar, in unison, everyone would shout, “Norm!” He even had his own bar stool right next to mailman Cliff Clavin. Cheers may have been just a TV show, but it demonstrated the power of a business making connections with its customers. There’s something special about being treated as a valued customer – to be greeted by name and to have your preferences remembered. But in these systematize everything days, it’s easy for a business to rush by that most precious of business behaviors – connecting with customers.

By connecting, I mean the magic that occurs when human beings (employees) extend friendliness, warmth, caring and respect to other human beings (customers). You can systematize every minuscule process on your quest to achieve consistency and predictability, but it’s impossible to systemize the warmth of a smile, a caring voice and an engaging personality. These are human qualities. And it takes the right leadership, environment and culture to energize these qualities to a level that customers not only experience, but it draws them back for more.