Business

Is More Money Your Answer?

August 2, 2018 By kwmccarthy

Ask most business people what they need and the likely answer is “more money!” That’s like asking a football coach what he needs: “More points to win the games.” The real issue is What does it take to produce the points or the money?

Money (or points) is a self-deceiving answer or an easy target to articulate.

While Stephen Covey’s Habit #2 is “Begin with the end in mind,” it is as promoted just a beginning to the end. When we only have the “end in mind,” shortcuts are probably even ethical compromises.

The “Management by Objectives” movement has suffered many of these challenges. While never the intention of its creators, it became a rationale for sloppy management and the abdication of leadership and strategy.

Having worked as and with business owners for five decades (I started very early), I can tell you that money may be the obvious answer, but it is rarely the right answer.

Money is a specific commodity with well-defined functions, mostly as a measure.

Oddly, the lack of money in business may be more valuable than the money itself. It forces us to get real, to be creative, and to assess what’s working and what isn’t working. In the end, we’re apt to become better prepared and more capable of adding higher value and better services at a lower cost. Ergo, we make more money.

Being in business provokes us and pushes our buttons emotionally.

I’m not saying go out there and look to take stupid hits. On the contrary—avoid them, but some number of hits are inevitable. Rather than letting them take you down, let them build you up by learning, growing, and maturing.

In this On-Purpose Business Minute, I’m sharing with you the three most common attributes that attract money to businesses: law, order, and opportunity. If you’re a business owner or entrepreneur, this is a must see Minute.

Need some help with your business? On-Purpose Business Advisors has worked with start-ups and entrepreneurs to Fortune 100 CEOs. Email me to learn more.

Resource

Invest 9 minutes to learn about The On-Purpose Business Plan. This maps out the essential infrastructure to create sustainable growth and profitability.

Do You Have Killer Goals?

July 26, 2018 By kwmccarthy

“You need to set goals.” In business and in life we’ve all heard those words. It is hard to argue with the advice. It seems so simple. Yet for all the talk of goal setting, how effective is it really?

Setting goals is an important aspect of the strategic planning process.

But it is part of a process, not the ends and means unto itself.

Several years ago the CEO of a multi-billion dollar publicly traded company hired me to help revive the business. As he said to me, “Kevin, we need a crusade. Something we can believe in that’s bigger than our day-to-day.”

During my on-site time at the company headquarters, I met with the Director of Worldwide Strategy. In gathering initial information, I asked this question: “What are your income and profit goals for this year?”

That’s normally not a challenging question. Except here I was met with the answer, “We don’t have any goals like that.” This was a stunning revelation to me. How could they not have goals?

I promise you that the point of this On-Purpose Business Minute is an endorsement for setting reasonable goals but within the context of a strategic planning process. In my client’s case, it had me wondering just what the heck the Director of Worldwide Strategy was doing. He wasn’t happy to see me show up in the first place and now this question ensured a sabotage was in the works. He won!

Setting goals in a new fiscal year is commonplace in most work settings.

It is the natural time of the year for reflection and planning so the new year can be better than the previous year. There’s a reason why, however, all those good intentions often fail to live up to expectations. Business can’t be run by numbers alone. Metrics have a role, but they’re the result of a strategic process, not the lead.

This form of “Management By Objectives” was made popular in the 1970s. However well intended it was, the execution of it fell to a minimalist “numbers only” approach. Unfortunately, that is an indication of under-performing management.

Goal setting — everyone uses it, right?

You know the routine. You show up at an organizational retreat for work, church, the PTA, a ministry, or some other group. After the introductions, the person with the agenda says it is time to set goals.

Suddenly a knot appears in your stomach. Something about this doesn’t feel just right. You go with it because goal setting seems so right … and yet so wrong. After an hour or so, the team comes up with a list of goals and everyone goes home satisfied that a great deal was accomplished. And it has, but you have this gnawing feeling that very little is really going to happen next.

Why, you wonder, is it so unsatisfactory? Why is the group so excited, yet you’re so worried? You understand that goals without a plan are merely imaginary—but still better than no goals at all! Regardless of whether the organization is falling short or falling flat on its face, it is failing to complete the strategic process. That means that someone in charge doesn’t really know what it means to lead an organization. Uh-oh—Killer Goals of the worst kind.

There are Good Killer Goals!

Here’s an example from when we were in active production of The On-Purpose Minutes. Our killer goal was to produce and post an original On-Purpose Minute every Tuesday and an On-Purpose Business Minute every Thursday.

Sounds easy enough, right?

Hold on for an On-Purpose Minute! Consider the creative thinking, planning, equipping, and many disciplines needed to meet this simple “killer goal.” I invested nearly a year in researching, experimenting, and learning what camera, lighting, and editing software to use. In the end, the technical and production stuff is actually the easy part.

The concepts and brand of the On-Purpose Minutes had to be conceived, developed, and tied to the business strategy of On-Purpose^®. An audience to reach had to be in mind. Finally, the content for each On-Purpose Minute had to be conceived, written, recorded, edited, posted, and embedded using YouTube.com and my blogging service.

Here’s one example where a Killer Goal with a clear purpose, plan, people, and process to support performance produced a video library of over 200 Minutes.

Avoid setting Killer Goals that kill the team.

Take your leadership and management duties seriously so your team can thrive and exceed its goals. Learn to think more deeply about the breadth and depth of the assignment.

The more you can talk about and plan early on, the better things will go for all involved.

Learn that the slow path to achieving your goals is almost always the sustainable and more profitable fast track for reaching your Killer Goals.

Be On-Purpose!

Kevin

Just Because We Can, Do We?

July 19, 2018 By kwmccarthy

Spread way too thin?

Does your “To Do List” look more like an “It’ll Never Get Done List”?

Welcome to my world where I have

more ideas than time
more projects than production capacity
a willing work ethic that admittedly tends toward workaholism

Who in your life is asking you this question: “Just because we can, do we?”

As a business advisor who develops deep strategy and designs businesses, I’ve seen far too many entrepreneurs and business owners confuse their capacity to perform as their reason to perform.

“We can do that!”

Having the ability to do something isn’t necessarily a sound reason for actually taking it on. I’ve been learning to be far more judicious about what I do. I also keep an “Ideas” file. Placing my scribbles and thinking into notes and notecards tends to discharge the energy or the immediacy and provides a cooling off period where perspective can be gained and better judgments made about what matters most.

Admittedly this is easier to write about than to live into.

The phone rang from a new business advisory client. I took the call. The business was in a revenue freefall.

Sales had dropped from $220 million to $70 million.
The business fundamentals had changed.
The unexpected death of the co-founders created chaos and confusion.

The young new family ownership was unprepared to lead or manage a business of this scale. Something had to change—fast!

The business had many functional strengths in operations, finance, facilities, brand, and such. Tremendous business capacity resided with relatively very sound infrastructure. They could do business, but could they remain in business?

Business is an inside-out reality.

What’s happening within the business is reflected outside the business. Customer engagement is important; however, it is leadership and management who create the means for that engagement to shrivel or thrive.

Marketing, in this case, had never been strategic. The deceased owner had a knack for it. Today, no one was at the helm with a feel for the business. In short, the company was in the midst of a very costly identity crisis that affected the internal culture and marketing. The customer experience suffered and very predictably, sales plummeted.

Working with the new owners and the hired president, we crafted a heartfelt purpose, vision, missions, and values. Then we partnered to develop a business plan. It rippled into a renewed marketing plan, sales plan, sales tools, sales training program, and field train-the-trainer program.

Let’s just say, probably a million dollars was invested in the entire project by the time we were ready to launch.

The relaunch date of the company was set. Company-wide months of thought, effort, and resources had been poured into this push to reinvigorate the business. A special convention was called to unveil the months of planning and preparations.

The week before the big relaunch, the company president attended a technology conference extolling the opportunities to be found in that industry, an unrelated business. The president, however, figured, “We have a loyal customer base and the capacity to attempt this. They’ll follow us.” This was true, but not wise.

Over my and his managers’ vigorous objections, he hurriedly hijacked the conference agenda, threw together a presentation of his vision, and launched a business concept (no support in place, mind you, to execute) to his 500-person sales force flown in and housed at the company’s expense.

Need I say more! The sales force wasn’t just confused, they were red-hot angry. It was as if a “bait and switch” had happened right before their eyes. The owner was playing around willy-nilly with their livelihoods.

The day after the “announcement,” the engagement with On-Purpose Business Advisors was mutually ended. The company could pursue what eventually proved to be—no big surprise—a very costly tangent that killed trust and momentum … and eventually put the company all but out of business.

Of course, this client had a host of people telling him not to do what he was doing. He just refused to listen and paid with his family’s business.

An idea alone, even a great idea, is never justification or rationalization for starting new initiatives, projects, or companies. In most cases, investing the same effort to launch something new is more wisely invested in updating, upgrading, and deepening what exists already.

Let the simplicity of the On-Purpose business approach guide you: Do More of What You Do Best More Profitably. A great exercise for new projects or businesses is to use The Service Model to design and develop your idea.

By capturing the essence of your thinking with a consistent approach, you will be more realistic.

Then file it away and give yourself a cooling off period. Later pull it out and evaluate it against the other opportunities, projects, and ideas you have.

Personal/Team Discussion: Show and read this On-Purpose Business Minute to your team and ask the following: Considering the many projects and opportunities on our plate, assess each against … Just because we can, do we?

The drive to make money and the capacity to produce are not predictors of customer acceptance. What lessons or stories do you have to share about leading the organization?

How Authentic Is Your Personal Brand?

July 5, 2018 By kwmccarthy

CAUTION: The text that follows may disturb and upset you, especially later in this blog post. The words are offered in the spirit of truth in love. If you are offended or hurt, then you needed to read them more than you understand right now.

The integration of your personal brand and personal identity will improve both your life and your work life.

Investing time to anchor your personal brand in the bedrock of your being will prosper you, plus the world will be a better place because of you.

The desire, ability, and effort to be authentic requires us to overcome the natural decay or decline within us. In other words, being reactive, negative, and pessimistic is easy. This “laziness about life” is like emotional gravity that’s relentlessly pulling our spirits downward into a dark place.

Given this force of nature, a decision to be true to one’s greater good followed by effort in action is non-negotiable if we’re to be our authentic selves.

The marketplace is tough enough as it is. When we’re trying to “fake it until we make it” we are inauthentic—merely actors playing the role of some fictional character crafted in the deceit of our mind’s making. The script can only work so far until soon our sense of self, right and wrong, and how to make honorable decisions is so compromised that we lose our moral center.

When we no longer know who we are, we can no longer trust or develop our instinct and conscience.

Nor can other people. When people can’t trust us they guard themselves from us. This translates into lost opportunities we never even knew we missed. Doors don’t open. Referrals and recommendations don’t flow our way.

Living in a false construct is destructive.

We’re set up for the fall personally or professionally or both. Living a lie always comes with a price. Covering up our failure of authenticity invariably exacerbates the problems to ourselves and for others into full bloom. “Nipping it in the bud” has always been sage advice.

Do you find your life to be growing in complication and overly busy? Busyness distracts us from our unfinished business.

Is now the time to assess your personal brand, including the image you portray?

Soul searching is truly good for the soul and good for business.

Some of the hallmarks of authentic leaders are

patience
trust
honesty
action
perspective
calm

These are inner traits—some of which are hard-wired into us at birth. Most, however, are etched through the blessed pain of mistakes made, forgiveness sought, redemption made, and lessons learned.

Instinctively, you sense the unpredictable trajectory of your high risk–low reward behavior. You know that it is fraught with failure. Because if you rationalize “optimism,” which is really recklessness, the inevitable consequences catch up to your deceptive practices. If living lies is ruining your life, then make the tough shift of diverting from your present course.

It is never too late to have a new start.

Do a gut check. For example, the physical world reveals spiritual truths. Look at your waist. If you’ve got excess inches around your belly then here’s a clue—you’re living a lie that somehow your self-inflicted overindulgence will not affect your health. Right! Guess again.

How do I know about this inauthentic personal brand of living a lie?

Look at my chipmunk cheeks back in 2008 and me today. Who was headed for heart disease, high blood pressure, or type 2 diabetes? I was on the inevitable downward trajectory from bad habits, poor choices, and lack of understanding. That was the easy part to fix! It was the software programming within my mind and emotions that was the greater challenge.

How could I be on-purpose carrying around a 50-pound load every day?
How much more authentic am I when I’m not self-inflicting harm?
How could I expect to prosper the planet when I was damaging and endangering myself?

The burden of excess weight dragged me down physically which affected my mind, spirit, and opportunities.

Are you ready to reverse and renew your life?

Have you reached the breaking point where the price of living a lie spoken upon you or self-manufactured and maintained has become a string of overwhelming lies that fray the very soul of your authenticity and identity? Reach out for help now. Recalibrate and realign the trajectory of your life. Time can be an enemy that reveals or a friend who heals. Begin the healing!

Reclaim your true identity.

Here are practical next step suggestions:

Reread The On-Purpose Person.
Download the free Discovery Guide and figure out what matters most to you.
Get one-on-one coaching from a Life Coach of your choice or from me.
Get on the path to being healthy. If you know a Health Coach contact him or her. If you want to talk with one, contact me and I’ll coach you in the program that helped me lose 50 pounds, or I’ll refer you to a Health Coach on our team.

The tag line of On-Purpose begins with “Be Yourself.” Incorporate this simple statement into your decision-making. The less you pose, the more you will be and become the authentic leader of your life you know you are.

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This On-Purpose Minute is a contribution I made to Crowned Grace International, an organization led by my colleague and friend Dr. Stephanie Parson.

What’s the Deal with Time Management?

June 28, 2018 By kwmccarthy

Was this On-Purpose Business Minute a gut check in your life?

Did you come to a realization that time isn’t your challenge, but it is your lack of clarity around your values and your purpose?

You’re a person in business, especially with your busyness. You’ve heard it said, “Time is money,” and “Time is your most precious resource.”

Anxiously, you check your phones and watches; arrange calendars and appointments; sync your tablets, phones, and computers; and use many “labor saving” devices. Yet, you feel the need for more and more time and believe more tools, and—maybe—a new app will make the difference. Wrong!

Do your checklists and to-do lists just keep getting longer and longer? Does it seem that the longer you’re alive the more behind you are? Yep!

So how’s time management working for you?

Admit it if you feel like you’re squandering your time far too much of the time. Get real with yourself about it so you can actually do something about it.

Stop blaming time.

Time doesn’t care, know, feel, or think. It only on marches on.

So what is “poor time management” costing you?

Are you feeling stressed and stretched so thin that you’re catching yourself wondering, “Is this as good as life gets?”
Are you trading your days on the planet for dollars in your pocket?
Does having your life built on sand instead of a firm foundation leave you anxious and concerned for your future and the well-being of your family and business?
Are you finally ready to arrest the craziness of busyness?

Please let me help you.

We offer an 8-session one-on-one personal and professional advisory experience based on The On-Purpose Person where you will fill in the gaps within the foundation of your life and work. Over the phone, we’ll have eight 75- to 90-minute sessions that will stir your heart and disturb your thinking. And then we’ll integrate it all around what matters most for you so you’ll finally be an on-purpose person in creation.

Looking to improve your personal leadership quotient? Consider the On-Purpose Personal Leadership Coaching program. Your investment is just $1,500 and the return is a lifetime improvement in every facet of your life.

There’s also an executive coaching version of the program for $4,500 where we integrate your life and business so you can do more of what you do best more profitably.

Are Business Plans Still Relevant?

June 21, 2018 By kwmccarthy

What’s your business plan?

What? Don’t have one? Don’t put it off much longer!

With the ever-increasing speed of business, can business plans keep pace? In this On-Purpose Business Minute, let’s explore the shift in the nature and the need of business plans.

We’re in an era of people and speed—two generally opposing forces.

Most of us don’t embrace change readily or easily. This resistance slows down the speed of the organization and growth that is so sought by the organizational leadership and demanded by the marketplace. By embracing this basic understanding of human nature and the inherent conflict you’ll be wiser and smarter about what to do.

Armed with this insight about the change–speed challenge, the logical question is What to do about the need for speed and change.

First, accept it.
Second, manage it by going to the deep strategy—purpose, vision, mission, and values. These “clinical” understandings of the corporate culture need to be communicated via strategic stories that infuse and educate the team about why what they’re doing makes a difference. In other words, resistance to change falls by the wayside when the opportunity before us is contribution to a greater good. In fact, we get anxious (in a good way) and excited to see it come about. Now speed is what the team wants.
Third, make the connection between a traditional business plan and the purpose of your organization.

Much is written these days about corporate culture.

But what is it really?
How is it shaped?
What needs to happen to create and sustain it?

Deep strategy is the start in the form of an elegant business plan.

If you are a start-up or small business with ambition, then get ahead of the curve today by planning your corporate culture. If you’re leading a larger organization, then you can truly get big gains by going deep. It is more complicated the larger the business, but it is all manageable.

Do you have the “deep strategy” strength and clarity in place to engage and inspire your team so they’ll advance and accelerate the organizational goal?

Need help? Contact me.

What Is Money Worth to You?

June 19, 2018 By kwmccarthy

What is money worth?

After watching and reading this On-Purpose Minute, I invite you to comment below.

Money, life, and work are interwoven life themes. Your money perspective paints your financial outlook. Here’s a preview:

Money matters!

There isn’t a day in your adult life when you’re not handling money.

Consider all we do with money:

exchanging money for time
making money on the job
spending money for groceries, goods, and services
doing money makeovers
investing money
counting money
worrying over money
saving money
wasting money

There are nefarious aspects of money such as counterfeiting money, stealing money, embezzling money, and “following the money.” The list could go on.

Money is everywhere. Money moves and measures the economy.

Money is our storehouse of value. Money is in our pockets and purses. Money rests on our dressers, in our drawers, and under our mattresses. When we’re short of money and long in the month, we’re worried.

Money can be the currency of a relationship, as in a couple fighting over money, investing for retirement, or saving for a home down payment. Money opens doors to social standing and status. There are people with old money and new money. Money can define a parent–teen relationship. There’s mad money. And then there’s money madness.

Money has meaning but it isn’t the source of meaning and worth.

It can be a source of security, income, worry, emotional stability or instability, the driver of our decisions, and generous giving.

Artists and theologians weigh in with gold nuggets of money advice:

1 Timothy 6:10 informs,

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

Did you catch that last phrase, “and pierced themselves with many griefs”? Talk about self-inflicted problems! Money is the result of service, provided there is a mechanism in place for a fair exchange of value.

Pink Floyd’s Money lyrics (first stanza below) from their album Dark Side of the Moon reflects the dilemma with the almighty dollar:

Pink Floyd Dark Side of The Moon album cover — Click the cover to order from amazon.

Money, get away
Get a good job with more pay and you’re O.K.
Money it’s a gas
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash
New car, caviar, four star daydream,
Think I’ll buy me a football team
Money get back
I’m all right Jack keep your hands off my stack.
Money it’s a hit
Don’t give me that do goody good bullshit
I’m in the hi-fidelity first class traveling set
And I think I need a Lear jet
Money it’s a crime
Share it fairly but don’t take a slice of my pie
Money so they say
Is the root of all evil today
But if you ask for a rise it’s no surprise that they’re
giving none away

In a prior On-Purpose Minute titled, “How’s Your Trust Account?” I invite viewers to consider where their trust is located … really.

Previously, I asked you to consider what you would do differently with $100,000 in your pocket.

Money will become whatever you choose it to become.

Will you become a slave to it or will you be the master of it? Come to terms with your attitude toward money. Money can be a source of great confusion and consternation. It can also be a source for provision and blessing.

Money can help you be on-purpose! Every time you use it, ask yourself, “Am I spending or am I investing this money?” Then consider if you are spending time or investing your time.

Ask yourself this simple question: What is money to me? Now you’re invited to chip in below with your comment to the question: What is money?

Let me hear from you!

Be On-Purpose!
Kevin

P.S. Perhaps you remember this “Show me the money!” scene from the movie Jerry Maguire.

How Convincing Are You?

June 14, 2018 By kwmccarthy

When was the last time a salesperson convinced you to buy something? And how did that purchase work out for you?

Some salespeople see selling as a win–lose competitive game of point–counterpoint verbal combat. Be careful! It can work, but it is a highly skilled game that walks a fine line between providing the needed information and intimidating the buyer into a purchase—once! Sales is listening

Sales is learning what’s important to the customer and addressing it.

The best salespeople ask lots of questions; then they shut up and listen with both ears wide open.

For example, in technical sales where buyer and seller are highly qualified and knowledgeable, this approach can be an act of sizing up and iron sharpening iron. Generally, you’ll find that it is the buyer, not the seller, who initiates this more pressured approach.

Be careful, however, because the difference between healthy banter and an unhealthy, dominating buyer may be a very thin line. In the latter case, a humble, noncombative approach may serve you best. In other times, the better the banter, the better your chances. Skilled salespersons can turn it on or off depending upon the buyer’s style and by assessing the appropriateness of the situation and person.

In a sales situation where the seller knows more than the buyer and the buyer is communicating the need for input or insight, attempts by the seller to convince the buyer often result in a buyer turnoff. The buyer may sense that the seller is more interested in making the sale than consulting or serving them with integrity. In short, they don’t trust the salesperson. When that happens the transaction is disadvantaged.

One of the great challenges in selling today is the leveling effect of information from the internet. Most buyers can find tons of information, reviews, and competitive analysis on goods and services. Therefore, as a salesperson or business owner who is selling, counting on your strategic advantage as being more informed than the buyer is a dangerous proposition. In fact, you may be more knowledgeable and experienced than the buyer, but to try to argue or convince the buyer sets up a high-risk scenario for creating distrust. Humility, not hubris, is the better path.

One of your strategic advantages and value propositions is the diversity of clients and customers you’ve worked with. In other words, you see patterns of use and abuse. You’re able to borrow from the experience of other customers and advise clients as to likely scenarios they may encounter and may not have anticipated.

Those involved in selling often find themselves in a really tough place.

From the strength of their knowledge and conviction, they perceive they know exactly what their client or customer needs, yet the client isn’t buying. Your natural inclination may be to lean into the act of convincing them with an even more reasoned set of facts, benefits, and features why this is the right purchase for them. Just how convincing do you think you’ll really be?

When that urge to tell overtakes your tongue consider just the opposite approach. Ask more questions. Ideally, you have what I call a “patterned conversation” in which you have a strong sense of what needs to happen (a pattern of questions that leads to an informative and insightful exchange) but not a preconceived notion of where it may lead.

Ultimately, buyers are looking to advance their larger goal.

If you don’t know the larger goal then you’re not really listening and learning what’s at stake.

Getting into a “convincing-fest” is rarely your best approach for earning the relationship and sale. It is often an indication of a salesperson who is taking shortcuts or is using dominance or personality or style to pressure someone into doing something they don’t want. This manipulation, however, can work.

Alternatively, there’s a time when a customer needs to be led to their decision. Leveraging your experience and capacity to anticipate their needs, you’ll take them along the path of discovery versus jumping to the final destination. It takes more time, but it often makes for a better solution for the client because you, too, will learn some things along the way and be able to provide a more valuable end result. Truth be told, you can make a sale or you can build a relationship. Ideally, you do both.