Leadership

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.

Are You A Success and Feeling Successful?

July 31, 2018 By kwmccarthy

Success takes on a different meaning for each of us.

For those of us with high and noble ambitions success is mostly momentary. Success opens our eyes to new vistas off on the future horizon that are only reached by going back down the mountain, into the valley, and climbing the next higher mountaintop. It’s work disguised as adventure and the exploration of possibilities.

Far too often I suffer from feelings of failure because of all that I imagine and have yet to accomplish.

Recognizing success is different, however, from resting in it.

It’s odd how sometimes I can be restful and satisfied, yet at other times so restless and frustrated. What gives with that?

Unfulfilled ambition easily draws me into being a smaller, stingier, melancholy occupant of my being. I don’t like me in these flashes of embracing failure. My 30-plus–year quest of pioneering the planet to be on-purpose continues to be a financial battle to fund the next project on the horizon. Fighting feelings of frustration, nonrecognition, and financial shortfall wear away at my heart in doses of discouragement.

When I find myself tending toward hoarding and worry, I know for a fact that my better character is not at work. That devil of fear is pounding on the door of my heart and I have to decide whether to let him enter or tell him to go away.

To regain my sense of perspective and rejuvenation, I force myself to reconsider my personal and professional accomplishments over the long haul. Counting my current blessings fills me with a gracious gratitude and a spirit of generosity.

Whether it be 30+ years of marriage, a son and daughter who make me proud, two truly best-selling books in The On-Purpose Person and The On-Purpose Business Person, and more—much more—I’ve learned that none of “my success” was done by me alone. I’ve been forever surrounded by a supportive cast of family, co-workers, friends, classmates, and colleagues who’ve each invested in my work and life. Love has uplifted everything “I’ve ever accomplished.”

I’ve also dealt with people who “throw bricks” by stealing, cheating, lying, and taking advantage of me when I trusted. About every 7 years I get a major AFGE (Another Frigging Growing Experience) that keeps me from a sense of self-importance.

These “lessons” have made me wiser and stronger.

The biblical concept of the tithe (See The On-Purpose Person in the chapter titled “Giving”) is remarkably practical on this point of managing success and failure. Tithing is designed to be a joyful, intentional, and proportional (10+%) expression of our time, talent, and treasure (our success). For our benefit, the tithe offers us a periodic and healthy time for reflection regardless of the size of our accomplishments.

Giving can be off-purpose when used to control, manipulate, or lord it over another. Giving is free and without strings attached. Investment, however, comes with expectations, controls, terms, conditions, and covenants. You can be a giver and you can be an investor—just acknowledge the difference when you’re in the act.

When giving, discretion and discernment are our allies. Stewardship matters. We’re not to be gamblers in our giving but we are to take risks by stretching our comfort zones so our faith and trust are extended.

Giving freely, not from duty or obligation, is the healthy outpouring of a successful soul. This kind of success and giving are knit together. You can’t have one without the other. As my friend Steve Brown of Key Life Ministries would say, “Now, you think about that.”

What Is A Vision?

July 24, 2018 By kwmccarthy

Vision is a gift to look into the future with a creative clarity and belief that what isn’t will one day become.

Vision comes in many forms and manners. Vision is larger, much larger, than a goal. According to The Book of Proverbs, vision is what prevents us from perishing. Vision is personal, yet it can be shared and can engage a group to greater heights.

Vision is the second of four key strategic concepts for better leading one’s life, family, and/or organization. In context and order, here are these what I call “deep strategy” concepts: Purpose, Vision, Mission, and Values.

If you’re asking about vision, then you are likely in the midst of seeking a deeper understanding or clarity related to direction. Vision answers one of The Great Questions: Where am I going?

What is a vision, really?

If you’re confused as you read books or surf the web, then you’ll only be more confused. Sadly, there is no standard accepted definition for vision or its related strategic concepts of purpose and mission. We’re doing life and business in a Tower of Babel world. Our language is confused around these vital concepts. By casually comingling and using them synonymously, all of society pays the price for the confusion and poor communication.

Businesses are big about stating their visions.

Many a business person will tout their vision with flair and enthusiasm. Bravo Business Person! But wait, there’s more.

Vision without purpose is just a costly distraction.
Vision without missions and plans is just wishful thinking.

Purpose, vision, and missions need values to govern them toward the common good.

In the absence of standards, for over three decades, I’ve led the charge to fill the void by offering a standard in The On-Purpose Person and The On-Purpose Business Person. Meet The On-Purpose Pal—a cartoonish character who provides a simple sense of how purpose, vision, mission, and values are different, yet connected.

There’s much to learn about purpose, vision, missions, and values.

This post isn’t the forum, but let me give you one way to better understand what you’re wanting to know. Answer the following “Who am I?” questions and you’re on the road to what you’re really after—a life of meaning and purpose with a clear identity, direction, plan mixed with strong confidence, and hope for the future.

Purpose: Why am I here?
Vision: Where am I going?
Mission: How will I get there?
Values: What’s important along the way?

Answered these questions? You’re well on your way to being an on-purpose person in creation.

Story: Trusting One’s Vision

Vision can be cooped up inside us longing to escape if we will just dare to express it to the world.

Years ago one of our certified On-Purpose^® Professional Coaches was working with a woman who shared a vision for an inner city orchestra. At the time the client was a single mom working two jobs and caring for her two children. Dreaming was a luxury this single mom believed was ill-afforded to her. With some gentle prodding by my associate, the client risked putting words to paper. Her vision began to take form. Cautiously, she began to share her vision.

Remarkable events unfolded within three weeks. At church one Sunday, a local high school principal approached her with this statement: “I heard you are gifted with teaching music.”

“Yes,” was her simple response.

The principal continued, “Over the summer, my high school received funding for an entire orchestra. I have stands, instruments, sheet music, and an acoustically designed studio. But guess what I don’t have? Someone to develop and lead the students. Would you be interested in the position?”

The rest of the story is one that ends happily.

So, what is your vision?

Are you prepared to allow the world to conspire for your benefit? Share your vision in the comments section. Who knows what might happen if you do.

Tip: The On-Purpose Poster provides a more in-depth description in a four-color 11″ x 17″ format suitable for framing. At checkout, let us know if you want your poster personalized and signed.

Are You In A Critical Condition?

July 3, 2018 By kwmccarthy

Image via Wikipedia

Looking around it can get pretty discouraging.

Honest skepticism and discernment are always at a premium, yet as of late with bad news abounding, I find myself (and others) falling prey to being hypercritical and running into a negative streak.

The effect is

compounding
self-fulfilling
contagious

Today’s On-Purpose^® Minute offers great hope and a couple of practical suggestions.

Turn your critical condition into a healthy state of being.

It isn’t easy, but it outshines the alternative.

Perhaps you have an idea or two to tap into your greater good and get out of being in a critical condition. Please share your wisdom and insights in the comments section below.

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.

What Are You Worth?

June 12, 2018 By kwmccarthy

No, this On-Purpose Minute isn’t a financial net worth kind of question! Much is made about self-worth and self-esteem, but preceding these is inherent worth.

Have you ever considered yourself as having inherent worth for just being who you are?

Many people are asking, “How can I find more self-confidence?” The underlying question isn’t a matter of gaining more self-confidence. First it is a matter of having confidence in one’s basic humanity, reason for being, and, as the U.S. Declaration of Independence describes them, “certain unalienable rights.”

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Are you prone to place conditions or performance standards on yourself to establish your worth as a human being?

Conditional worth, esteem, or love always fall short because they are based on external or environmental factors, beyond our control. Whether such conditions are self-imposed, learned, or simply cultural they’re limiting and limited and ultimately don’t serve us well.

Even the self-improvement business can’t solve your challenge if you believe you don’t have value from the day you were born to today and into tomorrow.

What does it mean to truly accept your inborn value?

What are the implications for you if behind all of your impressions, experiences, education, achievements, and performances you’re still empty in the end simply because you grip to a notion that somehow you “don’t deserve it”? Share your thoughts in the comments sections below.

This On-Purpose^® Minute invites you to explore your inherent worth and to accept your unconditional love. Scrape away the accumulation of lies, shoulds and oughts, put-downs, and abuse to reveal the depth of your being. Explore what you really believe about yourself and your worth in your heart of hearts.

Your inherent worth journey promises to be a valuable experience, albeit it may be a painful one, too. Appreciate how to do more than just build your confidence and to understand and accept the wellspring or source of your confidence, worth, and value just for being you.

There is a reason the tagline for the personal leadership offerings of On-Purpose^® begins with “Be Yourself.” Implied in “Be Yourself” is coming to positive terms with who you are. This is more than just accepting yourself for who you are. It is to joyfully embrace the extraordinary and spectacular supernatural reality that you even exist and that you have a reason for being. Your 2-word purpose is a simple key unlocking the remarkable truth of your existence.

Yes, you may need to step far back from where you find yourself today to prospect for your intrinsic value. Do it! Don’t settle for seeing yourself as fool’s gold when you have a 24-karat heart and life buried within begging to be discovered and explored.

Be prepared, however; the exploration of your inherent worth leads to a way where forgiveness and grace will be necessary to both give and receive. It will inspire improvement and intrinsic motivation to be and become. Inherent worth is best realized with a change of heart toward God, self, and others … in that order.

Women: Recommended Reading

Janet Cronstedt and J. M. Emmert co-authored Going to the Well, a modern parable set against the Bible story of the Samaritan Woman at Jacob’s Well. Explore the many issues of self-worth and inherent value through this easy reading message that will ring true especially for women. Men, if you care about your wife or daughter, then read this to better know how to be a man for the women in your life.

Powerful insights and understanding found in Going to the Well can lead to healing and recovery from the many plagues of low self-esteem and worth. You can’t afford to keep living the way you are. Go to the well in order to become well, whole, and worthy.

From the Mind of Mel Kauffman (used with permission) in response to this On-Purpose Minute

Great message Kevin,

One of the siblings of low self-esteem is shyness. I am attaching a writing called Shyness No More. There are so many hidden messages in this tiny paragraph.

So many parents mention that they have a child who is shy. Not true. No child is born shy or with low self-esteem. Shyness was added by inappropriate parenting. No two siblings are treated with the same parenting.

To me, the best method of shyness recovery is to consciously stretch your zone of comfort.

No book that I have ever read has explained the source of low self-esteem and a simple way to eliminate it.

Pass it along,

Mel

Shyness No More

I believe that shyness is a habit. Shyness is not in your DNA. Shyness is not in your genes. Scientists have not been able to isolate one shyness molecule. Being shy is instilled. A newborn in the nursery is not shy. The newborn will do what it needs or wants to do without shyness or hesitation. Soon when the newborn becomes a small child a parent will utter, “My child is shy.” The parent will utter these words in front of their child. How sad. All of us seek attention. Soon the child will realize it is getting more attention by being shy, then the child becomes shyer. How sad. When the child becomes an adult it seldom speaks. Speaking becomes emotionally painful. Anais Nin wrote, and then the day came when the risk of remaining tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. Neale Donald Walsch, who wrote Conversations with God, penned these words: life begins at the end of your comfort zone. So in order to have more life a person must enlarge their comfort zone. One way for your zone to have a larger circumference is to be pushed. Mother eagle commanded her eaglet, “Come to the edge.” The eaglet said, “I am afraid.” Mother eagle admonishes, “Come to the edge.” The eaglet once again said, “I am afraid.” She pushed. The eaglet soared! Wouldn’t it be delightful to soar out of your shyness into a world that is waiting for your words? Ralph Waldo Emerson had another suggestion: do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain. William Shakespeare over 400 years ago gave us this thought: act the part and you become it. Shyness recovery is a decision. When you reach the age of self-reliance, you will decide.

Mel Kaufmann

(1921-2018)

19 Ways to Conquer Low Self Esteem

Above is an interesting article with a diversity of ideas and points of view on low self esteem sourced by Jordan Ring.

Why Does Change Management Fail?

June 7, 2018 By kwmccarthy

What is change management’s greatest failure?

I am a contrarian about change management. It is just plain sloppy, imprecise language by the manager to describe a process and not an end result. The strategic work and a meaningful communication and action plan are missing. In the end change management invariably whips the corporate culture into a phase of unneeded confusion resulting in lost productivity and broken momentum.

There is a better way—growth management!

Change management is too often the latest in a line of misguided management marketing ploys to justify their efforts and position themselves to employees and shareholders as being on top of the business when they’re not. The employees know better and the shareholders are too distant to recognize the deficit of details being sold to them as strategy and leadership.

Change management is used at every level in organizations where two or more persons form a team. Supervisors to CEOs use the word “change” as a subtle form of control. Change management is a “wonderfully” accepted and euphemistic term in the general management business community for “a bunch of people (but not me) are going to pay a price for what’s getting ready to happen in this company.” Change managers use a variety of terms to disguise the stark reality that they are imposing their will upon their team and the consequences will fall upon the team.

Per Wikipedia, the definition of change management is “… any approach to transitioning individuals using methods intended to redirect the use of resources, business process, budget allocations, or other modes of operation that significantly reshape a company or organization.”

True translation:

Change = everyone else is going to accommodate what the change agent is saying and that person is just trying to figure out a way to break the bad news to you but doesn’t have the guts to speak plainly.

Amazingly, change management is the name of courses in business schools with professors and degrees focused on it. Major consulting firms have entire practice areas focused on it. Yet it remains a misdirection and distraction to the health and well-being of organizations.

As a business person or business leader, change is a word that you need to take as a warning to your own management approach. When you talk about change, it means the leader is either unclear about his or her vision or is unwilling to state it clearly. The subjects of the change, who are often far too trusting or at risk of challenging, will eventually learn whether the change was for good or for bad.

Regardless of the venue, leaders who market “change management” are as laughable as the emperor’s new wardrobe. The “beauty” of change is that it offers no measurable result, direction, or accountability.

Change can be negative or positive.

It just means something will be different, period. Well, of course, something will be different. Don’t settle with change—clarify what it means and where it is leading. Know the direction. Understand the destination.

Change is blind strategy with an escape clause for the change agent but rarely for the recipients of change. In reality, expect decline unless luck prevails!

The Power Option: Growth Management

Change is risky business. Few of us like change. Yet change, like breathing, is a fact of life.

Instead of change, let’s make the standard one of growth management.

Now the business person (or CEO) is focused in an upward direction and has a measurable result with a charge to add value instead of an ill-defined, open-ended nothing strategy that’s likely to result in decay rather than in growth. Decay is easy—do nothing. Growth, however, requires rolling up one’s sleeves, yanking out the weeds, and nourishing what’s discerned and defined as desirable.

Growth can include profits, behavior, people, relationships, and morale. Change is ultimately unaccountable babble left to the discretion of the leader making the change and an empty vision. It may sound inspiring, but it is merely sleight of hand illusion.

Growth requires a proactive partnership of time, money, talent, and a host of other factors coming together to a common cause. Growth is still a broad term that, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. It does, however, call forth cooperation, effort, and something of a more positive and productive nature on the personal, professional, and organizational levels.

Here’s a simple example. Pretend your boss walks in and says, “Let’s talk about a change I’m making to your paycheck.” What’s your response? You’re sure a pay cut is coming. You anticipate that your job or territory is getting ready to be reduced or eliminated. Am I right?

Now let’s imagine your boss walks in this time and says, “Let’s talk about a growth I’m making to your paycheck.” Growth has replaced change. Now assuming your pay stub doesn’t have a tumor, in the second example, you’re getting engaged and excited because your boss is communicating that plans are in process for a raise and an explanation for your coming reward. Economic growth and development trump economic change (and decay).

The mere act of replacing one word makes all the difference. Change is an implied downer. Growth is an exciter.

My suggestion: only use the word change when describing what’s in your pocket after buying your Chick-fil-a lunch any day of the week except Sunday. Change is apropos when reporting on the past. It is not a strategy for the future. Be in the business of growth and you will more likely be on-purpose.

Learn more about how to strategically and effectively create a pathway for growth management and value creation. Watch The On-Purpose Business Plan 9-minute instructional video.