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Kevin W. McCarthy

The Professor of On-Purpose

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Macintosh

So How Are Your Shortcuts Working?

May 17, 2018 By kwmccarthy

Shortcuts are almost always shortsighted.

The pressure to produce immediate cash flow in business can tempt one to take shortcuts or put in minimal effort. I’m not talking keyboard shortcuts, fraud, or other illegalities here. We’re talking cutting corners in order to shade performance lightly to hit a short-term goal. While not illegal, it is a bad business practice that dampens future opportunity.

One trait of a true leader is the ability to make the call between the short-term effect and the long-term consequences. Knowing when something meets standards, however, is different from cutting corners.

One might think that doing right is a matter of business ethics.

Ethics, however, begin by having a heart for caring, honesty, courtesy, and a desire for a life well lived, even if it costs a few coins at the moment.

A few years ago, I bought a used iPhone from a retail store here in Winter Park. I was mid-contract with my cell carrier and my mobile phone was failing. I thought I would give an iPhone a try, especially since I was a longtime Mac user.

At the store, I put my name on a list to get a used one. I got a call to come see it. Lay cornerstonesThe salesman in the store showed me the phone. The phone checked out—looked nearly new with no scratches to the back or front. It was in the box. Dropped in my SIM card and it worked like a charm. I got home, however, and the charger was rejected by the phone. That’s odd!

I returned to the store and get the tech guy, not the sales guy. Turns out the sales guy who sold me the iPhone yanked the OEM charger and replaced it with a cheap version that didn’t work. That little cube costs $30 to buy. The tech guy told me, “Yeah, I don’t know why he (the sales guy) does that,” as if this wasn’t the first time! But he can’t do anything about it. I walk out unhappy.

The sales guy cut a corner on me! And he nearly got away with it. If the phone hadn’t known the cube was a knock-off, then I wouldn’t have known any differently. I trusted him and got shortchanged.

Thinking I had found a great little local business to support, I was prepared to recommend this store to several friends. Now I’m cautious because a corner was cut.

Later, I returned to the store, talked to the owner, and was immediately given an Apple charger. Kudos to the owner who mitigated some measure of the damage to his business reputation. Then again, why does he have a “corner cutter” like that working there?

I’ve never sent a person to their store.

A few years back, I had the pleasure to interview Philip Crosby, author of Quality is Free. In essence, this thought leader of the quality movement in the 1980s had a simple message:

“Do it right the first time. It costs too much no matter what to make it right after the fact.” Crosby proved the cost of cutting corners doesn’t pay.

Little people cut corners! Real leaders lay cornerstones.

Which are you?

Are You Engaged In A Business Innovation and Re-Invention?

February 16, 2017 By kwmccarthy

Note: The On-Purpose Business Experience is now called ONPURPOSE@WORK. We don’t have any scheduled yet for 2017.

Business innovation and re-invention have sex appeal. Shoring up your market niche, refining your business processes, honing your marketing, improving your understanding of your customers’ needs, and becoming a world class expert demand hard work, attention to detail, and faith—in other words, not so sexy!

Business innovation is a great concept, yet in execution, I’ve generally seen that most businesses innovate and reorganize out of weakness and innovationboredom instead of strength and passion. That means they’re fixing what’s broken and calling it innovation when in fact the fundamentals weren’t in place as is. Hopping from idea to idea is symptomatic of an unsettled and non-strategic business owner prone to chasing squirrels or shiny new objects.

Have you gotten caught up in the frenzied strategy and talk of business innovation and re-invention? Innovation and re-invention make for sound bites, but they just don’t replace a good old-fashioned ethic of working hard, caring for the customer, rewarding the employees, and creating a better value at a better price that focuses on serving people extraordinarily well. Yet, capitalism works!

Small business owners—in particular—are susceptible to the allure of innovation and re-invention. I’ve advised far too many business owners over the years whose “grass is always greener” mentality prevents them from benefiting from years, sometimes decades, of investment and effort to build a business. I have yet to find a small business that couldn’t be improved by at least 10% if it just stopped talking about itself and actually marketed itself in its customers’ self-interest.

I believe everyone is a leader of something. It starts with their own life and radiates outward from there. I also believe that everyone has genius designed into them where they are amazing experts.  

I’m an Apple Mac fan. When you walk into an Apple retail store you’ll discover the Genius Bar where you can get help with your Apple purchases. Apple gets that people have a genius about them so why not get help from fellow geniuses?

Here’s an example from our local community. A few years ago Judith, my wife, and I walked Hamlet (our dog) to the Winter Park Farmers Market to browse and get some fresh vegetables. There was a gentleman, Mike Mannix, selling homemade organic vanilla bean extract. I asked Mike how he got involved with starting his business. Mike unraveled an amazing and romantic notion of vanilla beans in history, how they are cultivated and harvested in a few places in the world, and why vanilla beans were so expensive and special. Wow! Talk about a passion for his product. Mike may be one of the top 100 experts in the world in vanilla beans. Does it matter? To me, he was the #1 expert in the world. I trusted his expertise within 5 minutes of meeting him. Order from Mike at Mannix Vanilla.

You can be that same specialist in your business or industry—the person who is highly regarded by peers and customers alike for your expertise. Follow your passion, be odd, look crazy, see the world differently, be yourself, trust your instincts, make a difference!

Hey, look at me! I am the #1 expert in the world in helping people be on-purpose. That isn’t boasting; that’s quiet confidence because I’ve been at this since the late 1980s. I’m shoring up my business to go deep in order to help this message go more places.

How much more innovation and re-invention do you need? If you love what you do, then double down your efforts, pay attention to the details, and become a better marketer. Learn how to sell. The rest will take care of itself.

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Great tool: How do you go deep? In The On-Purpose Business Person, you’ll find The Service Model. Here is a method and model that will help you to look below the obvious front line of your business to get to the depth of building a sustainable and profitable business. For less than a couple of bucks, you can gain access to this tool and built-in instructions all on one page. Imagine having your entire business strategy and plan laid out on one page!

Use this tool to rapidly think through, structure, and show the relationship of the different hats you wear as the head of a business or a career. By the way, every job is actually a solo owner business!



Do You Want The On-Purpose Person For Free?

April 24, 2012 By kwmccarthy

Download The On-Purpose Person for free in Kindle: go to http://www.oppkindle.com. Starting today through April 28, you can get the unabridged book for nothing. Don't have a Kindle device? No problem, use the link above to download free Kindle reader software for your Mac, PC, phone, or iPad!

Once you have your own free Kindle edition, please share the message of being on-purpose with others on your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or other social media and email lists. Thanks for helping the planet to be on-purpose!

TOPP Kindle Free Days
 

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On-Purpose Profile: Hugh MacLeod of GapingVoid.com

March 9, 2011 By kwmccarthy

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permissions granted for use of the above cartoon by Hugh MacLeod

In spite of my classic business education and conservative ways, I have a deep appreciation for artists who tear into the essence of the human condition to challenge the traditionally held views of society.  All is not right since that one bite in the Garden of Eden.

A recent post I saw in Copyblogger.com by Hugh MacLeod inspired me to dig into his story.  His artwork brought a smile of irreverent recognition for the prevalent challenges with so many in the workforce.  Hugh's website, GapingVoid.com, includes a number of edgy "Cube Grenades" that he fiendishly lobs into the lives of his corporate captive audiences.  Take a scroll around his cartoon log. Be sure to subscribe to his daily cartoons for an emotionally explosive reminder of how your work can be a noble expression of your purpose… or not! 

If you're a fan of the hit TV show The Office, then for sure, Hugh's artwork will curl your lips upward.  A bit of parody mixed with a dose of purpose may be just the recipe for prodding you to be on-purpose.

Hugh provides us with a great example of a person with a love and talent for something that doesn't fit the mold of what's expected.  Instead of compromising who he is to become someone he isn't, he's growing who he is in order to be more of whom he can become.  Sure, he's working hard at it!  Sure, you're working hard too.  Hugh provides yet another profile of a person building a life where the inner work and outer work are aligned and integrated in a productive and profitable manner.

Thanks Hugh for your Cube Grenades that blow holes in the facade of living with contented, unexamined mediocrity.  You're encouraging us all to step into the boldness of being on-purpose:  Be Yourself> Prosper> Make A Difference.

On-Purpose Minutes
  • Is Your Life On Autopilot? (kevinwmccarthy.com)
  • Is Your Leadership Being Choked? (kevinwmccarthy.com)
  • Can I Profit And Gain My Soul? (kevinwmccarthy.com)
  • Can You Put It Into Words? (kevinwmccarthy.com)
  • Do You Want More Balance In Your Life? (kevinwmccarthy.com)
  • Are You Paying Attention? (kevinwmccarthy.com)
  • How Do You Build Your Confidence? (kevinwmccarthy.com)
  • So How Are Your Shortcuts Working? (kevinwmccarthy.com)


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