“Financial Adrenaline” is a term we love around here because it reflects our commitment to help you turbocharge your business with practical tips and techniques to improve free cash flow, the lifeblood of business. As a further extension of our Financial Adrenaline program, we’re going to share a new Business Finance Tip every Wednesday specifically for those business executives who don’t have a finance background.
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In most fields of endeavor, the more we learn, the more we realize how much we have to learn. It’s certainly no different in the world of business finance, so for non-finance executives, it’s never easy to know where to start.
So, why not jump into the deep end right now by reading Warren Buffett’s Letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders for 2010. The publication of Berkshire Hathaway’s annual report is closely watched in the national media, as well as in homes and offices across the country … and for good reason.
I’ve said before that leaders don’t have the luxury of confining their interests to just a few things.
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Every Thursday, I’m sharing a new Personal Productivity Tip to help you get more done. Each Productivity Tip is a remarkably simple tool or concept that can be quickly implemented to make a real difference in your personal productivity. When you apply many of them together, they’ll make a big difference in improving productivity, achieving accountability and staying focused on the things that matter the most in your life.
You may want to check out some of the posts in this Productivity series, including the the value of checklists; the importance of getting rid of the crappy stuff; the nightmare of the cluttered mind; and the 4 Do-or-Die Principles to Drive your Personal Productivity System.
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Last week, we dusted off the S.M.A.R.T acronym as a reminder that we need to create Specific, Measurable, Agreed Upon, Realistic and Trackable objectives if we want to create a business culture with accountability as its centerpiece. There is simply no shortcut or substitute for the genuine productivity that results when we SET CLEAR EXPECTATIONS.
Today, we’re going to dust off another “oldie but goodie” but one that many of you may have never encountered. I learned it from some old consulting hands and while it’s often used in a formal chart of “who’s supposed to be doing what,” it’s a valuable accountability tool to evaluate the roles and responsibilities of individuals involved in any kind of team effort or project.
In short, it qualifies team members based on their expected level of contribution to a project. Different parties play different roles to get things done, and this tool provides a simple, effective and consistent way to achieve project accountability by evaluating who’s doing what.
By spending just a little time to establish these roles, you will once again, SET CLEAR EXPECTATIONS. It will also help your team members understand their roles and what’s expected of them in a particular project. Read on to learn about each of these four roles.
In short, the buck stops here. This team member has ultimate accountability for accomplishing the objective. Since “if you have two bosses, you have none”,
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Over 7 Wednesdays in January and February, we’ve described 7 remarkably simple components of R.E.S.P.E.C.T. that you can apply to your everyday conduct. The ability to earn R.E.S.P.E.C.T. is a critical Leadership requirement … and we have absolute control over the actions we take to earn it. It’s also the “centerpiece of accountability“, a concept that vexes even the most astute business leaders. Since it’s impossible to be an effective leader without gaining respect, let’s devote some time and energy to learn how to give it … to get it. Are you with me?
So far in our R.E.S.P.E.C.T. series, we’ve discussed the “R”: Right on Time, Every Time, the “E“: Every call returned in 24 hours and “S“:say something nice like Mom taught us. We’ve also covered “P” = Praise more and blame less, and “E” = Easy work with. Last week we discussed “C” = Compassion. This week concludes our R.E.S.P.E.C.T. series.
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Are you sharing or hoarding information?When I began my business career in the 1970s, the word “transparency” was not in the business lexicon. You knew what you were told … and you were told what someone thought you needed to know … but it was unlikely that you’d hear much about where the company was going or your role in it. Prior to starting my own company in the early 1980′s, I can’t recall a single company-wide meeting at any of the companies where I worked … or any general discussion of the company’s performance or strategy.
What exactly is Transparency, the last letter … “T” = Transparency … in our 7 part R.E.S.P.E.C.T. series?
It doesn’t necessarily mean opening the kimono or letting everyone ramble around backstage. It doesn’t mean
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Over 7 Wednesdays in January and February, I’ll describe 7 remarkably simple components of R.E.S.P.E.C.T. that you can apply to your everyday conduct. The ability to earn R.E.S.P.E.C.T. is a critical Leadership requirement … and we have absolute control over the actions we take to earn it. It’s also the “centerpiece of accountability“, a concept that vexes even the most astute business leaders. Since it’s impossible to be an effective leader without gaining respect, let’s devote some time and energy to learn how to give it … to get it. Are you with me?
So far in our R.E.S.P.E.C.T. series, we’ve discussed the “R”: Right on Time, Every Time; the “E“: Every call returned in 24 hours; “S“:say something nice like Mom taught us; and “P” = Praise more and blame less. Last week we talked about how important it is to be “E” = Easy to work with.
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Are you a compassionate leader?Compassion has a lot of definitions, depending on who you ask. Dictionaries refer to feelings of sympathy and sorrow. Others call it an awareness of someone else’s plight. But virtually all definitions add another dimension … the desire to alleviate the distress.
For too many executives … I’ll include myself in more prehistoric days … compassion is limited by what works best for the business. But that’s not compassion … it’s expedience. We’ve talked about lessons that Mom taught us … and we’ve always known that acting with compassion, politeness or kindness is easier when there is no “cost” or inconvenience.
Compassion is embedded in your character … not an instrument to pull from the tool kit when it’s convenient. All of us know compassion when we see it …
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Over 7 Wednesdays in January and February, I’ll describe 7 remarkably simple components of R.E.S.P.E.C.T. that you can apply to your everyday conduct. The ability to earn R.E.S.P.E.C.T. is a critical Leadership requirement … and we have absolute control over the actions we take to earn it. It’s also the “centerpiece of accountability“, a concept that vexes the most astute business leaders. Since it’s impossible to be an effective leader without gaining respect, let’s devote some time and energy to learn how to give it to get it. Are you with me?
For the last several weeks, we’ve focused on our R.E.S.P.E.C.T. series. We’ve discussed the “R”: Right on Time, Every Time, then “E“: Every call returned in 24 hours and “S“:say something nice like Mom taught us.
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Why is everything Blameworthy … nothing Praiseworthy?How many times have we seen something go wrong, something undone, something overlooked … and couldn’t refrain from pointing out the error … to an employee, our partner … maybe our spouse more than anyone? I’ll bet that you, like me, have wished a million times that you’d be better at praising people when they do something right … instead of only finding fault when something goes wrong?
It’s an aberration of human nature that we’re capable of finding fault so easily. In a restaurant, we probably feel like we’re paying for something we’re not getting … the toast not quite toasted enough, the eggs too runny, they’re out of my favorite jelly, “where’s the orange juice I ordered” … so we rationalize our annoyance in those instances … and reinforce similar behavior in other aspects of our life.
It sure is easier to spot what went wrong, isn’t it? We’re damn good at spotting the flaws in others, aren’t we?
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“There comes a moment when you have to stop revving up the car and shove it into gear.” —David MahoneyOne of the most pervasive challenges that arises in my coaching sessions with CEOs and other business executives is the struggle to make the tough decisions. This is a deadly disease that cripples personal productivity. Usually, it’s a decision that’s already been resolved — silently, often deep in the psyche — but we don’t announce it, we don’t execute it and no one really knows the decision has been made at all.
This is a high stress point for executives. These delayed decisions constantly beg for attention, but as we drop these pebbles of indecision in our backpack, it gets heavier with each step. Carrying around the burden of these unexecuted decisions is a malignant tumor that can be fatal to both executive effectiveness, productivity and health. Jack Welch said it best: “you gain nothing by showing uncertainty and indecision”.
These agonizing delays also hijack valuable time from the organization. As indecision becomes increasingly obvious, say when an employee is not really cutting it, people throughout the organization usually see it first. For every day you delay, they wonder why you’re not making an obvious decision.
There’s a giant billboard that says it all about why it’s worth killing procrastination in the decision-making process: The exhilarating and intoxicating relief that every executive experiences when they finally make and publicize a difficult decision. If you’ve been there, you know what I mean.
I’ve identified five warning signs that procrastination has supplanted decisiveness.
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Over 7 Wednesdays in January and February, I’ll describe 7 remarkably simple components of R.E.S.P.E.C.T. that you can apply to your everyday conduct. The ability to earn R.E.S.P.E.C.T. is a critical Leadership requirement … and we have absolute control over the actions we take to earn it. It’s also the centerpiece of “accountability “, a concept that vexes the most astute business leaders. Since it’s impossible to be an effective leader without gaining respect, let’s devote some time and energy to learn how to give it to get it. Are you with me?
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Last week, we kicked off our 7 part series, R.E.S.P.E.C.T – How To Get It by Earning It, and talked about one way to earn instant respect starting with the “R” in Respect … be Right on Time, Every Time. As we launch 2011 with renewed energy, we’re all looking for tips to improve our productivity, leadership and accountability. Here is a tip that will increase not only your productivity, but the response you get to all of the things you do.
I call it The 24 Hour Rule … and in our R.E.S.P.E.C.T series, it’s the “E” … Every Call Returned in 24 Hours. It’s about getting back to people within 24 hours no matter what … some might call it “one business day”. It’s absolutely doable for phone calls and is really longer than it should take as you should make every effort to return most calls within the same business day. Of course, if they call at 5:15 p.m., it’s okay to invoke the 24 hour rule but certainly no longer than that … or maybe after 6:00 p.m.
Emails might be a different story because the flood is increasing and we all need to establish our own guidelines … but for customers and clients, there’s still no excuse not to rigorously apply The 24 Hour Rule. The essence of the rule is …
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Do you think you could distill a lifetime of experiences into a handful of sentences … so that when your grown children read them, they would hold them as dearly as they once held their teddy bears?
I’ve recently published several lists of “life lessons”, for lack of a better term, that keep coming my way from a variety of sources. These lists, scratched on the back of an envelope found in a plane crash, or tucked in a wallet for 50 years, are treasures because they’re personal … and each person believed he or she had captured the unique nature of their humanity.
So, now come the Guideposts of business philosophy taken from the book, Marriott — The J. Willard Marriott Story by Robert O’Brien. It’s longer than most … not a note card but still a single sheet of paper … maybe Willard did more than most? Some may seem old-fashioned, others a little harsh for the more indulgent company cultures of the 21st century … but most of them are rooted in sound business practices. Work your way past some of the pedestrian entries to uncover a few nuggets and valid reminders that you can add to your own list.
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How many times have we been told to write down our goals so we can keep them in focus … and make sure we tell everyone around us so they can support us and cheer us on.
Derek Sivers strongly disagrees and shares what he’s learned from psychologists going back to the 1920′s. His TED speech is provocative and compelling and suggests that the more we tell people our goals, the less we accomplish … because afterward, we tend to behave as though we’ve already accomplished them. By the way, Derek Sivers is a rock star to the musicians he serves, having launched CD Baby and sold it 10 years later when its revenue exceeded $100 million. He continues to serve the musical community with MuckWork.
Welcome to Exkalibur. I’m Lary Kirchenbauer, President of Exkalibur Advisors, Inc. Please take advantage of our resources to help you build your business ... and let me know what more we can do to serve you.
Read my latest column from the NY Times affiliate, the North Bay Business Journal.
Lary has been a tremendous asset to our company. His experience and knowledge provides our young company with the type of financial and business guidance needed to facilitate our continued growth. In addition to Lary's efforts in raising capital for our company, he has assisted Multimedia Live in both extensive business planning, as well as continual ongoing monthly financial and strategy analysis of our business. I have found this to be an invaluable service.
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