» Posts tagged ‘Family Business’

“We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act, but a habit..” — Aristotle

“Who’s walking on my field?”

You’re lugging 40 pounds on your back in 100 degree temperature. Your head’s tucked inside a small capsule like a two-pound sausage in a one-pound casing and sweat’s pouring down your brow. There’s no chance the sun will disappear … it’s only 10 a.m. … and while there’s water everywhere, your reach for the next bottle seems to exceed your grasp. Oh, yeah, and the boss expects you to be running – not walking – on his field.

That’s the view from inside the helmet of a member of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team. Intrigued about the great success of the Alabama football tradition, and last year’s national champions, I decided to watch a recent ABC Sports special: “Training Days: Rolling with the Alabama Crimson Tide.”

Head coach Nick Saban is a dominant force on a team with a legendary national reputation, but as I was watching the Alabama football program unfold, I couldn’t help but see, in pristine clarity, the hallmarks of a successful business. It’s a time-honored tradition to relate sports success to business achievement, so allow me to enter the stadium to offer a simple takeaway that neatly summarizes the 5 cornerstones of a winning tradition:

1st down. A great leader. We expect great leaders to understand their industry, to be able to establish a strategy – diagram all the plays with xxx’s and ooo’s. But most importantly,

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I’ve often used this line as a metaphor for the process of accountability and follow up that makes a real difference in executive performance.

Just being there … letting people know you really meant it when you asked for something to be done … or that it remains important even though it may have been temporarily overlooked … is remarkably powerful. A system of personal accountability that doesn’t follow up on requests to others leaves a lot undone.

Don’t overlook The Power of One.

Benziger Winery has been named Business of the Year by the Sonoma Chamber of Commerce. They won the award for outstanding industry contributions and their commitment to the community, something that many of its fans … like me … know well.

Benziger Winery opened its doors in 1980 and is an industry leader in many areas like organic farming and biodynamics, recently receiving the exclusive Growing Green Award from National Resource Defense Council. I have had the pleasure of working with Tim Wallace, the CEO of Benziger, who is a thoughtful leader committed to family and community, and have served with him on several panels addressing issues in the wine industry.

Congratulations to Benziger Winery for the well-deserved accolade. It’s not often that companies committed to family and community also make great products and create raving fans but Benziger continues to delight its customers with wonderful varietals and warm hospitality.

A recent report from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation entitled After Inception – How Enduring is Job Creation by Start-ups?”, uncovered several notable findings about the job creation power of start-ups:

1. The number of start-ups that flourish and create jobs balances the jobs lost by companies that close.
2. 80% of the jobs created in the first year are still here after 5 years.
3. Companies that start during recessions general catch up in hiring after the recession ends.

So what?

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“I am easily satisfied with the very best.”    — Winston Churchill

A number of my clients and colleagues have recently ascended to greater positions of leadership at the top ranks of their companies. There’s suddenly even more to do, but have they paused long enough to consider how they should start … or even if they need to do anything differently?

Here are seven key attributes of successful new leaders you can embrace to give yourself a running start. (Existing leaders will also benefit from reading along and making course corrections where necessary.)

1. Credibility is foremost

Without it, you’ll look over your shoulder and find no one there.

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That’s the phrase one of my oldest and closest banker friends always used – he became the President of a major division of a major bank before he retired. You may not know that word – and it’s at least a “50-center”, maybe more, but he loved it and used it on me all the time.

… pause … have you looked it up yet or are you waiting for me to tell you? … come on ….

Yeah, that’s what I thought. Okay. It means charitable, as in “we’re not a charitable organization” … meaning we do have a few basic rules:

• We expect to get paid … so we’d like to confirm that your projections provide sufficient free cash flow so you can actually pay us back.
• We like to have some collateral in case something goes wrong.
• We’d like to see some owners’ capital invested in the business so we know we’re in this together.
• We’ll probably ask for your personal guaranty, too, to be sure you’re dedicated like the “bacon” and not just committed like the “egg”.
• It would be nice if you had some kind of demonstrable track record and relevant management experience so we can assess whether you know what you’re doing in the business you’re in now.

Those are the basic rules … which is why I’m getting pretty tired of the endless news articles and blog posts about the lack of adequate capital for small business.

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In Cash for Chocolate, WSJ outlines several creative ways to raise funds for those of you looking for an innovative solution. I like the idea of “chocolate bonds” where you receive a box of chocolates every month as part of your investment return, or receive a “grocery discount” when investing in a local food market.

There are many ways to get creative … so don’t hesitate to think about what you can offer that would be appealing to your ideal investor and test it out on a few of them. The worst that can happen is that they reject the idea and you try something else.

What’s the most creative financing idea that’s worked for you? Have you seen other innovative financing ideas that work?

Like we need more bad news in or about California … but the Chief Executive organization’s survey of Best and Worst States for Business 2010 finds the Golden State’s golden egg is actually something else that’s been painted over … if you catch my drift. We’re not just last for 2010 – we’ve been #51 for the last 6 years in a row!

You can see here how the CEO’s grade the states in such categories as regulation, workforce quality and living environment and see the real disparity between California and say, the average state grade or #1 Texas.

We’re long overdue to weed out the private industry bashers in Sacramento and renew the powerful business community in this state – and it couldn’t start too soon!

Once in awhile, it’s nice to see your advice echoed in the halls from someone like Warren Buffett. Since my early investment and venture capital days, I have promoted the concept of a simple “terms sheet” to set down the deal terms between the companies involved, making sure that the businessmen understand the business issues first.

Your attorneys serve an valuable role but it’s invaluable for both sides to be very clear about the business objectives

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