Leadership: On Making Mistakes

Leadership: On Making Mistakes

Because we live and work in a society where making mistakes isn’t well-tolerated, it can be difficult to see any value in making mistakes. After all, mistakes often cost us time and money, and in small business both of these resources are at a premium.

However, you might be surprised that some of the most prominent leaders in the world value mistakes-a lot. Take a look at what some of these leaders have to say about making mistakes.

Gordon Moore, co-founder, Intel
“One thing a leader does is to remove the stigma of mistakes. People who are afraid of making mistakes all the time just don’t try anything.”

Sam Walton, founder, Walmart
Sam Walton, famous for driving an old beat-up pickup truck to work even when his worth was in the billions, was fond of saying that if you keep expenses down you can afford to make a lot of mistakes!

Robert Kiyosaki, bestselling author, “Rich Dad Poor Dad”
In his book “Business School for People Who Like Helping People,” Kiyosaki recounts how he learned the process of selling: by making mistakes. In the context of sales, Kiyosaki calls it rejection. He and his sales mentor, Charlie Robinson, would make sales calls together. Robinson would say virtually nothing during the visit, but would simply watch Kiyosaki work. Then the two would return to the office and review every mistake Kiyosaki made that caused a rejection. During that time, Kiyosaki even volunteered at a charity organization, making cold calls, so he could increase his rejection rate and learn from them. The message? Make as many mistakes as you can because mistakes are how you learn.

Herb Kelleher, co-founder, Southwest Airlines
When one of Southwest Airline’s property managers made a mistake (he made an oral commitment of $400,000 to the City of Austin for the preliminary design of a new airport when Southwest had no intention of supporting the new airport), Herb Kelleher backed his manager with the money. Although the lesson was hugely expensive, Kelleher didn’t get upset. He just jokingly told the manager: “Now pal, this is a fairly expensive lesson. A $400,000 lesson-I hope you remember it!”

Does that give you a new perspective on the value of making mistakes in your small business, and learning from them?

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Photo credit: Stewart

Tags: Gordon Moore, Herb Kelleher, leadership, making mistakes, Sam Walton

Thinking Days – The Importance for Small Business Owners

Thinking Days – The Importance for Small Business Owners

I often wonder if small business owners are more firefighter than business people. Between product development, sales and marketing, management, and general business development, it can be hard for the average Joe to figure what’s just urgent and what is plain important.

Urgent items demand our immediate attention but may not be crucial to furthering our business in a significant way. Important things will move our business forward but are often put on the back burner. We should pay attention to the important things rather than the urgent one, but most small business owners. That’s why we need thinking days.

The Importance of Thinking Days

If you look at some of the most successful leaders in the corporate world, one trend you will see is the prevalence of “thinking time.” In other words, these people set aside a specific time each week or each month to gain new perspective on their business.

For instance, Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, regularly schedules “thinking days” throughout the year that allow him to reflect on his life and his business. These pre-scheduled days are inviolate, meaning he rarely takes phone calls or messages during this time.

The same goes for Tai Yu Kobayashi, former Chairman and CEO of Fujitsu. He once shared the secret of his success: he gets up each morning at 5:00 am and spends an hour in his Bonsai garden, immersing himself in nature and moving in tranquility. Maintaining this state throughout the day allows him to make decisions in a high-pressure situation with detachment.

Questions for Thinking Days

As a small business owner, scheduling thinking days, even if they seem inconvenient, will give you the perspective necessary to sift the important tasks from the merely urgent. In a very basic way, thinking days give you a chance to reflect on your business and ask questions like:

- What’s happening?
- What’s not happening?
- What can I do the influence the outcome?

You will often find that thinking days give you a wider view of your business, and your life. This detachment may give you the necessary insight to make tough decisions for your small business, and choose a new path, if necessary.

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Source: used with permission from The Art of Business: In the Footsteps of Giants

Photo credit: Anwar

Tags: bill gates, important versus urgent, small business owner, thinking days

Putting a New Face on My Small Business

Putting a New Face on My Small Business

For a while now, I’ve been worried about getting old. It’s rather silly, I’m in my 30s, so worrying about getting old is just plain dumb. But it didn’t just happen out of the blue. There was a cascade of events in my life that caused me to feel old. Here’s how it played out:

1.    One of my horses fell down with me, crushing my leg and tweaking my back.
2.    Two weeks later, a different horse bucked me off, tweaking my shoulder.
3.    A few days later, I tried to lift a 40-gallon weed sprayer I thought was empty. It actually had water in it, so I ended up ripping some muscles in my back.
4.    I stopped getting carded at the liquor store.
5.    People started telling me I looked tired, and I hated to look at my reflection in the sun, which reveals all!

As silly as this seems, I noticed that I started to feel and act kind of, well, old. I couldn’t ride my horses because my back hurt, and I stopped wanting look in the mirror. But that’s really not a big deal.

When My Face Got in the Way of My Small Business

What was not OK is when I started noticing myself wavering in some business transactions, backing down on stuff that I would never let go by in the past. I didn’t question a couple of items on an invoice from a vendor, which resulted in a mess that took several weeks to “clean up.” I avoided a face-to-face meeting with a potential client and opted for a phone call instead. I started oversleeping, resulting in fewer hours of working time. I work for myself, so there’s no employer hovering over my shoulder, but I wasn’t getting to everything I wanted and needed to.

A few weeks ago I woke up and realized that my feeling of “being old” was getting in the way of my business. I didn’t feel good. I didn’t look good. This was not good. It was time to shake myself out of this rut because, as you know, a rut is only a few feet shallower than a grave!

Girly Stuff That Actually Works

For some time my friends had been urging me to try some antioxidant facial products for the freckles, tiny wrinkles, dark circles, and little spots of eczema that had started showing up on my face. I grew up as a tomboy and never really grew out of it. I’m pretty much a zen cowgirl at heart, so makeup and facial products don’t figure largely in my shopping list. I usually use natural foods and supplements to get great skin from the inside out. Plus, the cost of the facial product was more than those sold in the grocery store. But I decided that drastic measures were required here. My face was starting to affect my small business, and that was unacceptable.

I ordered the facial products with some doubt. When they came, I dutifully followed the directions and applied them twice daily. Within four days, my hubby noticed something different about my face. He asked me if I was feeling better and whether I was getting more sleep. “Nah,” I said. “I’m just getting all girly and actually using some good stuff on my face.” He knows that I’m a tomboy so he thought that was hilarious, but appreciated the effects nevertheless.

On top of all of this facial pampering, I also upped my intake of natural antioxidants. The combination has made all the difference to the way I feel. I don’t feel like I’m 20 again, but then again, maybe I don’t want to. I was kind of silly at age 20. I do feel healthy and, best of all, confident.

Looking and Feeling Good is Good Business

I feel like I’ve literally put a whole new face on my small business. After all, I am the face of my small business, so how I feel about myself and my face is pretty important. It didn’t take a lot to change the face of my business. The hardest part was recognizing that, as a small business owner, I work hard and am often under a lot of stress. I’ve reached a point in my life where I have to start combating that stress more aggressively, especially if is starts interfering with my business and well-being.

What about you? Are you feeling worn-down by your workload? Is there a way you can put a “new face” on your small business by doing something good for yourself?

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Photo credit: My ‘Happy Meal’ Version

Tags: new face, small business, small business owners

The Forgotten Man, A New History of the Great Depression

The Forgotten Man — Book Review

Guest Post: Madalyn Ward, DVM

The Forgotten Man, A New History of the Great Depression, by Amity Shlaes is one of the most powerful books I have read in a long time. This book is a history book and it does not give much in the way of opinion or commentary. What Amity Shlaes does is take the important public figures during the era and give you the story of what they did, why they did things the way they did and what was the result of their actions.

It is such a refreshing experience to get the facts without being told how to interpret them by someone who has an agenda. I found myself trying to pick heroes and villains but as I would read on it became more apparent to me that all the leaders were doing what they believed at the time was best for the country. It was interesting to see how people’s beliefs changed as history unfolded.

The Forgotten Man is not an easy read. I found myself underlining almost every line of the 420 pages. The similarities of what led up to the great depression to what we are experiencing today are striking and frightening. If our leaders read this book they can possibly avoid the same mistakes and act more quickly on the successful actions taken.

FDR was a great spokesman and the people trusted him, Unfortunately, however, many of his policies did not serve the country well. During the 1930′s there was a criticism of many private companies and these companies were attacked in the press and through the legal system. The message from Washington was that only government could solve the problems of the country.

Many government projects did put some people to work and the infrastructure of the country was improved significantly. It is estimated that the Works Progress Administration put as many as 3 million workers on the federal payroll but as the government ran short of money and began letting some of the workers go they turned the tables on the government and organized strikes to protest. It seems the government workers like the private sector workers, felt they should be guaranteed their paycheck whether their employer could afford to pay them or not.

Many private companies, during the depression, were forced out of business by high wage requirements or by government supported programs that were able to compete without the burden of taxes. One example of this was the Tennessee Valley Authority which took over the generation of energy in the south and undercut private companies by building energy plants in towns that promised to buy from the government. Many private company owners were attacked by the government loving press and others were prosecuted for their supposed parts in the cause of the depression. None of these prosecutions were successful but many fortunes were destroyed causing some prominent businessmen of the time to die penniless.

Who knows what might have happened to the country without the government interventions during the 1930′s. The free fall of the economy was slowed and gradually stabilized. It is clear, though, that WWII brought the country together to move back into a growth pattern. With the war effort, government and business stopped fighting each other and joined forces to create jobs and supply demand for products to support the troops. People came together and put all their energy into a common goal and purpose. America’s greatness came back in the pursuit of freedom and the destruction of tyranny in Europe.

The Forgotten Man does not offer any clear reason for why the crash occurred to begin with. Many assume it was out of control speculation in the stock market but history suggests the market was actually strong leading up to 1929. Excessive leveraging of money by households that had no investing experience is the more likely cause. People borrowed money they could not afford to lose and invested it. Instead of letting the market find its bottom the government intervened to stabilize the markets and the economy.

Others feel the country was making a natural shift from an agriculture based economy to an industrial one and the depression was part of a painful attempt to resist the change. With the war effort the need for the shift of masses of people off the farms to jobs in industry was finally embraced.

I feel we are in a similar shift now from an industrial era to one of entrepreneurship. It is time for many more people to get out of the shadow of government or companies controlling their destinies to taking control themselves through home based businesses or self employment endeavors. I strongly suggest this book to anyone who wants to sidestep the bickering and finger pointing of present day politics. The Forgotten Man shows to frailty of human efforts to control change rather than embrace it and prosper from it.

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Photo credit: Amity Shlaes

Tags: book review, Great Depression, Madalyn Ward, The Forgotten Man