6 habits of true strategic thinkers

94
6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers You're the boss, but you still spend too much time on the day-to- day. Here's how to become the strategic leader your company needs. In the beginning, there was just you and your partners. You did every job. You coded, you met with investors, you emptied the trash and phoned in the midnight pizza. Now you have others to do all that and it's time for you to "be strategic." Whatever that means. If you find yourself resisting "being strategic," because it sounds like a fast track to irrelevance, or vaguely like an excuse to slack off, you're not alone. Every leader's temptation is to deal with what's directly in front, because it always seems more urgent and concrete. Unfortunately, if you do that, you put your company at risk. While you concentrate on steering around potholes, you'll miss windfall opportunities, not to mention any signals that the road you're on is leading off a cliff. This is a tough job, make no mistake. "We need strategic leaders!” is a pretty constant refrain at every company, large and small. One reason the job is so tough: no one really understands what it entails. It's hard to be a strategic leader if you don't know what strategic leaders are supposed to do. After two decades of advising organizations large and small, my colleagues and I have formed a clear idea of what's required of you in this role. Adaptive strategic leaders — the kind who thrive in today’s uncertain environment – do six things well: Anticipate Most of the focus at most companies is on what’s directly ahead. The leaders lack “peripheral vision.” This can leave your company

Upload: praveen-kumar-jha

Post on 17-Oct-2014

59 views

Category:

Documents


5 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

6 Habits of True Strategic ThinkersYou're the boss, but you still spend too much time on the day-to-day. Here's how to become the strategic leader your company needs.

In the beginning, there was just you and your partners. You did every job. You coded, you met with investors, you emptied the trash and phoned in the midnight pizza. Now you have others to do all that and it's time for you to "be strategic." 

Whatever that means.

If you find yourself resisting "being strategic," because it sounds like a fast track to irrelevance, or vaguely like an excuse to slack off, you're not alone. Every leader's temptation is to deal with what's directly in front, because it always seems more urgent and concrete. Unfortunately, if you do that, you put your company at risk. While you concentrate on steering around potholes, you'll miss windfall opportunities, not to mention any signals that the road you're on is leading off a cliff.

This is a tough job, make no mistake. "We need strategic leaders!” is a pretty constant refrain at every company, large and small. One reason the job is so tough: no one really understands what it entails. It's hard to be a strategic leader if you don't know what strategic leaders are supposed to do.

After two decades of advising organizations large and small, my colleagues and I have formed a clear idea of what's required of you in this role. Adaptive strategic leaders — the kind who thrive in today’s uncertain environment – do six things well:

Anticipate 

Most of the focus at most companies is on what’s directly ahead. The leaders lack “peripheral vision.” This can leave your company vulnerable to rivals who detect and act on ambiguous signals. To anticipate well, you must:

Look for game-changing information at the periphery of your industry Search beyond the current boundaries of your business Build wide external networks to help you scan the horizon better

Think Critically

“Conventional wisdom” opens you to fewer raised eyebrows and second guessing. But if you swallow every management fad, herdlike belief, and safe opinion at face value, your company loses all competitive advantage. Critical thinkers question everything. To master this skill you must force yourself to:

Reframe problems to get to the bottom of things, in terms of root causes

Page 2: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

Challenge current beliefs and mindsets, including your own Uncover hypocrisy, manipulation, and bias in organizational decisions

Interpret 

Ambiguity is unsettling. Faced with it, the temptation is to reach for a fast (and potentially wrongheaded) solution.  A good strategic leader holds steady, synthesizing information from many sources before developing a viewpoint. To get good at this, you have to:

Seek patterns in multiple sources of data Encourage others to do the same Question prevailing assumptions and test multiple hypotheses simultaneously

Decide

Many leaders fall prey to “analysis paralysis.” You have to develop processes and enforce them, so that you arrive at a “good enough” position. To do that well, you have to:

Carefully frame the decision to get to the crux of the matter Balance speed, rigor, quality and agility. Leave perfection to higher powers Take a stand even with incomplete information and amid diverse views

 Align

Total consensus is rare. A strategic leader must foster open dialogue, build trust and engage key stakeholders, especially when views diverge.  To pull that off, you need to:

Understand what drives other people's agendas, including what remains hidden Bring tough issues to the surface, even when it's uncomfortable Assess risk tolerance and follow through to build the necessary support

Learn

As your company grows, honest feedback is harder and harder to come by.  You have to do what you can to keep it coming. This is crucial because success and failure--especially failure--are valuable sources of organizational learning.  Here's what you need to do:

Encourage and exemplify honest, rigorous debriefs to extract lessons Shift course quickly if you realize you're off track Celebrate both success and (well-intentioned) failures that provide insight

Do you have what it takes?

Obviously, this is a daunting list of tasks, and frankly, no one is born a black belt in all these different skills. But they can be taught and whatever gaps exist in your skill set can be filled in. I'll cover each of the aspects of strategic leadership in more detail in future columns. But for

Page 3: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

now, test your own strategic aptitude (or your company's) with the survey at www.decisionstrat.com. In the comments below, let me know what you learned from it.

6 Ways Successful People Stand OutSubstance trumps style in the long run. Here's how to make the kind of impression that lasts.

Bosses spend the vast majority of their time helping other people succeed: employees, customers, vendors and suppliers... the list goes on and on.

Helping other people succeed is your job, but it's also your job to focus on yourself, at least part of the time.

Why? Your success creates success for others--and success requires, at least in part, standing out from the crowd and being known for something.

Of course there are different ways you can stand out. For example, you can be like this guy.

Okay, maybe not.

There are better ways:

Be first, with a purpose.

Lots of business owners are the first to arrive each day. That's great, but what do you do with that time? Organize your thoughts? Get a jump on your email?

Instead of taking care of your stuff, do something visibly worthwhile for the company. Take care of unresolved problems from the day before. Set things up so it's easier for employees to hit the ground running when they arrive. Chip away at an ongoing project others are ignoring. Whatever you choose, do it consistently.

Don't just be the one who turns on the lights--be the one who gets in early and gets things done. The example you set will quickly spread.

Be known for something specific.

Meeting standards, however lofty those standards may be, won't help you stand out.

Go above the norm. Be the entrepreneur known for turning around struggling employees. Be the business owner who makes a few deliveries a week to personally check in with customers. Be the boss who consistently promotes from within. Be known as the person who responds quicker, or acts faster, or who always follows up first.

Pick a worthwhile mission and excel at that mission.

Page 4: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

Create your own side project.

Excelling at an assigned project is expected. Excelling at a side project helps you stand out. The key is to take a risk with a project and make sure your company or customers don't share that risk.

For example, years ago I decided to create a Web-based employee handbook my then-employer could put on the company Intranet. I worked on the project at home and a few managers liked it but our HR manager hated it... so it died an inglorious death. Bummer. I was disappointed but the company wasn't "out" anything, and soon after I was selected for a high-visibility company-wide process improvement team because now I was "that guy."

The same works for a business owner. Experiment with a new process or service with a particular customer in mind. The customer will appreciate how you tried, without being asked, to better meet their needs, and you'll become "that guy."

Put your muscle where your mouth is.

Lots of people take verbal stands. Fewer take a stand and put effort behind their opinions.

Say you think a project has gone off the rails; instead of simply showing everyone how smart you are by pointing out its flaws and revamping the timeline, jump in and help fix it.

It's easy to criticize what's wrong or to talk about what should be changed or could be improved. The people who stand out are the ones who help do something about it.

Show a little of your personal side.

Personal interests help other people to identify and remember you. That's a huge advantage for a new business or a company competing in a crowded market.

Just make sure your personal interests don't overshadow professional accomplishments. Being "the guy who ran a marathon" is fine, but being "the guy who is always training and traveling to marathons so we can never reach him when we need him" is not.

Let people know a little about you; a few personal details add color and depth to your professional image.

Work harder than everyone else.

Nothing--nothing--is a substitute for hard work. Look around: How many of your competitors are working as hard as they can?

Not many.

The best way to stand out is to try to out-work everyone else.

Page 5: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

It's also the easiest, because you'll be the only one trying.

5 Things Remarkable Bosses Never DoWhat you don't do can sometimes make a bigger impact than what you do.

I recently described what remarkable bosses do. A number of people emailed and asked, "That's a great list, but flip it around: What things should I not do?"

Glad you asked.

As a leader what you don't do can sometimes make as much or even more impact than what you do. Here are five things remarkable bosses never do:

Say, "I've been meaning to apologize for a while..."

You should never need to apologize for not having apologized sooner.

When you mess up, 'fess up. Right away. You certainly want employees to immediately tell you when they make a mistake, so model the same behavior.

If love means never having to say you're sorry, leadership means always having to say you're sorry.

Deliver annual performance reviews.

Annual or semi-annual performance appraisals are largely a waste of time.

Years ago my review was late so I mentioned it to my boss. He said, "I'll get to it... but you should know you won't hear anything new. You've already heard everything I will say, good or bad. If anything on your review comes as a surprise to you I haven't done my job."

He was right. The best feedback isn't scheduled. The best feedback happens on the spot when it makes the most impact, either as praise and encouragement or as training and suggestions for improvement. Waiting for a scheduled review is the lazy way out.

Your job is to coach and mentor and develop--every day.

Hold formal meetings to solicit ideas.

Many companies hold brainstorming sessions to solicit ideas for improvement, especially when times get tough.

Sounds great; after all you're "engaging employees" and "valuing their contributions," right? But you don't need a meeting to get input. When employees know you listen they bring ideas to you.

Page 6: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

And if you must ask, the better way to ask for ideas is to talk to people individually and to be more specific. Say, "I wish we could find a way to get orders through our system faster. What would you change if you were me?"

Trust me: Employees picture themselves doing your job--and doing your job better than you--all the time. They have ideas. Sometimes they have great ideas. Be open, act on good ideas, explain why less than good ideas aren't feasible... and you'll get all the input you can handle without a formal meeting.

Create development plans.

Formal development plans are, like annual performance reviews, largely a corporate construct. You should know what each of your employees hopes to achieve: Skills and experience they want to gain, career paths they hope to take, etc.

So talk about it--informally. Then assign projects that fit. Provide training that fits. Create opportunities that fit.

Then give feedback on the spot. "Develop" is a verb. To develop requires action. "Development" is a noun that sits in a file cabinet.

Call in favors.

I know lots of bosses who play the guilt game, like saying, "Mark, I was really flexible with your schedule while your son was sick... now I really need you to come through for me and work this weekend."

Generosity should always be a one-way street. Be flexible when being flexible is the right thing to do. Be accommodating when being accommodating is the right thing to do.

Never lend money to friends unless you don't care if you are repaid, and never do "favors" for employees in anticipation of return.

Remarkable leaders only give. They never take.

The 5 Qualities of Remarkable BossesConsistently do these five things and the results you want from your employees--and your business--will follow.

Remarkable bosses aren’t great on paper. Great bosses are remarkable based on their actions.

Results are everything—but not the results you might think.

Page 7: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

Consistently do these five things and everything else follows. You and your business benefit greatly.

More importantly, so do your employees.

1. Develop every employee. Sure, you can put your primary focus on reaching targets, achieving results, and accomplishing concrete goals—but do that and you put your leadership cart before your achievement horse.

Without great employees, no amount of focus on goals and targets will ever pay off. Employees can only achieve what they are capable of achieving, so it’s your job to help all your employees be more capable so they—and your business—can achieve more.

It's your job to provide the training, mentoring, and opportunities your employees need and deserve. When you do, you transform the relatively boring process of reviewing results and tracking performance into something a lot more meaningful for your employees: Progress, improvement, and personal achievement.

So don’t worry about reaching performance goals. Spend the bulk of your time developing the skills of your employees and achieving goals will be a natural outcome.

Plus it’s a lot more fun.

2. Deal with problems immediately. Nothing kills team morale more quickly than problems that don't get addressed. Interpersonal squabbles, performance issues, feuds between departments... all negatively impact employee motivation and enthusiasm.

And they're distracting, because small problems never go away. Small problems always fester and grow into bigger problems. Plus, when you ignore a problem your employees immediately lose respect for you, and without respect, you can't lead.

Never hope a problem will magically go away, or that someone else will deal with it. Deal with every issue head-on, no matter how small.

3. Rescue your worst employee. Almost every business has at least one employee who has fallen out of grace: Publicly failed to complete a task, lost his cool in a meeting, or just can’t seem to keep up. Over time that employee comes to be seen by his peers—and by you—as a weak link.

While that employee may desperately want to “rehabilitate” himself, it's almost impossible. The weight of team disapproval is too heavy for one person to move.

But it’s not too heavy for you.

Before you remove your weak link from the chain, put your full effort into trying to rescue that person instead. Say, "John, I know you've been struggling but I also know you're trying. Let's

Page 8: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

find ways together that can get you where you need to be." Express confidence. Be reassuring. Most of all, tell him you'll be there every step of the way.

Don't relax your standards. Just step up the mentoring and coaching you provide.

If that seems like too much work for too little potential outcome, think of it this way. Your remarkable employees don’t need a lot of your time; they’re remarkable because they already have these qualities. If you’re lucky, you can get a few percentage points of extra performance from them. But a struggling employee has tons of upside; rescue him and you make a tremendous difference.

Granted, sometimes it won't work out. When it doesn't, don't worry about it.  The effort is its own reward.

And occasionally an employee will succeed—and you will have made a tremendous difference in a person's professional and personal life.

Can’t beat that.

4. Serve others, not yourself. You can get away with being selfish or self-serving once or twice... but that's it.

Never say or do anything that in any way puts you in the spotlight, however briefly. Never congratulate employees and digress for a few moments to discuss what you did.

If it should go without saying, don't say it. Your glory should always be reflected, never direct.

When employees excel, you and your business excel. When your team succeeds, you and your business succeed. When you rescue a struggling employee and they become remarkable, remember they should be congratulated, not you.

You were just doing your job the way a remarkable boss should.

When you consistently act as if you are less important than your employees—and when you never ask employees to do something you don’t do—everyone knows how important you really are.

5. Always remember where you came from. See an autograph seeker blown off by a famous athlete and you might think, “If I was in a similar position I would never do that.”

Oops. Actually, you do. To some of your employees, especially new employees, you are at least slightly famous. You’re in charge. You’re the boss.

That's why an employee who wants to talk about something that seems inconsequential may just want to spend a few moments with you.

Page 9: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

When that happens, you have a choice. You can blow the employee off... or you can see the moment for its true importance: A chance to inspire, reassure, motivate, and even give someone hope for greater things in their life. The higher you rise the greater the impact you can make—and the greater your responsibility to make that impact.

In the eyes of his or her employees, a remarkable boss is a star.

Remember where you came from, and be gracious with your stardom.

8 Qualities of Remarkable EmployeesForget good to great. Here's what makes a great employee remarkable.

Great employees are reliable, dependable, proactive, diligent, great leaders and great followers... they possess a wide range of easily-defined—but hard to find—qualities.

A few hit the next level. Some employees are remarkable, possessing qualities that may not appear on performance appraisals but nonetheless make a major impact on performance.

Here are eight qualities of remarkable employees:

1. They ignore job descriptions. The smaller the company, the more important it is that employees can think on their feet, adapt quickly to shifting priorities, and do whatever it takes, regardless of role or position, to get things done.

When a key customer's project is in jeopardy, remarkable employees know without being told there's a problem and jump in without being asked—even if it's not their job.

2. They’re eccentric... The best employees are often a little different: quirky, sometimes irreverent, even delighted to be unusual. They seem slightly odd, but in a really good way. Unusual personalities shake things up, make work more fun, and transform a plain-vanilla group into a team with flair and flavor.

People who aren't afraid to be different naturally stretch boundaries and challenge the status quo, and they often come up with the best ideas.

3. But they know when to dial it back. An unusual personality is a lot of fun... until it isn't. When a major challenge pops up or a situation gets stressful, the best employees stop expressing their individuality and fit seamlessly into the team.

Remarkable employees know when to play and when to be serious; when to be irreverent and when to conform; and when to challenge and when to back off. It’s a tough balance to strike, but a rare few can walk that fine line with ease.

Page 10: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

4. They publicly praise... Praise from a boss feels good. Praise from a peer feels awesome, especially when you look up to that person.

Remarkable employees recognize the contributions of others, especially in group settings where the impact of their words is even greater.

5. And they privately complain. We all want employees to bring issues forward, but some problems are better handled in private. Great employees often get more latitude to bring up controversial subjects in a group setting because their performance allows greater freedom.

Remarkable employees come to you before or after a meeting to discuss a sensitive issue, knowing that bringing it up in a group setting could set off a firestorm.

6. They speak when others won’t. Some employees are hesitant to speak up in meetings. Some are even hesitant to speak up privately.

An employee once asked me a question about potential layoffs. After the meeting I said to him, “Why did you ask about that? You already know what's going on.” He said, “I do, but a lot of other people don't, and they're afraid to ask. I thought it would help if they heard the answer from you.”

Remarkable employees have an innate feel for the issues and concerns of those around them, and step up to ask questions or raise important issues when others hesitate.

7. They like to prove others wrong. Self-motivation often springs from a desire to show that doubters are wrong. The kid without a college degree or the woman who was told she didn't have leadership potential often possess a burning desire to prove other people wrong.

Education, intelligence, talent, and skill are important, but drive is critical. Remarkable employees are driven by something deeper and more personal than just the desire to do a good job.

8. They’re always fiddling. Some people are rarely satisfied (I mean that in a good way) and are constantly tinkering with something: Reworking a timeline, adjusting a process, tweaking a workflow.

Great employees follow processes. Remarkable employees find ways to make those processes even better, not only because they are expected to… but because they just can't help it.

3 Rules for Building Business RelationshipsAre you generating the most value from your professional relationships? Here are three ways to quickly inject some life into your network.

Page 11: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

Ask any entrepreneur or salesperson (one might argue there is no difference) about their greatest asset and you'll often hear the same answer: their network and relationships.

Countless bestsellers have been written on how to cultivate and nurture relationships.  Why is it then that we see so many people not taking advantage of the opportunities to broaden their network and engage with those who could potentially be their next great partner?

As our firm continues to grow and we bring in top talent from a variety of companies and professional backgrounds, we realize that each of us has a strong network of relationships that we aren't fully leveraging.

Here are three ways to improve the way you nurture your network to get the most out of your professional relationships.

1. Focus on the value that you can provide to your network and not necessarily on what the person can provide for you. If you can provide value to someone in your network with limited time and resource investment, do it! Aside from the fact that it is a nice gesture, you can be sure you'll be top of mind next time this person or someone in their network has a need that fits your area of expertise.

2. Being a relationship "broker" can offer significant benefits to your personal and professional brand. While you should always be sensitive to busy people's time, simply making an introduction between two people in your network who share a common interest or challenge can do wonders for each of these individual relationships.

3. Don't let personal fears get in the way of forming new relationships. It is far easier to talk to people you already know than it is to form new relationships. Explore the boundaries of your comfort zone to put yourself in a position to form new, productive relationships whenever an opportunity arises.  It is never an easy task, but proactively expanding your network can pay off in dividends for your personal and professional development.

It's generally preferable to have fewer high-quality relationships than hundreds of low-quality relationships. By following these simple steps, you can begin to improve the quality of your professional relationships - a skill that is admired by many but mastered by few.

We are always looking for ways to form new relationships and would love to hear your best practices. Share your thoughts with us at [email protected].

Avondale associate Asim Aleem contributed to this article.

Partner or Not: How to DecideBringing in partners to help launch a new business is the ultimate risk and reward proposition. These questions will help to ensure that the relationship is mutually beneficial.

Page 12: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

Deciding to create a new business line or enter a new market is a complex process that requires some diligence around defining and prioritizing your target customer and aligning internally on who's accountable for driving the new business. Equally important is deciding which (if any) potential partners to bring in to help build the business.

Going It Alone?

The first set of questions we ask about potential partnerships help us decide whether we even need external partners for a new business:

What are the essential resources (e.g., specialized skills, extra arms and legs) required to make the new business successful?

Where do we have gaps in those resources?

Can we fill those gaps internally? That is, can we hire or contract for the specialized skills?

Do we need to share risks with others? Are we uncomfortable with the total level of risk?

Are we willing to cede some control? Whenever we bring partners in to a business, we have to give up some level of control or oversight. With the right partners, their oversight may add value instead of being detrimental. However, partnering creates additional management and communication costs that you may not want to incur.

Identifying the Right Partners

Once we have decided to bring in a partner, it's on to the next part of the assessment. Beginning with a broad list of potential partners, begin winnowing them down by asking:

What are their motivations? Why would they want to partner in general? Why would they want to partner with us specifically?

What is the compelling financial and strategic business case we will make to a potential partner that defines a win/win result?

How can we add the external resources and risk-sharing we need without giving up an excessive amount of upside potential? We want to be creative in answering this question, as the first-blush answer may not be ideal.

Note that building a compelling case for partners is a good acid test of whether a business model is truly viable. After all, if we are unable to convince partners that our new business is compelling, we should question whether the business is worth pursuing. Outside eyes can help us avoid the rose-colored glasses syndrome, which can be an expensive vision problem to correct!

Page 13: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

What has been your experience in building a business? Have you had success identifying and engaging partners? Please let us know in the comments below or email us at [email protected].

Women: More Honest and Hardworking?What's the workplace really like? A new survey claims women are working their tails off... and men are more likely to play hooky.

According to a survey of 5,000 U.S. employees performed by theFIt.com, 54% of women report working nine or more hours a day, compared to 41% of men.

And, at least in one aspect, women are more honest than men: One in five men report lying when it came to their most recent sick day, while only one in seven women say they were taking a "mental health" day, interviewing for another job... or just playing hooky.

But there is good news for business owners: 84% of all employees say they were actually sick or caring for a sick child the last time they called in sick. (Here's the complete workplace culture infographic.)

TheFit was developed by Bullhorn, a recruiting software firm whose Web-based products like Reach and Marketplace are used by over 45,000 recruiters in 35 counties to handle over 150,000 job orders and placements every month. TheFit is a career site that asks questions designed to reveal what a workplace is really like.

"It's not about digging up dirt," says Art Papas, CEO of theFit. "The survey questions are designed to let people give honest responses without getting into trouble with their boss or bashing the company. We help bosses get to know their employees through lighthearted 'would you rather...' questions."

Some of the results are interesting if not surprising (at least to me.) Tech companies like Google and Microsoft—generally known for their hard-driving corporate cultures—rank relatively high for family friendliness.

Bank of America ranks high on female leadership: 62% of the respondents from BofA say their boss is a woman, compared to the overall average of 36% across all companies. (So much for that stereotype.)

And while 52% of respondents say their boss would never take credit for one of their ideas, 71% of the respondents from IBM say it does happen, whether intentional or not.

What's no surprise is that employees whose bosses have taken credit for their ideas are 3.5 times more likely to be dissatisfied with their jobs.

Page 14: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

Currently theFit ranks companies in 12 major metropolitan areas, but anyone in the U.S. can sign up, answer survey questions, and view the results for their company.

"Job descriptions and websites only touch the very edge of a company's true culture," Papas says. "If you're a job seeker the survey results can help you decide whether a company is a good fit for you. If you own a business it's another way to find out what your employees really think. For example, I found out that 25% of Bullhorn employees would rather receive more vacation days than a promotion."

And as for those honest, hardworking female employees who, as it turns out, are also more likely than men to do some work while on vacation? It may surprise you to learn they perceive their compensation more positively than men.

Twenty-six percent of men said "their friends would feel bad for them if they knew how much they made," compared to only 17% of women—even though only 47% of women reported receiving a bonus last year, compared to 55% of men.

6 Ways Successful People Stand OutSubstance trumps style in the long run. Here's how to make the kind of impression that lasts.

Bosses spend the vast majority of their time helping other people succeed: employees, customers, vendors and suppliers... the list goes on and on.

Helping other people succeed is your job, but it's also your job to focus on yourself, at least part of the time.

Why? Your success creates success for others--and success requires, at least in part, standing out from the crowd and being known for something.

Of course there are different ways you can stand out. For example, you can be like this guy.

Okay, maybe not.

There are better ways:

Be first, with a purpose.

Lots of business owners are the first to arrive each day. That's great, but what do you do with that time? Organize your thoughts? Get a jump on your email?

Instead of taking care of your stuff, do something visibly worthwhile for the company. Take care of unresolved problems from the day before. Set things up so it's easier for employees to hit the ground running when they arrive. Chip away at an ongoing project others are ignoring. Whatever you choose, do it consistently.

Page 15: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

Don't just be the one who turns on the lights--be the one who gets in early and gets things done. The example you set will quickly spread.

Be known for something specific.

Meeting standards, however lofty those standards may be, won't help you stand out.

Go above the norm. Be the entrepreneur known for turning around struggling employees. Be the business owner who makes a few deliveries a week to personally check in with customers. Be the boss who consistently promotes from within. Be known as the person who responds quicker, or acts faster, or who always follows up first.

Pick a worthwhile mission and excel at that mission.

Create your own side project.

Excelling at an assigned project is expected. Excelling at a side project helps you stand out. The key is to take a risk with a project and make sure your company or customers don't share that risk.

For example, years ago I decided to create a Web-based employee handbook my then-employer could put on the company Intranet. I worked on the project at home and a few managers liked it but our HR manager hated it... so it died an inglorious death. Bummer. I was disappointed but the company wasn't "out" anything, and soon after I was selected for a high-visibility company-wide process improvement team because now I was "that guy."

The same works for a business owner. Experiment with a new process or service with a particular customer in mind. The customer will appreciate how you tried, without being asked, to better meet their needs, and you'll become "that guy."

Put your muscle where your mouth is.

Lots of people take verbal stands. Fewer take a stand and put effort behind their opinions.

Say you think a project has gone off the rails; instead of simply showing everyone how smart you are by pointing out its flaws and revamping the timeline, jump in and help fix it.

It's easy to criticize what's wrong or to talk about what should be changed or could be improved. The people who stand out are the ones who help do something about it.

Show a little of your personal side.

Personal interests help other people to identify and remember you. That's a huge advantage for a new business or a company competing in a crowded market.

Page 16: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

Just make sure your personal interests don't overshadow professional accomplishments. Being "the guy who ran a marathon" is fine, but being "the guy who is always training and traveling to marathons so we can never reach him when we need him" is not.

Let people know a little about you; a few personal details add color and depth to your professional image.

Work harder than everyone else.

Nothing--nothing--is a substitute for hard work. Look around: How many of your competitors are working as hard as they can?

Not many.

The best way to stand out is to try to out-work everyone else.

It's also the easiest, because you'll be the only one trying.

How to Build a Great Team With Imperfect PeopleYour goal isn’t to ensure every employee is great; it's to ensure that collectively they'll be great. (There’s a big difference.)

We all know what makes a great team: Great people, right?

That’s true—as long as you define “great” correctly. That’s a definition many business owners, and bosses in general, often get wrong.

Years ago I worked in a manufacturing plant where productivity was all-important. We spent significant time and effort working to improve efficiency, reduce waste, reduce downtime... typical improvement initiatives.

As supervisors and managers we also spent a lot of time competing with each other. (Hey, you are what you measure, right?)

One manager decided team performance could be predicted and improved by quantifying the attributes of a great machine operator. He felt that if you could determine the key attributes, and measure potential team members against those attributes, that he could select and create a great team.

I was there when he tried to identify those attributes. During the brainstorming session he filled up 12 easel pad sheets with key skills and attributes.

Page 17: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

The problem was, great operators possess a dizzying array of qualities. Many attributes were hard to quantify, like “self starter” and “team player.”

So afterwards he focused on attributes that could be quantified. One was mechanical aptitude. Plenty of tests evaluate and measure mechanical knowledge. And intuitively it made sense: Machine operators run machines, so mechanical knowledge must be important. Off he went, in short order creating a team filled with mechanical aptitude superstars.

Yet my team—most of us with limited mechanical aptitude (based on testing, my mechanical aptitude was the worst)—consistently outran his team by a wide margin.

Where did he go wrong? Faced with too many variables, many of them intangible and hard to quantify, he picked an attribute he could put a number on: mechanical aptitude.

Never mind our plant’s equipment failed less than 4% of the time. Never mind we had skilled machinists who were seconds away if we needed help. Mechanical aptitude could be measured in a way hustle, teamwork, drive, and work ethic could not, even though those qualities were much more important than mechanical aptitude.

So he went with mechanical aptitude because it was something he could “know,” instead of focusing on other qualities that were more difficult to assess.

That’s a simple, and all too common, mistake.

Here's how you can avoid it. The key is to recognize that every employee brings different skills and attitudes, so your goal isn’t to ensure every employee is great; your goal is to ensure that as a team those employees can collectively be great. (There’s a big difference.)

To build a great team:

Decide what key attribute you must have.

Forget about the stereotypically well-rounded employee for a moment. If you could only pick one attribute, what would you choose as the most important skill or quality a great employee needs to have to succeed in the position?

Maybe it's attitude, or interpersonal skills, or teamwork, or a specific skill set... whatever it is, that attribute is the foundation for individual employees and for your team. Training can fill in the gaps, but this is the attribute almost every employee must possess.

Decide what key attribute you can't have.

This one’s easy. Just complete this sentence: "I don't care how great he is, I don’t want him on my team because he…" Typically your answer won’t be skills-based; it will be something like terrible interpersonal skills, a horrible work ethic, or a larger than life ego. Just identify the attribute you can’t live with and make sure it stays off your team.

Page 18: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

Determine your threshold point.

You may not be able to build a team where every member possesses your most important attribute. In our case a crew was made up of six operators. We had room for one operator who wasn't quite as fast on job changeovers but was a great leader. (In fact, he could serve as the poster boy for my definition of a remarkable employee.) The rest of us bridged his speed gap and we all benefitted from his leadership skills.

Could we have afforded two operators on the team like him? No, probably not. Decide how many individuals who possess your most important attribute will be enough to make things work. If you can find more, that’s great. If not you’re still okay.

Put together the rest of your puzzle.

Knowing your threshold point frees you up to build a team with complementary skills. You can take on a great team player who is technically weaker, or a loner who is an outstanding problem solver, or a person with limited experience who possesses incredible hustle and drive.

Never assume the only individual attributes that matter are attributes that can be measured. In some cases, when individual contributors work alone and largely outside the scope of a team, quantifiable skills may be all-important.

But where teams are concerned, success is almost always the result of intangible qualities. Focus only on numbers—especially on the wrong numbers—and you build teams that on paper should perform well… but in practice never do.

How to Settle Employee SquabblesThe last thing you want to do is seem like you're taking sides. Here's how to handle interpersonal problems more gracefully.

Dear Jeff,

One of my employees complained about how another employee treats him.  He said the other employee makes snide remarks, rolls his eyes when he's speaking, talks behind his back... I spoke to the other employee and he denied it. He said, "I don't know what his problem is. He thinks everyone hates him." What do I do now? — Name withheld by request.

Sorting out interpersonal issues is never easy. Even when you do, it can still appear you took sides—at the very least to the employee who "lost."

The key is to stick to facts. Talk to both employees, separately or together, but only talk about facts: Words, actions, behaviors, and outcomes. Sticking to facts helps you avoid entering the "feelings zone," a black hole you'll struggle to escape from.

Page 19: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

Don't get me wrong: Feelings are of course important, but what you really need to know are what actions, if any, caused those feelings. That means you'll need to direct the conversation and avoid discussion like, "I know he thinks..." or "I know he assumes..." or "I know he doesn't like me..."

For example, if an employee says, "I know he doesn't respect me..." interrupt (nicely) and say, "Let's talk about that. Why do you feel he doesn't respect you? What has he said or done to make you feel that way?"

By focusing on facts you can find out what really happened. More importantly you can help employees focus on behaviors that can be changed.

Employee emotions are largely outside your control, but employee behaviors definitely fall within your scope.

So find out exactly what was said and done, determine whether those things were appropriate, and then clearly state what you expect in the future. And then keep a close eye on the situation and make sure your door is always open.

And definitely never say something to the effect of, "Look, grow up. You don't have to like each other. You just need to do your jobs."

While that may be what you would love to say, you can't. To at least one employee the problem is very real.

And remember that while you may not fully solve an interpersonal squabble, most employees respond positively to the fact you tried.

Have a question? Email [email protected] and it may appear in a future column. Please indicate if you would like your name and/or company name to appear.

6 Ways Successful People Stand OutSubstance trumps style in the long run. Here's how to make the kind of impression that lasts.

Bosses spend the vast majority of their time helping other people succeed: employees, customers, vendors and suppliers... the list goes on and on.

Helping other people succeed is your job, but it's also your job to focus on yourself, at least part of the time.

Why? Your success creates success for others--and success requires, at least in part, standing out from the crowd and being known for something.

Of course there are different ways you can stand out. For example, you can be like this guy.

Page 20: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

Okay, maybe not.

There are better ways:

Be first, with a purpose.

Lots of business owners are the first to arrive each day. That's great, but what do you do with that time? Organize your thoughts? Get a jump on your email?

Instead of taking care of your stuff, do something visibly worthwhile for the company. Take care of unresolved problems from the day before. Set things up so it's easier for employees to hit the ground running when they arrive. Chip away at an ongoing project others are ignoring. Whatever you choose, do it consistently.

Don't just be the one who turns on the lights--be the one who gets in early and gets things done. The example you set will quickly spread.

Be known for something specific.

Meeting standards, however lofty those standards may be, won't help you stand out.

Go above the norm. Be the entrepreneur known for turning around struggling employees. Be the business owner who makes a few deliveries a week to personally check in with customers. Be the boss who consistently promotes from within. Be known as the person who responds quicker, or acts faster, or who always follows up first.

Pick a worthwhile mission and excel at that mission.

Create your own side project.

Excelling at an assigned project is expected. Excelling at a side project helps you stand out. The key is to take a risk with a project and make sure your company or customers don't share that risk.

For example, years ago I decided to create a Web-based employee handbook my then-employer could put on the company Intranet. I worked on the project at home and a few managers liked it but our HR manager hated it... so it died an inglorious death. Bummer. I was disappointed but the company wasn't "out" anything, and soon after I was selected for a high-visibility company-wide process improvement team because now I was "that guy."

The same works for a business owner. Experiment with a new process or service with a particular customer in mind. The customer will appreciate how you tried, without being asked, to better meet their needs, and you'll become "that guy."

Put your muscle where your mouth is.

Page 21: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

Lots of people take verbal stands. Fewer take a stand and put effort behind their opinions.

Say you think a project has gone off the rails; instead of simply showing everyone how smart you are by pointing out its flaws and revamping the timeline, jump in and help fix it.

It's easy to criticize what's wrong or to talk about what should be changed or could be improved. The people who stand out are the ones who help do something about it.

Show a little of your personal side.

Personal interests help other people to identify and remember you. That's a huge advantage for a new business or a company competing in a crowded market.

Just make sure your personal interests don't overshadow professional accomplishments. Being "the guy who ran a marathon" is fine, but being "the guy who is always training and traveling to marathons so we can never reach him when we need him" is not.

Let people know a little about you; a few personal details add color and depth to your professional image.

Work harder than everyone else.

Nothing--nothing--is a substitute for hard work. Look around: How many of your competitors are working as hard as they can?

Not many.

The best way to stand out is to try to out-work everyone else.

It's also the easiest, because you'll be the only one trying.

5 Things You Should Say to Your Colleagues TodayThey're small things--but they can completely change someone's day.

I left the company years ago for another but I still run into former colleagues. Usually the ensuing conversation involves something along the lines of, “Hey, did you hear about the (latest management decision I think is really stupid) at the plant?”

This question was different.

“You worked there for almost 20 years,” my ex-coworker said. “Is there anything you wish you could go back and do over?"

Page 22: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

I thought about it later. I don't really regret strategic errors or poor tactical decisions or career missteps (I made plenty of those.) I certainly regretted those things then, but now, not really.

Instead I most regret the things I didn't say: To employees who reported to me, to some of my peers, and to at least one person I worked for. Those are moments I'd like to have back.

It's too late for me, but it’s not too late for you. Here are five things you should say—today—to people you work with:

“That was great how you...” No one receives enough praise. No one. Pick someone who did something well and tell them.

Feel free to go back in time. Saying, “I was just thinking about how you handled that project last year...” can make just as positive an impact today as it would have then. (Maybe a little more impact, because you still remember what happened a year later.) Surprise praise is a gift that costs the giver nothing but is priceless to the recipient.

“Can you help me...?” One of my biggest regrets is not asking a fellow supervisor for help. I was given the lead on a project he really wanted. To his credit, he swallowed his pride—he was senior to me in tenure and perceived status—and told me he would be happy to help in any way he could.

Even though I could tell he really wanted to participate, I never let him. I decided to show I could handle the project alone. I let my ego be more important than his feelings.

Asking someone for help implicitly recognizes their skills and value. Saying, “Can you help me?” is the same as saying, “You're great at that.”

And there’s a bonus: You get help.

“I'm sorry I didn't...” We’ve all screwed up. There are things we need to apologize for: Words. Actions. Omissions. Failing to step up, or step in, or simply be supportive.

Say you're sorry. And don't follow up your apology with a disclaimer like, “But I was really upset...” or, “I thought you were...” or any statement that in any way places even the tiniest amount of blame back on the other person.

Say you're sorry, say why you're sorry, and take all the blame. No less. No more.

“Can I help you...?” Then flip it around. In some organizations, asking for help is seen as a sign of weakness. Many people naturally hesitate to ask. But everyone needs help.

Don't just say, “Is there anything I can help you with?” Most people will automatically say, “No, I'm all right.” Be specific. Say, “I've got a few minutes... can I help you finish that?”

Offer in a way that feels collaborative, not patronizing or gratuitous.

Page 23: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

And then actually help.

“I'm sorry I let you down.” I was assigned a project in a different department. It was a project I definitely didn't want. So, to my discredit, I let it slide. I let other people take up my slack and focused on projects I was more interested in.

To his credit, my manager had stuck his neck out to get me the project so I could get broader exposure but I, well, didn't care. Eventually my manager said, “Everyone knows you're really busy, so they have decided to handle it themselves.”

I felt bad but I never said, “I know you were trying to help me. I'm sorry I let you down. I promise it will never happen again.” That one statement would have chased a very large elephant from the room.

The biggest elephants are emotional elephants. It's up to you to chase them away.

8 Tacky Business Moves to AvoidDon't be that person. Seriously.

Some of these moves are just plain rude. Others are real reputation-killers. Don't be caught making any of them:

1. Your significant other publicly criticizes employees, customers, or vendors. No matter how justified, no matter how right, they don’t work there. They have no right.

It always without exception sounds horrible.

In fact it sounds something like this.

(Go ahead and watch. I'll wait.)

Told you.

2. You sell an item that was a gift. Say you write a popular tech blog. A manufacturer gives you a tablet in hopes you’ll review it on your blog. It’s a gift. It’s yours to do with as you please.

If you don’t want it, now or later, give it back. Or donate it to charity. Just don’t sell it. That’s tacky.

3. You ask for a favor and then describe how the favor should be performed. When you ask someone to help you, describe what you need. If he agrees let him help you—on his terms.

Page 24: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

It sucks to say yes only to find out that 10 more conditions also apply. (Which is why, “Hey, do you have any free time tomorrow?” should always be followed by, “Maybe… what do you need?”)

Beggars can’t be post-agreement choosers.

4. You don't stay to the end when you’re given tickets to an event. Providing tickets to sports games, concerts, etc. are a time-honored customer relationship tradition. Even if the game is a blowout, half the crowd is gone, the players have lost interest, and your “host” isn’t even there, stay until it’s over.

Anything less shows you really didn’t appreciate the gesture.

5. You—however mildly—criticize a nice gesture. I once wrote a review for a person at their request. I posted it. The next day she emailed me. “Could you change a few of the words in your review? You used ‘great’ three times. Change two to ‘excellent’ and ‘outstanding’?”

Um, no, I can’t. Forget I used "great" three times in the same sentence on purpose because I liked the rhythm. It was an awesome review. Why quibble?

Don’t try to turn someone else’s nice gesture into something even nicer. Just say thanks.

6. You interview someone’s friend as a courtesy. Throwing someone a bone usually means someone gets hurt. If the friend does not otherwise deserve an interview, don’t go through the motions.

7. You commit a lunchtime assault. Your perfume or cologne should never precede you; neither should your lunch.  Save the fragrant leftovers for home. The only time anyone should ever know what you’re having for lunch is if they ask.

8. You do something at the office party you wouldn’t do at work. Okay, you can have a drink even though you (I’m guessing?) wouldn’t have one at work.

Still, work parties, picnics, or outings are an extension of work. They aren’t Vegas. What you say and do at the office party doesn’t stay at the office party—everyone remembers, often in the form of legend.

And then you’re that girl.

Don’t be that girl.

What's on your list of tacky business moves?

6 Ways to Ruin a Company Offsite Meeting

Page 25: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

Still doing trust falls and scavenger hunts? If you want results, here's how not to run a team meeting.

I’m not a huge fan of the offsite meeting—mainly because I'm skeptical that "thinking outside the box" will happen just because you've let your employees out of the box.

Many people disagree; the offsite is an integral part of many managers’ and business owners’ leadership toolkits.

Unfortunately, many of those people get offsites wrong. If you think an offsite is in order, don’t make the following mistakes:

1. Fail to pre-interview.  You know going into the meeting that a few employees will work  to pursue their own agendas. Some will bring up subjects better dealt with elsewhere. One or two might actually try to sabotage the meeting.

Deal with those situations ahead of time. Talk to everyone. Give them a sense of what you hope to accomplish, and why what you want to accomplish is important. Give them a chance to vent or whine. Then, if necessary, explain what you expect from them during the meeting. Give temperamental employees a chance to be heard in private; sometimes that’s all they want.

2. Fill the agenda with small items.  Using the time to take care of a number of outstanding issues is a temptation few can resist, especially if the entire group is rarely in the same location. Too bad. Wrong place, wrong time.

Whenever you find yourself about to say, "You know, since I have you all together, why don't we take a second and...” stop immediately.  Save the everyday stuff for every other day.

3. Let the venue overwhelm the occasion. Fancy venues are cool. Unusual venues are fun. They’re also distracting.

By all means ensure comfort, convenience, and efficiency, but don’t assume meeting at a “creative” location will automatically inspire your team to greater creativity.  And don’t assume you need to spend more on the meeting to ensure employees take the meeting seriously. Higher meeting expenses don’t correlate to better meeting outcomes.

Pick a venue that allows your employees to focus on the meeting, not the venue.

4. Invite too many people. Generally speaking there’s an inverse relationship between the number of participants and the value of a meeting. Inviting more than 10 people is usually a mistake.

Worry about buy-in later; an offsite should result in decisions, not input. Invite the right people and have them seek input from others before the meeting. Every employee should have a voice, but not at an offsite.

Page 26: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

5. Arrive unprepared to make decisions. Forget the cost of the venue and amenities; offsite wage expenses are high enough. If all your employees make $15/hour, a day-long 10-person offsite costs $1,200 (not counting benefits) in wages alone.

That expense should result in decisions, actions, and initiatives, not in fumbling around for facts or figures.

Work really hard to pull together all the data you need ahead of time. Then create a backup plan if you need access to data during the meeting. Designate an employee not attending the meeting as your go-to person for performing quick research.

Make sure you talk about what you know—not about what you don’t know.

6. Include teambuilding exercises when teambuilding isn’t the point. Teambuilding exercises, like ropes courses, puzzles, treasure hunts, etc., were incredibly popular in 90s corporate America.

They’re still fairly popular. After all, who doesn’t want a stronger, more cohesive team?

Still, a one-off teambuilding exercise will not result in a stronger, more cohesive team. Workplace trust is not built on a ropes course. Trust is built when employees know, through long experience, that they can count on each other.

Skip the exercises.  Get down to business instead. Great teams become great teams when they produce great results.

Focus the meeting on how to produce great results, and let your team discover how great it is through their achievements.

7 Undeniable Truths of Employee PayTo you, their salaries are just a line item in the budget. To your employees, they're much more.

Your employees are your business, so ignore the following truths at your peril:

1. Policy, schmolicy: Employees talk. Many companies actively discourage staff from talking to each other about their salaries. I even know companies that require employees to sign agreements stipulating they won’t disclose pay, benefits, etc. to other employees.

Doesn’t matter. Employees talk. I did, both when I was “labor” and when I was “management.” Generally speaking, the only employees who don’t share details about their pay are the ones who are embarrassed by how much or how little they make.

Never assume raises, bonuses, starting salaries, perks—basically anything related to compensation—will stay confidential.

Page 27: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

2. They think about their pay a lot more than you do. Unless your business is struggling, to you employee pay is a one-off market research activity or something you consider when it’s time to prepare your expense budget. Otherwise checks get cut, people get paid, and it's business as usual.

Employees think about pay all the time. Every time they deposit their check they think about their pay. To you, their pay is a line item; to employees, pay is the most important number in their family's budget.

Each week spend a little time thinking about ways you can improve employee pay and benefits. While you may not be able to make substantial changes to what you pay, you can find other ways to improve how you compensate employees: flexible hours, flexible benefits, developmental opportunities, etc.

3. They’ll let you take advantage. Occasionally the job market is a seller’s market, but most new employees are just really happy to land the new job. And since business owners are born cost cutters, it’s natural to hire every new employee for as low a wage as possible.

Then the employment honeymoon wears off and the employee feels you took advantage. And that feeling never, ever goes away.

Never take advantage of a naïve or desperate employee. The gain is never worth the pain.

Plus it’s just wrong.

4. They don’t care about pay scales. Pay scales are like a pacifier to a big company. Falling back on pay scales is often the easiest way out of a difficult discussion about pay.

Pay scales—and pay practices—are important to you, but they’re largely irrelevant to an employee who, often with good reason, views them as arbitrary rules you came up with one day.

Saying, “That’s just how our system is set up,” is a cop-out. If you can’t afford to pay an employee more, say so. If you think a certain percentage raise is fair, explain why. Use pay scales to build your budget, and use reason and logic—and empathy—to explain pay decisions to employees.

5. When you negotiate, you both lose. Why? Employees lose if only because they resent justifying a certain pay level; in their view you should already know their value. You lose because at some point you may have to say, in so many words, “I’m sorry, but you’re just not worth that much.”

Great employees are worth a lot more than their pay. You get what you pay for, so pay whatever you can to get and keep the best you can.

When you find great, always make your best offer. If your best offer is too low, there’s nothing you could have done.

Page 28: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

6. No matter how much you pay, it’s not enough. We all grow accustomed to what we have. A big new house eventually seems normal. The effect of a big raise eventually wears off; eventually, that raise is just pay as usual.

We all want more. It’s natural. Unfortunately you can’t always give more. And that’s okay, because…

7. Reasonable pay is okay. Employees are smart. They understand market conditions, financial constraints, revenue shortfalls, and increased competition. They understand when you can’t pay top-of-market salaries. What they don’t understand is when they don’t feel fairly compensated compared to other employees in similar positions, both inside and outside your company.

Once pay is reasonable and fair, other things become important: recognition, respect, challenging work, opportunities for development… the feeling that their job is more than just a job.

The happiest and most engaged employees feel they work for something more than just money. It’s your job to provide that sense of belonging and meaning. Without meaning, your employees are stuck simply working for a paycheck.

Higher pay is great but the effects are fleeting.

Respect, recognition, and a sense of real purpose last forever.

The 9 Most Common Start-up MistakesMistakes are a great way to learn. But why not skip the pain and suffering yourself--at least on these 9 mistakes.

Making mistakes is a great way to learn. Making mistakes is also not particularly fun.

It's a lot more fun to avoid them entirely.

Here are some of the most common mistakes entrepreneurs—and businesspeople in general—tend to make:

1. Think of a plan as an end result. Say you’re agonizing over a business plan; somewhere along the way you've forgotten your goal is to actually start the business. Establish goals, create long-range plans, make to-do lists, and get going.

Most successful people are solid planners and excellent adapters. Get started so you can start adapting.

2. Assume style indicates substance. Logos, identity packages, killer wardrobes, eccentric work spaces... none of those matter if you can't deliver. Businesses are built on go, not show. Your business or personal style will create a memorable brand as long as you deliver.

Page 29: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

Just be you. And get to work.

3. Think of business as all-you-can-eat. Ideas are thrilling. Opportunities are tantalizing. Dreams are exciting.

Great, but execution is everything. Take on too much and you do few things well. Keep getting distracted by the latest trend and your best ideas get ignored.

Check out everything on the business menu, but only select a few items at a time. Don't be afraid, or have too big an ego, to start small. Small is almost always your start-up friend.

4. Underestimate the time required. Nothing ever goes as quickly as you predict; in a start-up, time passes in reverse dog years. Create timelines but always factor in scenarios and sensitivities. If you don't reach your estimated sales in six months, what will you do?

An estimate is theoretical. Plans are more concrete. Know what you will do if your timelines are wrong. They will be.

5. Assume perfection is required. Trying to create a product that meets every conceivable customer need? Sooner is almost always better than later, so do a Tim Gunn and make it work. Get to market and then start refining your products or services based on actual customer feedback.

6. Underestimate the money required. It’s easy to underestimate cost when you let hope creep into your calculations. A start-up, no matter how bootstrapped, always has unforeseen costs. Just because you really want something to work out doesn't mean it will magically cost less.

Apply sensitivities and create plans in case your estimates are wrong. Just like your time estimates, they will be.

7. Give up too soon. Success rhymes with excess for good reason: Entrepreneurs who succeed do so because they work harder and longer. Before you give up, take a step back and decide whether additional effort is all that's required to overcome roadblocks or hurdles.

Sometimes it's not the business or the market. Sometimes it's you. Never quit until you’re sure it’s not you.

8. Stop acting silly. If you’re like me your favorite childhood stories involve something stupid you did. (How else would I know the right mixture of sulfur and saltpeter will burn hot enough to turn a Tonka truck into a glop of metal?)

Business is serious enough. Every once in awhile, do something silly. Silly is memorable. Silly makes you feel like a kid again. Laughing at yourself will make the toughest day a lot easier.

Page 30: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

9. Adopt expectations. We are all influenced to some extent by what other people think about us. But what do you want? What really matters to you? Live your life based on the opinions of others and you live their lives, not your own.

What matters most is what matters most to you. Always be sure you're living your life. It’s the only one you get.

10 Quick Tips to Become a Better WriterIt's not about being a highly skilled artist; you just just need to become a better technician with words. Here's how.

Dear Jeff,

I feel like I spend most of my day writing. I mostly write emails but I also do reports, project justifications, and analysis papers.  Not only am I slow I also am not very good. How can I improve short of having to take a technical writing class?—Erin Jameson

If you think you aren’t a good writer, it’s probably because you’ve gotten hung up on the “craft” of writing.  It’s really hard to write well when you’re worried about how you write.

But unless you’re somebody like Nicholas Sparks and you write novels guys hate because you make us all look like insensitive jerks by comparison, style is basically irrelevant.

Writing is all about achieving a goal. Results are all that matters. Whether it’s emails, proposals, reports… good writing gets things done.

So don’t worry about being an artist. Be a technician.

Here’s how:

Start with your goal. It sounds selfish, but when you write you want something: To educate, to instruct, to convince, to sell, to build a relationship, etc. (If you don’t want to accomplish something there’s no reason to write.) Determine exactly what you hope to accomplish. That drives everything.

Organize in bullets. For now forget complete paragraphs and sentences. Just break your goal(s) into bullet points. If you’re justifying a project, list the four major benefits. If you’re trying to build a relationship, list the three things you will offer to do.

Your bullets should support your goal. If they don’t, you either don’t know what you hope to accomplish or how you will accomplish it.

Page 31: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

Then determine your structure. Now you can worry about formatting and style. Roughly speaking, use lists (bullets or numbers) when you have discreet points to make. Lists make the process of writing a lot easier.

Just keep in mind lists come across as impersonal and less than friendly. Avoid lists if your goal is to say thanks, show appreciation, or congratulate the reader. No one wants to read the top five reasons their speech was awesome.

And don’t force a list. If each point can’t at least partly stand on its own without lengthy explanation your bullets aren’t tight enough.

Otherwise, make lists your friends. Lists make the writing process a lot easier while making your main points more memorable.

Eliminate the obvious. I didn't start this post with the obligatory “excellent writing skills are incredibly important in every profession or business” lead. If you don't think good writing is important, you aren't reading this anyway. Whenever possible skip the intros and get to the point.

For example, if you’re detailing your reasoning behind a project request, leave out anything the reader already knows. “Here are the reasons we should proceed” may be all you need.

Never try to force a style. Your personal style is not your personal style if you have to think about it. Just write like you talk, you know, only like without the “um” and “you know” and “like” stuff.

Be direct. Verbs are good. Nouns are good. Long, flowery, convoluted sentences are bad. (I should know. I write them all the time.) That's why you should always...

Cut a third. Rough drafts are naturally wordy because you’re thinking as you write.

After you finish a draft, pretend you have to cut out a third of what you’ve written. The result will be tighter, more powerful, and a lot more to the point. I cut my Negotiating for Wimps post in half when I edited it, and as I re-read it I think it's still a little wordy. That's why you should...

Treat your writing like wine and let it breathe. It’s easy to slip on beer goggles when you write: You get into the flow,  fall in love with a clever phrase, and suddenly everything you write looks incredible... but then you wake up horrified the next day.

I have never written anything I did not later feel could be improved. (Like that last sentence.) Rewrites are much easier when you step away and return with fresh eyes. If your goal is important, always start early enough that you can let what you write sit for at least a few hours before you give it a final edit.  Just make sure that you also…

Be yourself. Good writing is a reflection of your thoughts, your ideas, and your reasoning. The key word in that sentence is “your.”

Page 32: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

Ask friends and colleagues for input. Let other people proofread. But don't try to wring out every ounce of character. It's your writing—it should reflect you.

And finally…

Make sure the reader knows what you want. Results are everything. If the reader can’t tell what you want—to make a decision, to take certain actions, to respond by a certain time, or just to feel complimented or appreciated—then you failed. Don't write unless you have a meaningful point to make.

Once you have that, the words are easy.

Have a question? Email [email protected] and it may appear in a future column. Please indicate if you would like your name and company name to appear.

If This Isn’t How You Recruit, You’re Doing It WrongThe six steps every business owner must follow to find better talent.

I once took an informal survey at a speaking event. “How many of you,” I asked an audience of about 300 entrepreneurs, “are satisfied with the way you find and recruit employees?”

Two people raised their hands. I called on one. “What’s your secret?”

He shrugged, smiled sheepishly, and said, “I only have one employee. And he’s my brother.”

Most small business owners struggle to find and recruit great employees even when unemployment rates are relatively high. Partly that’s because finding new employees is just one of a thousand other tasks you perform. When recruiting is something you only do occasionally it’s hard to be an expert—unless you adopt some of the strategies professional recruiters use.

Enter Art Papas, CEO of Bullhorn, a recruiting software firm whose web-based products like Reach and Marketplace are used by over 45,000 recruiters in 35 countries to handle more than 150,000 job orders and placements every month.

According to Papas, here are some ways any small business can take advantage of techniques used by professional recruiters:

1. Ditch the job boards. Most job board sites, like Monster and Career Builder, have seen a steady decline in traffic. The job seeker audience is moving on to basic search and to search aggregators like Indeed and Simply Hired. Sure, they're easy to use... but you need effective, not just easy.

Page 33: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

2. Put more emphasis on social media. Obviously spend a massive amount of time on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Where job searches are concerned, the active job seekers live on LinkedIn, while the more passive job seekers are on Facebook. All you have to do is leverage your existing social media marketing efforts.

You’re already engaged in social media, so why not get even more out of it?

Say you run a coffee shop. You promote your company on Facebook as a way to build your fan base. So start publishing job opportunities there. Tell the people who are fans of your brand that you’re hiring.

Some may think, “Hey, my friend John is looking for a job, and that job would be perfect for him… I’ll tell him!” While only a few people may respond, you only need a few.

If you say you’re hiring, your fans will spread the word. They already like you, and they love to help their friends.

3. Make applying easy. Many companies make the barrier to entry too high and the reward too low by requiring applicants to fill out page after page of information before they can even submit a resume. The candidates you most want to attract—in some cases, people who are so skilled they have options—will opt out. Why should they waste all that time when the employer probably won’t even call?

Making it easy definitely works. One of Bullhorn's systems places a “Let’s Talk!” button next to the recruiter’s photo. That simple addition alone quadrupled conversion rates.

Set the barrier to entry too high and you create a negative selection bias. Instead, make it your goal to facilitate a conversation.

And don’t create a system that only makes your job easier. Create a system that makes it as easy as possible for great candidates to engage—in fact, to want to engage—with you.

4. Follow up. Every candidate you turn down is at the very least a potential customer, at best a person you will want to hire. Job seekers hate when they apply for a job and never heard a word, and they're not shy about sharing their feelings with others. Create a simple system that lets you stay, as best as possible, in the good graces of the people you don’t hire.

Treat job seekers with the same courtesy and respect you extend to your customers. In the long run it definitely pays off.

5. Manage the relationship. Every job seeker has heard, “We’ll keep your information on file and will contact you if we have future openings.” Every job seeker also knows the company never will. Most companies create systems that are optimized for tracking compliance with federal regulations, not for improving the candidate relationship process.

Page 34: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

A percentage of the people who apply for your opening already have a job so they may still be interested in working for you six months from now. If you don’t select a candidate but she is definitely a person you may want to hire in the future, set up a simple system that allows you to stay in touch. See great people as leads; you wouldn't throw away a lead, would you?

6. Sell. Ultimately the best talent needs to be sold. Great companies land outstanding employees because they work hard to find and sell great talent.

Think of it from the potential employee’s point of view. When unemployment is high, thousands of people submit applications for any job they can find, playing résumé roulette.

But the typical hiring path is a third-party recruiter or an employee referral. The people who get jobs leverage their connections to get their foot in the door.

You can too.

Say there’s a person you tried but failed to hire because she opted to stay at her current job. You would still love to hire her, though. So pay attention. Watch for things like LinkedIn Profile updates. Bullhorn offers a Reach Radar tool that watches for profile updates, connections with recruiters, new endorsements… various social media signs that an employee may be on the move.

Stay connected the same way you would stay connected to a sales lead. Do more than just send a generic “Have you thought about coming to work for us?” email every six months.

As an employer it’s just as important for you to make and nurture connections as it is for employees and job seekers.

Remember, we’re all in the same boat. We all want to work with great people.

7 Must-Have Qualities to Look for in EmployeesThe smaller your business, the more crucial it is to get every new hire right. If you find someone with these 7 traits, make an offer -- quick.

While every hiring decision is important, the smaller your business the more important it is you hire the right people. When employee No. 300 turns out to be a disaster, the impact on the business is relatively small and often confined to a small group of staff.

When employee No. 3 turns out to be a disaster, everyone—and everything—suffers.

That's why attitude is everything. You can teach skills, but it's nearly impossible to teach and instill enthusiasm, teamwork and independence (great employees have both), and motivation.

Page 35: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

And that’s why great small business employees:

Can come across a little different. People who are quirky, sometimes irreverent, and happy to be different may seem a little out there, but in a really good way. An employee who isn’t afraid to stand out or stretch boundaries often comes up with the best ideas—and helps you think in different ways, too.

May lack polish but overflow with personality. Think about your favorite customers, vendors, or suppliers. What typically comes to mind first? Those people are personable, friendly, outgoing, and make your day a little more fun. Look for the same qualities in the people you hire. Customers buy more and build longer-term relationships from people they like.

Think, “I’ll do whatever you need. It’s all 8 hours to me." I first heard that expression when I asked an employee to help me clean up after a backed-up sewer line spread (incredibly unpleasant) fluid across the warehouse floor. He smiled and said, "Sure. It's all 8 hours to me."

He felt he was paid to work for 8 hours, so the tasks he performed during that time period didn't matter (in a good way). Great employees are willing to do whatever it takes. Great employees are more concerned with overall objectives and goals than their individual duties.

Possess one outstanding skill. Small businesses have a variety of specific needs: Running the website, processing orders, generating leads, etc. Many roles can be outsourced. If you have the choice, only bring roles in-house because the candidate is truly outstanding.

Aren’t concerned with job descriptions or organizational structures. To a business owner a prospective employee who asks to see a detailed job description is waving a giant red flag. Employees are paid to work, not hold a position. (If you don't feel there's a difference you haven't run a small business.)

Want to learn and take over. You're often overwhelmed, so having the luxury to delegate and forget is extremely valuable. While employees with an independent streak can be more difficult to manage the payoff is definitely worth it.

Asked you for a job. Say you sell products online. One day a college senior walks in and says, "I checked out your website. I don’t mean to be rude, but it could be a lot better. I graduate soon and would love to work for you. Here’s a list of the changes I would make in the first three months, and here’s a breakdown of how those changes will improve SEO results and conversion rates. She’s targeted her approach, she’s done her homework, and she’s displayed a level of initiative every business owner hopes to find. While a prospective employee will rarely knock on your door, when one does, give her serious consideration.

That’s my list. What qualities would you add?

6 Phrases You Should Never Say Again

Page 36: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

Love catchy business speak? Before your next meeting or presentation, make sure you aren't guilty of one of these useless (& annoying) verbal tics.

Years ago, I worked for a manager that was the poster child of buzzwords. He loved slipping “cones of precision” and “silos” and “drill down” and… well, let’s just stop there.

(Oh, he also bought one of the first Palm Pilots, so roomfuls of people often sat waiting while he laboriously entered timelines and schedules into his calendar. Yep, he was one of those.)

One of my colleagues maintained a running list of this manager’s buzzwords. If this colleague heard a new one, he pulled a small notepad out of his shirt pocket and wrote it down. Whenever he whipped out his pad two things happened: 1) the manager looked smug and proud because he thought he had just said something so insightful the supervisor wanted to capture for it for posterity, and 2) the rest of us tried not to laugh because we knew what was really going on.

Guess how productive those meetings were.

Unfortunately, we all have a little of that manager in us. We use the same words too often, or without noticing use irritating speech patterns, or simply fall in love with certain expressions. (I’m definitely guilty; I once carried on a passionate and all-too-public affair with “that’s neither here nor there.”) When we do, whatever we hoped to say gets lost.

See if you’re guilty of any of these:

1. The Double Name: Using a person’s name twice-- especially your own-- in the same sentence as a way to justify unusual or unacceptable behavior.

Typical usage: “What can I say? That’s just Joe being Joe.” (Or even worse, “What can I say? That’s just me being me.”)

Whenever you say a person’s name twice as a way to describe them you’re actually making an excuse for behavior you would never tolerate from someone else.

And everyone knows it.

2. The Fake Agreement: Pretending to agree while expressing the opposite point of view.

Typical usage: “I can definitely see what you’re saying, but I just don’t think we should take on that project.”

In fact, you don’t really see what I’m saying because otherwise you would agree with what I’m saying. Beginning a sentence with, “I hear you…” is like a condescending pat on the head.

Don’t try to couch a different opinion inside a warm and fuzzy Fake Agreement. If you disagree, just say so professionally.

Page 37: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

3. The Unsupported Closure: Ending a discussion or making a decision without backup or solid justification.

Typical usage: “At the end of the day, we’re here to sell products.”

Really? I had no idea we’re supposed to sell products!

Unsupported Closure is a go-to move for people who want something a certain way and don’t feel like, or can’t, explain why. Whenever you feel an, “At the end of the day…” coming on, take a deep breath and start over, otherwise you’ll spout inane platitudes instead of objective reasons that may actually help your employees get behind your decision.

Quick note: A Fake Agreement combines nicely with an Unjustified Closure: “I hear what you’re saying, but at the end of the day revenue concerns must come first.” Win-win!

4. The False Uncertainty: Pretending you’re not sure when, in fact, you are.

Typical usage: “You know, when I think about it I’m not so sure shutting down that facility isn’t the best option after all.”

Oh yes, you’re sure; you’re just trying to create buy-in or a sense of inclusion by pretending you still have an open mind… or you’re planting seeds for something you know you will eventually do.

Never say you aren’t sure unless you are truly willing to consider other viewpoints.

5. The First Person Theoretical: Pretending to be another person in order to explore different points of view.

Typical usage: “Let’s say I’m the average customer. I walk in your store. I want to buy a shirt...and so on."

You can get away with this occasionally, but more than once a year is really irritating.

Think about it. Let’s say I’m the average reader and I know someone who uses the First Person Theoretical to pretend they’re putting themselves in someone else’s shoes. And let’s say I’m thinking it’s really irritating. In fact, let’s say I’m thinking we can just move on.

6. The Favorite Word: Using a word so often that word is all anyone hears.

Typical usage: Simply pick a word and hammer it to death.

I had a boss who never met a sentence he couldn’t find a way to shoehorn “in other words,” “in general,” and “regarding” into. Often he could cram all three into the same sentence, sometimes multiple times. I kept track one time and counted thirty-seven “in other words” in a four-minute span.

Page 38: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

Hey, I’m not proud. I’m also not worried about him reading this since he’s probably off somewhere clubbing baby seals.

When you fall in love with a word or expression, other people not only tire of it but they hear nothing else. Whatever you hoped to get across gets lost as people think, “Oh jeez, for once could he leave out the ‘that’s neither here nor there’”?

Ask someone if you overuse a word or phrase. At first they’ll look uncomfortable and try to avoid answering. Insist.

Eventually they’ll tell you, and I promise you’ll never use that word again.

Reignite Your Passion for the Business: 6 TipsSomewhere along the way you lost the thrill of running your own business. Here's how to get it back.

As a business owner you often face the same frustrations, roadblocks, and employee headaches. Every day you face some of the same problems with vendors, suppliers, and customers.

And you start to lose your enthusiasm and passion for your business.

How do you get that enthusiasm back? Here are five ways to break out of a business rut:

1. Jump back in the pool. You undoubtedly started your business based on a passion. Unfortunately, as your business grows you gradually spend more time working on the business than in the business.

That’s a good thing—but not when you’re in a rut. The more successful your business, the less time you get to spend actually doing what you love. If you're a landscaper with four crews, you probably spend the majority of your time organizing and managing and fighting fires and very little time creating amazing designs.

This week make time to “work” for a few hours or, better yet, the whole full day. Pick the one thing you enjoy the most about your business and do it. You'll start the next day recharged—and you'll remember why you love your business.

2. Use a different standard. Everyone has ways of measuring how they work. Some people work based on time, thinking, “I'll work on this for three hours.” Some work based on tasks, thinking, “I'll stay on this until it’s complete.” Some people dip in and out of various tasks throughout the day.

Page 39: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

Think about how you normally approach your workday and switch it up. If you tend to use time, switch over to task completion mode. If you tend to be task-oriented, set a time limit.

You may be surprised by the increase in productivity. If you like to finish projects, setting a time limit will cause you to work smarter and harder to make sure you get done within the time allowed. If you like to work for a set period of time, forcing yourself to finish a task will make you more productive for the same reasons. No matter what, you'll look at how you tend to work a little differently.

3. Stop doing five things. Do you really need to review every proposal from your sales team? Some of your processes and guidelines may have been necessary early on; now they’re not.

Find five things you can stop doing: Reports, tasks, processes... anything that falls into the category of, “Well, that's how we've always done things...” The more you eliminate the more your day changes and the more time you free up to focus on what really matters.

4. Pass off five things. You hang on to too much. Every business owner does. You're convinced there are some things only you can do: No one else has the skills, or the experience, or just cares enough.

Of course that’s not true. Your employees can perform many tasks just as well as you can, often even better. One of your employees has outstanding interpersonal skills. Let him work with a few key customers. One of your employees is so organized she makes Stephen Covey look messy; turn more processes over to her. Explain, train, delegate, follow up, and let go. Give yourself more room to breathe by giving your employees more opportunities to grow.

5. Spend more time with your best. Twenty percent of your employees monopolize most of your time. It's natural to spend more time with struggling or poor performers. It's also draining.

Take a different approach and spend a few hours with your best employees. They will appreciate the attention and you will be inspired by people you helped develop.

6. Get rid of your worst. In all likelihood one of your employees should be let go. Not only is his performance poor, his actions and attitude destroys morale.

Or maybe one of your customers needs to go because the margins are too low and the effort is too high. Or maybe a product line needs to be cut because it no longer sells. Now it just takes up valuable shelf space and a big chunk of operating capital, and trying to make it a winner drains resources from every part of your business.

Nagging, long-term problems kill enthusiasm and passion. Whatever your “worst” is, let it go.

It may be painful at first, but once you get past the immediate discomfort you’ll wonder why you waited so long.

Page 40: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

The 10 Worst Things to Say When You Fire SomeoneFiring someone is hard -- but getting fired is always harder. Don't make it worse by putting your foot in your mouth.

Letting an employee go can be a stressful and even painful experience. Possibly that’s why making the firing process as easy as possible—for the boss—is something of a cottage industry.

That’s too bad, because while terminating an employee is hard for you, getting fired is way harder for the employee.

So forget about your feelings. Whenever you have to fire an employee you must protect your business from a legal aspect.

After that, your only goal is to treat the employee as compassionately and respectfully as possible.

Your feelings are irrelevant.

Which is why you should never say any of the following:

1. "Look, this is really hard for me." Who cares if it’s hard for you? The employee certainly doesn’t. Any time you talk about how difficult the situation is for you the employee thinks, "Oh yeah? What about me? How hard do you think this is on me?" If you feel bad—and you will—talk through your feelings later with someone else.

And also never say, “Look, I’m not sure how to say this…” You’re sure what to say. You’re just uncomfortable saying it.

Never even hint that the employee should somehow feel your pain; that’s just selfish.

2. "We've decided we need to make a change." You're not an NBA team firing an unsuccessful coach. And you're not holding a press conference either. Skip the platitudes. If you've done your job right the employee already knows why he's being fired.

State the reason for your action as clearly and concisely as possible. Or just say, "Mark, I have to let you go."

3. "We will work out some of the details later." For the employee, getting fired is both the end and the start of another process: Collecting personal items, returning company property, learning about benefits status, etc.

Page 41: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

It's your job to know how all that works—ahead of time. Getting fired is bad enough; sitting in limbo while you figure out the next steps is humiliating for an employee who wants nothing more than to leave. Never make an employee wait to meet with others who are part of the process. Once you let them go, the employee is on their time, not yours.

4. "You just aren't cutting it compared to Mary." Never compare the fired employee to someone else as justification. Employees should be fired because they fail to meet standards, targets, or behavioral expectations.

Plus, drawing comparisons between employees makes it possible for what should be an objective decision to veer into the “personality zone.” That’s a conversational black hole you will struggle to escape.

5. "Okay, let’s talk about that. Here’s why..." Most employees sit quietly, but a few will want to argue. Never let yourself be dragged into a back-and-forth discussion. Just say, "Mark, we can talk about this as long as you like, but you should understand that nothing we discuss will change the decision." Arguments almost always make the employee feel worse.

Be professional, be empathetic, and stick to the facts. Don't feel the need to respond if an employee starts to vent.

Just listen—that’s the least you can do. And the most you can do.

6. "You’ve been a solid employee but we simply have to cut staffing." If you truly are downsizing, leave performance out and just say so.

But if you're not actually downsizing, and you're hiding behind that excuse so the conversation is easier for you, then you do the employee a disservice—and you open your business up to potential problems, especially if you later hire someone to fill the open slot.

Never play games to try to protect the employee's feelings—or, worse, to protect your own. Just be straightforward.

7. "We both know you aren't happy here, so down the road you’ll be glad." Whether or not the employee will someday be glad you let them go is not for you to judge. Employees can’t find a silver lining in the fired cloud, at least not at first. Let them find their own glimmers of possibility.

8. "I need to walk you to the door." I worked for a company where the policy was to immediately escort terminated employees out of the building.

An employee you fire is not a criminal. Don’t put them through a walk of shame. Just set simple parameters. Say, "Mark, go ahead and gather up your personal belongings and I'll meet you back here in 10 minutes."

If Mark doesn't come back, go get him. He won't argue.

Page 42: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

9. "We have decided to let you go." The word "we" is appropriate in almost every setting, but not this one.

Say, "I." At this moment, you are the company (even if, in fact, you’re just an employee.) Take responsibility.

10. "If there is anything I can do for you, just let me know." Like what? Write a glowing letter of recommendation? Call your connections and put in a good word for him? (Of course, if you are laying off good employees due to lack of work you should do anything you can to help them land on their feet.)

Absolutely say, "If you have any questions about benefits, final paychecks, or other details, call me. I'll make sure you get the answers you need." But never offer to do things you can't do. You might feel a little better because you made an offer, but the employee won't.

Remember, when you fire an employee it's all about the employee, not about you—and especially not about what makes you feel better.

Negotiating for WimpsHow to ask for what you want -- and get it. Eleven tips for the confrontation-shy.

I admit it. I hate negotiating. (Hate negotiating.)

To me, a negotiation always feels at least a little confrontational, and I’m a confrontation-averse kinda guy.

Unfortunately, negotiating is a fact of business life.

So if you’re like me—a negotiating sissy—here are a few ways to make negotiating a little less stressful, a little more fun, and a lot more successful:

1. Make the first bid. People hate to go first if only because going first might mean missing out on an opportunity: "If I quote a price of $5,000,” the thinking goes, “and he would have happily paid $7,000, I leave money on the table.” In the real world, that rarely happens, because the other person almost always has a reasonable understanding of value.

So set an anchor with your first offer. (The value of an offer is highly influenced by the first relevant number—an anchor—that enters a negotiation. That anchor strongly influences the rest of the negotiation.)

Research shows that when a seller makes the first offer the final price is typically higher than if the buyer made the first offer. Why? The buyer's first offer will always be low. That sets a lower anchor. In negotiations, anchors matter.

Page 43: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

If you’re buying, be first and start the bidding low. If you’re selling, start the bidding high.

2. Use silence as a tool. Most of us talk a lot when we’re nervous, but when we talk a lot, we miss a lot.

If you make an offer and the seller says, "That is way too low," don't respond right away. Sit tight. The seller will start talking in order to fill the silence. Maybe he’ll list reasons why your offer is too low. Maybe he’ll share why he needs to make a deal so quickly. Most of the time the seller will fill the silence with useful information—information you would never have learned if you were speaking.

Listen and think more than you speak. When you do speak, ask open-ended questions. You can't meet in the middle, much less on your side of the middle, unless you know what other people really need.

Be quiet. They’ll tell you.

3. Expect the best. High expectations typically lead to high outcomes. Always go into the negotiation assuming you can get what you want. Always assume you can make a deal on your terms.

You can't receive if you don't ask. Always ask.

4. Never set a range. People love to ask for ballpark figures. Don’t provide them; ballpark figures set anchors, too.

For example, don’t say, "My guess is the cost will be somewhere between $500 and $1,0000." The buyer will naturally want the final cost to be as close to $500 as possible—even if what you are eventually asked to provide should cost well over $1,000.

Never provide an estimate when you don’t have enough information. Keep asking questions instead.

5. Concede for a reason. Say a buyer asks you to cut your price. Always get something in return by taking something off the table. Every price reduction or increase in value should involve a trade-off of some kind.

Follow the same logic if you are the buyer. When you make a second offer, always ask for something else in return for that higher price. And if you expect the negotiations to drag on, feel free to ask for things you don't really want so you can concede them later.

6. Never negotiate alone. While you probably do have the final word, being the ultimate decision-maker can leave you feeling cornered.

Always have a reason to step away and get a final okay from another person, even if that other person is just you.

Page 44: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

It might feel wimpy to say, “I need to talk this over with a few people first,” but better to feel wimpy than to be pressured into a decision you don’t want to make.

7. Use time to your advantage. Even though you may hate everything about negotiating, never try to wrap a negotiation up as soon as possible just to be done with it. Haste always results in negotiation waste.

Plus there’s another advantage to going slowly. Even though money may never change hands, negotiations are still an investment in time. Most people don’t want to lose on their investments. The more time the other side puts in the more they will want to close the deal… and the more likely they will be to make concessions so they can close the deal.

While some people will walk away, most will hang in for much longer than you might think.

8. Ignore bold statements. Never assume everything you hear is true. The bolder the statement the more likely it is to be a negotiating tactic.

Strong statements are either a bullying tactic or a sign of insecurity. (Or, often, both.) If you feel intimidated, walk away. Otherwise, listen closely for what lies under all the bluster and posturing.

9. Give the other person room. You feel defensive when you feel trapped; so does the other party.

Push too hard and take away every option and the other person may have no choice but to walk away. You don't want that, because...

10. Don’t try to win. Negotiating isn’t a game to be won or lost. The best negotiation leaves both people feeling they received something of value. Don’t try to be a ruthless negotiator; you’re not built that way.

Instead, always try to…

11. Build a relationship. Never take too much from the table, and never leave too much. As you negotiate, always think about how what you say and do can help establish a long-term business relationship. A long-term relationship not only makes negotiating easier the next time, it also makes your business world a better place.

How I Built a Lifestyle Business I LoveMost people wish they could say they do what they love. Here's how one business owner actually made it happen.

Like most platitudes, “do what you love” rings a little hollow… but not for everyone.

Page 45: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

Take Lauren Hefferon. She loves bicycles: from an early age she loved the outdoors, loved to ride, and loved cycling on an athletic and a personal level.

“Starting when I was a kid,” she says, “I knew I didn’t just want to have time to ride. I wanted cycling to be at the center of whatever I did in my life.” Today Lauren owns Ciclismo Classico, an award-winning cycling tour company based in Boston that has won Outside magazine and National Geographic trip-of-the-year awards.

Lauren does what she loves. How? By design.

“To me, getting away is the dream,” Lauren says. “Life is not about having stuff, it’s about having experiences. Even in high school I thought the definition of awesome was to ride my bike, take hundreds of pictures, enjoy amazing scenery, and eat amazing food. I decided to design my life so I could always have those experiences and share them with others.”

Like how she chose a college. “My dad wanted me to go to Cornell,” she says. “It’s a terrific school, but what sold me was how great the surrounding area is for cycling. Cycling was like a stake in the ground that kept me engaged in school. If I had gone to college in, say, New York City, something would have been missing and I wouldn’t have been as engaged.”

While in college she led informal bicycle trips, and when she graduated she wasn’t sure what to do next. “I had studied anthropology,” she says, “and I loved culture and travel, so I went off to study in Italy. It goes without saying that Italy is an amazing place to ride. While I was there I looked for ways to take my love of cycling and make a life out of it. I thought about opening a bike shop, but I didn’t want to sell things.  I really wanted to ride and travel.”

So she started working for a small cycling tour operator in 1985, leading trips from Rome to Paris and Rome to London. “Those trips are about as challenging as it gets for a tour leader,” she says, “and yet I was still totally stoked. So I came back to the States and started my own company.”

At the time cycling tours tended to focus on point-to-point excursions. Few, if any, tour operators offered specialized destinations and experiences. Lauren decided that with her anthropology background and her love of experiential learning, a bicycle tour wouldn’t have to only involve riding from place to place with a lunch strapped to your back.

“I love to learn,” she says, “and I thought education would be a cool component. So I started developing the formula: Cycling clinics, Italian lessons, cooking lessons, embracing the history and culture… really turning a cycling tour into more than just a bike ride. I decided my secret sauce was providing bicycle tours for the culturally curious. ”

She ran her first ad, booked her first clients, and led her first tours as a one-woman enterprise. To her surprise, the sales process came easily. “I love to talk about our tours,” she said. “I don’t see it as a ‘sales process.’ When you love something, selling is easy: Just talk about what you love.”

Page 46: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

Over the years her business has changed. “When I started we took a more basic approach, using 2-star hotels, etc. In the 1990s people wanted a 5-star experience, so we created deluxe tours to satisfy the more affluent clientele. Recently we’ve shifted back, at least in part, taking a ‘more miles for less’ approach because that's what many clients want. But we still are known for our huge culinary focus and advanced riding experiences.”

She has adapted her role in the business to ensure cycling remains central in her life. “A business is like a child,” she says. “It should grow up and be the person it can be. You don’t need to mother it forever. Besides, the only person who ever succeeds fully is a musician: They get to market their music and play their music. The rest of us don’t get to do as much of what we love as we become more successful.

That’s always the challenge, but it’s definitely a challenge worth tackling.”

7 Deadly Sins of Start-upsDon't fall prey to one of these common entrepreneur mistakes. You'll be much more likely to avert a swift start-up death.

Now that I have you fired up about why you should start a company, it's time for me to bring you back down to earth.

Starting a company will be one of the hardest things you ever do. It's you versus the world. And the world usually wins, as more than 65% of all businesses fail.

So what are the major mistakes you will make that will lead to the demise of your business? Here are my 7 deadly sins of start-ups.

1. Pick the wrong market

There's a great line in Marcus Luttrell's Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of Seal Team 10 about picking the right opportunities. Marcus quotes his risk-taking entrepreneurial father, "I'd rather shoot for a star and hit a stump than shoot for a stump and miss." 

Shoot for the stars. Pick a large market with room for many large winners. Choosing a good market can make up for a lot of operational mistakes. Choosing the wrong market can turn the game of business into a game of roulette in which each chamber has a bullet.

2. Choose the wrong co-founder

The fastest way to ruin a friendship is to start a business with him. Just because you are friends doesn't mean you can work well together. The booby prize for winning a fight with a co-founder? A failed business.

Page 47: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

Two dudes can be best buds for 20 years. Put a big pile of potential money in the middle of them, and watch the worse character traits of each come out. It often makes The Apprentice look tame.

Just like in marriage, opposites attract in co-founders. Don't start a business with someone whose skill set matches yours. Find someone whose strengths are your weaknesses, and whose weaknesses are your strengths. Divide and conquer together. And trust each other. 

3. Wait too long to launch

Business school classes (so I've heard from friends who spent a small fortune to lose 2 years of their professional lives) talk about finding a "product-market fit." In the real world, we call that building a product or creating a service people will pay for.

The only way to really know if your offering has a future is to actually go to real people and ask them to buy, or use it—soon.

Everything comes up roses in spreadsheets. I've never met an entrepreneur whose projections weren't "conservative" or whose financial model wasn't "rock solid." But I've met many, many entrepreneurs whose businesses have failed, many very publicly and with flair.

The gap between what you think will happen during your planning phase and what actually happens when you are in market selling your product or service is often huge. So launch early to get the feedback you need to iterate, iterate, and iterate some more.

4. Spend too much too soon

Most entrepreneurs fail for one simple reason: They run out of money. Your job as the founder is to ensure that your business gets into orbit before it runs out of money.

The easiest way to run out of money, I assure you, is to increase spending too fast.

Entrepreneurs love to turn on the gas before the business model is fine-tuned.  This is a mistake. Spend as little money as possible as you try to find your business model.

If you are selling a product to businesses, don't hire your second sales person until your first is generating at least two times her annual salary. Don't market aggressively until you know that people will buy your products.

5. Hire the wrong people

Your business model is your race horse. Your people are your jockeys. And the difference between a winner and a loser is usually not the horse, but the person riding it. Great people will get you into first place. The wrong hires will ensure suboptimal performance.

Page 48: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

Too often, entrepreneurs try to just fill positions so they can "move on" to what they think are more important tasks. Let me tell you a little secret all great entrepreneurs know: Hiring isn't a task on your to-do list. It's the lifeblood of your company. It is your company.

The most important hires are your first 20. They are the soul of your business. They set the tone for all future hires. If they are awesome, awesome people will follow them, and join your company. If they suck, future hires will suck as well.

6. Don't fire the wrong people

All first-time entrepreneurs and managers hire the wrong people. Many serial entrepreneurs hire the wrong people. I've done it dozens of times and still do it regularly. Both parties go into the transaction with the best intentions, but it doesn't work out for various reasons.

What happens next is critical. Do you let the wrong people fester at the company, attract more wrong people, kill your company morale, and create more and more problems? Or do you fire them and part ways?

The right answer is simple: You should fire them. But operationalizing this truth is not easy. Entrepreneurs are eternal optimists. We're driven by fear. Telling people that today is your last day is the last thing any of us want to do when we get to the office.

But you have to do it. Not firing the company misfits does the company and its employees a disservice. And it will cost you tons of money in the end. Each hour of lost productivity dealing with internal issues created by the wrong hires is another hour spent not building a better product, selling it or supporting it with excellence. These are hours you can't afford to lose.

7. Ignore your gut

Entrepreneurs who train themselves to listen to their gut in making key decisions generate a tremendous amount of the world's wealth.

Just look at Mark Zuckerberg. His gut told him that students would love a service to connect them seamlessly to each other at their campus. And each of his product decisions, from the newsfeed to photo tagging, also came from gut decisions.

Steve Jobs, Michael Dell, Warren Buffett, Richard Branson. They all learned very early on to listen to their initial instinct.

If your gut tells you that a potential hire is not a fit with the ethics and values you set, don't hire him. If your gut tells you that your product will never gain one customer, let alone customer traction at scale, change and do something else. If your gut tells you that an investor will probably screw you down the line, don't take her money.

When was the last time someone told you that they shouldn't have listened to their gut? Exactly.

Page 49: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

3 Rules for Building Business RelationshipsAre you generating the most value from your professional relationships? Here are three ways to quickly inject some life into your network.

Ask any entrepreneur or salesperson (one might argue there is no difference) about their greatest asset and you'll often hear the same answer: their network and relationships.

Countless bestsellers have been written on how to cultivate and nurture relationships.  Why is it then that we see so many people not taking advantage of the opportunities to broaden their network and engage with those who could potentially be their next great partner?

As our firm continues to grow and we bring in top talent from a variety of companies and professional backgrounds, we realize that each of us has a strong network of relationships that we aren't fully leveraging.

Here are three ways to improve the way you nurture your network to get the most out of your professional relationships.

1. Focus on the value that you can provide to your network and not necessarily on what the person can provide for you. If you can provide value to someone in your network with limited time and resource investment, do it! Aside from the fact that it is a nice gesture, you can be sure you'll be top of mind next time this person or someone in their network has a need that fits your area of expertise.

2. Being a relationship "broker" can offer significant benefits to your personal and professional brand. While you should always be sensitive to busy people's time, simply making an introduction between two people in your network who share a common interest or challenge can do wonders for each of these individual relationships.

3. Don't let personal fears get in the way of forming new relationships. It is far easier to talk to people you already know than it is to form new relationships. Explore the boundaries of your comfort zone to put yourself in a position to form new, productive relationships whenever an opportunity arises.  It is never an easy task, but proactively expanding your network can pay off in dividends for your personal and professional development.

It's generally preferable to have fewer high-quality relationships than hundreds of low-quality relationships. By following these simple steps, you can begin to improve the quality of your professional relationships - a skill that is admired by many but mastered by few.

We are always looking for ways to form new relationships and would love to hear your best practices. Share your thoughts with us at [email protected].

Avondale associate Asim Aleem contributed to this article.

Page 50: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

Project 101: Don’t Fumble Your PassEvery new business initiative needs a champion--someone who takes responsibility for driving its success forward. But be careful how you assign that accountability.

Deciding when and where to invest in new business models or markets is one of the main challenges of a growing company. Steps in this process including identifying and prioritizing target customers and filling the customer pipeline.

Ultimately, every key investment also needs a champion-the one person who is accountable for driving success in the new business.

Unless someone is clearly and directly accountable for the success of a new line of business-or any project, for that matter-you're likely to end up with missed deadlines, sub-par results and general confusion / lack of direction.

At Avondale, we have a team of very bright, capable, energized and entrepreneurial people who usually need only minimal direction from us. They are at their best when they can "run with the ball." Our biggest challenges as owners come when we do not clearly "hand off the ball." Too often as owners, we fail to create clear accountability in one of the following ways:

We assume person X knows that they own the path forward on a project, and do not take the time to make sure they know it.

One of us assumes (and communicates) that person X owns it, while the other assumes person Y owns it.

The two of us are not aligned with each other, on either the priority or direction of the project. Alternatively, the two of us are not aligned with the person we have made accountable

We have learned through bitter experience to invest the up-front time to make sure the two of us are aligned on accountability, that we have communicated clearly who is accountable, and that the person accountable has understood us clearly. To paraphrase the 1980's Fram oil filter commercial, "we can align now or we can align later," and it is always more expensive to align later.

Provide Clear Direction

In the same vein, we have found that we consistently err on the side of not giving enough direction at the start of a project. Sometimes this is deliberate; we will throw the problem at a person and let them determine the direction we should take. Ultimately, the only way we can gain enough leverage from our team for us to achieve our growth objectives is to hand off increasing levels of responsibility and ask our team to stretch. If we don't stretch, then we stagnate; there really is no middle ground.

Page 51: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

However, we also have to take the capabilities of our team as problem-solvers into account. It does no good to throw a problem at someone who cannot catch it; that only sets them up for failure. In that case, they don't fail us; rather, we fail them. If a few minutes or hours of investment in problem-solving on our part will greatly increase the odds of success or accelerate our alignment on a path forward, we owe it to the team to make that investment. If we already know in advance the broad outline of the right answer, there is high value in putting that outline down on paper and communicating it.

What has been your experience in building a business? How have you thought about assigning accountability and setting clear direction? Please let us know in the comments below or email us at [email protected].

Best Time to Start a CompanyDon't wait. Here are seven reasons to launch a venture today.

Now that you know my belief that starting a company is your best hope of living the life you want, here's the next logical question: When should you get started?

1. You're young

The best time to start a company is when you are young. The younger, the better. Youth is a beautiful thing. It's the perfect combination of ignorance and innocence. Stupid decisions are excused as learning experiences and the worst outcome of most youthful transgressions is a few days in juvenile prison, or, worse, going broke.

Blogger Michael Arrington recalled a conversation with a venture capitalist last year that "entrepreneurs are like pro basketball players. They peak at 25, by 30 they're usually done."

I don't agree with the blanket statement, but I do agree that it's easier to pour your life into a company when you're young, creative, fresh, and fired up.

When I graduated from Northwestern in 1996, my primary asset was time and passion. I decided to focus these assets on two goals: making money and finding women who would date a geek in glasses with crossed eyes and a bum heart.

Starting a business killed two birds with one stone. I grew my first company into what became a publicly-traded firm (University Wire and Student Advantage) and I met my future business partner, best friend, lover, and wife at a wedding at age 22.

I've never met an entrepreneur who said, "Wow, I wish I hadn't started so young." The world is full of regrets and one of the main ones is from entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs lamenting that they didn't start off earlier.

2. You're miserable at work

Page 52: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

Life is too short to sit behind a desk and be miserable. Show me someone who makes a million dollars a year but hates his job and I'll show you an unhappy guy. Show me someone who makes a tenth of that and I'll show you someone who is 10 times as unhappy.

I've always believed that misery loves company for a reason. Look inside any company and you'll find a boatload of misery, the best fuel to start your own company. We grow up rebelling against our parents. Many grow companies to rebel against former bosses.

Use your nights, weekends, and lunch breaks to form your ideas and network and start laying the groundwork for your eventual prison break. And when you're confident you're on to something, jump. I assure you that you'll never look back, even if all you have at the end is less money in the bank and a learning experience.

3. You're out of work

There's nothing like a good ol' fashion layoff to turn you from a worker into an owner. It shocks and beats the comfort out of you. It's a mini death forcing the least introspective to examine all aspects of their lives.

Let's be clear, everyone who is laid off should not start a business. But a layoff is a great catalyst if you're already thinking about making the move.

When you're fired or let go, many fall into the trap of focusing energy on the people who "wronged" you. Just the opposite. Look at the firing as a blessing in disguise and motivation to reevaluate your life. Put everything on the table—new opportunities you have been ignoring, industries you're interested, and starting your own gig. 

4. You have no responsibilities

Start-ups and life responsibilities are often inversely related, if not mutually exclusive. The more responsibilities you have, the less likely it is that you will start a business.

I have many friends who have been speaking to me about starting businesses for 15 years now. And for many, they now feel it's too late to jump in.

While age and responsibilities are often related, they aren't always.  So start a company when you have the time and the energy and the freedom to do so. Don't wait until it's too late and you're trapped by a mortgage, private school tuition bills, and annual family vacations that you need to fund.

Starting your own firm has a ton of rewards—excitement, accomplishment, the promise of financial freedom, and more. But don't kid yourself, it also has a ton of downsides—you won't see your friends or family as much, your income will approach zero, the time you used to spend working out is now being spent networking, meeting, recruiting, and traveling.

Page 53: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

Providing for others and keeping up with a lifestyle you've grown accustomed to makes it hard to start companies, especially for the first-time entrepreneur. If you are single, married without kids, or thinking about getting married and starting a family—and considering jumping on the entrepreneurial train, do it now before you decide that it's just too late.

5. You have an incurable obsession

Our great country was founded on the idea that anyone with an idea can strike it big.  John D. Rockefeller, the son of a traveling salesman, founded Standard Oil, and in the process became the nation's first billionaire whose fortune swelled to more than $500 billion.

The Rockefeller story is a great one. But don't get seduced by the myth, the money, the adventure, and the allure of being a self-made person. Starting a company is the hardest thing you will ever do professionally. It's you versus the world. And the world wins 90% of the time.

Start a company after you sit on your idea for a while—and you can't get it out of your head. You're obsessed. You're incurable. No matter how much you try not to think about the business, it keeps coming back. You start working on the idea during all your free time. You can't stop talking to friends and family about it. And you feel like you will never forgive yourself if you don't take a chance.

This incurable obsession must be consistent over an extended period of at least three months. Let it sit. Let it settle. And don't confuse it with the entrepreneurial seizure, a more temporary excitement that will wane if you give yourself time to really think about the idea.

6. You are an "intrapreneur"

I am starting to spend time with more and more entrepreneurs who came to the game late but are in an ideal position to thrive. They have launched stuff inside large companies (also known as "intrapreneurs") and have put some money in the bank. Despite having responsibilities and being older then 25, they are in a position to invest in themselves.

Just look at David Rochon and Michael Libenson from SavingStar, a mobile savings company I invested in and sit on the board of directors. David had 25 years experience in the grocery industry and Michael was a former consultant who spent 20 years building other people's businesses.

The two launched Saving Star, which in December 2011 TechCrunch called the "Groupon of Groceries."  The two are well on their way to creating a formidable business that will revolutionize how consumers save money through a network of 24,000 grocery and drug stores nationwide.

It's well documented that college dropouts create great businesses (Facebook, Microsoft, and Dell, to name just a few).  But data also shows that age and entrepreneurial success aren't tied. The Founders Institute released research last year that shows that being older increases the likelihood of success.  They theorize that the "combination of successful project completion

Page 54: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

skills with real world experience helps older entrepreneurs identify and address more realistic business opportunities."

The Kauffman Foundation reports that the Great Recession of a few years ago drove more people to start their own business than any time in the past 15 years. And the fastest-growing group of business starters? Old fogies like me (those who are older than 35)!

7. Do it today

You can try to pick the best time to start a business. When you are old, young, rich, poor, fat, thin, with hair or balding. But any attempt to do so won't make you more or less likely to succeed. Entrepreneurs come in all sizes, shapes, ages and colors. And, believe it or not, our country doesn't have a monopoly on business creation.

Great businesses have been created in times of prosperity. Great businesses have been started when we the country was facing its darkest hours and the entrepreneur was at her lowest low.

If you're reading this story, you're interested in starting your own business. And if you are reading to the end (yes, you! I'm talking about you!), you're about to jump and seriously consider it. Why else would you read 1,500 words about a topic you weren't passionate about?

So let me make it simple for you—the best time to start a business is TODAY. Not tomorrow. Not in two weeks. Not after you get promoted, pregnant, married, or your MBA. TODAY! You're not getting any younger. Your life is not getting any simpler. 

See that cliff in front of you that you're scared to go over? Run up to it once again. But this time, actually jump. What you will find below is the life you wanted to live and all you need to do is get over the fear that's keeping you back.

To see more about how I decided to start my first company rather than take a job, and how fear is getting in your way, check out my talk from late last year.

I'm going to be answering questions next week in my column. So please ask anything you'd like about starting a company in the comments below.

Lessons in Leadership: How Lincoln Became America's Greatest PresidentIt wasn't Abraham Lincoln's strengths but the self-discipline with which he used those strengths for the right purpose.

There is much we can learn by studying Abraham Lincoln's journey from being just another politician to becoming America's greatest president.  (Wikipedia provides a compilation of "Historical rankings of Presidents of the United States" which makes it clear that in the eyes of

Page 55: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

many experts, and the public, Lincoln has consistently held this status).  A key to this transformation was how Lincoln, whose birthday is today, developed the self-discipline to take one of his signature strengths—his mastery of language—and used it to serve the interests of the American people rather than his own.    

One of the best communicators of all time

Lincoln was undoubtedly one of the greatest communicators among all American presidents.  His words—as a public speaker, writer, debater, humorist, and conversationalist—continue to entertain, educate, and inspire us to this day.  With only one year of formal schooling, Lincoln consciously cultivated this mastery of language and expression.  As a young boy he would practice public speaking by gathering his friends together and stepping onto a stump to address them.  During his days as a lawyer in Illinois, Lincoln would frequently meet up in the evening with friends at a tavern where they would engage in story-telling contests.  And he gleaned valuable lessons in rhetoric by diligently studying Shakespeare. 

As he began forging his political ambitions, Lincoln recognized the power of words to weaken and even destroy his opponents, and so he started to attack them with powerful volleys of criticism and mockery.  Upon provocation at a political gathering in 1840, Lincoln mimicked and ridiculed his opponent, Jess Thomas, to uproarious cheering of the crowd.  Thomas, who was present at the event, was reduced to tears, and for years afterwards, the people referred to it as "the skinning of Thomas." 

Lincoln was also in the habit of writing anonymous letters to newspapers to sharply criticize his adversaries.  On one occasion in 1842, for instance, he used the fictitious identity of "Rebecca" to castigate and deride the state auditor, James Shields, calling him "a fool and a liar" in a letter, and making mock-allegations of an unflattering conversation that James had had with Rebecca. 

How Lincoln began to use words for a higher purpose

But the Lincoln we know as president was not this brash, impulsive politician who launched personal attacks on his opponents.  What made him change?  All along, something had been stirring within him.  Right after the "skinning of Thomas" in 1840, one of his friends reported that "…the recollection of his own conduct that evening filled [Lincoln] with the deepest chagrin.  He felt he had gone too far and to rid his good nature of a load, hunted up Thomas and made ample apology," according to an excerpt in Benjamin Thomas, Lincoln's Humor:  An Analysis.  

This inner stirring intensified when some of his verbal attacks drew unfavorable consequences for Lincoln himself.  In fact, when the letter he signed as "Rebecca" was published, the recipient of his reproach, Shields, was so enraged that he forced the newspaper to divulge the writer's identity, and, when he was told that it was Lincoln, accosted Lincoln and challenged him to a duel.  Good sense prevailed on both men just moments before they were to commence this fight-unto-death.  Having learned a lesson by coming so close to an inglorious death, Lincoln never wrote such anonymous letters again. 

Page 56: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

Gradually molding his character this way, Lincoln also became highly attuned to the feelings of others, including his enemies, and highly measured in the way he communicated in adversarial situations.  This was a crucial quality for leading America at a time when the nation was so divided, and the wounds of a Civil War had to be rapidly healed. Once, as he and his wife Mary Todd Lincoln were approaching Washington in a carriage, she remarked, "This city is full of enemies," Lincoln injected, "Enemies? Never again must we repeat that word," as told in Lincoln As I Knew Him: Gossip, Tributes, and Revelations from His Best Friends and Worst Enemies. 

On an earlier occasion Lincoln had explained about Southerners: "They are just what we would be in their situation. If slavery did not now exist amongst them, they would not introduce it. If it did now exist amongst us, we should not instantly give it up," as recorded in Lincoln-Douglas Debates.  And, in a stirring testimony to his power over words, the President pleaded, in his first inaugural address, "We are not enemies, but friends.  We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection." 

Lincoln had not lost his propensity for ridicule, but now it was mostly directed at his own self, in a self-effacing manner.  When, during one of their debates, Stephen Douglas called Lincoln two-faced, Lincoln responded, wryly, "I leave it to my audience.  If I had another face, why would I be wearing this one?"  (This is from Presidential Anecdotes.)

How Lincoln masterfully handled criticism

Lincoln by now was also showing remarkable self-mastery in gracefully fending off the frequent attacks hurled on him by critics, even those within his inner circle.  On one occasion, he was informed that the Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, had refused to execute a presidential order—and further, had called the president a "damn fool."  "He called me a damn fool?" Lincoln asked. "Yes!  Not once, sir, but twice!" replied the excited congressman, who had brought him this news.  "Well, Stanton speaks what is on his mind, and he is usually right about what he speaks, so if he called me a damn fool, I must be a damn fool.  I will go to him now and find out why," according to a 2005 Time magazine article The Master of the Game.

But changing oneself isn't easy, so even as president, Lincoln's anger occasionally consumed him, making him pour it out in letters to critics, errant generals, and others.  He had the self-discipline though to not dispatch these "hot" letters; they were later discovered, unsigned, in a drawer in the president's desk.  In this way, one small step at a time, Lincoln built his self-discipline, and through it, the character of his presidency. 

Lincoln's journey suggests that the true measure of a leader lies not in how much we cultivate and exploit our strengths, but in how we work on tapping, in Lincoln's words, the "better angels of our nature" to use our strengths in the service of a cause much higher than our own personal gain.

Do you have the discipline to sculpt your character?

Do you view yourself solely as who you are today—some good, some bad—or do you see the potential for gradually sculpting your character further, the way Lincoln did?

Page 57: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

How aware are you of your strengths?  What have you been doing to nurture them?  Are there times when you have misused these strengths? Has this led to any inner stirring in you, and have you been striving to discipline yourself to use your strengths in more and more purposeful ways?  What kind of life story could you craft for yourself if you chose to do that?

In the comments section below, I invite you to share reflections from your own journey in life and leadership.  Some executives and MBA students in my Personal Leadership & Success classes and workshops have shared remarkable stories of their own personal transformation and growth—in wisdom, character, and life direction.  If you have experienced a similar turning point, do describe it below, for your story may inspire us just as much as Lincoln's.

Want to learn more ways to become an even stronger business leader? Join Inc. June 6-8, in Miami, for The Inc. Leadership Forum.

Selling Your Product at a Loss Can Be Good for BusinessKilling an unprofitable product isn’t always the best path. Here are four scenarios where sustaining a poor performer can help the business grow.

Common sense would tell you that if you have unprofitable products, removing them from your portfolio will increase the overall profitability of your business. In some cases, however, it’s acceptable, if not desirable, to sustain an unprofitable product indefinitely.

Here are four scenarios where a company can create value for itself and its customers despite selling a product at a loss.

1.       Create a Loss Leader

Under many circumstances, selling one product at a loss may drive significant value for other products. The classic example of this is inkjet printers, which for a long time have been sold at or below cost to attract customers, who inevitably purchase high-margin ink cartridges from the manufacturer, driving significant value to the bottom line. This value would not exist without the loss leader in the portfolio, because it attracts the customer to other more profitable products.

 2.       Penetrate the Market

With many new emerging technologies, a product may be offered at a loss initially to increase customer uptake. A current example is the tablet market, which has been dominated to this point by manufacturers creating products that consumers “don’t know they need (or want).” In such a market, a new technology might be offered at a loss to encourage trial and drive acceptance among consumers. This has been rumored to be the strategy of Amazon with many of its new e-readers as the firm tries to crack Apple’s dominance in the market with its iPad.

Page 58: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

3.       Pinpoint Cost Savings

There may be ways to reverse the fortunes of an unprofitable product by reducing costs or streamlining overhead. Before eliminating a product from your portfolio, determine what specific costs are driving the value destruction. Are costs primarily fixed or can they be variablized? Does the infrastructure surrounding the product exceed what is required? Are there opportunities to streamline production? An unprofitable product can often serve as an indicator of operational inefficiencies that can impact the profitability of multiple products in the portfolio.

4.       Identify Your Ability to Selectively Raise Price

For some products, the cost structure is sound, but the revenues are still insufficient to achieve a profit. In this instance, it is important to evaluate the price of the product. Does the price indicate what the market will allow or is a higher price justified? This is largely the strategy behind many premium products, which have a higher cost structure but provide significantly more value to the customer, warranting a higher price.

Evaluating product profitability is a valuable tool for managing your product portfolio, but assessing a product from the portfolio view is also important in making the correct business decision. In every case, you need to develop the facts to understand why a product is unprofitable and the value it provides to the overall portfolio. You always need to prove why maintaining an unprofitable product in the short term will create value over the long term. Otherwise, it’s best to stop the losses.

3 Characteristics of a Great InvestorOutside investors can propel your business and create a foundation for long-term success. The trick is finding the right ones.

Every CEO of a growth company is faced with a primary challenge: funding that growth. In some cases, growing businesses can partially rely on customers (in the form of working capital), bank loans and founders’ equity. But at some point, most high-growth businesses need to find outside sources for growth equity.

You may be tempted to accept funding from any interested investor. But there is a huge benefit to finding the right investors—the ones that can propel your business and create an environment for long-term success.

Who are the right investors?

We’ve found that the best investors have three key characteristics:

1. Deep knowledge and interest in your product or industry2. Experience with the unique challenges and idiosyncrasies of a growing business

Page 59: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

3. An interest and ability to actively help to grow the company and to be invested in its success

At Avondale, we have the liberty and privilege of building partnerships with investors as a primary strategy to build our business.  It’s amazing to witness the business opportunities that develop when you are able to tap into the knowledge and experience of investors who were once, and possibly still are, entrepreneurs themselves.

These individuals inevitably see business opportunities within their markets that others don’t recognize.  When you can harness that industry insight, experience, reputation and access to relationships, you can develop a strategic asset that gives you a clear competitive edge in your marketplace.

A pure financial investor, by comparison, is likely to focus on one thing: return on capital.  They may also have time restrictions on the investment that may not fit the natural evolution of your business or market.  Even established venture funds, angel investors, and private equity groups with experience in your industry may have a number of restrictions that prevent them from becoming the “ideal” investor for your business.

How do you put together the ideal investor group? 

While there’s no single right answer to finding the ideal group of investors, we’ve found that it’s best to start your search early, potentially even before you finalize your business model.  Find a lead investor who has experience building businesses in the industry and pitch a few alternative business models.  Hearing their own experiences will help you to shape the right approaches to developing a market/product strategy, raising capital, forming a management team, and creating a growth path (e.g., customer acquisition, M&A, etc.).

Once you’ve agreed on the business model and investment with your lead investor, you can approach other equity sources—VC, angel, PE or institutional investors—to fill in the funding gap. The investment will be much more attractive to these investors once the lead investor is in place.

Have you built win-win partnerships with you investors?  Are you currently looking for the ideal investor group?  Share your thoughts with us at [email protected].

6 Steps to Franchising Your Business

Franchising your small business may be a good way to grow fast. Figuring out whether or not franchising will work for you is a matter of knowing your business and yourself.

From drawing up a Financial Disclosure Document to figuring out what potted plants will line the storefront, when turning a business into a franchise the devil is in the details. The pay off, however, can be lucrative, as franchising is one of the best ways to spread a brand and grow a business quickly. 

Page 60: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

Data released by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2010, the first report drawn up by the Bureau that gathered information on franchises, says that franchises made up 10.5 percent of business across 295 industries in 2007. Franchises accounted for $1.3 trillion in revenue and $153.7 billion in payroll disbursed to 7.9 million workers. 

For businesses that are looking to become franchises, there are franchise consultants. Dennis Mulgannon walked the beat as a police officer until 1983, when he decided that he wanted to start his own business. He opened a sandwich shop in the San Jose area. He named it SUBS2U. His chief competition was another upstart shop down the block called Subway. 

"That crashed and burned," Mulgannon says of his first try at his own business. "But I kind of cut my teeth and fell in love with the franchise process." Now Mulgannon is a franchise development consultant and director of franchising for Junk King, a junk hauling service that was founded in 2005 and now has 31 franchisees managing 58 units in the United States. Mulgannon said that potential clients come to him with some sense of why they want to become a franchise, but where they are in their planning tends to vary. "Usually they are at the level where they want to scale, and they want to grow. They’re looking at themselves, they’re looking at their business, and they have some level of success," Mulgannon said. "They want to utilize other people’s skills and other people’s capital to grow their brand." 

Here are six tips for any small business owner thinking about turning their company into a franchise:

1. Know your business inside and out.

The directions provided to each franchisee will likely have to be precise. Business owners, however, are frequently accustomed to running their companies on intuition, and it may be difficult for them to itemize all the infinitesimal but important obligations they fulfill every day. Franchisees will not have the freedom to improvise, and will need to be told how to do everything from keeping the books to ordering supplies. Every step of the process must be carefully outlined. The business owner may have to rediscover what it is like to run a company for the first time.

Tariq Farid had owned four flower shops by the time he was 19. He remembers sitting with his mother, who helped him around the shop, when he was making sixty dollars a day, and he’d tell her of his dream to someday make seventy. When he reached his goal, he turned it in for another dream. Soon he was telling his mother that he wanted to make eight, nine thousand dollars a day. "It never ends," he says.

It still hasn’t for Farid, CEO and founder of Edible Arrangements. That early experience was better than any business school for Farid, but it still didn’t prepare him for the challenges of building his next idea, a shop that sold bouquets made of carved fresh fruit, into an international franchise. When he started out, he says, the franchising wasn’t part of his business plan. "We mostly focused on building the business," says Farid. Which means no job was too small for Farid to take on himself. When the company website needed photos of the product, Farid became

Page 61: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

an amateur food photographer. When his shop needed a more robust back end to allow them to fill more orders online, Farid built it. 

With his head buried in how to increase revenues that were already steadily growing, Farid says he didn’t think much about franchising until a man walked into his shop one day and said he wanted to open an Edible Arrangements in Boston. To see what might be involved in opening a franchise, Farid decided to do a test run himself, in the form of a second store. He found a building, filed the documents, and went through all the minutiae himself, from interior decoration to training the staff. He forced himself to work through each step of the process exactly as a new franchisee would. 

Dig Deeper: You Know What Your Company Does. Can You Explain it in 30 Seconds?

2. Learn about the legal issues.

Mulgannon advises all business owners looking to get into the franchise business to pay close attention to Item 19 on their FDD filing. This is where a franchisor outlines financial performance information. Mulgannon says that if everything's not in order in a company's Item 19, he'll decline to work with them. These legal complications are an area in which the hopeful franchisor may want to seek out professional help.

Farid wouldn’t exactly advise anyone to go about franchising their business without expert advice. "I was mostly doing it myself," Farid says of his early efforts to raise money, cut through the legal thicket, and build his trial franchise. “We had no money, and it was tough to go to a bank with a basket of fruit. "The one consultant Farid did go to unintentionally set the ambitious business owner on the right course. "I went to this consultant and he gave me a bill, he said it would cost $100,000," Farid says. Farid told the consultant he couldn’t afford that. "I think he jokingly said, ‘Why don’t you try it yourself,’ and I took him seriously. I didn’t think he was kidding." Farid says that he made a lot of mistakes, and he did end up hiring franchising consultants ultimately, but by that time he had learned plenty himself.

The International Franchise Association is also a great resource when it comes to the legal issues surrounding franchising. The IFA compiles information on franchises, lobbies for legislation favorable to franchises, and provides resources and aid to businesses looking to become franchises. The association also publishes reports on the legalities involved in franchising, including one titled An Introduction to the Law of Franchising. Whether or not an interested small business owner manages to plow through the 450-page revised second edition may itself be a litmus test of an entrepreneur’s conviction.

Dig Deeper: 10 Common Mistakes of Prospective Franchisees

3. Know how you want to grow.

Page 62: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

The idea of growth is appealing, but a small business owner wants his or her company to scale at a reasonable rate. For some companies looking to become franchises, the new business model may mean expanding coast to coast, even internationally. For others, it may mean adding a handful of new outlets. The experts recommend growing at the rate natural to your business.

When a business comes to Mulgannon to explore the potential of franchising, the first thing he does is sit down with them and carefully examine their proof of concept. "Before I start with anybody or take them on as a client I have to do my own due diligence to ensure my eyes are wide open." 

When a franchise wants to grow, Mulgannon said, they have to consider where their business model will work and how far they can expand their brand into unfamiliar territory. He worked with a company called Erik’s DeliCafe, a popular sandwich shop and caterer in northern California. The company has reliable brand recognition in California and some surrounding states, and they decided, with Mulgannon’s help, to expand in California and into northern Nevada. They grew, but within the scope of their brand recognition.

At the other extreme is international franchising, something Mulgannon says he has explored with Junk King. "I put together a deal with a Panamanian investment group to develop Junk King throughout Central America," Mulgannon says. "They sought us out, and I spent twelve days there negotiating an international master license." Mulgannon is confident that this deal will allow Junk King to spread its brand beyond the United States with minimal risk. 

Dig Deeper: How to Keep Up With a Fast-Growing Company

4. Screen your franchisees.

That someone wants to open a franchise with your company's name on it does not mean you should let them. They're going to be representing your brand, so be sure to have a system in place to make sure they'll take your company in the right direction in a new market.

Farid says he has a way of knowing whether or not someone will make a good franchisee. "I used to call it the googledy-eyes test. If someone would come up to me and say, ‘I want to build a franchise, I think it’s going to be great!’ and they didn’t realize the hard work involved," Farid says, he would pass. 

Over enthusiasm is as common in franchising as it is in any realm of business. Apart from the documents and financial information supplied by potential franchisees, Mulgannon says, he considers the personalities of the business owners. He, like Farid, doesn’t want someone who’s all passion but no substance. Better that they’re thoughtful and measured, as well as enthusiastic about their business."Most franchises go to market with a shotgun approach," Mulgannon says of his approach to choosing clients. "Often they’ll sell to anyone. That’s a big mistake."

"We get about 20 inquiries a day and we eliminate about 75 percent of those," Mulgannon says. "Most of the people are looking for a job where they can work on the truck." Mulgannon

Page 63: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

described Junk Kings as much more of a white-collar franchise. Contrary to what one might expect, Junk King is not interested in franchisees who are primarily interested in putting on a pair of work gloves and getting on the truck. Mulgannon says he and his staff will scour over data supplied by applicants in the search for certain qualities. "One of the big indicators for us is what are their previous income expectations," Mulgannon says. "If they’re looking to replace six figures, that’s good for us."

Dig Deeper: How to Improve Your Hiring Practices

5. Set the right restrictions.

Even after giving franchisees very specific instructions on hiring, training, and other practices, there will be, and should be, certain freedoms they are allowed. They are small business owners, too, and as the franchisor begins to step back from daily operations, he or she will have to rely on the judgement of the franchisees as they explore new business opportunities. Give them freedoms, but keep those freedoms circumscribed. 

Different franchises will have different ideas about the restrictions they want to place on their franchisees. They struggle with how to balance preserving brand identity with the touch and sensibilities of individual franchise owners. Mulgannon says he turned down one business that wanted help becoming a franchise because they were going to set very narrow limits on who could become a franchisee. "The requirements on the franchisee would have been much too stringent," Mulgannon said. "The pool of franchisees would have been much too small."

Growing the brand is always the end goal, Mulgannon says, and so one requirement Junk King does place on all franchisees is that they spend a minimum amount on advertisement, whether television, radio, print, or some other medium. "They have to reinvest back in their market ten percent of gross revenue," Mulgannon says. Junk King provides about 90 percent of the promotional materials required, he said, and companies can get other ideas approved through the corporate office. 

Dig Deeper: How to Give Your Franchise a Personal Touch

6. Support your franchisees.

Even as the franchisor begins to remove him or herself from the daily business of the franchises, he or she should spend extra time getting to know the franchisees.

A franchisee is unlike other types of small business owners. He or she has opened a new store or service provider and is responsible for its performance within a designated area. He or she derives a livelihood from the business, and oversees all daily operations. Yet, there is always a larger corporate structure overhead, and how the franchisee works within that structure varies from franchise to franchise. 

Page 64: 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

A franchise model presents some particular challenges because, if business is good and new stores are opening, the company is always working with new recruits. Farid says Edible Arrangements has a department that works with franchises on the sourcing of their materials. Another handles training, and other worry about problems that may be coming down the road, unexpected variables of any kind. Ensuring that all the cogs spin together requires constant communication. "We’ll spend a lot of time communicating with them [the franchisees] online in terms of what’s happening this week, what are some of the challenges, and where to look for them," Farid says.

Farid says sometimes his employees say he’s too paranoid, too attached. The boy who wanted to find a way to sell more long-stemmed roses still finds it hard to fold up his apron at the end of the day. It wasn’t until Edible Arrangements had reached 500 or 600 stores that he began to take a step back, Farid says. "I still visit the stores because that is what I enjoy most," he says. "Beyond that, when you get to the size we are now, the franchisees have bought into you to start the next grand thing." Farid wouldn’t reveal what that next horizon may be for Edible Arrangements. But he would say that the hunt for it never ends.