A pre-requisite for a course I was involved with is the Kolbe "A" Index test that reveals one's instinctual abilities. From the site...

"What people can do usually has little in common with what they actually end up doing.

The reason? People have been taught to ignore their instincts, or worse yet, to fear or hate their instincts.

Ignoring your instincts and failing to appreciate the instincts of others can be disastrous.

When people act according to instinct, their energy is almost inexhaustible - like water running downhill. But, when people are forced to act against their instinct, their energy is rapidly depleted - like water being pumped uphill"

Obvious? Society seems to think otherwise.

From the very early days of school, to the upper echelons of business, it's always about focusing on improving our weak points. Rarely is it about celebrating that which makes us great.

Yes. I did say "Great." Greatness exists in most of us. And a person who doesn't believe that shouldn't be in business.

If all you care about and work on with your people is their weak spots, you will have a weak company. Forever. Lucky you.

Great companies are filled with great people. The more great the group, the more great the company.

Unlocking that greatness requires a focus on finding out where each persons uniqueness lies and matching their roles to it. The more that happens the greater the power your organization will generate.

And so the same thing applies again: Unique companies are filled with unique people. The more unique the group, the more unique the company.

Many clients I talk to are apprehensive about how to approach 2012. I have two words of advice: Here. Forward.

It’s only natural: how we view our past experiences shapes how we tackle future opportunities. We can’t help being informed by the past. However, the trick - the secret - is not to get paralyzed. You have a choice. You can let the economic pains of the past two years rule you. Or you can regain control, and get back to ruling the future of your business. Decide.

The problem we face is that the sting, stress, and strain we endured these past years have stayed with us too long to remember any other way. We don't approach our clients the same way. We scale back our wildest hopes and dreams. We now know that the bottom of the economy can drop out. A steady stream of news, tweets, and posts remind us the future is uncertain. Each reminder puts our minds back to those times of uncertainty and pain. And so we make every decision based on that place of worry.

That pain was real. The worry turned out to be correct. However, Then is not Now. And what Now requires is two basic things: Here. Forward.

Challenge yourself. Come out from hiding under your desk. Shrug off the weight of the recent painful past. Recognize when your thinking is hindered by the pain of the past few years. Try this: Everything now starts from here and moves forward. Every decision, action, conversation, and the stories you tell (yourself, your clients, and your market) need to be about what is next, not about what has been.

What do you want your business to look like at the end of 2012? Don’t form your vision based on the news or on how you are feeling coming out of the business meat grinder of the past few years. Give me your vision from where you are standing right now and looking forward. Are there big dreams and goals you had for your business (and for yourself) that have been lost or abandoned along the way? How can you give yourself the time and space to reclaim them? How can you re-imagine them? How can you re-launch them?

The answer is elegantly simple, so say it with me (And keep saying it to yourself):
Here. Forward.

The company that acquired my logistics company in 2000 had also completed the acquisitons of a few of our competitors in the months before and after our deal was done.  They thought it would be a good idea to bring us, now former business owners, all together to talk about ways we could integrate, create synergies and a variety of other corporate buzz words. As we "geniuses" sat around the table talking about slick new ideas to link our computer systems, marketing ideas and the like, someone finally piped in and said "That all sounds great gang, but when clients call me the only thing they ever ask me is: Where's my stuff?"

He was right and I was wrong. In the cargo/shipping business, "Where's my stuff?" Is what clients cared the most about and probably the only thing they cared about as it related to us. Everything else did not matter if you could not answer that question at all times (Or, better yet, answer it before it was asked). And if you did the best job keeping your clients in the know about the whereabouts of their "stuff" you would be alone at the top of the industry.

It was the core of what our clients cared about. 

I speak and write a lot about the need for a company to have a plain and simple purpose and to focus on their basics. And most people decide that they must go away can come up with something fancy and impossible for their competitors to duplicate. They feel that if it is too simple then their business is not sexy or unique enough. They are wrong. 

Restaurants need to create food that tastes amazing -  It does not matter how nice the place looks or how great the service is if the food stinks.

Airlines need to get you safely from point A to point B on time and at the lowest cost - TV's, Wi-Fi and fancy airport terminals matter little if they faill on this basic. 

And I could go on and on (and often do). Every business in every industry has their basic. The ones that dominate their industry know what it is and stay relentlessly focused on doing everything they can to prove it. It fuels their innovation, marketing and the reason their company exists. It stops them from having meetings to talk about anything that does not help them deliver that basic with perfection.

Where's my stuff?  Simple, clear and basic. And what our clients valued the most.

Why would you want the one thing that everyone in your organization needs to deliver to be anything else? 

Why?

Because times are hard for nearly everyone, business has become a place of too much stress and laughter is still the best medicine.

Everything in this little eBook is intended to be funny not offensive. Please do not take it any other way. If it makes you laugh, please pay it forward and share it with others.

Click here to download the PDF or enjoy it via Scribd below.

Click here to download:

The_Little_Book_of_Business_Jokes_Vol1.pdf (106 KB)

And for a more serious read, please subscribe to my mailing list and receive the PDF of my book, Your Business Brickyard, for free.

I hate it when people call themselves “entrepreneurs” when what they’re really trying to do is launch a startup and then sell or go public, so the can cash in and move on.  They’re unwilling to do the work it takes to build a real company, which is the hardest work in business. That’s how you really make a contribution and add to the legacy of those who went before. You build a company that will stand for something a generation or two from now. 

Steve Jobs (From the Autobiography by Walter Isaacson)

(And quite related to my post from yesterday).

We are all so consistently attracted to shiny objects that we miss the real story.

The #17 company on the 2011 Inc. 500, ClearCorrect, develops clear removable braces. They grew revenue from $100,000 to $8.7 million in 3 years. 

Valuation Management Group, #22, provides real estate (Yes, real estate) appraisal services for banks and credit unions. They grew revenue from $317,000 to $25.4 million in the past 3 years. 

Every state in the country (and across the globe) are filled with great companies like these and the Inc. 500 and 5000 are filled with them. Great because they are growing by making more revenue than they put out in expenses.  Business that should not only be admired, but should be studied. Their methods, determination and purpose should be what we all try to emulate. 

But we don't.

We talk endlessly about how much money the latest new idea raised their series A,B,C round of financing. We listen in the echo chamber of blogs and other media to the endless chants of social media and the cloud. 

Twitter, for all the good it has done in the world, has not earned revenue that is anywhere near the huge sums that have been invested in it. And there is no clear path to show that it will. Ditto for the great Facebook.  And last years darling, Groupon, may be technically insolvent leading up to its IPO despite having raised hundreds of millions of dollars. These are the businesses that capture our attention and our lust. 

Sorry to point out the obvious but, envying someone that raised a lot of Venture Capital money is not about building a business. And, when you consider that most VC's average a 33% success rate, receiving that money does little to ensure any kind of success for the business.  They are bets, chips set out in front of a roulette wheel, waiting for the ball to drop on just a few so they get the returns they want for their funds. Returns, not businesses because that is the business THEY are in.

What I propose... Let's celebrate the operators. The business leaders that build businesses that endure. That use their profits to hire. That are driven to build a lifestyle for themselves and for those that work with them that would like to find a place where they can work for their entire career. That are not waiting for the company to be flipped like a speculative real estate investment. Who make the hard choices to make cuts so they can ensure the business survives in tough times. Who build relationships with customers instead of countin users. They have the lessons and skills you really can use. Today.

The best businesses in this country no longer fit into the ideal of what too many think is success in business and life. That needs to change.

The Diner in my somewhat sleepy town is painfully empty.  It is as painfully empty as most any store or restaurant you walk by these days.  No doubt this change causes incredible stress to the owner of each business leaving them way too much time to consider all the extra things they could do to try to change their fortunes. We are all there or worried we will be there.

But let's turn those thoughts around.  How could you do LESS to change your fortunes?  Consider that people actually do NOT want more from you and would welcome you giving them an amazingly great and simple moment.  If there ever was a time that the saying "Longing for simpler times" rings true it is now. I hope that fact remains long after the recession is over.

So why can't that Diner end the stress that comes from maintaining that enormous menu that is trying to please everyone?  What if they just focused on making the PERFECT burger, fries and shake?  Every ounce of energy focused into a finite offering that will be extraordinary.

No more.  No less.

In the process, they will have reinvented their business.  They will have found a way to be different than their competitors.  They will have found a way to have people start talking about them again and spreading the word.  Not from that extra mailer or ugly banner with a "buy one get one free" offer.  Just connect to what people went to Diners for in simpler times and deliver it with perfection.

The Shake Shack in New York does just that and the lines run around the block....and back.

And it is true for every business.

What did "simpler times" in your industry look like?   What is the Burger, Fries and Shake of your industry? Of your specific business?  Are they the absolute best anyone could ever find?

The current economic situation sees a lot of people talking about the power of returning to the basics. (Hooo....rayyy!) Get inspired to do it yourself by reading the posts linked below and then set aside a few hours (or a day) and figure out what YOUR basics actually are.

What is at the core of the promise you make to your clients, customers, staff, boss, wife, children,etc...?

What does the perfect execution of each one look, feel and sound like? 

And the usual 3 questions I always ask:

Define the action(s) - What do you (specifically) need to do to get there?
Create accountability - Who will do it?
Set a deadline - When will it be done?

There will be nothing you can count on to always work more than the basics.

But don't believe me...

Tom Peters wrote about it here:

The Basics Are the Basics Are the Basics Are the Basics: The Worse the Times the Better They Work... We get in trouble when we forget the basics. We get out of trouble when we remember the basics. We stay out of trouble when we become perpetually "insane" about the basics.

Douglas Rushkoff returns to it here:

I’d love for businesspeople who feel all is lost to recognize that this is such a perfect moment to return to core competency, to remember what it was about their industries that excited them to begin with, and to reconnect with the processes and attitudes that make work fun and meaningful again.

It’s not too late.

On a Macro level Thomas Friedman quoted Dov Seidman in this op-ed piece:

In a connected world,” Seidman said to me, “countries, governments and companies also have character, and their character — how they do what they do, how they keep promises, how they make decisions, how things really happen inside, how they connect and collaborate, how they engender trust, how they relate to their customers, to the environment and to the communities in which they operate — is now their fate.