Rob's Blog: Leadership & Management

I just spoke with a friend of mine who is in the magazine publishing business. He told me that he was expecting business to be off about 20%, but it is off 30%. So what is he doing about it? Well, he is actually taking it all in stride. Instead of sweating, he sees this as a great opportunity to work on the infrastructure of his business: a new website, buying a new building for his office (yes, he is outside of Manhattan), planning a webinar series, etc. I find that quite cool and refreshing from the panic that you hear from the media.

If I had a dollar for every time I told an employee, “great job,” I’d probably have enough to go out and start a second business. But I’ve never stopped to think about what the words “great job” actually communicate. . . until Daria, our managing editor, called me out on it. She learned a lot from the recent EO event, “Communication to be Heard and Remembered,” featuring Christina Harbridge, CEO of Allegory, a San Francisco based communications company. Her new found communications skills put me in check on this occasion. In reality, telling someone they did a “great job” is pretty vague and impersonal. Christine suggested taking the phrase out of our vocabularies. To motivate our teams, we should use more descriptive language so that it is more meaningful to them and encourages the team to repeat or exceed the “job well done.”

Today we feature guest blogger John DiJulius, a best selling author, speaker and small business owner who is often referred to as “THE” authority on world-class customer experience. You can find an archived version of the webinar here. Also, don’t miss your chance to see John live in NYC at the “Driving Incremental Revenue with Outstanding Service” event on March 11. Over the past several months, having had the opportunity to work with many companies, leaders, as well as having received a great deal of emails, I’ve started to see an ugly pattern.  So many who are scared, panicked even, are asking, “Why me, why now?” I hope it helps reinforce what you are already doing, gives you additional ideas of what you can and if I offend anyone, then maybe I was suppose. I don’t mean to be insensitive, but it is always to tell people what they need to hear versus what they want to hear.  8 rules to live by that will help you survive- even thrive- in 2009 1.      Stop reading the news Sensationalism sells! Stop reading the front-page headlines and business sections. Don’t be the one buying it and falling prey to it. Great leaders emerge during difficult times and find opportunity. Their organizations make strides while everyone else is scrambling and doing self-destructive things, like cutting critical customer centric positions. 2.      Stop feeling sorry for yourself This is exactly what you wanted! You became a leader because you wanted to control your own destiny. You wanted to be “that” person, “that” leader, the one who makes things happen. When things got tough and difficult decisions had to be made, you wanted to be the one who made them, the one people came to.  Well now it is time.  Everyone is scared, your employees are scared and they are looking to you for leadership, direction, confidence, and a strong assurance that everything will be all right.  The moment you became a leader, you forfeited your right to panic in public.  Get your head right. Do what you have to do and be a leader. A great leader! No leader ever achieved greatness only during easy times.  The great leaders emerged during the most difficult times.  People are counting on you, your employees, your customers, and your loved ones.  You are the one that sold your vision to people, they bought that vision, gave up other opportunities because they believed in your vision. Do not turn your back on them now. Be the vision, sell the vision, and keep your word. Believe in yourself, your company and your vision. Tough times DO NOT build character. Tough times REVEAL character 3.      Be Inspired, Inspirable, Inspiring What are you reading, watching and listening to?  Read business journals that share the best practices of the companies who are not only surviving but also thriving. There are so many success stories, i.e. NY Enterprise Report. Fill your head with great ideas, inspiring thoughts and motivation.  Crack out your old Zig Ziglar and Anthony Robbins tapes; listen to them on the way to work.  Read warm and fuzzy books, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Life as a Daymaker, and life balance books.  You will be amazed at how your attitude and perspective will be affected by what you feed your brain. 4.      Lose the Losers There are people that work for us, work with us, and that we socialize with, that are energy drainers.  If they are not adding value, eliminate them from your life. Negativity kills passion.  You can do more with less. Focus on the positive people who want to contribute and provide value. Reflect on the following two quotes; You are the average of the five people with whom you spend the most time. Surround yourself with great people and you will be guilty by association 5.      Stop Making Excuses Every time I hear a great example of a business performing well during these times, I immediately hear someone say it is because of their “situation”, i.e. it is the industry they are in, or the market, city, etc.  Stop using and looking for crutches and learn from them! Success comes to the businesses that have focused on their employees, and built a strong internal culture that focuses on their customer. 6.      Your Best IS NOT Good Enough I’m not a fan of hearing people are doing their best.  It may sound harsh, but that is another crutch. “I am doing my best - all I can do is my best.”  Bull! I don’t want anyone’s best.  Your best is settling. It is accepting your current limitations.  I want “THE best!”  Your best is what you know, it is what you have been capable of, and it is where you are, up until now, at this point in your life or career. “THE best” is unknown. “THE best” is in your heart, not in your head. It is something that goes beyond conventional wisdom to figure out, it is something you may have sleepless nights figuring out or knots in your stomach. It is thinking, planning, strategizing, calling on every resource you know, having the nerve to call people others wouldn’t even imagine, that you may have no right calling, and getting their help.  It is training longer and harder than thought possible. It is running every possible scenario to exhaustion, and then running it again. “THE Best” is what we should be after, beyond our imagination and what we previously could conceive. For over one hundred years, runners had tried unsuccessfully to break the four-minute mile barrier. It was deemed physically impossible until one person’s unrelenting pursuit and determination found a way. What scientists stated was impossible due to the physiology of the human body then, after one person had done it, became the possible within the next years. Hundreds more were able to achieve the same goal. 7.      Go Unplugged Under normal circumstances, most leaders, “type A” people, have issues with letting go and truly being present.  Under stressful times like these, leaders tend to feel guilty about having any down time or quality time with family.  This is a certain recipe for disaster and burnout. How much value will you be to your company, employees and family if that occurs?  Keep your priorities in order! Business will always have its ups and downs, but your personal/family life should not reflect that.  Commit to time with the people who matter most and turn off the blackberries, cell phones, and laptops for 48 hours and re-connect.  Immediately your obstacles will not seem as insurmountable.  8.      Happiness is Selfless! Leaders of businesses and leaders of families tend to be martyrs during difficult times carrying the weight of the world, making the necessary sacrifices and carrying the cross.  But all that comes at a price: the price of emotional wear and tear, unintended stress with co-workers and loved ones.  Do your thing, whatever it is. Your hobby, vice, or things that get you back into your groove will put the bounce back in your step. It might be running, working out, playing catch, playing cards, holding hands with your significant other, meeting your child for lunch at school, or connecting with your high school friends to remember what it is like to laugh so hard that your stomach muscles hurt the next morning. Right now, more than ever, we need to focus on our mental health, we need balance, and we need to be reminded of what it is we are all fighting for.  It is our personal happiness and the happiness of the people we care about, our ability to positively affect people’s lives. We cannot do that successfully if we are unhappy. When leaders are happy, they are more likely to lead an extraordinary life, which results in countless others doing so as well.

Last week, the Entrepreneurs' Organization (NY Chapter) invited Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, to speak to its group of business owners. Although Zappos is a online retail company, it's not what Zappos is selling that has given them major media exposure (including an appearance on Oprah and being named one of Fortune magazine's 100 Best Companies to Work For) but something that translate easily to any business - great customer service. Actually great customer service is really not accurate. I think the level of service that Zappos delivers is as good as any other company in the world. Although Zappos is primarily known as an online shoe retailer, shoes are not what Zappos is about. As Tony mentioned at the event, Zappos has and always will be about providing excellent, "above and beyond" customer service. They even measure metrics based around customer retention, not around obtaining new customers, and always look for opportunities to provide a "wow" experience for their customers. For example, they have sometimes upgraded customer's shipping and have turned around orders within 8 hrs, much to the delight and surprise of the customer. To be able to provide this world class level of service, Zappos doesn't skimp on training their employees. Every new hire, from management down to the mail room, goes through a training period where they spend time in the customer service department, as well as the warehouse. Zappos also allows their customer service reps - those who have direct relations with the customers - to spend as much time as they need to provide the adequate level of service. While most call centers urge short and efficient calls, Zappos employees have the freedom to, again, go above and beyond what most consumers have come to expect from online retailers. Zappos even put their phone number right on the front page, way before it became popular to do so. Stay tuned for more tips from Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh.

There’s a great article in The Wall Street Journal about how small businesses around the country are saving money during these tough times. Mainly, the current state of the economy has made re-negotiations the norm, giving owners more opportunities to cut at least some of their operational costs.  If you’ve found an effective or unique way to save your company money, I’d love to hear about it. Who knows, it may even get published in the next issue of NY Report. 

I had a chance to be a guest on Sunday’s Your Business on MSNBC, where we discussed, among other subjects, securing your business for these troubled economic times. For the full video clip of the segment, click here.

Yesterday I spoke with Yacov Wrocherinsky, founder and CEO of Infinity Info Systems. Yacov, who is one of the sharper business owners I know, is a member of several peer groups (I believe that includes YPO, EO and Vistage). He was telling me about some of the discussions he’s been having with other "larger" business owners and, in light of this economic environment, they all find themselves asking each other "what's your plan?" He explained that while he is still optimistic (it is hard to be an entrepreneur and not be optimistic), he is also realistic. While he still intends on hiring more support for his growing business, smart business owners like Yacov make plans in the event that business declines significantly. He made it very clear to me that it is just a plan and that he hopes he won't need it, but making a plan before an actual crisis may allot you the time, and resources, to think about things in a more well-thought out manner.