I was asked recently why I called my company BIZPIE. As I paused to compose a response, a swirl of thoughts, memories and long held opinions jumbled up in my head. Like a fog that suddenly cleared, it came to me – because running a business is so darn hard. >
In Vistage, we commonly use the start, stop, continue exercise for feedback – from our peers in the peer group meetings or with our teams as a way to gain awareness of behaviors that make us easier/harder to work with. >
Does it scare you to say “no” to clients? This is the time to try it with great consideration for the consequences. Many times when you or your sales team says yes, the internal cost is extremely high. With the supply chain disrupted, salaries going up, price of gas soaring, etc., anything out of your sweet spot may need to be repriced or refused. >
“Wait til you have your own kids!” said my Mom and, “I hope you have 12 kids just like you!” And after a day spent with my young children she said, “Oh, my g-d, they are just like you!” 10 years to the day after she died, I still relish the comments my Mom made in exasperation. Ahhh Mother’s Day -it’s complicated. >
Sunday night you sit down and plan your whole week. You put the big rocks in first – the most important but not urgent long term thinking time. Maybe, you schedule 2 2-hour blocks on Tuesday and Thursday at your best thinking times for that long range project you never seem to get to. Then Monday starts off with client issues and you don’t get one thing done you had scheduled for Monday. >
The states shown in blue above have a smaller population than Los Angeles County*.
I was floored when I saw this visual that in one glance explained so much (good and bad) about my world. Yes, I knew that L.A. County was the most populous at 9.8 million and that Cook county in Illinois was second, but seeing it in a visual, that it had more people than 39 states? That is one powerful visual.
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On Friday, my Vistage group was listening to Indra Nooyi, retired CEO of Pepsico, talk about Leadership in a Time of Crisis. She was laying out her 5 C’s of Leadership of which no. 4 was curiosity. It occurred to me that curiosity is a superpower. >
If you have any involvement in supply chain you know it is broken….maybe irretrievably. Forgive me if I say it out loud: R.I.P. to J.I.T. >