Earlier this week, I held an Open House of The Action Suite to anyone who wanted to observe what we do during one of the sessions. The subject of the session was: ‘The Five Components to Higher Profitability.’ This in itself may not be earth-shattering to you; however, when I asked how many managers and/or owners of companies that some of the audience worked for if they felt that their owners/managers knew of these components and how they all fit together. That answer was earth-shattering. Not a single person said that their managers and/or owners had a clue.
What is the magical formula of success? The answer to that ever challenging question is that there are actually many different formulas that can lead to success. One of the realizations that all business people have to come to grips with is that there are many S.Y.S.T.E.M.S (Save Yourself Stress, Time, Energy and Money Strategies) that you have to set up in order to achieve the level of success that you may be looking for.
“You can do anything, but you can’t do everything.” ~ David Allen. Why then, are so many people in business hesitant to delegate? I have asked this question to countless individuals and the amazing realization is that the answers are virtually alike. There are many reasons given.
Benjamin Franklin said: “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” The unfortunate part about this quote is how today, people are not succeeding because they just do not take the time to prepare for success. Preparing for success really does not take as long as one thinks it does.
One of my idols, Vince Lombardi, was fond of saying: “Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.” However, another one of his famous quotes was: “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.” Therefore, it is obvious that Lombardi himself is not perfect in that he states how to become perfect on one quote and then contradicts himself on another quote in that the closest you can get to perfection is actually, ‘excellence’.
Last week, I was in a meeting with a potential new client; who has since become a new client, and the owner stated: “Why do you ask so many questions, Joe?” Well, the answer to that question is quite simple; I replied: “To better understand your challenges and to discover if we are actually a fit.”