Leadership

The Savior’s Example

Some of the Savior’s attributes that President Kimball describes include being: understanding, having selfless leadership, being responsible, accountable, and making a good use of time. I think a good leader should have all of these, but the one I will mention is being a selfless leader. The Savior was a listening and loving leader. He could condemn the sin but not the person. He focused on the needs of others instead of self. As a leader in a business we need to listen to concerns of others, but point out where improvements can be made without condemning the person. These improvements are meant to help our employees grow. If others know we care about them and want them to be successful, they will value our direction for improvement. I also love that he was consistent in his choices. As business leaders, we have to be able to adjust to the changes in business, but our morals and values should not change. We need to be consistent with our values. We need to lead by example. Selfless leadership is thinking of others above yourself. I think the church is filled with selfless leaders. We serve for the benefit of those we serve. Many businesses have customer service as their focus. It is a selfless focus that makes customers want to return.

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill. According to the article emotional intelligence was a bigger factor in great leadership than technical skills and IQ. The good news is that it can be learned with desire and effort.

The first skill is self-awareness. If we are self-aware we will be aware of managing our time. We will also be aware of other’s situations and act appropriately to their state. Being self-aware means we match our goals with our values. Self-aware people can talk about limitations and strengths. Self-regulation mean being able to control your moods and impulses and perhaps channel them in a good way. It means picking words carefully without judging too quickly. Motivation means doing more than expected and having passion for work itself. They want to track and see their results and stretch themselves to progress. Empathy means considering the employee’s feelings. Empathy will help you keep your teams of people feeling like part of something meaningful. Social skill is “friendliness with a purpose.”

Leadership

“Leaders are movers and shakers, original, inventive, unpredictable, imaginative, full of surprises.” (Nibley) Leaders act as equals working with others.

“The managers are safe, conservative, predictable, conforming organization men and team players, dedicated to the establishment.” Managers want to be above the rest. “Management shuns equality, it feeds on mediocrity.” (Nibley)

To lead like the Savior, we should lead by example, lead with vision, and lead with love. Are we good, average, or poor leaders? Do we lead directly or indirectly? What kind of leaders are we? Good leaders love all the sheep, they number the sheep and measure performance to find those who are lost. Then we find the lost sheep and help bear the burdens of the sheep that is found. We get others to also fellowship the returned sheep. Let the sheep get to know you and lead by personal example. We an lead like a shepherd, like the Savior. We need to sacrifice time and leadership for the flock.

Leadership is about capability (to ask questions and hear answers) It is also about learning something every day. The people who keep learning and trying are vibrant. Those who are able to change are the capable ones.  

Enchantment – Notes from Guy Kawasaki

If we trust people, they will trust us. Smile. Trustworthy people are bakers, not eaters. We need to default to yes and think about how you can help people. Anticipate what people will need. Ask yourself what are the reasons your company could fail. We need to pay things forward and do things for others. Learn to be able to speak (customize the introduction – something about you). When you speak, you need to sell your dream with the product. The optimal slides in a PowerPoint is 10 slides and be able to do it in 20 minutes. The optimal point size is 30 point. Use technology (remove speed bumps in technology). Provide value, insights, and assistance. Engage people fast within 24 hours. Consider the use of technology something that you will use all the time. To enchant a boss is to do what the boss asks immediately. Come up with a prototype fast. Deliver bad news early if something is going wrong and come up with suggestions to fix the problem. Tell people what you are helping them master and what the higher purpose is. Empower people to do things.

Ken Zolot

Entrepreneurs are willing to charge into the unknown and often difficult situations. They strive to make the best of them. Ken Zolot created Egenera and Heartland Robotics. Some of the things that made him successful were being pushing the limits and being curious. In school it was not easy because he didn’t want to conform to the rules. His parents taught that accountability is important. Employees and Management need to be accountable to each other. We should think about how to help others and rely on them. Notice when things are not right, fix them, and make sure people are well tended to. Ask the question of who cares and why. This will help you with product solutions. You need to have empathy for your market customers to see how you can solve problems. Decide if the market is ready for your vision. Push yourself to the edge to show the customers what they should want, but also look closely at the market to make sure it will work.

100 challenge – The Perfect Cookie

This week was very busy for my business. I made cookies all week for an event. I gave some discounts so I did not earn as much as I could. The problem was keeping the cookies fresh for the delivery day and making them ahead of time. I had to borrow someone’s freezer. I think I put in enough hours this week alone to satisfy the time requirement for the business. I only sold to three people, but I sold several cookies. This project has been a pain. I lost one of my decorating tips and spent $10 to buy a new kit. I also didn’t account for all the foil and additional parchment paper. I took pictures of the finished cookies. One person did not pay up front, so I will collect that next week. I cannot keep premade cookies fresh easily unless I freeze them before frosting them and then I think they don’t taste as good. I keep the collected money in a bag. With the additional expenses, I don’t know if I will profit $100. 

Customer Service

Customer Service: A Priority

Pay money to quit. A company wants employees who believe in the overall mission and purpose of the company. For Zappos, they want people who believe in and fit a certain culture that prioritizes customer service as the number one focus. Everyone goes through the same training as a call center rep. They want the same level of customer service across the board. They offer the entire class in training $2000 to quit and then it ups to $3000 if they quit. The biggest benefit is from the people who don’t take the offer because they have to really think about if this company is a company they really want to invest their time in. The second set of interviews is only on having a culture fit. Even performance reviews assess if employees are living the Zappos standards.

Paying people to quit should weed out those who don’t truly believe in the mission of the company. When people believe in a mission, a culture, a purpose they will stay with it even if they are offered money to quit. The business mission/culture should be so important to them that they don’t quit for a little money on the side.

Customer Approaches

A great way to approach a customer is to ask if they have ever been in your store before. This gets you on the path to see how you can best meet their needs. Find out the customer’s wants, desires, needs, and preferences. Remember that it is far easier to keep a customer, than to gain a new one. That is why customer satisfaction should be a top priority. The three ways to grow revenues are getting your customers to purchase a larger volume, more often, and to increase the number of customers. I would think that the best way to increase the number of customers is by word of mouth from happy prior customers. An important business model is to treat the customer as if they are always right.

Putting money into things that matter

In Jet Blue they decided to put money into things that really mattered. Food was something they decided not to included. They encouraged people to bring their own food and they serve inexpensive snacks. They did choose TVs because that would be memorable. What really matters? The TVs were a fraction of the cost of food. They also decided that they want people need to get on top as quickly as possible, so they cleaned quickly and offered to help put bags away to move the process more quickly.

Bud Brigham – action hero

Bud Brigham developed the belief and value to be the best he could be. As a youth he was raised in a broken home with divorced parents, six kids, and an alcoholic dad who died at an early age. Bud got married and learned the importance of philosophy and strong values. In his career, he built one of the most successful oil companies in America. He attributed his success to learning the business and surrounding himself with the best and brightest people. We won’t know everything and when we see that the competition is better or smarter, we need to compensate by surrounding ourselves with people who are also smarter. Our network should include people with a similar value system. Bud studied philosophy focusing on learning rational thinking, reason, and of living. His core values taught him the importance of being his best self. He encourages others to develop a strong value system to believe in and follow.

Customer Loyalty

The longer customers are loyal, the more profitable they are. Retention: This is because they spend more the longer they are retained. Related Sales: Related sales will more likely come from longer customers. Positive referrals are the best kind of marketing. Satisfied customers are likely to tell people about service. When finding customers, you need to determine who your target market is. Additionally, who is NOT your target market.

$100 Challenge – The Perfect Cookie

This week I sold one cookie. I might be making some this next week pending a possible order. I also made a sign-up sheet for my husband to bring to work.

Marketing

Marketing

The basic marketing checklist includes: product, pricing, promotion, positioning, publicity, packaging, pass along, and permissions. Marketing should make your product stand out like a purple cow. If you saw a purple cow it would stand out from the rest. (See Purple Cow by Seth Godin) The new rule for business is to create remarkable (not very good, but remarkable) products that the right people will SEEK out. This way you are not spending all your time trying to market to everyone. We must all be marketers and innovators. Marketing means asking new questions and trying new practices. Market to the customers you think will most likely influence other customers. Create something that appeals to the market. Create inventors (of new products) and milkers (those who maximize profit from current products).

Creating a niche means producing a unique product or service. This way you don’t have to compete with price. You don’t want something no one cares about. You want to be the single white tulip in the field. What is the unique valuable part of your product?

We need to improve our Likeability. One way is to improve your likeability is to improve your smile by smiling in your eyes. You should dress in a way to show respect for your clients/audience. Don’t overdress trying to put people to shame. You want to dress equal to your peers. You also want to have a great handshake (eye contact, appropriate verbal greeting, smile, grip and firm squeeze, smooth and dry handshake.) The point is that first impressions are important. Get feedback from your target audience.

Phil Romano believes that being an entrepreneur means being creative. He loves to create things that help people. What is the niche that will help those around us? What makes us stand out from the rest? Phil says that actions speak louder than words. He founded Fuddrucker’s and Macaroni Grill. He likes to actively create something that has never been created before. We shouldn’t think about making profit but rather we should think about doing something the customers want. He wanted to do all he could do and be productive. Even in his older age, he felt like now was the time to do things. Now he has started Hunger Busters to feed the homeless in his local community. Sometimes fear is a great motivator. If something doesn’t work, we are dead in the water, so we have to make it work. Having fear is a motivation of being an entrepreneur.

$100 Challenge Project “The Perfect Cookie”

This past week the order for boxes came to deliver my cookies in. I tried to sell to the neighbors, but got no sales. Tonight I am bringing samples to a game night with some friends to advertise and promote my business. I finished the elevator speech and think that went well. 

Marketing - HMM

Each department plays a role in marketing so that value can be brought to the customers. Problems need to be identified. Customers have basic wants, needs, and demands. Demands are what a customer wants (stated, real, unstated, delight, secret) and is willing to pay. Research as to what customers wants and what needs to be done. Direct Marketing is selling to customers direct (not through wholesalers or retailers). Relationship marketing is learning about your customer and customizing product to meet their needs. Marketing is planning the concept, price, promotion, and distribution of ideas to satisfy individual and company goals.  (Identify target, know competition, brainstorm new ideas, what is competitive edge, create a marketing plan, put strategy into action, evaluate effectiveness of strategy.) Once you know your competitor, you need to think about their strategy, objective, strength and weakness (what share of the market do they possess), ways of doing business (are they slow moving, selective, a tiger Fast to assault, or unpredictable) Consumers like new choices. Continuing to come up with new offerings is helpful because most things have a life cycle and go out of demand. Building loyal customers means being able to build your business by offering additional services and products that benefit a customer. Over time the customers will buy more from your business.

Budgets

February 6, 2016

Debt and Budget

Entrepreneurs can avoid debt by following a budget and earning money on the side while building their business. They can also avoid credit card debt. They can have a partner who funds the business for shared ownership.

Five key steps to financial freedom include: 1. Pay Tithing 2. Spend less than you earn. 3. Learn to save. 4. Honor your financial obligations. 5. Teach your children to follow your example.

The most difficult would be different for each person. For me spending less that I earn is hard from time to time. I buy very little. The times I spend more than I earn are with unexpected medical expenses that have come up. Also a family reunion that is across the country and cost $3000 to buy enough plane tickets might cause me to go into debt. It may be the last time our family see’s grandparents (we haven’t visited in 7 years) with failing health. The last big expense is educations loans. When you have two people in the family in college and one on a mission, the budget does not balance. These are just examples that can put people into thousands of dollars of debt. With this said, it is easy to justify, but justification is not the answer.

We can do avoid being greedy and covetous. Elder Wirthlin teaches that debt is a form of bondage. Instead of owning things, our things own us. We can also set aside money to save so that when it rains, we have a reserve to fall back on.

E-Myth  - Consistent Routine and Styles

This week I have learned how important it is to perfect and follow a consistent routine in our business and to teach it to the employees. I also learned that colors and styles matter. A blue suit with a red tie makes more sales than a brown suit. A crescent shape is better than a circle for a logo and a circle is far better than a triangle.

Action Hero – Desh Deshpande Passion and Optimism

Desh Deshpande came to the US with only $8 and was able to build a business in technology. He started out with only $8 and now has a company worth billions. One key to success for him was passion and optimism. Desh had a lot of optimism and always felt as though things would work out.  Life is about setting benchmarks. Knowing what is possible is one of the biggest gifts you can have. He earned a PHD and was educated in business, marketing, and technology which gave him a strong foundation to start his business. One difficulty was when Desh didn’t see eye to eye with his business partner and had to go separate ways. When things go wrong, you may think it is the end of the world, but it is a learning opportunity. As future problems arise, you will be better equipped to handle the difficulties. When you sit on problems for a little bit, things don’t seem quite so bad. Where you start is not as important as having motivation and aspiration. 

$100 Project – The Perfect Cookie

Today I got my daughter to fund the $20 initial investment for the giant cookie. I made the first cookie, took pictures, and sent my kids out to see if it would sell and to collect pre-orders for Valentine’s Day. They came back feeling discourage and sold nothing. Maybe this is how the missionaries feel out here. They get weird looks and have no investigators in our ward. It is a poor area and I think people don’t want to spend $12 for an 11 inch cookie. It is inexpensive for the size and quality, but they are all probably on food stamps (I am not trying to be judgmental, I am very serious - remember these are my neighbors and close to 90% of the school kids qualify for free or reduced school lunches). I know it is day one, but I am feeling very discouraged about this project. I don’t know many people, so the best bet is going door to door which is going nowhere. If I had a car I would drive to the richer neighborhoods.

Business

Elder Hales taught that it is important to know when to say, “We can’t afford it” or “We don’t need it.”

Guy Kawasaki says that the core of a successful company is to make meaning, not money. The purpose is to improve the quality of like. Another great purpose in your business is to right a wrong. A third is to stop from ending something good.

Budgets

The four paths to creating a budget include: making goals, finding ways to achieve the goals, and financing the goals. 1. Set goals 2. Evaluate and choose options (what tactic will you follow to meet goals) 3. How will this affect the budget 4. Coordinate department budgets

There are several types of budgets. I really liked the rolling budget the best. The rolling budget changed each month. It was still a year long, but as one month expired, you would add a month on continuing to have a year-long budget. This would be beneficial because instead of planning the budget for the entire year at once, you could adjust it slowly each month according the changes in expenses and revenues. I think this kind of budget is also best used on a personal level. In a business it may be too time consuming for the budget to be altered monthly, but I still think it is ideal. Budgets are action plans. One other budget I really liked was the Balanced Scorecard. It made sure that an appropriately balanced amount of money went into four categories of the business (financial, customer, internal, and improvement perspective categories). It is a great idea to see the big picture and balance the budget according to the big picture instead of just the little things that come up to spend money on.