Chief Executive Officers are responsible to help an organization or business return a good investment for its shareholders. When they are successful, they, the company, the customers, and the shareholders are abundantly compensated. What about you? Do you know some of the success strategies that CEO's use to improve their company's bottom line? If so, would you be willing to adopt and apply these success strategies to your own company, You, Inc.? Read on and learn!
[photo credit: onrevv (picture of Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com) on Flickr]
Success Factor #1: Delegate More.
Selena Cuffe’s company, Heritage Link Brands, imports wine from South Africa, exclusively from vineyards owned by members of the indigenous black population. She started the business, and has found it very hard to let go of functions that she used to do on a continuous basis. A critical success factor, as you mature in business is to be able to figure out what you are good at and to delegate other key functions to quality people who those functions done for you.
So how does this principle apply to your personal success? First, you must live according to Pareto's Principle (The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Success by Achieving More with Less
), which states that 80% of the value you deliver comes from 20% of the activities you engage in. One of the ways that I learned to think about this comes from @ericabiz, who says that she thinks of her activities in terms of how much she herself makes per hour. Let's say that you make $60,000 per year, which is roughly $30 per hour. Are there business or home activities that you spend time doing that are worth less than $30 per hour? If so, take time to think about the possibility of outsourcing those tasks to someone who can do the job at just below that price.Success Factor #2: Become a Good Judge of People (including yourself).
Have you taken the time to figure out what you really enjoy about your work, what you are better at than others, and are you aligning your activities accordingly? This is the approach recommended by Marcus Buckingham and others (StrengthsFinder 2.0: A New and Upgraded Edition of the Online Test from Gallup's Now, Discover Your Strengths
). If you have not taken the time to identify those strengths, do so now!Reflection Points:
In terms of becoming a better judge of people, you need to know your personal tendencies. Are you too cyncial about people, expecting them to underperform or betray you? Or are you too optimistic and trusting? One of the sayings I've picked up on is, "Trust and Verify." Assume the best, but prepare for the worst. Especially in business matters, do your work on checking the track record, background references, etc., so that your business relationships pay off. And most importantly, make sure that you are the type of person that another person would be happy to do business with.
Success Factor #3: Communicate Well.
I was speaking with a successful business consultant a couple of weeks ago about the importance of good communication in business. He mentioned a book by Stephen Covey called The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything
. Essentially, when we take time to focus our energy on the all important success factor of building trust in relationships, and when we make communication a top priority in our business organization, productivity will naturally increase.Action Points:
- How well are you communicating with your internal and external customers?
- Do you take time to clarify expectations up front, and on an an ongoing basis?
- On the personal side of things, how much time do you take to prioritize communication with you kids, with your spouse, or with close friends?
- Do you always seek to listen carefully, compassionately, and non-defensively?
- Are you committed to attacking the problem versus the person?
- Do you seek to come up with solutions that will benefit the other party and you? (win-win solutions?)
Success Factor #4: Get Better at Generating and Picking Winning Ideas.
Action Points:
I don't exactly recall, but I think I learned this exercise from either Earl Nightingale or Brian Tracy. First, schedule one thirty minute block into your weekly schedule. (If you want to be even more aggressive, do this daily). Take a blank sheet of paper and write the following at the top of the page:
"I am an excellent x who earns y per year." (For the amount earned per year, take your current salary and add 50% to the amount).
The next sentence is the most important one of all. Write, "How can I increase my service and add 50% more value to my customers today?" Then write a minimum of 20 ideas, and don't stop until you have them all written out! You may feel uncomfortable, you may think the ideas are goofy, but keep on going. Then review all of the ideas and pick one to implement. By doing this exercise on a regular basis, you will be honing your ability to innovate and add value, and it will pay off in the end!
Success Factor #5: Just Be More Patient.
- Make sure you have taken the time to write your goals down.
- Make sure that you are not trying to do too much all at once.
- Choose the 3 most important tasks to accomplish this week to move you closer to your most important goal/s.
- Each day, just work on one step that will move you closer to achieving one of 3 top priority tasks for the week.
- By the end of the week, you will most likely have worked on the tasks that are the highest value and most impactful.
- Repeat the process next week :)
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