MPowerment Matters

Synthesis: Build Your Empire

November 2006

I decided to review the previous issues I have touched upon to see what might make sense for this month's newsletter. In recent months I have written about:

Culture and values
Leadership competencies and succession planning
Defining what a "great customer" is
Entrepreneurship and innovation
Injecting innovation into an organization
"Getting out of our own way"
Building team chemistry
Taking an objective look at our leadership
I began thinking that it would be terrific if there was a way to neatly synthesize all of those themes to create this month's issue. Maybe there is. Suppose for a moment, that we are all players of a new and exciting game called BUILD YOUR EMPIRE!!

The goal for each of us playing is, starting from scratch, to make the smartest moves in the building of a strong and successful organization. If we make bad moves we encounter serious obstacles which will set us back or even destroy what we are trying to build. If we take the wrong shortcuts, we will have setbacks of varying magnitude. Each player is competing in today's environment, with a high rate of change, a global marketplace, a potential workforce driven by whatever drives today's generations.

What should we do first? What is the surest road to success? I would posit that the path offering the highest likelihood of constructing a business with longevity includes:

Having a strategic plan, which encompasses, at minimum, clearly enunciating the vision, values, mission and goals; creating an action plan, and an organizational structure; and doing a S.W.O.T. analysis.
Having a good reason to start a business in the first place; seeing a need or a niche that exists in the market, and determining that you can provide a product or service to meet that need at the right price. This involves knowing who your potential customers are and what will drive them to buy what you are selling.
Having clear values and an understanding of what behaviors best represent those values, thus creating the company culture. The way the organization is structured, how it treats its employees and its vendors, should be a reflection of how the customers are treated. The values of the organization should extend in all directions and should be reflected in all relationships, resulting in happy employees and thus, happy customers.
Understanding what competencies are required within the company to further its values and to enable employees to thrive in the organization. Hiring should be done based on these competencies as well as on technical skills. Leaders should be developed based on the competencies needed to fill their positions successfully.
Recognizing that change is constant, having a strong spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship permeating through all levels of an organization is important.
Making sure that there is teamwork and collaboration is critical to success.
Being objective about our own skills and competencies and addressing our shortcomings.
Funny, but most of these steps set forth above have been discussed in the previous issues of this newsletter.

There are notable cases of individuals being successful by ignoring the above steps. Some who rush to market without research, without a plan and only a vision have done well. Some who hire for technical skills alone without looking at alignment of the employee's goals and competencies with those needed in the organization can survive. And some who are unclear on their vision and values may be moderately successful.

But as a rule, those people who skip important steps encounter numerous obstacles which slow them down dramatically. So, the winner of this game would most likely be one following the above steps and not one trying shortcuts.

Starting a business and staying in business are difficult tasks, fraught with dangers. In a different time, when change didn't occur at such a fast rate, a business leader could "rest" at various plateaus of growth, and maybe even run on "auto-pilot" for a while. Today, that is not possible.

Business leaders must engender entrepreneurship and innovation throughout their organization and must remain entrepreneurial even after becoming a second or third stage company. The traits utilized in bringing a company to life are continuously needed to keep it breathing, healthy and growing.

I used to believe that leading a mature company took different, separate competencies. But mature does not mean static. It means evolved, but only partially. Evolution is ongoing, and the need for continuous change requires an ongoing entrepreneurial spirit.

So, all of my recent themes are parts of a whole, pieces of a big picture. That picture is one of a business based on a living, fluid strategy, based in values, injected with entrepreneurship and innovation. Leadership must understand the external and internal constituencies of the business and must objectively look hard at all pieces of the big picture. This takes focus, diligence and passion.