Chris Cooper's Blog, page 139

Judging The Thief

My new book, “Founder, Farmer, Tinker, Thief” was released last week. It was an overnight bestseller in six categories on Amazon.

Early reviews are all extremely positive. But the top question from those who haven’t read the book yet is,

 

“Why THIEF? Aren’t thieves bad?”

 

Of course, they’re literally judging the book by its cover. The Thief Phase of entrepreneurship is noble instead of negative. Our “Thief” character doesn’t harm anyone; our Thief moves resources from high concentration to low. He’s a redistributor of wealth.

 

Imagine Robin Hood, the medieval bandit who “stole from the rich and gave to the poor”. He took tax money back from the scoundrelly Prince John and gave it to the starving peasants in the countryside.

The “Thief” in FFTT distributes money to others, but also time, knowledge and mentorship.

 

After an entrepreneur has ground through Founder Phase, survived Farmer Phase and learned how to lead in Tinker Phase, she focuses on her legacy in Thief Phase. Her priority is to make sure the platform she’s built will continue to provide opportunities for her family, her staff and her community after she’s gone.

 

A real-life example of an entrepreneur in the Thief Phase might be Bill Gates. After creating a new business (Microsoft) from nearly nothing, Gates diversified his company in Farmer Phase, solidified his position in Tinker Phase, and then began to redistribute his wealth. He used his giant platform to create his legacy. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is one of the ways his entrepreneurial reward is being shared with others.

 

Of course, most entrepreneurs won’t build a multi-billion-dollar platform. And that’s okay. Entrepreneurs who are successful enough to reach the Thief Phase can still make a difference without eradicating malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. Successful entrepreneurs can set up trust funds to support local kids in sports; they can donate to local charities; they can mentor other entrepreneurs. The Thief Phase is all about ensuring their mission continues after they’re gone.

 

As the story goes, Robin Hood stole from the rich and gave to the poor. Successful entrepreneurs can use their own wealth to give for a long time. It is the ultimate mission of the entrepreneur to build a positive, lasting legacy in their community.

 

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How Your Haters Make You Money

A little over a year ago, a “guru” in the fitness business told his audience that my ideas were bad.

 

His ranty blog post added 600 new people to my email list.

 

It was poorly-written, and went on and on without saying much. But the specifics won’t help you with your business, so I’ll get right to the punch line: his audience became curious, searched us out, and started reading our stuff. Slowly, they started to pay attention. Then many started to pay for our mentorship. He didn’t just shoot himself in the foot; he nearly cut off his own leg.

 

Of course, my immediate temptation to the rant was to write a rebuttal, or respond in kind. I’m lucky to have great mentors who keep me focused on serving my clients instead of slinging mud. Here’s what they told me:

 

“As soon as you plant a flag, people are going to start shooting.” Mentor: Dr. Mel Siff, author of Supertraining. Mel was saying that people find it hard to have their own ideas, but easy to shoot at yours. But no one takes shots at small ideas or cares about small people. The bullets prove you’re a big, valuable target. Talk more.

 

“If they’re criticizing you, they’ve got nothing else to talk about.” Mentor: Dave Tate, founder of EliteFTS. Dave saw many equipment suppliers come and go before learning that lesson. He said that “three years from now, all of those critics will be gone. If you ignore them and focus on your clients, you won’t be. But if you chase after them, you’ll be gone too.” Dave’s admonition was to not share your spotlight with your critics. They need attention to survive; starve them to death.

 

“It’s harder to race when you’re in first place.” Author: Chris Carmichael, coaching Lance Armstrong at the time. It’s easy to chase a leader. It’s hard to lead. When you’re in front and you’re taking shots from your haters, focus on your mission even more. Chase that.

 

 

Now, here’s how your haters make you money:

 

They filter the marginal clients for you. You want to work with smart people. Smart people compare your ideas with theirs; measure the logic and care; and choose the leader over the critic.

Marginal clients want a lower price. They want you to behave out of character, or compromise your values to get their money. They want to hold your attention for ransom. You can’t afford these people. Let the haters clean your toes for you.

 

They push you to defend your ideas. Every idea needs to be questioned in the face of new tools and new knowledge. Do yours still stand up? Or are you banking on dogmatic acceptance from your followers?

The critics are out there to keep your bedrock sound. And if they find cracks in your logic, they’re doing you a favor: fix the cracks before they affect your clients.

 

They push you to publish. Not to rebut, but to educate. I got my first critic over a decade ago, when an entrepreneur wrote a negative comment on my first blog post. I was tempted to strike back with a logical argument. But a mentor told me that I simply had to teach my audience to be smarter than my critics.

I took that knowledge to my gym: I want my clients to know more than the coaches anywhere else in town.

I also carry that knowledge to my mentorship practice: I want Two-Brain clients to know more than any business “guru” who professes counter knowledge…or just spews hate.

That means educating in advance. It means reviewing older ideas in new ways. It means publishing a LOT.

 

Your haters push people closer to you. Nothing unites a team like a common foe.

I wrote a section in “Help First” called “The Fire, The Lion, and The Darkness.” If you want people to stand closer to your fire, show them the Lion out there in the Darkness.

When your haters roar, your best clients will pick up their torches and fight by your side.

 

Your haters are doing you a favor. If you can avoid their tempting traps, people will follow you through the jungle.

Don’t let the bastards drag you down.

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How Much Suffering Is Enough?

I get it: you can grind.

 

You made the decision to open your business. You took the risk. And now you’re going to do whatever it takes to succeed.

 

You’re willing to sacrifice your sleep, your family time and your health. You’re not going to ask for help, because this is YOUR problem.

 

But is it really?

 

Who else is paying your fare?

 

What are your kids giving up when you work late?

 

What does your spouse think about when you’re not there in the morning?

 

You’re not just hurting yourself here, friend.

 

It’s still hard for me to write, but I put my family through stress, loneliness and even poverty that could have been avoided. If I’d asked for help sooner, I could have cut months–years!–off my entrepreneurial struggle. How many exactly? It doesn’t matter: every single day is a day too many.

 

What are you willing to trade while you figure it out yourself?

 

The price of caring, professional mentorship is $5,000. What’s that over a lifetime of Tuesday night dates with your wife? What’s the cost of a missed bike ride, or the price of a nap with your baby?

 

How many of those do you have to trade before you say, “It’s too much”?

 

I waited too long. Don’t.

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Time and Space

If you like team sports, this is a great time of year. The NHL and NBA playoffs are rolling; baseball has begun; and soccer is heating up.

 

That makes it a great time of year for sports analogies in business. You’ve heard these old cliches, right?

“It’s in my wheelhouse” – baseball

“It’s a slam dunk” – basketball

“It’s a hail-mary” – football

 

While the Harvard Business Reviewand I agree that most sports analogies for business are bad, I do think that entrepreneurs are a lot like athletes–on the playing field, and off. Both perform best when they’re in the “flow state” of optimal focus. Both need to improve their skills to play at higher levels. And, when at work, both athletes and entrepreneurs are most effective when given time and space to operate.

 

If you’re a hockey fan like I am, you’ve seen Alex Ovechkin sit “in his office” — on the left wing, just off the face-off dot — and wait for a pass. He scored 50 times this year when the opposition gave him enough time and space to get a shot away. And I’ve heard basketball coaches bark over and over at their players: “Take away her time and space!”

 

We even teach it to eight-year-olds playing man-to-man defense: “Get in close! Make him throw it away! Take away his time and space!”

 

The best way to make an athlete ineffectual is to take away their time and space: to force them to make a move NOW. To make them react instead of calling the play. To force them out of their zone, out of their office, and off their game.

 

Give Stephen Curry a full second to shoot, and he’s going to sink it. Get in really close, block his view, and threaten to steal the ball? He’ll probably pass. Or sometimes he’ll shoot and miss. And he’s the best in the world.

 

When you take away an entrepreneur’s time and space, their game will suffer. They’ll defer a decision (pass) or miss a deadline under pressure. More often, though, they shoot and miss. What entrepreneurs really need is time and space.

 

That means getting away from everyone else to think.

It means stepping outside your business to plan.

 

It means removing distractions to make connections.

 

It means working through a new idea alone before you pass it on to your team.

 

Now, alone time for an entrepreneur can be tough. Here are the strategies I use:

 

Close your door. It’s not your job to be the welcoming committee at work. It’s your job to get the important work done. If you own a business and don’t have an office, get one. A closing door is an effect multiplier.
Take up a solo sport. Get into flow state. Give yourself time to think while you’re reaping the benefits of increased focus and stress reduction. Cycling is my choice; many entrepreneurs run or play golf alone.
Pick a project requiring manual labor. Build a deck, chop some wood, or mow the lawn. No one tries to make small talk while the lawn mower is running.
Get away. Book a hotel room by yourself. Attend our Summit, and plan for some alone time to reflect, make connections, and act on new ideas. I use the “one and done” strategy: when I’m attending a seminar, I stay until I’ve learned one new thing. Then I go back to my hotel room and act on it. I give myself time and space to get things done instead of sitting still and getting overwhelmed.

 

Mike Michalowicz’ book Clockwork highlights the need for entrepreneurs to go off alone and think. It’s not laziness; it’s really the most important thing you can do. You’ll score more often when you’re in the zone.

 

(yeah, that was probably a bad one.)

 

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How To Get Lucky

In late 2016, I travelled to Toronto to see Seth Godin speak at Archangel. Godin was part of an all-star lineup including Gary Vaynerchuk, and the day was so packed that there was no scheduled lunch break. So my wife and I looked for an unfamiliar name on the schedule and planned to run out for a sandwich when they came onstage.

 

The name we chose was Dan Martell. When Martell was introduced, we began heading for the exit. But his story was so compelling–a car chase, a drawn gun, fireworks exploding in a living room–that we stayed. When we went for lunch later with local friend and box owner Alex Cibiri, I remember telling him that I couldn’t take any pictures of Vaynerchuk because my phone was dead. We enjoyed the afternoon and headed for the airport.

 

But when I plugged my phone in to charge, there was a voice mail from Dan Martell on it. He had just purchased shares in a CrossFit gym, heard I was in the audience, and wanted me to come backstage to meet everyone. The voice mail was three hours old. I called Dan back right away and we spoke for an hour. That was the start of a two-year mentorship during which Two-Brain Business grew 8x.

 

I’ve always had, in the words of Jim Collins, great “Who luck”. The right people sometimes seem to drop into my life at precisely the right moment. Dani Brown started as a client, and then happened to sell her gym just as Two-Brain needed more mentors. Jay Williams did the same, and then brought his new coach to the Summit–Mike Lee, who quickly became the COO at Two-Brain. Eden Watson became CSM after her husband–who was my first hire at Catalyst back in 2005–mentioned she didn’t like her job. I met my wife when we were drafted to the same Intramural House in high school. And there are dozens of other examples.

 

How did I get so lucky? Well, like every lucky person, I’ve learned how to maximize my opportunities for good luck; to be ready for it when it comes; and to maximize my return on luck. Here’s how to do it:

 

Expose yourself to more. I mean more people, more ideas, and more experiences. Come to the Summit and meet people. Talk about opposing viewpoints. Seek experiences instead of money.
Go first. Very few people will invite you to coffee, or out on a date, or to be a guest on their podcast. But we’re all thrilled to be invited. If you want to serve someone, go first: invite them. Tell them, “I’m really excited to meet you at the Summit!” or “I can’t wait to see what you think of my gym!” Do it to help them get out of their shell. It will pull you out of yours.

I frequently walk past people in the mall who try to politely avoid eye contact. They’re not comfortable going first. I am. And that makes them feel good.
Cull people from your life. You are driving a bus with 150 seats. When you pull up to a stop and Dan Martell is on the sidewalk, will you say “Sorry, we’re packed – wait for the next one”?

Emerson wrote, “Heartily know, when demigods go, the gods arrive.” I’ve repeated that line to many gym owners who were upset about losing a client or two. But in every case, better clients took their spot! And those new clients had friends who also became great clients. For us, getting rid of the “serious competitors” made my gym more open to receiving amazing clients back in 2013.
Open yourself to mentorship. Your ego is like a closed baseball glove. You might be missing some easy pop flies just because you want to catch the ball “your way”. Instead of trying to reinvent the game of baseball, or trying to cover more of the outfield by running faster, walk slowly with an open glove.

I met my current mentor, Marcy Swenson, when I was with Dan Martell in San Francisco. Marcy was introduced as Dan’s mentor, and seated across from me at dinner. When I began to focus on growing as a leader, I called Marcy for help. But Dan and Marcy weren’t my first mentors; I’ve often referred to finding Denis Turcotte as “winning the lottery”. Turcotte saved my gym by teaching me how to build systems. I was part of his legacy project to mentor five local entrepreneurs before he retired; but that story’s been told over and over in my books.

The key to great “who luck” isn’t in beating the odds, or having some kind of divine spotlight. The key is meeting more people, removing the people holding you back, and being ready to receive. Because the next amazing person in your life is probably already here.

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My First Steps Into Thief Phase

Every entrepreneur grows in phases: the Founder Phase, Farmer Phase, Tinker Phase and Thief Phase.

 

Which phase are you in? Take our test here.

 

While reaching Tinker Phase is a great goal for most entrepreneurs, some won’t be happy until we know our legacy will outlive us. That’s what Thief phase is all about: using our platform to create opportunities for others.

 

Some very successful entrepreneurs have created Foundations, grant programs or scholarships. Others have set up schools or other platforms. In a digital world, these legacy initiatives are simple to start. And entrepreneurs in the Tinker Phase don’t have to wait until they’re billionaires or ready to retire: they can start building the foundations of Thief Phase now.

 

Here are the first steps I’ve taken toward Thief Phase:

 

The creation of a “Bridge Fund” for entrepreneurs in the fitness industry.

Imagine this: you end your career as an engineer to open a gym. You work 14-hour days for years, smiling heartily at 5am and 9pm. You’re underpaid and your home life is stressed. But you do it all to help others live longer, healthier lives. Your clients lose hundreds of pounds, get off their diabetes medication, and buck the national trends toward degenerative disease.

Then a big storm hits, and you’re wiped out.

Yes, insurance will kick in…but not fast enough to get your gym open for training. In the weeks before the money comes in, how do you clean up and reopen? How do you keep selling memberships or charging for anything? You don’t. You’re done.

The Bridge Fund will bridge that gap with a zero-interest loan, due when the insurance funds reach the owner.

Super amazing bonus: the 3 gyms who have received funds from me so far have used them to arm their members with brooms, shovels and cleanup equipment. Then they coordinated their volunteer army to help their towns and neighbors. There’s no one more powerful than an entrepreneur on a mission, and I want to empower them.
A new foundational book that will help entrepreneurs filter advice–now, and in the future.

There’s SO much helpful advice, so many great ideas, and so much easy connection out there that the main problem for entrepreneurs is overwhelm. My new book, “Founder, Farmer, Tinker, Thief” will help them decide which ideas to apply, and when.

I plan to write monographs on the FFTT theme for the next decade. But the purpose of this book is to build an operating platform for entrepreneurs. That meant a $23,500 investment in editing, layout and copy to get it right.
Training dozens of new mentors to deliver the Two-Brain method. We now have 32 professionally-trained mentors on the Two-Brain team, spanning the globe. Each of them multiplies success by mentoring others in their country. Before we’re done, we’ll mentor 1,000,000 entrepreneurs to become Tinkers or Thieves themselves.
Investment in data tracking to help fitness entrepreneurs make better decisions. In many industries, “best practices” are determined through data tracking. But in fitness, it’s very hard to sort through the myths, lies and obfuscations to find the truth. It’s even harder in the fitness business, where everyone has great ideas and no one has proof. We want proof. So we’re mapping the business genome, starting with the fitness industry. This is a huge undertaking, but I realized that we’re the only ones with the motivation and means to do it. I think it’s our responsibility to do so.
Creation of a local fund to keep kids playing sports. Over the last decade, my wife and I have been included in several kids’ leagues because our own kids were playing sports. We were often approached for help buying equipment, paying for travel costs, or even just buffering the local league’s finances. But as the kids narrow their focus, we want to make sure new kids get the help they need. So we’re putting together a pool of funds to help kids who need a little boost to play.
Purchases of local buildings to create sustainable long-term revenue for my family, and better neighborhoods  for our city. Some parents prefer to save money; I prefer to create opportunities. So our personal legacy to our kids is in University funding and real estate. When all of our mortgages are behind us, our three commercial buildings will generate between $8,000 and $11,000 per month in net rental income.

Will I do more before I retire? Absolutely. These are my “bullets” before the big “cannonballs” I hope to deliver later. But I don’t want to wait until I’m old to create a legacy.

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Case Study: The Hostage Negotiator

“I go above and beyond for my clients. I wish they knew how much I do for them.”

 

Kimberly is a trader.

 

Not a stock trader. Kimberly is a bookkeeper who trades services with her clients.

 

“I don’t charge that guy for his books,” she says, “because he clears my parking lot every winter.”

 

She has similar “trades” worked out for landscaping, car detailing, personal training, spa treatments, parking…

 

Kimberly is running out of cash, and she’s embarrassed by it. As a bookkeeper, she’s worried that her professional reputation will suffer if anyone thinks she’s mismanaging her money. But she’s not making math mistakes: she’s making relationship mistakes. Her trades are holding her cash flow hostage.

 

“I just need more clients,” she says. But she actually has a large caseload: at least in April, she’ll be working 14-hour days to finish her clients’ books before their tax returns are due.

 

Kimberly understands how to balance a bank account. She’s a wizard at spreadsheets. But she doesn’t understand value at all. At our first meeting, she described her strategy as “making deposits in our clients’ emotional bank accounts”–as if such a thing actually existed.

 

“All of these accounts know that I’m over-delivering for them, and they’ll never go anywhere else.”

 

I knew we were in for some hard work with Kimberly. But I like to start every client with some quick wins, so we turned to her strength: math.

 

First, we calculated the value of the work she was doing for them. On average, she was providing around $1500 of work per year ($125 per month for 12 months.) I thought that was low, especially given the extra work required in many cases. She showed me the bag of receipts–literally a plastic grocery bag crammed with receipts–that her “snowplow guy” dropped off at her door. Kimberly doesn’t charge an extra cent for these clients, even though it requires around 2 extra hours every month to sort the receipts and enter them into her software. But we’d have that conversation later.

 

I was too curious to resist this question, though: “On average, do the clients with whom you trade services generally bring you a well-organized list of transactions, or a plastic bag?” She thought about it. “Actually, I think more of my trades bring me the plastic bag–and I have to chase them for reports every month, too!”

 

She took this as a good sign: “They really, really need me! No one else will give them this much service! We have a great relationship!” I thought the opposite (that they didn’t actually value her time, and were taking advantage of her) but planned to raise that topic in a few weeks.

 

Next we calculated the value of the service they were providing to her.

 

In some cases, Kimberly wasn’t sure about the real prices her trades were charging, so we simply called and asked their rates. In every single relationship except one, Kimberly was providing far more value than what she was receiving. Her net dollar-for-dollar loss was over $825 per month. She was shocked.

 

But this is actually very common for entrepreneurs. Most new business owners open their practice to buy themselves a job. They’re not good at asking for money, and they believe that a healthy client relationship means “over-delivering” and “emotional bank accounts”. But that’s why money was invented: to make these transactions measurable.

 

The craziest example I’ve seen in my years as a mentor? One client was earning trading her monthly gym membership for office supplies. She was stealing the office supplies from work as needed. One month, her $150 CrossFit membership cost her five Dry Erase markers.

 

The first step with Kimberly was to call her trades and explain the new deal.

 

We made it easy: first, we called the single trade who was over-delivering, and insisted on paying for their service. That made it easy for her to make the next few calls. We also took the step of blaming the government: Kimberly was comfortable saying “If you and I got audited, we could be forced to pay back taxes on our relationship. It would be irresponsible of me to continue.”

 

Every single trade opted to continue, and none balked at the suggestion to bring her a VOIDed check so she could auto-bill them every month. In one afternoon, Kimberly eased a lot of her cash flow pressure.

 

Our next step was to address her rates and services. But before we could do the numbers work, we had to start with value. The real reason Kimberly was trading services was that she wasn’t confident in her true value. Using her own scope of reference–numbers–we mentored her to make immediate changes that would pay her more than $10,000 per year.

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What Tinkers Have Taught Us This Year

Our newest group of Tinkers is one quarter into their mentorship. Here are 20 observations from their mentor, Jeff Smith:

– We were looking for people that wanted to expand their mindset and skillset as entrepreneurs as they looked to move into higher levels of thought and performance. Tinkers put it better: “Farmers work on the business, Tinkers work on themselves.”

– We must regularly evaluate how you are doing in the four key areas of life (Finance, Fitness, Freedom, Family). If we don’t evaluate, we don’t improve.

– Get your financial house in order; personally and in the business to maximize growth. This is where many Tinkers need the most education, but the least regular accountability. A lot of this is long-term “set it and forget it” planning.

– When you surround yourself with people doing high level endeavors, it creates energy that challenges everyone to step their game up and improve. When you spend a weekend with millionaires, you dress like a millionaire; you eat and exercise like a millionaire; you begin to think like a millionaire. The lens through which successful people see the world can be shared.

– You are your number one asset and need to protect yourself as such. Your cognitive health, physical health, and time spent in “Flow State” go from the bottom of your list to the top in the Tinker phase.

– Be focused, effective and deliberate in your work, be disconnected and present in your downtime. It takes training to “turn off” after years spent building a business. Practice.

– Work on your leadership constantly. As John Maxwell wrote, “Everything hinges on leadership.” Tinkers are on stage most of the time. They must be deliberate in their actions, language and responses.

– Plan your legacy to live beyond you and set it up to serve what’s important to you. This is the first step into Thief Phase, and some of the Tinkers are really crushing it. 

– Control your time. Measure and plan; learn to not react.

– Habits matter. What habit are you starting this quarter to positively impact your life?

– Scaling and opening new locations is happening. There were very few proven examples of gym owners who owned multiple locations successfully out there. Usually, owners would react to an opportunity (or threat) before being prepared. But Tinker phase entrepreneurs have the knowledge, systems and time to replicate their businesses over and over.

– Entrepreneurs have a tendency to take on too much, saying “no” strategically is one of the most important skills you learn. Even saying “not right now” is better than trying to kick off multiple projects at once.

– Model your behavior after those you aspire to become. Find models and be like them instead of trying to reinvent every part of yourself all the time.

– Leverage the skills of others to help you achieve your goals, whether it is in regards to your team or future partnerships. You don’t have to build every solution from scratch.

– Surround yourself with people that will hold you accountable. We’re gym owners. We should know this one. But few people do it for their business.

– What truly brings you joy? How can you do more of that?

– Build a high performing team to support your highest levels of work. In the Tinker phase, you’ll begin to cultivate a management layer for the first time. Finding the right people takes time, but the hardest part is releasing your grip on important tasks. 

– Have a plan, work the plan. You’ll always have more work than you can handle. You’ll always have a dozen great ideas. Pushing your flywheel forward means working in one direction. Pave the street that lies before you.

– In general, our goals fall far short of our potential. When we look at the achievements in the Tinker Group in the first quarter of 2019, we see many have achieved goals they set for the year already!

– Take your financial goals(business/personal) and add an additional one zero (i.e. $10m=$100m, $100m=$1b).

Know what it would take to build THAT business or THAT life!

 

“You are the average of the five people you surround yourself with” is a common heuristic in business. The Tinker group proves that it’s true. These folks are running at a brand new pace.

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How To Lead Your Team To Greatness

I’ve been writing about leading a team this week.

Read Part I here, and Part II here.

Today I’m going to share all of the pieces you MUST build to lead a team of individuals, instead of chairing a committee. Tomorrow I’ll share exactly how we do it at Two-Brain Business.

 

Your role as Owner is to create the platform on which your staff can build careers. That means the greatest gift you’re giving them is opportunity; the second greatest is stability. In our parents’ generation, these were flipped: stability came first, and opportunity occurred in a very limited way inside a fixed hierarchy.

 

That means our ideal staff is intrapreneurial: they’re self-starters who will work hard on their own ideas. But we, the owners, still bear the burden of financial risk. They have unlimited upside if they choose to pursue it. The risk they take is with their time. Your job is to show them the path to their goals; measure their progress; and keep them moving forward instead of sideways.

 

Step 1: “What Do You Want Now?”

Have your team record their “Perfect Day”. Ask them what they require (time, money, freedom, feelings) to make their Perfect Day happen.

Repeat this every quarter, because people change over time.

Step 2: “Here’s what you have to do to get there.”

Clearly show your team how many clients they’ll need to recruit; or how many sales they’ll have to make. In other words, show them exactly how they contribute to the business, and how that will get them to their Perfect Day scenario. We call these KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). It’s critical for each person on the team to understand how they affect KPIs, and how the KPIs affect their personal goals.

Step 3: Let them get some reps. This is where the “failing forward” concept applies. If your team is working on a clear plan and making attempts that don’t work out, that’s fine. If they’re just showing up every day, trying random things without a path, failing to measure outcomes with KPIs–then failing is just failing. That’s NOT okay.

But a team following a plan should be given the leeway to screw up a few times. A $10M company will need a $10M team. And it’s a lot cheaper to make mistakes at the $1M level than to wait.

Step 4: Evaluate. This is probably the most-neglected advice we give entrepreneurs. Everyone knows they SHOULD evaluate their staff’s performance; very few actually do. That’s because, until this point, the entrepreneur is able to remove feelings and emotions from the conversation. Evaluations make that hard.

But failure to evaluate is doing your staff a huge disservice. If you’re not telling them what they’re doing right (and what they’re doing wrong), you’re lying to them. You’re keeping secrets. If they need correction, it will be a surprise. If they’re doing a great job, it will also come as a surprise. Either way, evaluations become more emotional if they’re infrequent.

The largest mistake I ever made with evaluations was this: I waited until I was mad, and then booked a performance review! That’s unfair to everyone.

 

Experience isn’t the best teacher; reflected experience is. John Maxwell

 

If your staff is on the wrong path, they deserve to know so they can fix it.

You must deliver feedback the TwoBrain Way: first with the head, then with the heart, then with the hands.

In other words, think about what you want the team member to do; then correct them in the way that will get the best response; and then make sure they do it.

 

I’d like to stop here and address the phrase: “The people who got you here might not be the people who can take you to the next level.” I’m a firm believer in this phrase. However, because I really love my team, I want to give them every opportunity to BE the people who take Two-Brain to the next level.

 

That means letting them “get reps” while we’re still a $3M company, instead of learning things later. Good lessons are cheap when you’re not making money. But they only get more expensive.

 

The key is feedback: KPIs and evaluations. Give them a goal, and help them adjust their sights when they miss.

 

Step 5: If a team member appears unable to meet the TwoBrain standard, I ask myself these four questions:

 

Have I told them EXACTLY what I want them to do? It’s hard to believe, but in 2019, people still can’t read my mind. People don’t see through my eyes, or imagine with my brain. I have to tell them exactly what to do, and probably more than once.
Have I given them an emotional reason to succeed? In other words, can they see how doing the job THIS way benefits them and the client they’re trying to serve? Or do they think it’s just “my way or the highway”?
Have I shown them the price for NOT doing it? Do they understand the consequences for themselves, the company, and our clients? Do they know how failure will affect their KPIs and future?
Would they be happier being a client than being on staff? If so, it’s time to let them go.

Most businesses don’t actually have people problems; they have process problems. Read about the difference here. But when you DO have people problems, follow those four steps to solve them.

 

Step 6: Grow as a leader. Your leadership skills must evolve at least as quickly as your team does. This has been the greatest challenge for me personally, but that’s why I have a mentor and call her every week!

 

The post How To Lead Your Team To Greatness appeared first on Two Brain.

How To Lead A Team

As I wrote yesterday, there’s a big difference between a Team and a Committee.

 

We have an incredibly powerful team at Two-Brain. Some of them get to stand onstage, and some work like crazy in the background.

 

While I’m not scared to work with powerful people, I have often scrambled to lead them. Most of the time I spend with my business mentor (Marcy Swenson) revolves around leadership challenges. That’s just what happens in Tinker phase!

 

The leadership team at TwoBrain is made up of smart, driven people. But they’re not all the same. As John Maxwell said,

 

“Managers treat everyone the same. Leaders treat everyone differently.”

 

Now, I tend toward the left-brain type. I like data and proof and black and white. I can empathize with problems (I get choked up over my clients’ struggles at least once per week) but I have to work really hard to see things from another person’s perspective. So that’s exactly what I do: I work hard to understand how to help them; what they need; and what to do. I get coaching to speed up my learning process.

 

The greatest thing a leader can do is ask, “What do you want NOW?” because people change.

 

Then ask, “How can I help you with this?” because sometimes they might not need help; they might just need an ear. Or they might legitimately need help, and you can guide them to the solution. As I’ve learned, simply telling people “this is the answer” is helpful when you’re managing people, but less helpful when you’re leading other leaders.

 

Your job as leader is also to set the example. If you’re working a 16-hour day and never taking a vacation, your team will believe that’s model behavior. They’ll copy you for awhile, and then resent it. You MUST be an example: work hard, but take time off. Put your family first, and then do what’s best for your clients. Let them know what “best” means. You teach them how to treat you.

 

Finally, your job as leader is to measure the pace, not to sprint ahead and demand that others keep up.

 

Last summer, I was training for my first 100km cycling race. I loved the training, and one of the milestones I set for my progress was a full loop of St. Joseph Island. I was born there, and it’s an amazing area for cycling, but I’d never completed a full circuit of the 70k loop. I mentioned my plan to my friend Ray, and he offered to come along. He brought our mutual friend, Dr. Steve Roedde.

 

Dr. Steve is a leader. He retired to St. Joseph Island after leading an ER team in a major city hospital. And he’s an amazing cyclist. He offered to lead us around the Island.

 

Now, the front rider in any group of cyclists has to burn about 30% more energy than the guys behind him. The second and third rider can sit in his slipstream and “draft”. Until you’ve done it, you wouldn’t believe it’s possible, but sitting on Steve’s rear wheel made the trip a lot easier.

 

After we climbed a huge hill, I offered to take the lead and let the others draft me for a bit. Steve knew I’d never be able to match his work capacity, but graciously let me pull in front. I fought hard for five kilometers before letting him pull up front again.

 

When we reached a flat, windy area, Steve had to measure my pace and slow down for me. Looking at his bike computer, he tried to limit himself to 225 watts of output, but I couldn’t keep up. So he lowered himself to 200 watts, but I still dropped off his slipstream. Finally, he slowed to 180 watts and I hung on for dear life until we pulled over to buy popsicles at a convenience store.

 

Steve said, “I thought you were going to be fine at 200 watts, but you were probably too tired. No big deal: you’re a diesel. By next year, I’ll be able to say ‘Go that way and hold 225 watts for six hours’, and you’ll nail it. I’ll be jealous of you.” He told me exactly what I had to do to win, and then made me feel like I was on my way.

 

(By the way, after training all winter, 225 watts is no longer a problem. I’m not really a “diesel” yet, but I’m good enough to consider myself a serious student of cycling–just as I consider myself a serious student of leadership.)

 

No one is going to match your hours, energy or output. They shouldn’t. Instead, you should tell them how to improve; make them feel like they can get there; and buy them popsicles every 50k. That’s how you lead a powerful team.

 

Tomorrow, I’ll give you some point-by-point instructions about guiding your team to greatness.

 

 

 

 

 

The post How To Lead A Team appeared first on Two Brain.