Delvin R. Chatterson's Blog, page 15
February 4, 2016
Enlightened Entrepreneurship – Part 3: The Action Plan
Enlightened Entrepreneurship requires us to practice it, promote it and defend it.
Does accepting that mission make us missionaries? Yes.
And the mission has a three part Action Plan:
Practice enlightened entrepreneurship and lead by example for employees, customers, suppliers, strategic partners and stakeholders.
Help other entrepreneurs be more enlightened and thereby more successful.
Advocate for entrepreneurs and defend entrepreneurship against the unfair critics. “We are not evil!”
Start with awareness followed by leadership and management that confirm the value of merging business goals with social responsibility. It is not sufficient to have a charitable effort or community project outside of company operations to serve as a “guilt-eraser” or to counter-balance irresponsible behaviour in daily business operations. It is essential that daily business operations reflect your enlightened business culture and social values.
There will still be critics and non-believers. They cannot be ignored. So enlightened entrepreneurs must continuously advocate, explain and defend the contributions of entrepreneurship to a better society. As more successful entrepreneurs join the conversation, the more convincing we will be.
We need you. So step up and join the cause. Be a missionary for Enlightened Entrepreneurship.
I look forward joining you,
Your Uncle Ralph, Del Chatterson
Join our mailing list and share more ideas, information and inspiration for entrepreneurs. Click here.
Visit also: LearningEntrepreneurship.com :
The Seven Biggest Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Find the Exit before it’s an Emergency
Deciding When to Launch Your Business
The Four P’s of Salesmanship: “You wanna buy a book?”
And check out t wo new books by Uncle Ralph, “Don’t Do It the Hard Way” and “The Complete Do-It-Yourself Guide to Business Plans.” available online or at your favourite bookstore. To learn more or buy a copy: Click here
The post Enlightened Entrepreneurship – Part 3: The Action Plan appeared first on Learning Entrepreneurship.
January 26, 2016
Enlightened Entrepreneurship – Part 2
I have recommended the concept of enlightened entrepreneurship. Others are also using the term, but we do not have a common understanding of “enlightened entrepreneurship.”Some people apply it to define a very spiritual or humanistic approach to business and others confuse it with social entrepreneurship, where the purpose of the business is to meet the needs of society more explicitly than the needs of the market.
My concept of Enlightened Entrepreneurship:
Business leadership that recognizes that doing better for the business also means doing better for employees and their families, for customers and suppliers, for communities and the planet. Enlightened entrepreneurs manage their business to achieve its economic objectives while also recognizing and meeting its social responsibilities. Not because it is good marketing or just to feel good, but because it is the best way to build a sustainable business.
Consider the meaning of “enlightened” from the historical context of the Age of Enlightenment or Age of Reason, which dominated philosophical ideas in Europe from early in the 17th Century. The principal goals of Enlightenment thinkers were liberty, progress, reason, tolerance, fraternity, and ending the abuses of the church and state. The ideas of the Enlightenment played a major role in inspiring both the American and the French Revolutions. (Ref.: Wikipedia)
Over the last two centuries, Western societies have experienced increasing individual freedom, less dependence on central authorities and the rise of capitalism and free enterprise. Early in this period (1776), Adam Smith published “The Wealth of Nations” and first described the principle of the invisible hand guiding entrepreneurs to unintentionally contribute to the greater good of society.
Quote: He generally, indeed, neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. By … directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. … By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it.” (Book 4, Chapter 2)
But the excesses of the industrial revolution, exploiting workers and concentrating wealth and power in the hands of a few, caused reactions in worker revolts, the rise of trade unions and the ideas of Socialism.
In the 21st Century, we still observe capitalist excesses driven by greed and ego that exploit workers, concentrate wealth and neglect the needs of society. The opposing forces are still battling: some defending capitalism and free markets as delivering prosperity and others blaming corporate CEO’s, entrepreneurs and their political supporters for all the ills of the modern world. We cannot keep our heads down and ignore these issues while “taking care of business.”
Enlightened entrepreneurs know that they can no longer rely on the invisible hand to help them protect the public interest and meet their social obligations and responsibilities. The modern world is more complicated and modern society is more demanding. The entrepreneur needs to be more aware and more explicit in responding to the demands of the world around him beyond meeting his business objectives.
The next step for Enlightened Entrepreneurship is for us to practice it, promote it and defend it.
Your Uncle Ralph, Del Chatterson
Join our mailing list and share more ideas, information and inspiration for entrepreneurs. Click here.
Visit also: LearningEntrepreneurship.com :
The Seven Biggest Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Find the Exit before it’s an Emergency
Deciding When to Launch Your Business
The Four P’s of Salesmanship: “You wanna buy a book?”
And check out t wo new books by Uncle Ralph, “Don’t Do It the Hard Way” and “The Complete Do-It-Yourself Guide to Business Plans.” available online or at your favourite bookstore. To learn more or buy a copy: Click here
The post Enlightened Entrepreneurship – Part 2 appeared first on Learning Entrepreneurship.
January 20, 2016
Enlightened Entrepreneurship
My mission with LearningEntrepreneurship.com is to promote what I call “enlightened entrepreneurship.” I didn’t coin the phrase I’m sure, but here is my definition.
Enlightened entrepreneurship: business leadership that recognizes that doing better for the business also means doing better for employees and their families, for customers and suppliers, for communities and the planet. Enlightened entrepreneurship manages a business to achieve its economic objectives while also recognizing and meeting its social responsibilities.
The expectation may be hopelessly ambitious or naïve, but I believe it is in fact the only way to build and grow a long-term sustainable business. We should expect nothing less. If the entrepreneur is focused only on making money, then the consequences for everyone, including the entrepreneur, are likely to be very negative. Growing a business is never as simple as making short-term profits. (Mistake #4 of the Seven Biggest) It requires looking at the bigger picture and managing assets and resources to support long term business value.
Enlightened entrepreneurship is not a moral or ethical imperative, it is simply good business management. It’s not a new idea, it’s just a logical extension of the principles of building sustainable long-term value in a business by continuously satisfying all the stakeholders – employees, customer, suppliers, shareholders, governments and local communities. Ultimately, they will decide whether they are willing to support you in making your business succeed. It is never entirely up to you.
So start thinking “enlightened entrepreneurship”. There is no other way that works.
Read more at: Learning Entrepreneurship Blogs…
Your Uncle Ralph,
Del Chatterson
Visit also: LearningEntrepreneurship.com :
The Seven Biggest Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Find the Exit before it’s an Emergency
Deciding When to Launch Your Business
The Four P’s of Salesmanship: “You wanna buy a book?”
And check out t wo new books by Uncle Ralph, “Don’t Do It the Hard Way” and “The Complete Do-It-Yourself Guide to Business Plans.” available online or at your favourite bookstore. To learn more or buy a copy: Click here
The post Enlightened Entrepreneurship appeared first on Learning Entrepreneurship.
January 14, 2016
Forget Forecasts
They’re useless.
It is that time of year when everyone seems compelled to make forecasts. The experts insist on giving us their version and they decide either to be safe and predict more of the same or to be outrageous and predict something extreme – Canadian dollar at US$0.59 or oil back to $100!
We should ignore them all; they’re useless. I have worked on many; in plans and projections for my own businesses and for clients.
It is useful to remember before starting that they are all part of the fiction we are writing to convince ourselves or someone else what we hope will happen. It would be better to describe them as “reasonable expectations.” All we know for sure is that the forecasts will be wrong. We just do not know by how much or in which direction.
So if we cannot predict the future, what can we do?
Our primary objective should be to understand our business environment – the competitive landscape and the economic conditions. The real issues to understand are the trends, the causes and effects, the alternative scenarios we need to be prepared for and the most likely ones to occur.
Then we have something we can work with.
Happy forecasting!
Your Uncle Ralph, Del Chatterson
Visit also: LearningEntrepreneurship.com:
The Seven Biggest Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Find the Exit before it’s an Emergency
Deciding When to Launch Your Business
The Four P’s of Salesmanship: “You wanna buy a book?”
And check out two new books by Uncle Ralph, “Don’t Do It the Hard Way” and “The Complete Do-It-Yourself Guide to Business Plans.” available online or at your favourite bookstore. To learn more or buy a copy: Click here
The post Forget Forecasts appeared first on Learning Entrepreneurship.
January 5, 2016
Another New Year. So what.
You have already looked at too many year-end reviews and predictions for 2016. The consensus seems to be that last year was bad everywhere and 2016 will be worse: more terrorist events and political stupidity, extreme weather 
and natural disasters, declining market values on all your investments and challenging economic conditions for every industry.
So if you cannot control the environment, what can you do differently this year? It is not enough to just try to stay out of the ditch.
A good general rule is to keep it simple. Focus on just two memorable accomplishments for the year – one personal, one professional. Richard Branson suggests that you refrain from making another to-do list, but work instead on your to-be list. It is more important who you are than what you do.
Work on making memories.
If you look back on 2015, how would you characterize the year? Personally and professionally what were the outstanding memories? Did they just happen or were they your intent? For me personally, it was the year of moving and settling into a new condo and professionally, we finally concluded the long and complicated process to sell a client’s business. Nothing that changed the world, but significant memories for people important to me.
So what will your memories be for 2016? My intent is make a first trip to Africa in an ambitious year of travel adventures and to advance the cause of enlightened entrepreneurship with more dedication to writing, coaching and advocacy.
Of course, more detail is required in the to-do lists and work plans, but I prefer to start with some simple objectives that are easy to remember without getting distracted by “other events”. I recommend the same approach to you.
Have a good year. Make it memorable.
Your Uncle Ralph,
Del Chatterson
…. Read more online at the Learning Entrepreneurship Blogs.
The Seven Biggest Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Find the Exit before it’s an Emergency
Deciding When to Launch Your Business
The Four P’s of Salesmanship: “You wanna buy a book?”
For more ideas, advice and resources visit LearningEntrepreneurship.com. And check out two new books by Uncle Ralph, “Don’t Do It the Hard Way” and “The Complete Do-It-Yourself Guide to Business Plans.” available online or at your favourite bookstore. To learn more or buy a copy: Click here
The post Another New Year. So what. appeared first on Learning Entrepreneurship.
December 10, 2015
Happy Holidays? It’s up to you.
Ignore the headlines, Donald Trump and ISIL for a few days. Set aside your worries about the declining dollar and tumbling markets. Find the time and the means to celebrate the joys of life. Focus on the people close to you; friends, family and business associates that also need to share the love and the joys of life.
It can be a stressful time of year with all the conflicting objectives and priorities: last chance to meet year-end business objectives, finalizing plans and budgets for next year, personal pressure to spend time with unfamiliar family members, and expectations for unnecessary and unappreciated gifts. It can be hard to get in the spirit of the season.
So it’s up to you to decide on what’s important at this time of year. The holiday season can be a distraction and temporary set-back to pursuing business goals and objectives or it can be an annual opportunity to celebrate and confirm your values and beliefs as an enlightened entrepreneur. Now is the time to focus on the non-monetary objectives: doing better for your employees and customers, your suppliers and strategic partners, the community and the planet.
Be creative and engage all your staff in committing to projects and activities that show they
support each other; the people who are your customers and suppliers; your community and the planet.
Share the love and the joys of life. ‘Tis the season.
Wishing you and your family all the best of the season,
Del Chatterson, your Uncle Ralph
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November 4, 2015
The Four P’s of Salemanship: “You wanna buy a book?”
Patient, Persistent, Polite and Persuasive
An excerpt from “Don’t Do It the Hard Way” by your Uncle Ralph, Del Chatterson.
“OK,” I said, “now I have to tell my favourite story on salesmanship. Not an original and 
probably not even true, but very instructive anyway.” They looked a little concerned, but I continued.
“A high-powered IBM executive working in New York used to take the subway to the office everyday and he noticed there was a young man always positioned at the top of the stairs to the street with a box of books at his feet and two or three in his hands, politely asking every passerby, “You wanna buy a book?” He was there rain or shine, hot or cold, every morning and evening as hundreds of commuters passed by. After several months of observing this hard-working, polite but persistent, casually dressed, but personable young man asking everyone who passed, “You wanna buy a book?” the IBM executive stopped one morning to speak to him.”
“He said, ‘Young man, I am very impressed with you working so hard here everyday and I would like to offer you a job at IBM. We can get you started in our sales training program and within a year or two you could be making $60,000 to $80,000 a year.’”
“The young man politely replied, ‘Why thank you very much, sir, but I’m already doing better than that. You wanna buy a book?’”
Dave laughed out loud as the others smiled and he said, “I’m definitely telling that story to one of my reps who is trying too hard and making it too complicated. He’s reading books, going to courses, sitting in on Webinars, following the experts on Blogs and so on, but he gets so caught up in the process that he neglects to just ask the question, ‘You wanna buy some bikes?’. It drives me crazy sometimes listening to him on long distance to our dealers in Vancouver or San Francisco and he’s rambling on about the weather and the football and the economy before he finally asks about their inventory and gets to the point, ‘Do you need some bikes?’ In fact I’m putting this on the agenda for our next sales meeting: Keep it simple and ask for the order!”
That got such a good response I couldn’t resist another sales story. I started with a short preamble.
“A suggestion I often have for sales managers is to recognize their top sales reps and get them involved by sharing their tactics with the other reps. Learn from the best. It’s also a good way to build the sales team by sharing ideas and information, like we do here in the e2eForum. If it doesn’t go well, it may be a warning sign that sales management and your sales compensation plan are promoting competition and jealousy instead of co-operation and teamwork.”
“So I have another story to help you remember that principle of sales management. (I probably should give credit to the great Zig Ziglar for these stories. But I honestly don’t remember where I heard them first; I’ve just been repeating them for years.)”
“This story is about a company selling safety glass that had a direct sales force calling on customers all over the U.S. Each year they had a sales conference where they celebrated their successes and recognized the top achievers. For several years, old Charlie had won the top sales award, so one year they finally asked him what he did to win so many orders. He was willing to share and explained, ‘When I finally get an appointment, I sit down with the buyer and I bring out the samples of our safety glass to compare to the samples of our competitors. Then I bring out my hammer. And I smash them all right there on the conference table! Now I have their attention to make my pitch.’”
“Well that year a lot of sales reps went out with their samples and their hammers. But again Charlie won the top sales award. So again the VP of Sales asked Charlie, ‘What did you do this year?’”
“Charlie said, “I gave the hammer to the buyer.’”
OK, enough checklists and bad stories to take away. Now just remember the secret formula: ‘Sell like hell!’
Never quit selling. Get your team focused on the one thing that solves all your problems – more sales.
For more stories from Uncle Ralph and to learn more about his books like “ Don’t Do It the Hard Way” and “The Complete Do-It-Yourself Guide to Business Plans” visit Uncle Ralph’s Books.
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October 27, 2015
It was a good year to be Jordan Speith
He got our attention this year.
Jordan Spieth had already had great success in college as a teenage amateur and won his first PGA tour event at only 19 in 2013. Last year he appeared regularly near the top of the leaderboard, won two more tournaments, played well for the US team in the Ryder Cup and broke into the top 10 of the World Golf Rankings.
But this year as he turned 22, we all noticed him. He won five tournaments, including the Masters, US Open, the Tour Championship and Fedex Cup, topped the World Golf Ranking three times, earned over $22 million in prize money and dominated all the individual performance awards. His consistently charming, humble and polite manner through it all have won him fans around the world and, not coincidentally, bumped his primary sponsor, Under Armour, to new levels of sales success.
So what he does he do differently to win so often and what can we learn from his approach to golf? He is obviously a talented, hard-working athlete, but so are all the top competitors he is up against. It has to be more than talent and hard work.
Watching him and listening to him we start to understand where he gets the edge. First, he has mastered every element of the game – driving, approach shots, putting and recovering from trouble. He is near the top in every category and he does it without any drama. Not the longest, strongest, most exciting or spectacular, just very, very good when he needs to be. Second, he prepares meticulously to understand every nuance and peculiarity of the course he is playing. Third, he uses all the resources of his support team, including his caddy and friend, his coaches and his family. Finally, he manages his emotions, stays focused and makes good decisions during the round. Part of that process is continually assessing his performance and adjusting his attitude, his swing or his strategy on the fly. It is part of his style to vent and talk to himself during the round. No attempt to maintain the stoic, unemotional façade of his competitors. Less stress for Jordan Spieth and more interesting for his followers.
Consider your own management style and you may find opportunities to use his approach for better results in your business. Remember the simple principles: master all elements of the game, prepare meticulously for every contest, use the whole team, manage effectively based on continuous feedback.
And avoid trouble if you can, but have options if you cannot.
Business is like golf
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Are you ready for the Liberals economic plan?
On November 4th, we will have a new Prime Minister (in the second coming of a Trudeau) and a new Liberal cabinet responsible for managing the Canadian economy.
Are you ready for the changes that will affect you and your business?
Do not expect Trudeau to implement all the promises he made. He will inevitably have to make compromises and changes as he bumps into the real-world facts of life in government finances, economic challenges and geo-political issues.
In some cases, he will welcome reasonable excuses for backing away from some bad ideas. The Senate is not the only place for sober second thought. I’m sure his advisors have already coached him on hedging their bets for many issues. We should not to be too cynical that popular promises were only made during the campaign to get elected without any intention of delivering on them. I think Trudeau and his team are too smart politically to get caught making that mistake. They were pretty cautious about avoiding specifics so they did not have to contradict themselves. I’m sure the experience and advice of former Prime Ministers Martin and Chretien were helpful with those tactics.
So what can we expect? First, you may be looking forward to that “middle class” tax reduction. It’s more likely you are going to unhappily discover that you are not in the middle class. For tax purposes, it ends at taxable income of $89,401. Welcome to the wealthy 1%? Then you are going to lose that very useful Conservative tax-splitting opportunity that the Liberals are cancelling (except for retired seniors, like me). And be sure to quickly stuff your TFSA with the maximum available to you while the limit remains at $10,000. Trudeau’s plan is to go back down to the $5,500 annual contribution limit, but I’m betting he will be wise enough to fumble that file until after the January 2016 contribution limit is available, so that a few of the angry wealthy taxpayers will start to love him a little more.
Now what about the Liberal plan and your business? First the good news. Middle class tax cuts should mean more consumer spending and if you can participate in the proposed infrastructure projects or their spinoff benefits, then you may also see growth in your revenue from those initiatives. If they successfully pump up the economy with their deficit spending plans, then everybody’s business will benefit. Let’s hope it works.
If your business depends on the oil or resource industries, things are going to get worse. Those sectors will be under more pressure from an eco-friendly government listening to the global warming activists. But I think the Trudeau team will also be cautious in this area as they try to prove their mantra that good environmental policy is also good for business. But business leaders will have to do better at satisfying the relevant cabinet ministers that the pace and direction of their energy and environmental programs will meet the desired goals soon enough. There will be some difficult exchanges.
There is a proposal to reduce small business taxes, but the details are still being “reviewed” and the discussion seems to focus on removing loopholes to ensure that the small business tax breaks are legitimate. Hopefully, the newly elected caucus will include some strong advocates for small business and will work on making it easier to succeed, not more difficult. The proposed changes to Pension Plan contributions (being pushed by Ontario’s Premier Wynne) are also up for discussion, but may well be stalled completely or implemented very gradually. It will be difficult to justify adding another payroll tax to all the existing obstacles for job creation. It does seem to be an important Liberal policy mission, however, to improve future payouts from the Canada Pension Plan. Expect some changes before the end of this four-year term.
In summary, nothing too radical affecting business or the economic environment is expected, but the generally positive mood arising from the change of government to a young, energetic and enthusiastic team allows us all to be more optimistic about our prospects. However, it will not be enough to simply watch and wait to see how soon the good times arrive and how long they last. Now is the time to engage and move forward with your own plans to make good things happen. Trudeau is right, “better is always possible”. But it’s up to you.
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October 26, 2015
The sharks are now eating each other in churning financial markets
It is clear that market regulators have not been able to contain the excesses of manipulative hedge funds and active investors and now they are starting to go after each other. Some of the most dangerous sharks stirring up the water might learn to be 
less aggressive in their attacks, but some of us smaller fish will get badly bitten while the big boys are snapping at each other.
Most recently in the news with a stock price rapidly rising then falling is Valeant Pharmaceuticals. Pumped up over the last five years by Bill Ackman of Pershing Square supporting their aggressive growth by acquisition plan, the stock is now being trashed by Andrew Left of Citron Research for artificially inflating reported sales revenue. Ackman has lost over 50% of his investment in the last few months.
It is not clear yet which investor and which of their very public cries of support or criticism are correct. But the stock manipulation effects are clear. Unfortunately, small investors are faced with choosing who will move the stock price and in which direction, rather than valuing the stock on its merits. The next press release will have more impact on the stock than the next earnings report.
This is not the way the market should work, but if selling short is acceptable there will always be an incentive to push the stock down with rumours and innuendo. Just as there has always been an incentive for promoters to paint a rosy picture to sell new issues or protect their current holdings.
I would like to think that research analysts are getting better at digging deeper and presenting the facts fairly and independently, especially after all the criticism of too frequently optimistic reports and recommendations. Unfortunately, there are still too many conflicting interests for us to even rely on the consensus estimates of the analysts. Not to mention the fact that some are driven by ego and the thrill of influence, regardless of their lack of insight or the validity of their critique of management and business strategies. How many analysts have actually been successful CEOs in the business they are criticizing?
If you are making your own investment decisions, you will have to do your own analysis and assessment of whether to buy, hold or sell. As Harvey Mackay would say, “Learn to swim with the sharks without getting eaten alive”.
Enjoy the swim.
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