I remember talking about S-L to an executive at a Fortune 500 company:  she liked the parts, the process and the problems S-L thinking helped solve – she didn’t like the term “servant” applied to leadership.

She wasn’t alone.  “Serving” in America has a patina of meaning that is colored with race. It shouldn’t be. It is.

Serving is an attitude. An attitude that helps leader inspire and motivate followers.

It’s about moving ahead by looking after the needs of others -  before you look after your own needs.  And that’s tough to do.

It takes work: work at checking your ego at the door; work at understanding what those reporting to you need you to do to help them get their jobs done well; work to keep the focus of the firm fixed (is it on strategy?); work at looking for processes that can be streamlined to serve customers, supply-chain, value-chain well (and sometimes that means discarding “old” processes that don’t seem to be broken, but are because expectations of the recipients of that process were never properly set. ); work, because the new generation of workers distrust “the corporation.”

This is still the “me” generation:  the language is replete with “me” used as a nominative-case pronoun (as in “me and John went to the store…”). This language reflects a culture that has been focused on “the me” and not on “the other.”

Maybe this is why more is being written and promoted about servant-leadership – and, in my opinion,  it’s about time.

Sometimes called a vision; sometimes a mission. Whatever you call it, getting it down on paper is vital to moving ahead.

Six minutes viewing this clip may remind you of the transformation that can occur when you have a strong vision for the future, a mission that is measurable to create benchmarks of progress and a set of values that define who you are on that journey.

LINK ON GRAPHIC

Heresy!  You say.  The economy depends on college.  High school should be about preparing   kids for college.  Hmm. I wonder.

Cameron Herold has a different take on schooling and entrepreneurship. I found his TED’s presentation worth the time.

What do you think?

Small business is suffering from a political culture that pontificates. Proclamations will not increase profits. Programs, run by the government, will not encourage innovation and risk-taking. Leveling the “playing field” does not reward risk.

It’s going to take more than political pronouncements to produce the kind of revenue and profits that will change the rules of the current economic game. We need practical business programs — developed, implemented and overseen by those who understand the stresses of meeting a payroll – programs that will relieve burdens caused by rules and regulations, often contradictory, never motivating.

Governmental involvement may be needed, but in a far different form than more programs.  Government needs to reward innovation again. Allow profits to be reinvested into a business without ruinous tax and healthcare program burden.

Until our economic blood flows freely to the small capillaries of small business, the body of the national economy will continue to wither.

the way the government runs this economy.

Here’s one man’s opinion.

What do YOU think about this YouTube?

Right! But it’s not just about customers and cash. There are hidden costs that must be tracked:  the costs to relationships – families. Small business consumes money, time and people.

It has a big appetite. The small business “family” gets devoured by the demands and stresses particular to them, but all businesses have this in common: the uncertainty of complying with potential tax increases and more regulation continues to provide stress that reaches “inside” the business – it reaches the families involved.

Governmental program leaders must comprehend these stresses.

Government has a role:  facilitating access to capital at reasonable rates; encouraging entrepreneurship; preventing tax and license burdens from being onerous; and providing clear, consistent regulatory messages that facilitate stability for predicting costs.

But more is needed: they must provide program overhaul and streamlined processes that have been honed by the principle that less is more.  They must listen to those who have lived in the crucible of managing a business on Main Street. Then, small business will survive and thrive providing more jobs, more tax revenue and more services– all the benefits of a healthy Main Street.

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P. Griffith Lindell is a veteran business consultant, coach, speaker, adjunct professor and author. His newest book is Struggling With Your Business? Ten Questions to Consider Before Investing A(nother) Dime (Amazon, 2011).

(1) the stresses of making a payroll

(2) with finding and keeping customers

(3) while blending in relief born of opportunities that generate enough revenue to continue to fund the business.

Local, state and national program leadership must come from those who have proven experience — that is, they have developed simple, practical business plans that leveraged resources, managed cash, and returned a profit.

The demands on Main Street are enormous. Business issues — inventory, capital expense, and management of cash — all must be pointed to providing something special to a dwindling group of customers. Whether I’m consulting with business people, speaking, or teaching university students, I know that delighting your current customers is a game changer.

Do you know your customers? Really know them – their needs, their wants, their desires. Better learn that quickly if you want to survive and thrive in this economy!

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P. Griffith Lindell is a veteran business consultant, coach, speaker, adjunct professor and author. His newest book is Struggling With Your Business? Ten Questions to Consider Before Investing A(nother) Dime (Amazon, 2011).

But Main Street isn’t as healthy as Wall Street – where the flow seems to be working a bit better.

Main Street is suffering from a political culture that pontificates:  It’s going to take more than political pronouncements to produce the kind of revenue and profits that will change the rules of the current economic game.

We need practical business programs — developed, implemented and overseen by those who understand the stresses of meeting a payroll. The major arteries of governmental involvement are needed, but with less constrictions.  Until our economic blood flows freely to the small capillaries of small business, the body of the national economy will continue to wither.

Let’s be certain that the circulatory system of economic turn-around for Main Street is based on “healthy food” not “fast-food.”  Eliminate the stress of uncertainty – which constricts:  Provide a regular “heart-beat” of access to capital which will “oxygenate” the economic blood.

Do you know what restricts your business blood flow? What helps the flow?

Do you have a finger on the pulse of your business (see Dashboard Dials)?
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P. Griffith Lindell is a veteran business consultant, coach, speaker, adjunct professor and author. His newest book is Struggling With Your Business? Ten Questions to Consider Before Investing A(nother) Dime (Amazon, 2011).

Know Your Dashboard

In a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, the author notes many of the concerns of “Main Street” – uncertainty being one of the fundamental issues.

The demands on the small business person are enormous. Business issues — inventory, capital expense, and management of cash — are tools that must be managed to best meet customer needs.

Managing a business takes a steady hand on the pulse of the market. One of the people quoted in the article was Portland entrepreneur, John Bradshaw, (President of Portland Transmission Warehouse) who knows the “heart-beats” of his business by keeping a steady eye on his business dials. He understands investment in too much inventory, when business is slow, can quickly drain cash. Inventory/cash is not the only dial on the dashboard of his business – he has several that help him manage effectively. Do you know the four or five indicators that will help you manage cash? Every business has its own unique set of “dials” which provide patterns of the changing buying habits of customers and the costs associated with running a business.

An example: You are in the heath-care field. You were trained as a chiropractor and have built a practice with massage therapists, acupuncturists, naturopaths, physical therapists and nutritionists. You now own a building and lease space to those independent contractors (none of these people are on your payroll).

Because you want to help them get their business started, you charge on a moving scale based on their traffic and the amount of time your staff (on your payroll) handles the phone, scheduling (according to the calendar provided by the independent contractor) and billing.

This chiropractor might ask the question: What business am I really in?  The answer will impact the dials chosen. Perhaps it’s revenue/sq.ft. Maybe it’s clients/hour? Some practitioners provide significant revenue for the room: others do not. In this example, the “business dials” chosen will help the entrepreneurial chiropractor understand who should stay and who needs to find another way to earn a living (perhaps working for someone directly instead of being self-employed).

Some questions you may want to consider:

* Do you understand what business you are really in?

* Do you know your most productive sources of revenue?

* Are you watching your largest consumers of your business cash?

* What five numbers (dials) do you use to your business?

* Do your employees know them and when you ask the question “how are we doing” which of those numbers do they own?

The new employee arrives. Your practice has been to send a company-wide email welcoming that employee.

Recently, however, you have asked each new person if they would write a couple of sentences about themselves covering such things as, but limited to, hobbies, interests, PC or Mac, etc.  So far, that’s worked out well and everyone seems to enjoy the process of getting to know the new folks.

The newest employee writes the following:

“My wife and I love going to church. We spend one evening a week going to a Bible Study; soup kitchens take up two nights a week, and Friday night we minister to the homeless.  If you want to join us in the volunteer work, please let me know.  I play softball in the church league; my wife organizes babysitting for the other player’s wives so they can cheer for their husbands.  We love the XXXX area and I look forward to getting to know everyone here.”

What should you do?

A.   Send the message as is: Freedom of Speech should rule.

B.   Edit the church references:  this is a business not a social/religious club.

C.   Ask the employee to submit a new write-up suggesting that religious references may be offensive to the mixed nationalities employed.

D.   Immediately abandon the practice of each person writing a “getting to know me” email.

E.   OTHER: __________What would you do? ________