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Month: March 2021

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Growth Personal Development

Thinking Like a 5-Year-Old Can Save Your Business (and Catapult Your Next Big Idea)

We’ve all heard the cliché about seeing the world through the eyes of a child and the value of maintaining a childlike curiosity – even as adults.

While that may sound like a strange concept for many business leaders, Jeff Hoffman says it’s not.

Jeff’s name is well known throughout corporate America and the entrepreneurial world. You might also recognize some the companies he has worked with. He was one of the earliest employees at Priceline.com and has worked with other well-known successful startups, such as uBid.com and more.

Today, Jeff is the Chairman of the Global Entrepreneurship Network, a group operating in 180 countries to make it easier for anyone to start a business. The C-Suite Network recently hosted Jeff as a part of its Digital Discussion Leadership Series and what a conversation it was.

Through his years of business experience, Jeff believes we’ve all lost our childlike wonder. Adults, he says, tend to get too narrowly focused on our industries to see what’s happening in the world around us.  

 

He came to this conclusion a few years ago after taking care of a 5-year-old for one day. 

 

“I was going to stay home with her, and I suddenly realized I left some work at the office to work on at home. So, I said to her, ‘Get in the car, we got to run to the office,'” Jeff recalled. “The five-year-old starts walking. She’s shuffling her feet. She’s looking down.” 

 

“She goes, ‘Hey! How do they make carpet?‘ I said, ‘Who the hell cares how they make carpet? My company doesn’t make carpet. I’m not in that business. Get in the car!'” 

 

“She said, ‘I just wonder how they make carpet.’ I said, ‘I don’t. just go!’ She said, ‘Do you not know? You’re an adult!’ I said, ‘They don’t teach you carpet when you become an adult.’ She shook her head in disgust.” 

 

Jeff said this exchange continued as they made their way to the car. The five-year-old girl asked about the car windows and other car parts, including the strip that sits between the back passenger and the driver-side window.  

 

“I said ‘Oh, my God. Seriously?!? Just get in the car! That doesn’t have a name,'” Jeff recalls. 

 

Years later, after telling that story during a speech in Detroit, Jeff says he now knows that part is called a B-pole. All thanks to a 5-year-old.

   

While the story is cute and good for a laugh now, it got Jeff thinking. 

 

“What else do I not know? She wondered about everything,” Jeff said. “I started realizing that when I paid attention to the world’s most creative leaders, they actually take the time to go research something they’ve wondered about periodically — that is not in their line of sight.” 

 

Jeff even has a name for this practice. He calls it “info sponging.” Every day he takes 10 minutes to learn a new thing he really didn’t need to know. 

 

For example, after the girl’s question about car windows, Jeff did some research. He ended up on the Corning company website. Most people know corning for its cookware and coffee pots, but what you don’t know is Corning is using technology to make glass better. He ended up visiting the Corning Innovation Center, ultimately partnering with the glassmaker on two smart glass projects that came to fruition as a result of his research. 

 

“I would have never gotten involved in the creating of smart glass and smart windows for buildings if a five-year-old hadn’t wondered how they make glass,” Jeff said. “Wondering about the world around you, spending 10 minutes a day to learn one new thing a day you don’t need to know is where all the good ideas I have come from.” 

 

Jeff’s adventure with the five-year-old didn’t end at the car. When they got into the office, she saw two machines in the lobby and wondered what they were. Much to his dismay, he didn’t know and neither did the office manager. After asking around the office, the CFO figured out what they were.  

 

“(The CFO) says, ‘I’ve got some good news and bad news,'” Jeff recounted. “The good news, I know what they are. In the days before PowerPoint, we used to print our presentations and bind them in these three-ringed binders. The bad news is we’re still leasing those.” 

  

If you’re keeping track of Jeff’s story so far, the five-year-old not only helped him uncover a new business opportunity through curiosity, she also saved the company he was working for at the time money. 

 

It sounds like we need more five-year-olds at the office!  

 

All joking aside, Jeff took what he learned from the five-year-old and made it a part of his company’s culture. 

 

“I started, something that we do twice a year, we call it ‘Five-Year-Old Day,’” Jeff said. ”I asked everybody in my company to wander through our entire business and operation and act like a five-year-old. Question everything we do and keep asking why until we either know why we’re still doing that, or we simply stop doing it.”   

 

He continued, “It’s just simply inertia, and a five-year-old’s idea helps us literally redesign the company.” 

 

Holding an annual Five-Year-Old Day is a great idea and just one highlight from my interview with Jeff. We also discussed his current work helping entrepreneurs, his thoughts on a perceived talent versus a resource gap in business today, why business owners need to get out of their own way to help their companies succeed, and why COVID-19 is an alarm clock for entrepreneurs.  

 

There were so many great insights and relevant takeaways that you’ll have to listen for yourself here. If you want to gain access to some of the best minds in business, join our Digital Discussions and consider joining the C-Suite Network. For half the cost of a business lunch a month, we offer the best-in-class networking and content to help make you the most strategic person in any room. Click here for more details.  

 

 

Categories
Growth Leadership Personal Development

The High Cost of Bad Communication

To really understand the importance of communication in a company, it’s helpful to look at what it costs an organization that suffers from bad communication . . .

  • Inability to execute – People become stalled and don’t believe that they are able to get important things done. On the surface it might look like you are dealing with a morale issue – people not believing in themselves – but if you look deeper, bad communication is at least part of the cause. When people do not understand why they are being asked to do something, they fail to act. They do just enough to get by. Because they are not motivated to achieve anything significant for themselves or for the organization, they become complacent. Growth and improvement stall.
  • Ineffective, repetitive communication – If you are an executive in an organization where bad communication patterns have become ingrained, you have become frustrated by the repeated, extra and pointless work that it takes to get even simple things done. It seems that you need to communicate to people constantly and repeatedly, just to keep them in the know. They’re not visiting your intranet/extranet, they don’t read the emails you send and if they do, the information they contain isn’t absorbed. So you do what you have to do – you spend countless hours calling and talking to them to make sure they have the information they need to work, be successful, and ultimately to help ensure the company is successful. All those extra man-hours you are investing to get people up to speed take you away from the higher-level tasks that you should be performing as an executive. You have to waste other people’s time too, because you have to intrude on the time they should be allocating to more important activities.
  • Inefficiencies and high operating expenses – According to “The High Cost of Poor Communication,” a report from the 360 Solutions consulting organization, poor communication patterns are costly as well as frustrating. In a company with 100 employees where inefficient communication patterns have taken hold, company leadership has to invest an average of 17 hours each week striving just to clarify communication. That translates to an annual cost to the company of $528,443. According to the study, some of the most costly forms of bad communication include closed-minded leaders who cut off feedback, interruptions, a preponderance of negative body language, and downright anger.

Communication Best Practices

One of the best things you can do for your organization (besides hiring a communication professional) is to make sure everyone from the top down understands the importance of good communication practices in your organization. Here are some of the best practices to keep in mind.

Strive to know your audience . . .

Knowing what makes your audience tick is incredibly important to ensuring that your communications are read and absorbed. Put yourself in the shoes of the people with whom you are communicating. Strive to understand why they will or should care about the project or initiative you are addressing. In short, what’s in it for them? Once you truly understand your audience, you can more effectively target your communications.

Build engagement through participation . . .

We often hear people say, “If we did everything by committee, we’d never get anything done.” There is some truth to that saying. However, I think people should think about it this way: “If we did everything by committee, we might not implement everything we thought we should, but that’s because we determined that it wasn’t worth doing. And what we did implement helped us move toward our shared vision and do things right the first time.”

Genuine participation in important projects and processes is a key to success. Getting people to participate in projects (especially those that affect them directly) can help improve their level of engagement within any organization. Here are some steps you can take to encourage participation . . .

  • Convert people into stakeholders – Talk to them, ask them how they would address problems, listen to them, and strive to understand the issue from their perspective. Remember that the more involved they are in a project, the more they will buy-in and work for its success. Really listen to them and be sure to consider their ideas when making decisions and planning processes.
  • Use committed task forces – Create steering committees of thought leaders within your organization to get input and insight and buy-in. Encourage people to ask, “How does this initiative help us get closer to achieving our organization’s goals?” and, “How does it align to our mission, vision, and values?”
  • Let staff members participate in the communications process – Encourage them to contribute articles and other resources, let them invite feedback on the information they have provided, share information, conduct polls, and to be proactive in communications within your organization.
Categories
Growth Personal Development

‘Crunching’ the Fitness Industry into Shape: Finding Opportunities In Unlikely Places

The fitness industry is one of the most lucrative worldwide with revenues of $87 billion – about $30 million in the U.S. alone.

COVID-19 not only changed business. It changed us, too. We’ve all had to accommodate to new demands and implement new business models.

With isolation and everything closing down, we became more sedentary, and our waistlines expanded. I actually lost weight during that time span, but it wasn’t because I had an exercise regimen I followed.

While many gave up their fitness routines, gym owners across the country have struggled to keep their doors open. In fact, many fitness facilities were part of the first wave of shutdowns in many states, costing the industry $13.9 billion from mid-March to August of last year.

“We were all kind of surprised to hear that,” Ben Midgley said. “We’ve never been faced with (a shutdown), so we had to get past that one hurdle before we could even think about opening new clubs again.”

Ben was the featured guest during a recent C-Suite Network Digital Discussion. He’s CEO of Crunch Fitness Franchise, a gym franchisor with more than 350 locations in almost 40 states and six different countries.

Despite the grim reality, Ben says his team was up for the challenge. The first order of business was keeping employees safe and then communicating to almost 2 million customers their new standards. With each state having different procedures and protocols, it became imperative to address all the concerns pertaining to safety, billing, installing air filtration systems, and more.

“We’re the health and fitness industry. The top priority is we’re here to help members improve their health,” Ben said. “If you can’t operate safely, then that you’re not really supporting that.”

He says it goes beyond supporting customers. He also had to look out for his employees as well and the lessons he learned during this time go beyond business.

“I think the importance of empathy and understanding and listening more to everybody a little more deeply, a little more intently,” Ben emphasized. “That wasn’t there in the workplace before, but I think everything that happened, honestly, made every everything about business a little bit more human, because we’re all in the same boat. We’re all doing the same things,” he added.

Even though teams that were once under one roof now found themselves working from home, Ben says there was an unexpected upside: his corporate team is now closer.

He says changing from an office environment to working from home was a real eye-opener for him.

“I’ve always been one of those believers that if you have a nice tight sort of office environment, you get those quick sidebar conversations. ‘What happened over here? What about this club?’ We had to get away from that,” Ben recalled. “You have to get used to this different form of communication, and you can’t approach business any differently than you did before. Right? And you’ve had; in fact, you have to be that much more supportive of your employees and the choices that they need to make for their own well-being and their own balance. You’ve got to keep them, feeling good, in order to keep the business running productively.”

The uncertainty of the pandemic created opportunities for Crunch. Ben says he’s seen more real estate open up for new locations and the pandemic isn’t the only reason. The trend of brick-and-mortar retail stores shuttering hasn’t stopped, and that’s brought with it new potential for new clubs in new locations.

“(Opportunities) are coming up left and right. We’re getting opportunities for sites that before turned us down or were impossible to get into,” Ben said. “We’re going to be getting more opportunities to have spaces and better malls or strip (malls) to get better traffic.”

Ben says Crunch Franchise has opened several new gyms during the pandemic, and with that success, it paints a bright picture for Crunch and the overall industry.

I’d like to thank Ben for his honesty, leadership, and insight into a multi-billion-dollar industry many of us don’t know much about. Listen to the complete conversation here.

If you enjoy this type of content, we invite you to become part of the  and gain exclusive access to more one-of-a-kind business content and a wide extensive network of leaders in multiple industries.

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Best Practices Entrepreneurship Health and Wellness Management Skills Women In Business

Write Your Professional Goals Into Reality

I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions. When New Year’s Day arrived, I didn’t dream of achieving unrealistic changes to habits and behaviors. Instead, I thought through realistic goals. Then I snuggled up with a hot cup of coffee and began writing them down. At that point, something shifted.

Toward the end of 2019, as I thought through what I wanted for the new year, I never took the time to write down any of my goals. I brainstormed what I wanted to achieve and moved on with my day. Those goals didn’t seem real until New Year’s Day when I actually wrote them down. It was like signing a contract and agreeing to follow through on my promises. The commitment I made was undeniable since it was there in black and white.

When you have big dreams and goals, do you write them down, or do you only think about them? The difference may surprise you. One study by Dr. Gail Matthews, a professor of psychology, revealed participants were twice as likely to achieve their goals when they regularly wrote them down.

Science discovered that just thinking of our goals only enlists the help of our right brain — our creative centers. It is when we put pen to paper that we also engage our left-brain logic centers. By using our entire brain in the goal-setting process, we significantly increase the likelihood of attainability. As we repeatedly write down goals, our mind is reminded of their importance and begins to respond with subconscious day-to-day behavioral changes.

If you desire more influence, credibility, and opportunity in the workplace, I invite you to join me in this four-step, goal-achieving challenge:

1. Identify Where You Are Versus Where You Want To Be

Grab a piece of paper and settle into a quiet place of thought and reflection. Consider what professional success looks like. Perhaps you want a promotion or raise. Maybe you want more respect and authority with peer teams, coworkers, and colleagues. Or, perhaps you want your ideas to be heard and acted upon with enthusiasm and interest. Write down whatever your goal may be.

Next, consider the quality traits you believe necessary to achieve those goals. Would completing your high-profile project early lead to a promotion? Or, would more engaging meetings with colleagues lead to greater ideas and consistent follow-through? Write down every characteristic you believe is necessary to achieve your goal.

2. Define Your Current Status

Once you’ve defined and documented what you want professionally this year, reflect on what it will take to bridge the gap. This will help you identify the groundwork needed to guarantee success. For example, if you are a sales professional and want to earn a bigger paycheck, you need to close more deals. To close more deals, you need to convince more prospects to buy. To do this, you need more influence within the conversations and relationships you create to build a better rapport, deeper trust and greater credibility.

3. Engage A Support Team

Choose someone you trust and enlist their help to achieve your goals. Ask for their honest feedback and perspective about what you need to improve. Establish a routine appointment to discuss your progress and ongoing commitment to change. Research shows that while meeting with an accountability partner can increase your chance of success by up to 65%, routine meetings increase your chances of success by up to 95%. Make a weekly appointment with your accountability partner and commit to bringing your documented list of goals. Write down weekly action items and set a deadline or commitment. Discuss what you’ve done to implement their feedback and any progress toward your goals.

4. Realize Reflection Creates Reality

Choose a regular time each day to review your goals. Review what you wish to achieve and the steps necessary to get there. Read the notes provided by your accountability partner and write down the action items needed to stay on course that day. Personally commit to remaining focused on what you wish to achieve.

Don’t just dream of goals this year, but instead strive for success by engaging all aspects of your mind and body. Write down your goals. Develop a plan of action. Get feedback, enlist help and continually reflect on the next course of action. Increase your chances of success by grabbing a pen and paper.

Categories
Best Practices Entrepreneurship Human Resources Management Marketing Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

“Seven Quick And Easy Tips To Boost Your Negotiations” – Negotiation Insight

“Never assume because you have little that you can’t have less.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert (click to Tweet)   Click here to get the book!

 

“Seven Quick And Easy Tips To Boost Your Negotiations”

People don’t realize they’re always negotiating.

The first negotiator asked, “To what depths does one have to explore before they realize their deepest point is yet to come?” That’s when the negotiation took a turn towards the cliffs of negotiation hell. As it plunged, the second negotiator said, “If you think I’m going to purgatory with you, you’d better think again.” With that, the two negotiators decided to conclude the negotiation. The thought by both was, there’s nothing to gain by continuing.

How many times have your negotiations gone wrong? Some, you may not have noticed until afterward, you realized you’d had foreboding sensations. There are ways to boost your negotiation efforts. The following are seven quick and easy ways to accomplish that.

Click here to discover the seven tips. 

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

 

Listen to Greg’s podcast at https://c-suitenetwork.com/radio/shows/greg-williams-the-master-negotiator-and-body-language-expert-podcast/

 

After reading this article, what are you thinking? I’d like to know. Reach me at Greg@TheMasterNegotiator.com

 

To receive Greg’s free “Negotiation Tip of the Week” and the “Negotiation Insight,” click here https://themasternegotiator.com/greg-williams/

 

 

Categories
Growth Leadership Personal Development

Why Professional Coaching is a Smart Leadership Strategy

Professional Coaching

When it comes to professional coaching, too many of us think “leadership coaching” or “leadership training” is an oxymoron. 

“How can you coach a leader?” is the question we often get asked. “If they’re already leaders, they don’t need professional coaching.” 

Those two statements are both inaccurate. If you believe them, you’re operating under a competitive handicap. 

We’re going to assume you’re a Top Performer in your field. By that, we mean you run a company that’s #1 or #2 in its industry, and/or you are the best in your company at what you do. 

As you know, there’s a term in business called “benchmarking.” The practice of comparing your company’s performance to either industry standards or looking at best practices in other industries that you can adapt to yours. And, of course, comparing your individual performance to those same standards.

But business leaders have a blind spot. Probably acquired while getting our MBA degrees. Most business schools studied…businesses. Very few business schools look outside the corporate universe to give us case studies that we can apply to our jobs and our careers. 

“I’m Already a Leader; I Don’t Need Professional Coaching”

Most of us were involved in some kind of organized activity growing up – sports, music, theater, dance. No matter what we did, every activity had a coach (or two). Sometimes a volunteer dad or mom. Sometimes a local artist or semi-retired professional. They taught us the basics and stayed with us until we got the hang of it. 

Like training wheels on a bicycle, one day we realized we didn’t need them anymore, we put them away…and that’s the level at which we stayed. Somewhere on the spectrum between “I’m Not Embarrassed” (most amateurs, for example) all the way up to “Local Hero” (your annual golf club or YMCA champion).

But if you want to be the best at what you do, you need a coach right up until (and after) you become the G.O.A.T! Dustin Johnson has a coach—fellow Tour professional Rory McIlroy! Maroon 5 has a coach—Steve Memel. Every top performing artist in the world has a coach. Tennis star Naomi Osaka has a coach—Wim Fissette. And when they interviewed him after Naomi’s 2021 Australian Open victory, he articulated exactly what Mastery Under Pressure is all about: 

“When her attitude is good, her mind is very clear what she needs to do, what she wants to do and then she plays well.”

What’s Your Leadership Style?

In a February 2020 blog posting on HubSpot, Braden Becker lists eight common leadership styles: 

  • Democratic
  • Autocratic
  • Laissez-Faire
  • Strategic
  • Transformational
  • Transactional
  • Coaching
  • Bureaucratic

What almost everyone forgets is that in order to be a leader you need people to lead. Whatever you call them:

Employees, Teammates, Associates, Peers, Co-Workers, Partners, Staff, Colleagues or Collaborators—how well you’re able to engage with them will determine your success or failure as a leader.  Being a leader automatically implies you have a relationship with the people around you. And suddenly, your skills as a leader require you also to have skills connecting with and managing other human beings.

A friend of ours was president of a global advertising agency. People who worked for him loved him, respected him, and were in awe of his mind and his knowledge of marketing. But one of his direct reports also knew his weak spot:

“[He’s] like the drum major of a college band at the halftime show. He comes out first or bursts out of the band wearing that beautiful fur hat and pumping his baton in time to the music. Then he ups his gait and starts striding down the field two to three yards at a time. But he forgets to look back to see if the band is following.”

What good is being a leader if you don’t engage your followers? 

Professional Coaching is a Smart Leadership Strategy

If you want to get to the top of your game and stay there, you should add a coach to your organization or your toolbox. A professional coach is not a “therapist.” Not a “trainer.” Not someone with a “method.” Rather, an individual or organization with the ability to understand what you’re looking to achieve and can help you get there. 

It’s what Naomi Osaka’s coach talked about: “When her attitude is good, her mind is very clear what she needs to do, what she wants to do, and then she plays well.” All of those attributes are learned skills. That’s what we mean by benchmarking athletes. The great ones know how to let anything that’s bothering them go…in the moment. 

Do you have a good attitude when things get tense at work?

Do you know how to keep your mind clear and focused on what you need to do at all times? Do you keep your eye on your goals and not get distracted? 

A great professional or leadership coach should focus on a top performer’s unique talents and abilities. They should be able to assess and evaluate what it is that makes the person great. But they should also be able to evaluate the blind spots. To see where that performer’s skills get in the way of being even more successful. If you get that kind of coaching, well, who knows how far you and your company could go?

Or as we like to say, “Make your best, better.”

________

Download the Free Professional Coaching  Corporate Preview

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Best Practices Entrepreneurship Human Resources Management Marketing Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

“How To Use Game Theory To Win More Negotiations” – Negotiation Tip of the Week

 

“To practice better for real negotiations, engage in real game theory strategies. It’ll help your practice become the reality you seek.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert (click to Tweet)  Click here to get the book!

 

“How To Use Game Theory To Win More Negotiations”

People don’t realize they’re always negotiating.

Before engaging in high-stakes negotiations, negotiators delve into game theory to enhance their probability of a favorable outcome. They do so to simulate situations they might encounter in a real negotiation. It’s like practicing before the event. But how they practice determines the degree of success they’ll have in the talks. And that’s based on the game theory activities in which one engages. That’s why it’s essential to understand how to use game theory correctly if you want to win more negotiations. If not done correctly, you could be reinforcing bad negotiation habits.  That can lead to negative results. And I’m sure you don’t want that.

Continue to discover how you can use Game Theory to win more negotiations!

 

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

 

Listen to Greg’s podcast at https://c-suitenetwork.com/radio/shows/greg-williams-the-master-negotiator-and-body-language-expert-podcast/

 

After reading this article, what are you thinking? I’d like to know. Reach me at Greg@TheMasterNegotiator.com

 

To receive Greg’s free “Negotiation Tip of the Week” and the “Negotiation Insight,” click here https://themasternegotiator.com/greg-williams/

 

Categories
Growth Personal Development

How Franchises Pivoted Their Business Models In Uncertain Economic Times

Adapt, change, or die. It’s a sign of the times.

If there’s one person who knows the sign business inside out, is my friend Catherine Monson, the President and CEO of FASTSIGNS. She’s been their CEO since 2009, but our paths crossed a few decades prior.

Like many businesses, FASTSIGNS had to move fast when COVID-19 hit. As a network of more than 700 independent franchisees worldwide, they dominate the business-to-business sign and visual communication space. Before the pandemic, Catherine said stores rarely sold directly to consumers. When COVID-19 started shutting things down in March, corporate saw a lot of opportunity for Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Graduation. The corporate headquarters knew they had to act quickly to help their franchisees out.

“We started telling our franchisees and showing them how, and creating the artwork, to call and school districts and schools,” Catherine said. ”And franchisees were getting $30,000,  $40,000, $50,000 orders to do custom signs. Congratulating the graduate with their name and their photo and even delivering them sometimes to the houses and putting them in the yards of the graduates. Some very quick pivots.”

FASTSIGNS franchisees also found a niche they never thought they’d find themselves in: healthcare. It turns out the same equipment used to cut plastic signage can be used to cut materials to make intubation shields and intubation boxes. 

 

“We made thousands and thousands of our franchisees (make) intubation shields and intubation boxes in the April, May, June timeframe to help keep healthcare workers safe,” Catherine said. “Who would have ever thought that we would be actually making a healthcare product?” 

 

Catherine says both the graduation signs and intubation supplies are great examples of how listening to the market’s needs, leveraging your connections, keeping an open mind, and being nimble can set you up for opportunities you never thought possible.  

Catherine says this situation is an excellent endorsement for the franchise model. While big-time restaurants like McDonald’s are top of mind for most people when they think of franchises. McDonald’s ranks on most lists as the top franchise worldwide; however, the sector provides much more opportunity than fast-food restaurants. There were 770,000 franchise businesses in the U.S. in 2019, pumping about $880 billion into the economy. 

 

“With a franchise, you not only have the brainpower of the corporate office, but you have the brainpower of every single franchisee,” Catherine said. “When one franchisee in our network found out that there was a market for X. They told us, we told everybody.” 

 

That is a great example of the power of community. What we do as the C-Suite Network is make lasting connections that propel businesses forward. Same with FASTSIGNS – the connectivity between all franchisees did its job and they did it well.

 

While business success is never guaranteed, Catherine says the franchise model is better equipped to help set you for long-term success, more so than going at it alone because of the tools and resources available at the corporate level. 

 

“There is usually a marketing person team that is always thinking and always looking. There’s usually a franchise advisory council or franchisee advertising council always thinking. Always looking, always brainstorming on how to get better,” Catherine related. “That’s just an inherent benefit of the model.” 

 

She continued, “That business owner franchisee doesn’t have to think about, ‘I got to create marketing materials. I got to create training materials for my employees.’ They have more time for work on implementation.” “That’s when a new marketing idea comes down. They can quickly implement it rather than having to think about all the other things that an independent business owner does. And it’s just inherently the strength of the of the franchise business model.” 

 

Another key elements franchises offer is brand recognition almost instantly.  

 

Catherine is a big supporter of the franchise model. She’s the Chair of the trade group IFA – International Franchise Association.  

 

During our Q&A with C-Suite Network community, Catherine also recommended resources for people with businesses who are looking to franchise their idea. She even went into detail about some of the labor issues facing the franchise industry. 

    

The conversation wasn’t all about business either, we had some fun, too. Catherine and I go way back, we reminisced about a Halloween-related business deal involving Boy Scout and witch costumes. Listen here for some great wisdom, business acumen, and even a few opinions about the future of the industry.

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Growth Leadership Personal Development

Embracing diversity and inclusion practices as a sustainable competitive advantage for your company

As companies of all sizes grapple with the urgent and complex issues brought on by the pandemic, such as employee and customer safety, revenue slowdowns, business delays, and employee downsizing, their commitment to workforce equity, including ongoing diversity and inclusion programs, often tumble to an ancillary consideration of very little importance.  But, during these challenging times, there may be a growing divide among various employee groups as businesses pivot amidst changing circumstances.  In the new virtual environment, now is the time for champions of diversity and inclusion initiatives to be more deliberate about connecting with, advocating for, and developing diverse talent. Leaders must balance the speed of decision-making, which is critical in these times, with the need to include the voices that represent the full spectrum of talent within the workplace. Diversity matters because it brings a broad collection of experiences, perspectives, backgrounds, and viewpoints to the discussion, and that leads to better decision-making.

It’s increasingly clear that a commitment to equity is not just the right thing to do, it is smart leadership and good business. Research has proven over and over again that leaders at organizations with advanced diversity and inclusion strategies are more likely to feel highly loyal to their company, engaged in innovative work, and dedicated to top performance.  Today, a strong commitment to diversity signals an exceptional work environment – where each employee contribution is valued and all employees are provided every chance to succeed.  That kind of organization promotes achievement, encouraging people throughout the organization to reach for their best because they are valued based on their performance.  Not only does that kind of environment drive productivity, but it also cultivates employee satisfaction – and when satisfaction rises, so does financial performance.

Diversity definitions have now expanded to include less visible characteristics like parental status or religion.  But, today, leaders are not only focused on embracing the strengths of a diverse workforce, but they are incorporating inclusion strategies as well, clearly demonstrating their drive and commitment to engage the unique qualities and abilities that every single employee can bring to a job.

Inclusivity is all about maintaining core diversity values of equal opportunity, but shifts focus to look less at groups of people than at individual persons, less at racial and ethnic backgrounds than at unique skill sets.  Inclusivity shows people that while diversity may appear to be about groups, it is actually about every person in the organization being treated as an individual.  It’s about individuals being able to break out.  The inclusivity formula can empower everybody in the organization to have the opportunities they deserve. The pace of complex change in business demands that corporate America leverage all relevant talent in each and every member of its workforce –  no matter what his or her background.

Importantly, inclusivity breeds employee support, builds morale, and nurtures employee loyalty – even down through line operations where the message can still too often can get lost.  By focusing on individual abilities, and rewarding exceptional performance, the company can engender the sense of fairness and just rewards that diversity and inclusion were always meant to instill.

Further, if organizations are not actively renewing their commitment to eliminating overt, or subtle, discrimination, they can expect to see inequities grow more insidious as companies face challenges in the coming year.  Both women and minorities of all genders suffer from unequal pay practices, lack of advancement opportunities, and implicit and explicit bias at work – and at times of acute stress and pressure in a corporate environment, these inequities can be amplified.  This is a time where an organization’s investments in diversity and inclusion initiatives can yield significant rewards, and eliminate inequities, as we all adapt to a new working environment, due to the global pandemic.

So, how do you unleash talent, and ensure that your organization has representation from multiple points of view, and can leverage diversity and inclusion practices as a sustainable competitive advantage for your company?  Here are a few key considerations for your business

  1. Understand who you want to be as an organization, and how you want to be known as an influencer in your industry.
  2. Once you’re clear on the reputation you want to have as a company, clearly communicate how you expect your leaders to behave to create and sustain a healthy and dynamic culture collectively.
  3. Create clarity around what success looks like for your organization and communicate expectations, creating frameworks of accountability to ensure that all leaders live up to those ideals.
  4. Commit to a journey that embraces diversity and inclusion, both inside and outside the organization, clearly signaling your commitment to diversity and inclusion, and reflecting the values of the organization to your customers, stakeholders, and prospective employees.
  5. Acknowledge where you’ve fallen short and make the bold choice to ask for the resources to help with the learning journey, making investments in diversity and inclusion, and involving your employees in the future that you are aspiring to create.
  6. Understand what your success signals are for your company, ensure that you are making meaningful strides toward an equitable workplace, integrating the feedback from your employees about your progress toward creating an equitable workplace.
  7. The judges of whether or not your company operates as an inclusive organization are your employees, so ask them regularly to report on their perspective. Conduct focus groups, issue engagement surveys, and create other feedback mechanisms.
  8. Demonstrate and live your values of embracing diversity, inclusion, and cultural competency by integrating that messaging both inside and outside your organization, being transparent about your commitment, your progress and the work yet to be done.

As the pandemic shifts economic realities for many companies and forces businesses to pivot dramatically, the needs of their workforce will also continue to change. Smart leaders will use this time to understand these needs and re-configure diversity and inclusion programs to meet the changing work environment. Savvy leaders will position diversity and inclusion programs as strategic assets in both good times and bad, crucial to the ongoing financial performance of their organization.

Your diversity model can set you apart – and offers a significant recruitment edge for your company.  Your organization can cultivate a reputation as offering a fair and equal playing field when it comes to career opportunity.  That message provides a sustainable competitive advantage for your company – and it breeds industry excellence.  It motivates every kind of talent in your business, supports external relationships with vendors and customers, and it enhances your competitive position in the industry.  Now more than ever, it defines the kind of corporate America that has always been the engine of U.S. innovation, effectiveness and success.

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Growth Management Personal Development

Two Powerful Acts of Leadership

Learning and Leadership

I have studied, practiced, taught, and coached leadership for over two decades.  The best leaders I have worked with have this in common:  they are intentional about learning, growing, and expanding their capabilities.  Consider the world we live in.  Radical disruption from the COVID-19 crisis with entire industries being impacted.  An ever-changing workforce with multiple generations. Ongoing changes in technology, and the rise of social media.  Because of this relentless change, leaders must evolve more quickly to keep pace.  President John F. Kennedy said it well.  “Leadership and learning are indispensable to one another.”  While all this may be a blinding flash of the obvious, what may not be obvious is how we can accelerate the expansion of our own leadership capabilities?

Two acts of leadership

Consider these two acts of leadership as a starting point for expanding your leadership capacity:  Courage and wisdom.  Not as concepts or principles, but as actions.

Courage is the first act of leadership

The practice of leadership requires many acts of courage.  Having the tough conversations.  Challenging the status quo.  Making the hard decisions.  Taking calculated risks.  Leading change.  Speaking truth to power.  All of these acts build our leadership muscles.  However, the first act of courage that enables all others is the act of taking a cold, hard look at ourselves as leaders.  Consider these questions as a starting point.  Many are framed in the context of the changing world we live in.

  1. What strengths do I have that serve me well in this changing world?
  2. How can I build on these strengths?
  3. What strengths do I lean on that may not be relevant today?
  4. How do identify them and learn to play new music?
  5. What weaknesses do I have that will handicap me going forward?
  6. How do I strengthen them? Can I mitigate them through the strengths of others?
  7. What blind spots do I have, particularly as it relates to the new business realities we face?
  8. What bad behaviors do I have that limit my effectiveness?
  9. Who do I trust to give me candid, constructive feedback to gain a clearer picture of myself as a leader?

Winston Churchill once said, “Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality that guarantees all the others.”  While courage is a human quality, this quality comes from acting with courage.  The first act is coming face-to-face with ourselves.  It is courageous because it is hard.  It is also what separates us from the pack.

Wisdom is the second act of leadership

Making the decision to get support is an act of wisdom.  There is too much at stake to go it alone in our leadership journey.  High performers in many professions surround themselves with a support system.  Following are three ways to build a support system to expand your capabilities.

  1. A mentor or mentors.  Mentors can come from within the organization you work for, or outside the organization.  There are benefits to both.  One understands the organization and its dynamics, while the other brings a fresh, outside perspective.  Mentors can be great sounding boards to challenge or validate our thinking.
  2. A leadership or executive coach. Coaches are professionally trained and skilled in holding a mirror up to see ourselves more clearly.  They are experts at asking the right questions to expand our thinking.  They can hold us accountable for doing the work necessary in achieving the goals we set for ourselves.  I have been on both sides of mentoring and coaching and have experienced the value of both.
  3. A master-mind group. These are groups of like-minded professionals that meet on a regular basis to support each other’s growth.  They are a great source of diverse thinking that expands our own thinking.  They can become a network for lifelong professional relationships that are beneficial to all.  I am a member of a mastermind group within The C-Suite Network.  C-Suite is a network of like-minded executives, consultants, coaches, and entrepreneurs that are masterful at leveraging each other’s knowledge and strengths.  Being a member of this network has allowed me to share my knowledge and experiences with other members while expanding my own from the experiences of these same colleagues.  This network has accelerated my own development as I have transitioned from a 30-year corporate career to being a business owner.  Having a professional facilitator is essential to a successful mastermind group.

To your growth!

Mark Hinderliter, PhD, CPC is a Veteran-Owned business owner that works with client companies in creating great workplaces that impact performance.  His insights come from three decades in the corporate arena, most recently as a Senior Vice-President for a billion-dollar global company.