Author: Neal Burgis

“I think in terms of the day’s resolutions, not the years’.”  ~Henry Moore

As 2018 closes, you welcome 2019 with all the optimism to grow your business beyond from where it is right now. As the year begins to unfold, most New Year’s resolutions are already falling by the wayside. Now is the time, however, to get serious about the New Year’s resolutions that will make a difference in your business success.

The kinds of changes that will make your business more successful, enjoyable and sure can be made at any time, but there is a psychological impact to making formal resolutions at the beginning of the year.

Throughout the world, people use the first month of the New Year to announce their resolve that the rest of the year will be better than the year that just ended. That sense of optimism and opportunity provides a good start for implanting long-term changes or resolutions.

“The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book waiting to be written. We can help write that story by setting goals.” -Melody Beattie

Build in success by requiring everyone involved in the identification of New Year’s resolutions for your business follow these rules:

1. Formalize the resolutions by writing them out. Post the final resolutions on a prominent bulletin board, and distribute copies to all employees and members of management.

 

2. Assign responsibility for implementing each resolution. Select a date for reporting results for each resolution, including an ongoing report during the year, if possible.

 

3. Identify a benefit to the business for each resolution. When possible, set a realistic benefit goal in quantifiable terms, such as percent, numbers or dollars.

 

4. Identify a potential benefit to employees for each resolution. Give as much thought as necessary to providing recognition and rewards for employees who assist with implanting the resolutions.

 

5. Affirm management’s commitment to making the changes by providing sufficient support for each resolution.

 

“And now we welcome the New Year. Full of things that have never been.” -Rainer Maria Rilke

With these expectations in effect, invite all employees and members of management to make one or more suggestions for making business better, bigger, more efficient, more profitable, more satisfying- whatever improvement that each individual’s unique perspective can identify. The specific areas – employee retention, recapturing customers, waste reduction, improve public relations. This may include an upside down corporate pyramid where management empowers and supports employees. Be careful not to inhibit the identification of other areas that may be invisible to management but potentially significant to company success.

From the participants, form a committee representing all groups within the company to review the suggested improvements and to prioritize those changes according to criteria that is relevant to the business. Top management can then select the top five or 10 suggestions that will become the formal New Year’s business resolutions for the year.

Limiting the number of resolutions tends to focus attention and minimize the likelihood of having these meaningful areas that need attention fall by the wayside along with so many other well intentional but short-lived New Year’s resolutions. With individualized resolutions in place your business can look forward to a full year of improvements.

As a new CEO, your employees expect you to be an extrovert with an outgoing, gregarious personality. Most people have the perception of a successful CEO as being an extrovert. But, in reality, you are a successful introvert who has mastered the ability to act like an extrovert.

There are many ingredients to success and many entrepreneurs who are introverts have their own challenges to deal with when it comes to business success. Introverts typically find several traditional situations too exhausting and draining.

According to research, about 70 percent of CEO’s describe themselves as “introverts”. The list of well-known “Who’s Who” of corporate introverted CEOs includes: Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, movie magnate Steven Spielberg, and Sara Lee’s Brenda Barnes. Introverts make up 40 percent of the population. Considered as introverts, these CEO’s, at times, are able to move far enough towards “extrovert status” to be considered ambiverts. Ambiverts are those who fall in the middle between extroverts and introverts. At times, they can function well in many different situations.

Thriving in corporate America as a shy/introverted executive, you may find yourself moving up the corporate ladder in your organization. Take into consideration the characteristics possessed by introverts. Introverts value privacy, need quiet time alone to recharge, feel more comfortable being alone than being with others, prefer to know a few people well (this fits for many CEOs who are “lonely at the top” and confide in a small circle of friends), like to work independently or with one or two other people, prefer to focus on one thing at a time, communicate best one-to-one, and prefer to communicate in writing instead of through talking. Before speaking, introverts think first then act on what they think about. They prefer listening more than talking, rehearse things before saying them, and are perceived as “great listeners”.

One common trait of highly successful executives is that of being creative. Since introverts spend a lot of their time alone, they are among the most creative individuals in business. Introverts, who are highly effective in completing tasks, can usually get away with saying little, but when they do speak, it is meaningful.

Introverts are also considered self-sufficient, confident, hardworking, having firm goals, reserved, being educated to overcompensate for the lack of social skills, and being Rhodes Scholars. Among people with PhDs, there are three introverts to every one extrovert.

On the other hand, extroverts typically have lots of friends; feel drained when they are bored and alone; are energized when they are with other people; are motivated to action; tend to be sociable with others, talkative, and assertive; prefer face-to-face verbal communication rather than written communication; are ready to share personal information easily to others; and respond to situations quickly. Jonathan Rauch, a self-proclaimed introverted correspondent for The Atlantic and a senior writer for National Journal, wrote a short article on introverted CEO’s that states: “Leave an extrovert alone for two minutes and s/he will reach for his/her cell phone.” Rauch also said that “In contrast, introverts need to turn off and recharge.”

Introverts are among the most successful people in the world. As an introvert, you need to find your own ingredients to success. For as an introvert, while you may not appear as if you have mastered the ability to act like an extrovert, you have the ability to demonstrate that you can be just as successful as other people. Introverts have to train themselves well enough to work through their reserved characteristics and know what they want to do with their career. As an introverted entrepreneur, you have a lot to offer the business world, but you still prefer to grab as little of the spotlight as possible. Do not let being an introvert stop you from reaching your goals − you have the ability and skills to get the job done!