Assessing Your Own Work Performance

Is it human nature that we don’t stop to assess our performance most of the time? We’d rather plow ahead, hell-bent for leather, to what’s next, whether or not we’re proceeding wisely in pursuit of a given task or goal.

However, when it comes to generating innovative ideas, self-assessment is a valuable tool. If you’re in a meeting, especially one you’re conducting, record the conversation for playback later, perhaps while you’re driving!

As you listen to what transpired. Ask yourself:

• When people suggest a new idea, are you cutting them off at the pass?
• What happens when you suggest a new idea?
• If your idea doesn’t get an immediate warm reception, do you prefer to toe the line rather than rock the boat?

When you have some time, letting an idea marinate can help you gain perspective:

Put your idea in a drawer. That is, put the notes, folders, documents, and what have you in a drawer and don’t open it for a couple of days. Later, revisit the idea and see if it still seems as valid and worthwhile as when you first devised it.

Bounce your ideas off of others. This activity is recommended throughout the book, as other people’s reactions can give you valuable information about how good your idea is and what you may need to do to sell it to others.

Give it a five-time review. Review your idea on five separate occasions. Anytime it seems as if it doesn’t have sufficient merit, go ahead and chuck it. However, if it survives five intermittent reviews, proceed at full speed. You probably have something worth developing.

This article was based on the book, "Leadership in High-Performance Organizational Cultures" by Stanley D. Truskie, PhD. A book summary is available on BusinessSummaries.com.

The Optimally Balanced Culture

Organizational cultures take time to evolve. Patterns of consistent behavior do not emerge overnight.

A newer organization, in its early stage of development, may not have as strong and embedded a culture as an organization that has been around for some time. But, even an organization that has been around for years may not have a strong culture.

The goal for leaders should be to form a strong, optimally balanced culture by incorporating appropriate ‘characteristics’ which are described in the following sections.

THE COOPERATION CULTURE

This cultural pattern stems from the term ‘collectivism’, which is rooted in family values especially those of Asia, South America, and Southern Europe. Being of service to one another, and to the group is a very important value.

Relatedly, each member develops a greater commitment to cooperative efforts and creates a positive concern for collective interests.

This culture values and develops teamwork. Individuals and member groups strive to help each other.

Relationships are very important, as is open communication. Members approach and solve problems together. Interpersonal conflicts are dealt with openly and constructively.

THE INSPIRATION CULTURE

The inspiration cultural pattern values self-determination, encourages individual initiative, and shows concern for the total person including one’s freedom, growth and development. Members of this culture are inspired to achieve because they truly believe in, and trust an organization that is concerned about people as individuals, and who treats them with dignity and respect.

This culture also demonstrates social responsibility by demonstrating concern and support for all individuals, not just its members.

The inspiration culture is driven by ‘doing good’, or improving the human condition by making things better than they were before. This culture takes its social responsibility seriously. It attempts to build moral content into its purpose or mission.

It strives to be a model citizen. It is a culture of mercy and compassion. This translates into developing people, recognizing what people contribute, responding to family and community problems, and sourcing from disadvantaged groups.

THE ACHIEVEMENT CULTURE

The achievement cultural pattern values competition, being the best, striving for excellence, advancing and improving performance. This culture constantly strives to be at the leading edge.

This culture is held together by a commitment to winning. The long term aim is the achievement of measurable goals and targets.

This is highly productive culture is marked by hard work, drive, and discovery.

The achievement culture’s emphasis is to work against a standard of excellence. The standard may be related to past performance; an objective measure; the performance of others or even what anyone has ever done.

The achievement culture is guided by these qualities in attempting to become “best in class” and have a superior advantage over its competitors.

THE CONSISTENT CULTURE

The consistent cultural pattern values stability, predictability and order. It strives to consistently produce key results expected by its customers and stakeholders.

It monitors results versus plan in some detail, identifying deviations, and then planning and organizing to resolve these deviations.

The consistent culture strives for control. This is done through the examination of pertinent statistics and facts.

Critical data and information are carefully collected, thoroughly analyzed and systematically examined. No stone is left unturned, so to speak.

Leaders in the culture take a long time to gather and systematically analyze the facts.


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The Heart of a Leader: The Seven Qualities of Leadership

Leadership is more about who someone is than what they do. The more a person incorporates the essence of leadership internally, the more effective they are as a leader on the outside. More than 3,000 studies on leadership traits have been conducted over the years, and seven key qualities have been identified. The good news is these qualities can be learned.



Quality #1: Vision - Leaders have a clear picture of where they want to go and how to get there, and are able to articulate that vision to others. They have strong beliefs and values which they are unwilling to compromise, and combine these with goal-oriented, measurable action.

Quality #2: Courage - Leaders are willing to take risks in order to innovate and to maintain the “continuous offensive” toward the company’s stated goals, even if there is no guarantee of success. However, smart leaders gather as much information as possible to reduce the element of risk before making a decision. They also practice “courageous patience,” or the ability to stay the course even when things are not going well, and exhibit the ability to remain calm during a crisis.

Quality #3: Integrity - Integrity is most often cited by executives as the key leadership quality, and forms the foundation on which all other leadership traits are based. It requires dealing with every situation or challenge based upon the facts or the reality rather than upon assumptions, and accepting responsibility when things go wrong, and then focusing on solving the problem.

Quality #4: Humility - Leaders must take the blame when mistakes are made, and offer congratulations to others for success. Humility does not imply weakness, but reflects the self-confidence to listen and learn from others and a willingness to surround oneself with those who possess strengths or skills which one lacks.

Quality #5: Foresight - Leaders are tasked with thinking about the future. They need to be strategic thinkers, able to anticipate possible pitfalls and market trends. They may use scenario planning to help anticipate future crises and opportunities, creating detailed scenarios of the company and the business environment five, ten or twenty years down the road based on information about the company’s products, customers, competitors, and business regulations and laws.

Quality #6: Ability to Focus Energies and Resources in the Most Important Areas - Leaders must harness the limited resources of time, money and people, making sure they are used efficiently and effectively where they will have the most impact.

Quality #7: Cooperation and Ability to Work Well with Others - Leaders must be able to encourage everyone to work together for an organization’s success. This requires continually practicing cooperation and getting along with everyone in their daily lives.

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Maximizing Personal Productivity

The author notes that success in business planning and execution relies heavily on personal productivity skills. These skills help individuals get organized for implementation, improve their time utilization, present ideas effectively, and increase their ability to delegate work.

The most common time-wasters that plague managers are crisis management, procrastination, ineffective meetings, interruptions, and lack of plans and priorities.

Individuals who are successful at time management work on priorities that are both mission-critical and time-sensitive. According to Capezio, there are three primary types of meetings in the workplace: informational meetings, advisory meetings, and problem-solving meetings.

To make meetings more productive, Capezio recommends using the TOO Method, which stands for Topic, Objectives, and Outline.

The first step is to identify the topic. A best practice is to allow only one topic to be covered per meeting.

The second step is to establish the objectives. These are the expected outcomes from the meeting.

The final step is to prepare the outline. This contains the steps that the meeting leader and attendees will follow to accomplish the objectives.

Another important skill is making effective presentations. To communicate effectively with audiences, it is essential to analyze oneself, the audience, and the situation.

After conducting this analysis, it is possible to begin formatting the presentation. Work should focus on three key components: the introduction, the body, and the conclusion.

During the presentation, managers should consider how to create a presence through appearance, language choices, pacing, and volume. After the presentation is complete, a Lessons Learned Analysis should be conducted.

When developing business plans, negotiation will inevitably occur. This type of discussion can be used to resolve a dispute, to reach an agreed-upon direction, or to satisfy diverse interests.

The negotiation style that is used will often determine the outcome of the discussion. There are three major types of negotiation styles: competitive, avoidance, and accommodating.

The competitive style focuses on winning at all costs. In contrast, the avoidance style seeks to avoid conflict and any engagement in a substantive discussion. The accommodating style focuses on pleasing the other party, but it can easily develop into a competitive style.

The most effective negotiations incorporate the interests of both parties. While this approach may be more time-consuming, it tends to create more enduring agreements.

The last way to enhance personal productivity is to strike a balance between work and one’s personal life. Capezio recommends assessing whether one’s current balance is appropriate.

It may be necessary to set explicit goals to free more time and to create a better balance. Other suggestions are to create a more flexible work schedule and to integrate work and family wherever possible.

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Developing a Diversity Management Capability

If the time for developing alternatives to affirmative action is now, what is our next step? What must leaders do to help their organizations move more broadly toward diversity so that the Band Aid is no longer needed? In broad strokes, these action steps must be taken:

Affirm your organization’s commitment to racial and ethnic representation. This means working proactively to create and maintain a representative workforce. Without firm evidence of your trustworthy commitment to representation, any effort to exit affirmative action will provoke a defensive reaction to cling to the status quo.

Work to depoliticize affirmative action within your organization. If you don’t, any serious discussion of affirmative action will continue to take place in the context of political contests. This win-lose environment will hinder progress with any complementary and alternative approaches to affirmative action.

Secure commitment to developing an exit strategy from affirmative action. The purpose isn’t to abandon or oppose affirmative action, but rather to prepare for an orderly transition when the time comes. Affirmative action proponents will accept the concept of an exit strategy only if they are convinced the organization will maintain its will and ability to achieve a representative workforce at all levels.

Legitimize the dialogue. Developing an effective exit strategy takes creativity and innovation, and those two qualities occur only in an atmosphere of honest debate. As a leader, you must create an environment of trust, openness and candor.

Develop race-neutral, gender-neutral, and ethnic-neutral people processes for attracting, selecting, and retaining a representative workforce. Apply a common set of process criteria and performance standards to all. Do whatever you must to ensure that each criterion and standard is based on absolute requirements and not on personal references, conveniences or traditions.

Build a collective and individual diversity management capability. Collectively and individually, organizational participants should work to acquire diversity skills and to attain diversity maturity.

Do Men Earn More Because They Are More Productive?

A study of court reporters finds that men court reporters completed 29% more work than the women in the same time period. Another, of ob-gyns, found that the men ob-gyns put more hours into direct patient care and did more deliveries, but they also worked four more hours per week – so they produced more in a week, but not necessarily per hour worked.

Here’s the productivity-pay dilemma: if a man assigned to carry a stretcher needs only one additional man, but a woman needs three additional people, should the man receive extra productivity pay if he partners with a man to carry the stretcher, freeing two other military people for other functions?

If a man is less likely to drop out of the armed services, more willing to be deployed, and more willing to do what it takes even at a much greater risk of being killed, is that productivity in military terms? And if so, should the men be awarded extra pay?

In conclusion, defining productivity is different for business, the government, and the individual. For business, it’s profit. For the government, it may be protecting the country as efficient as possible. Or it may be trying social solutions that may not benefit monetarily but could benefit socially – in this case, troubleshooting the problems created by the integration of women into the manual labor part of the workforce.

Divided responsibilities are the wave of the future – not just for women, but for many men, too. Not for all workers, but for some. Why? Technology. Cellular phones allow a mom to pick up an important call from a home-office-on-the-soccer-field while watching her daughter kick a goal past the Running Devils.

Laptop computers allow Dad to retrieve a file while his son is retrieving a fly. Instead of “home, home, on the range,” it’s office, office, in the home… where our sons and daughters roam.” Ironically, the same technologies that facilitated independence and the option of divorce and therefore the destruction of families is now also creating opportunities to reunite families.

A projection is that by 2020, approximately 70% of dads will have responsibilities that are significantly divided between work and home. Making use of the gift of working women, then, involves treating women as pioneers in helping companies adapt to the divided responsibilities that will be a twenty-first century reality. It also involves helping employees understand why someone with divided responsibilities cannot be paid as much as someone whose responsibilities are more fully focused on work. 
 


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Get It Done

What happens when you create vitality, energy, and buzz in an organization? Well, you are certainly more visible, and you have more of a voice than others.

Your ideas will carry more weight and have more influence on the business. That means you have a better shot at getting other people to rally around your ideas.

Whether it’s calling to check in from a different time zone in the middle of the night, going the extra mile to research an issue, filling in when you are short staffed. Or connecting you to significant others in their network, people will give you more of their discretionary time and energy.

The best of the best will want to work with you, because thoroughbreds like to run with other thoroughbreds. People seek out people who energize them.

That means you have a better shot at putting together project teams that win. Do this enough and BOOM – you will build a reputation as someone the organization can trust with bigger or more important assignments.

Do you bring the same level of energy and passion to the game as those you admire – or envy?

Here are some things to consider if you want to become a “buzz agent” and bring more life to others and infuse more energy into the organization.

Give people a voice. When you create room for people to “weigh in” with their ideas, you value them – even if you disagree with them. When we are valued, we feel more vital to the organization. One of the greatest ways we can energize people is by asking for their insight, listening without distraction, and acting upon what we learn.

Build momentum. Have you ever arrived at the end of an extremely busy day and felt as though you accomplished nothing? We all want to know that we are making a difference. People get energized when they are going somewhere. You can help this along by being action oriented – by creating a sense of urgency.

Break the back of entitlement – banish it from your thinking. Entitlement is grounded in the belief that if I make a sacrifice for you or for the organization – guess what? – you owe me, baby! At some point each of us has to wake up to the fact that society is better served and we are better served when we stop claiming rights that we haven’t earned and step up to the plate of meritocracy.

You stand a much better chance of making a difference when you recognize that you earn your way into more responsibility, more autonomy, higher visibility, bigger jobs, more important roles, and better pay.

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Leaders Strengthen Society

When we’re fortunate enough to come into contact with someone who lives his or her values, we can’t help but feel blessed. Author John Gardner said, “Some people strengthen society just by being the kind of person they are.”

Have you been fortunate to know someone like that in your life? Has there been a manager, coach, parent, or professor you felt blessed to know? Have you worked for or around someone who was a quality person, through and through? Who is that person? How would you describe their long-lasting influence on you?

As a leader, you are what you say, you are what you do. The biggest mistake any leader can make is to talk out of both sides of their mouth, to voice one opinion to one person, but an opposite opinion to another. Remember, words never die. If you can’t follow through, don’t put it out there.

Nobody’s perfect, but when somebody does something wrong or something goes bad, as a leader you need to take the appropriate action. It’s not always easy, but for the sake of the team, organization, and all those involved doing the right thing is a must.

Zero tolerance is extremely important. It’s the foundation that holds everything that is good about a company together. It helps keep your core values intact. Action always speaks louder than words, whether it’s doing what’s right or fixing a situation that went wrong.

Are you facing a challenge right now? Are you waiting for someone to come along and rescue you? Could you figure out how to resolve it, all by yourself? Doing so will not only build your own resourcefulness, it will role-model for your employees and/or children that when we’re in trouble, we should first look to OURSELVES to resolve the situation, instead of standing by, helplessly, wringing our hands.

Charles Schulz, creator of the famed Peanuts cartoon strip, said, “Life is like a ten-speed bike. Most of us have gears we never use.” As Al pointed out, leaders don’t shirk challenges, they welcome them. Vow to yourself that you will gear-up and face your next challenge head-on. You will probably discover, as Al did, that when you do, you will discover you have resources you never knew existed.

The attitude of leadership transcends titles, positions, race or gender. There is no special difference between the attitudes required to lead a company, organization, or individual.

Leadership is leadership.

Taking the lead and keeping it, however, will require you to embrace an attitude of love , and an attitude of continuous improvement. It requires change, and change produces growth, but as Dr. Dollar quotes often, “Change is not change until you change.”

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Branding Unbound

If you’re in marketing, advertising, or branding, consider this: While it used to take three television spots for a product to register with its intended audience, it can now take as many as seventy. Are people simply tuning out marketing messages?

No. They’re simply choosing which messages to tune in. Thanks to wireless technology, customers now have the luxury of responding (or not responding) to advertising when, where, and however they like.

Leading companies such as Wal-Mart, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Kellogg’s, MTV, Procter & Gamble, and others are already reaching millions of customers, one at a time, wirelessly. The technology gives these companies an unprecedented view of buying patterns, and the ability to identify and market specifically to the most likely customers.

In the wireless marketing era, your brand can enjoy whole new levels of differentiation and customer recognition, while consumers benefit from on-the-spot convenience and a message individually tailored to their needs. Branding Unbound shows just how to harness the virtually limitless power of this amazing convergence of advanced technology and progressive business strategy to create the truly remarkable experience that will keep customers’ attention and win their loyalty.

This book reveals how your business can emulate some of the most powerful and successful branding strategies in the world.

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Who is Anywhere Today?

To help clarify each of these distinct consumer segments, we’ve named the five groups to create intuitive impressions of each segment and how to reach it.

1. Analogs

In this revolution, the best way to describe them is to say that they are uninterested in digital technology. Analogs cannot even be called slow followers of our Anywhere trend, since they make the choice to avoid advanced technology altogether. Much of their reluctance may be the result of age; the Analogs are, in terms of average age, the oldest segment.

2. Technophytes

This is a group of consumers who aspire to be considered cutting edge when it comes to technology. In reality, though, they are late followers of digital media and connected devices. Why? Because while they are interested in these technologies, they don’t have the disposable income available to buy them until there are mature and more affordable. Technophytes want their Anywhere connections; they just can’t afford them until they are mainstream.

3. Digital Shut-ins

This is the group of consumers who have a great interest in digital media in their own homes, but less so when they are away from home. While these consumers enthusiastically embrace digital media, they aren’t as aggressive in adopting connected devices. Educating this segment remains important because Shut-ins often fail to equip their devices, such as HDTV, with all the services they support, like HD channel programming from their providers.

4. Outlet Jockeys

Along with consumers in our final segment, Outlet Jockeys own the latest and greatest portable devices and thirst for more of them. These mobile consumers enjoy cutting-edge portable applications as well as using their hand sets to e-mail, instant message, and engage in social networking.

5. Actualized Anywheres

Actualized Anywheres may be the smallest segment, comprising only 5 percent of the population in North America and Western Europe, but they are the most important. They enthusiastically buy Anywhere products and services for their mobile lifestyles, and, unlike Outlet Jockeys, they apply those devices and services at home. Actualized Anywheres bring the concept of a ubiquitously connected consumer to life.

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Tools to Keep Tabs on Competitors

On the flip side, it is easier than ever to track how your competition is doing on the Web if you know what you are doing. Here are seven different ways you can track yourself relative to your competitors:

1. Website Grade – Go to WebsiteGrader.com and run your website alongside your competitors’ web sites to see how well you do. Pay special attention to upstart competitors who might be more focused on leveraging the Web than some of the more traditional players.

2. Delicious – Delicious.com is an online version of someone’s browser bookmarks, so if many people have your site bookmarked, it means you have remarkable content. If your competitors’ bookmarks grow rapidly, it means the marketplace is starting to respond to something they are saying or doing.

3. Inbound Links – An increase in the number of links to a site can indicate that a competitor is getting more traction with its products.

4. TwitterGrade – Go to Twitter.Grader.com and run your company’s Twitter profile through and compare it to each competitor. You should track this metric over time.

5. Facebook Fans – Go to Facebook.com and see the number of fans your company’s web site has relative to your competitor’s web site. You will have to search around to find the company page in facebook. This number is worth tracking over time – if your competitor starts to gain a lot of fans, then it means their customer loyalty is increasing.

6. Compete – Go to Compete.com and compare their estimate of the traffic your site is getting versus your competitors.

7. Buzz – Go to Google and do a search on “your brand” and look at the number of results in the upper right hand corner. Do the same for each of your competitors. The number of results shows the number of pages on the Web where the brand is mentioned. This metric is worth tracking over time as it will let you know how your “buzz” is relative to your competitors’. You can do the same thing in blogsearch.google to see how your buzz is going relative to your competitors in the blogosphere.

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So You Have Talent. Now What?

New York Times best-selling author Dr. John C. Maxwell has a message for you, and for today’s corporate culture fixated on talent above all else: TALENT IS NEVER ENOUGH.

People everywhere are proving him right. Read the headlines, watch the highlights, or just step out your front door.

Some talented people reach their full potential, while others self-destruct or remain trapped in mediocrity. What makes the difference?

Maxwell, the go-to guru for business professionals across the globe, insists that the choices people make – not merely the skills they inherit – propel them to greatness. Among other truths, successful people know that:

• Belief lifts your talent.
• Initiative activates your talent.
• Focus directs your talent.
• Preparation positions your talent.
• Practice sharpens your talent.
• Perseverance sustains your talent.
• Character protects your talent… and more!

It’s what you add to your talent that makes the greatest difference. With authentic examples and time-tested wisdom, Maxwell shares attributes you need to maximize your potential and live the life of your dreams.

You can have talent alone and fall short of your potential. Or you can have talent plus, and really stand out.

When I Get To The Top, Then I'll Learn To Lead

Leadership is very similar. If you want to succeed, you need to learn as much as you can about leadership before you have a leadership position.

Good leadership is learned in the trenches. Leading as well as they can wherever they are is what prepares leaders for more and greater responsibility.

Becoming a good leader is a lifelong learning process. If you don’t try out your leadership skills and decision-making process when the stakes are small and the risks are low, you’re likely to get into trouble at higher levels when the cost of mistakes is high, the impact is far reaching, and the exposure is greater.

Mistakes made when you’re at the top cost the organization greatly, and they damage a leader’s credibility.

How do you become the person you desire to be? You start now to adopt the thinking, learn the skills, and develop the habits of the person you wish to be.

It’s a mistake to daydream about “one day when you’ll be on top” instead of handling today so that it prepares you for tomorrow. As Hall of Fame basketball coach John Wooden said, “When opportunity comes, it’s too late to prepare.”

If you want to be a successful leader, learn to lead before you have a leadership position.

A position gives you a chance. It gives you the opportunity to try out your leadership. It asks people to give you the benefit of the doubt for a while.

But given some time, you will earn your level of influence – for better or worse. Good leaders will gain in influence beyond their stated position.

Bad leaders will shrink their influence down so that it is actually less than what originally came with the position. Remember, a position doesn’t make a leader, but a leader can make the position.

To think that life “at the top” is easier to think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. Being at the top has its won set of problems and challenges.

In leadership – no matter where you are in an organization – the bottom line is always influence.

You do not need to be the top dog to make a difference. Leadership is not meant to be an all-or-nothing proposition.

If being someplace other than the top has caused you great frustration, please don’t throw in the towel. Why? Because you can make an impact from wherever you are in an organization, even if you face additional obstacles.

Being a leader stuck in the middle brings many challenges. You can learn to navigate them.

Becoming an effective 360-Degree Leader requires principles and skills to lead the people above, beside, and below you in the organization. You can learn them.

Individuals can become better leaders wherever they are. Improve your leadership, and you can impact your organization. You can change people’s lives.

You can be someone who adds value. You can learn to influence people at every level of the organization – even if you never get to the top. By helping others, you can help yourself.


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The Business Sale: An Owner's Most Perilous Expedition

For most owners, the business sale, merger, or acquisition process is a mountain of uncertainty.

The Business Sale...An Owner’s Most Perilous Expedition provides practical steps to navigate an owner through the uncharted journey of selling a business. Written by experienced merger and acquisitions professionals, this book offers insider information on the journey to a successful business sale. This book gives owners a greater understanding of the process and the ingredients that go into a successful business sale.

This book will give owners a greater understanding of the process and the ingredients that go into a successful business sale. It reveals tactics to help sellers:

• Maximize your chance of success with strategic pre-sales planning
• Prepare your offering documents to best position your company
• Avoid common pitfalls that plague inexperienced sellers
• Identify and evaluate the different types of buyers
• Learn which tangible and intangible assets can elevate the value of your business
• Learn how to profile the right buyer
• Chart a course through sensitive negotiations
• Sustain business momentum throughout the process
• Properly structure the deal

Section I: Hiring the Right Intermediary

Key Benefits of Using an Intermediary
Product synergy occurs when the purchaser and seller have complementary products that, when combined, create greater value.

1. Strategic Fit means synergy between the purchasing entity and the seller. This could take many forms, but a few examples include product, distribution, geographic, and management synergies. Product synergy occurs when the purchaser and seller have complementary products that, when combined, create greater value.

2. Understanding the Process of selling a company is a vital component to a successful divestiture. Despite the success of many companies, most owners do not fully comprehend all aspects of a business sale transaction. Conversely, an intermediary handles several business deals daily, so they are experienced in all aspects of business sale activities.

3. Creating Multiple Options relates to the ability to orchestrate and manage several buyers at the same time. The classic mistake a business owner makes when selling his business is dealing with one interested party at a time. This not only limits an owner’s likelihood of landing a successful deal, it also limits the number of potential offers.

4. Communication and Negotiation is the foundation of every deal, but contrary to popular belief, it is not the only step that matters. This is by far the most common stumbling block of most business owners. They perceive themselves to be excellent negotiators; therefore they assume they can negotiate the best possible deal. Many times owners forget that a lot more goes into “getting a good deal” than their ability to communicate.

5. Few sellers know what is reasonable to expect and how to Manage Expectations. Is it reasonable to ask for a confidentiality agreement before releasing any information? How much information should I release initially? When should I meet with the buyer? When should I expect a letter of intent? What about earnest money – how much and when? Who drafts the purchase agreement? When do I tell my employees? How long should I allow for due diligence? Who pays for due diligence? These are just a few of the questions that come up during the process. Knowing what is reasonable dictates how you respond to the buyer and demonstrates your skill level. Small things such as this dictate who controls the process, who bargains from a position of strength, and who gets the better deal.

6. The biggest risk a business owner faces when attempting to manage the process himself is the inability to Stay Focused on the Business during the sales process.

7. The sale of a business is like any other process – Sustaining Momentum is critical. When you have positive momentum during the process, good things tend to happen. Conversely, negative momentum tends to feed on itself.


The Engagement Agreement
Due to the personalized nature of each business sale project, most merger and acquisition experts do not follow a standardized agreement format.

The initial term states the period of time the intermediary will actively pursue the marketing of a business sale. Upon expiration, the intermediary is still protected for a period of time called the survival period. This means that if the business is purchased by a buyer that had contact with the intermediary during the initial period, the intermediary will still receive his full performance fee.

Note the success fee or performance fee is paid on all consideration received for the business. The business owner may have choices as to how he accepts the structure of his deal: all cash, seller financing, stock, royalty, etc.


Section II: Pre-Sale Planning

Determining Business Value
So what drives business value? Conversely, the lack of such features in a business will detract from market value. To the extent that these elements are improved in a particular business, the market value of the business is improved.

Growth Rate: The growth rate of sales and profits compared to our national growth rate and the growth rate of the company’s particular industry. Higher growth rates command higher values.

Operating Profits: Higher profits as a percent of sales compared to industry averages. Operating profit margins that exceed industry averages will command higher values.

Management Quality and Depth: Depth, quality, tenure, experience, success record, education, as well as succession for managers and key employees. Above-average management and employees will reduce risk during transition and justify higher multiples.

Niche, Market Position, Brand Awareness and Identity: If a company fills a definable niche, commands a special leadership position, or has strong and favorable brand awareness in their market - whether for products, services, geographic areas, production efficiencies or certain capabilities – a higher value should be supported.

Multiple Customer Groups: If the product or service offerings of a company have multiple customer groups, markets, or end users, a higher value is justified.

Proprietary Products: The more proprietary the products, the higher the profit potential and value.

Customers: Diversification of customers, their length of time buying from the company, as well as their financial strength and payment history are important considerations when assessing a business. If the answer is very little, then the company has virtually no customer concentration risk and can command a higher value.

Product Mix and Gross Profit: The greater the number of products the company sells and the greater the gross profit on each line, the stronger the case for a higher valuation.

Condition and Appearance of Tangible Assets: Does the business “show well”? Don’t forget to consider patents and other intangible assets, favorable leases, or agreements.

Interim Results: Buyers are interested in what the business will do in the future. List the level of revenues that the business, without additional investments or hiring, could support.

Projections: The higher and more certain the projected sales and cash flow of the business, the higher the multiple of trailing cash flow.

Overall Reputation in the Community and Industry: Healthy and favorable reputations make doing business easier.

Quality of Financial Information: Financial statements present the financial health and performance of a company.

Absence of Risk: Risk and uncertainty lower value.


Tax Planning and Offering Documents
Four key offering documents must be prepared in advance of any contact with buyers:

1. The Confidentiality Agreement is a critical document of the sale process. The purpose of the confidentiality agreement is to limit how such information can be used.

2. Confidential Offering Memorandum: The purpose of the offering memorandum is to help interested parties understand your business, including its strengths, weaknesses, and potential.

3. Generic Summary: The generic summary is a tool for attracting buyer candidates. To determine whether the business may meet a buyer’s criteria, a generic summary provides basic data about the company, but not enough information to discern the identity of the offered business.

Recasting Income Statements and Balance Sheets

By recasting, we adjust the historical financial statements as follows:

Non-Recurring Expenses: Eliminate those expenses that burdened the historical profits, but are not expected to do so in the future.

Unnecessary Expenses: Eliminate those costs that affect the historical profits, but that are not necessary for the operation of the business going forward.

Owner Benefits: Add back to net profit the total dollar value of all benefits received by the owner.


Section III: Marketing

Generating Buyer Interest
First, an owner and/or intermediary will create two lists: a short list and expanded list. The short list will encompass individuals or companies that the owner or intermediary already has specific knowledge and are easy to profile. This list may include competitors, key management personnel, partners who do not wish to sell, and key customers.

There are two basic ways to approach marketing a business for sale: the “rifle method” or “stealth trolling”.

The traditional way of marketing a business is the rifle method. If you
After you have qualified the long and short list into a targeted group of potential buyers, you are ready to disburse the confidentiality agreement and begin the process of courting buyers.

The second way to approach the sales and marketing effort is called stealth trolling. This can be done in conjunction with the rifle method. If you think about this term from the perspective of fishing, it would mean you were trolling for fish with invisible bait. The contact is made with the decision-maker. However, instead of leading with “I got a product”, the owner or intermediary focuses on gaining insight into a buyer’s plans for the future.

Section IV: Negotiation

Listening and learning is essential to a successful negotiation process.

Determining Fair Market Value: To keep the negotiation on track, it is important for both parties to establish realistic guidelines in regards to fair market value. Perceived value varies among individuals, including sellers and buyers.


Final Negotiation & Agreement
During the final negotiation phase, price, terms and conditions are agreed upon. Key issues are reviewed, formalized, and accepted. Parties are near the closing process, without actually resolving the transaction yet.


Section V: Closing

Closing Documents and Procedures
Generally, the purchase agreement contains the following sections:

The Introduction section of the purchase agreement usually contains the names, addresses, and various background information regarding the buyer and seller.

The Terms of the Deal are fully defined in this section of the purchase agreement.

The Representation and Warranties section of the purchase agreement includes statements made by the buyer and seller that are considered factual.

The Pre-Closing Obligations section of the purchase agreement generally defines the activities that the buyer and seller have undertaken during the period between the signing of the purchase agreement and the closing date.

The Post-Closing Obligations of the buyer and seller define the actions that are taken if the buyer or seller representations are inaccurate.

The Miscellaneous Provisions section of the purchase agreement generally covers the following:

• The state laws governing the purchase agreement
• Transaction fees
• Responsibility for transaction fees
• Circumstances by which the agreement will terminate

The Closing Procedures section of the agreement defines the documents, property, and considerations that are used to complete the transaction.

Settlement Statement: The settlement statement is a worksheet which outlines in detail the payments and expenses of the buyer and seller.

Promissory Note: If the deal is made on an installment basis, a promissory note is necessary.

Security Agreement: A security agreement accompanies a promissory note. The security agreement creates a public record to record the seller’s interest in certain collateral which is named in the agreement.

Employment or Consulting Agreement: If the services of employees, owners or other consultants is a part of the deal, the details of the employment are provided in this agreement. The employment agreement outlines the amount of compensation to be paid, the types of service to be rendered, and the length of agreement time.

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The Biggest Hunger: Appreciation

A fundamental quality of ‘The Leader as a Mensch’ is the appreciation of others – seeing others not as a problem to be fixed but as a reservoir of skills, talents and ideas to be nurtured and developed.

Practice seeing others, truly seeing them in their utmost potential and remind yourself, every day, of the power of appreciation. It will help you create a culture where people are willing to share their ideas and insights for the success of your organization.

Mother Teresa said, “There is more hunger in the world for love and appreciation than for bread.” This applies to everyone, at every level, in every corner of the world.

Praise has a limited “best before” date. Don’t delay its expression or wait until performance review time – when you see something that is worthy of praising, do so promptly after the event.

Make you genuine words memorable for your constituents by being specific about the achievement. Not many of us remember the perfunctory “job well done” but we all remember someone who tells us “This was pure genius!” or “I would have missed this if you hadn’t picked it up.” Praise does not have to be elaborate. It just needs to be genuine.

Encourage others to appreciate themselves. Be conscious about creating opportunities at work for others to appreciate themselves. You will be fulfilling one of the noble goals of leadership which is to help others become leaders themselves.

‘The Leader as Mensch’ is the epitome of authenticity. The hallmark of this person is candor – the avoidance of all deception. When we are in the presence of a Mensch, we cannot help but notice the absence of artificiality. We sense that we are confronted with a real person, one who doesn’t set out to make an impression. A Mensch just is.

Leadership is difficult work and it can be easy to stray from who we are at the core in order to satisfy the business imperatives. We cannot always trust that others are genuine with us. Even with the best of intentions, even when we strive to do our very best, others will sometimes betray us. Much happens in the course of our careers as we climb the achievement ladder and we can sometimes, slowly and imperceptibly, wander off from our authentic selves, the core of who we are.

Despite all of this, we need to make every effort to stay true to who we are. Find the way to yourself. Or, as Howard Thurman eloquently said, “Find the grain in your own wood.”

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The Basics of the Newsletter

Whether you’re writing a newsletter, an article or copy for a web site, you are communicating something to your audience. Your audience has chosen to read your words – either because they want to learn something or because they want to be entertained – so you need to live up to their expectation. That means communicating well.

Here are some points to remember:

Good communication is relevant, focused, timely and readable.

Identify your target audience: consumer press, trade press, professional journals or specialist press for articles; internal, trade or special interest newsletters; paying or ‘free’ audience for web sites. Look at their age, gender, socio-economic group and lifestyle factors.

Look at what your audience wants – news, information or entertainment.

Use the five Ws and an H to focus your work – what (subject), who (audience, case study and expert), where (tone and angle),when (topical, up to date), why (what’s in it for the audience), how (your approach).

Your language (tone and vocabulary) needs to be consistent with that of the publication where it appears.

Keep it simple and relevant.

Avoid bias and stereotypes.

Check your spelling and grammar.

Remember that editors, publications and web sites change – widen your fields of interest to avoid becoming too reliant on particular publications by finding new angles on regular topics and finding new topics that interest you.

Unless you’re an acknowledged expert in your field, you’ll need to contact the editor for the first time. Look at what sort of article you want to write, the sort of subjects you can write about, which publications cover that sort of topic and whether they use freelancers.

Look at your target publication’s style – length, use of case studies and experts, layout, length of paragraphs and sentences, tone and vocabulary. Identify the topics that haven’t been covered (and remember how far in advance the publication works!)

Ring the features department to find out if they accept freelance contributions and, if so, who to send your ideas to, how much detail they want, whether they’d prefer email or post, which issue they’re planning next, which categories they want to cover (broad terms).

Prepare your submissions package – a covering letter, your CV (contact details and list of articles published), cuttings, ideas, (brief paragraph or longer outlines) and SAE (or, for email, a truncated CV and a couple of web site article URLs).

If you haven’t heard within a month, assume a rejection – send in more ideas and don’t pester. If an editor asks you to write something, stick to the deadline and discuss any problems straightaway – it’s OK to refuse a commission but come up with an alternative!

The commissioning form will tell you your brief, fee, payment details, appearance date and deadline. Don’t take rejection personally – the topic’s either not right at that point or may have been covered by someone else (remember lead time!). Try the idea elsewhere and come up with new ones for the editor who rejected you.

Recycle topics by changing your angle or combining elements from several articles.

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When is Talent Alone Enough?

Talent is often overrated and frequently misunderstood. French poet and dramatist Edouard Pailleron pointed out, “Have success and there will always be fools to say that you have talent.” When people achieve great things, others often explain their accomplishments by simply attributing everything to talent. But that is a false and misleading way of looking at success.

If talent alone is enough, then why do you and I know highly talented people who are not highly successful?

Many American business leaders are obsessed with talent. Some think talent is the answer to every problem.

Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point and Blink, notes that many companies and consultants put finding people with talent ahead of everything else. He says, “This ‘talent mind-set’ is the new orthodoxy of American management.”

Certain companies hire dozens of MBAs from top universities, promote them quickly, reward them lavishly, and never accurately assess their performance. The prime example he gives is Enron.

Its talent focus was legendary. For example, Lynda Clemmons, who started Enron’s weather derivatives business, went from trader to associate to manager to director to head of her own business unit in only seven years!

Gladwell asks, “How do you evaluate someone’s performance in a system where no one is in a job long enough to allow such evaluation?”

Talent is never enough. Peter Drucker, the father of modern management, said, “There seems to be little correlation between a man’s effectiveness and his intelligence, his imagination, or his knowledge... Intelligence, imagination, and knowledge are essential resources, but only effectiveness converts them into results.

By themselves, they only set limits to what can be contained” If talent were enough, then the most effective and influential people would always be the most talented ones. But that is often not the case. Consider this:

More than 50 percent of all CEOs of Fortune 500 companies had C or C-averages in college. Sixty-five percent of all U.S. senators came from the bottom half of their school classes.

Seventy-five percent of U.S presidents were in the Lower-Half Club in school. More than 50 percent of millionaire entrepreneurs never finished college.

Clearly talent isn’t everything. Most leaders understand the dynamics of ownership, shared responsibility, division of labor, committee governance, and delegation.

Often leaders accomplish great tasks by dividing a job into its parts and coordinating the whole effort. Remarkable feats, such as the building of the pyramids or the Great Wall of China, were accomplished in that fashion.

However, there are some tasks that are not improved by adding more people. Brook’s Law states, “Adding people to a late software project makes it later.” More isn’t always better, and some things are best done by an individual.

A wonderful, simple illustration of the importance of talent can be seen in a sports event like the high jump. Winning the high jump requires one person who can jump seven feet, not even people who can jump one foot.

Such an example may seem obvious, yet don’t we often believe that we can accomplish more by throwing more people at a task? That isn’t always the right solution. In fact, there are many tasks that call for talent more than numbers. Like high jumping, they require the extraordinary talent of one person, not the mediocre talent of many.

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Disciplined Emotions

People have just two choices when it comes to their emotions: they can master their emotions or be mastered by them. That doesn’t mean that to be a good team player, you have to turn off your feelings. But it does not mean that you shouldn’t let your feelings prevent you from doing what you should or drive you to do things you shouldn’t.

A classic example of what can happen when a person doesn’t discipline his emotions can be seen in the life of golf legend Bobby Jones. Like today’s Tiger Woods, Jones was a gold prodigy. He began playing in 1907 at age five. By age twelve, he was scoring below par, an accomplishment most golfers don’t achieve in a lifetime of playing the game. At age fourteen, he qualified for the U.S. Amateur Championship. But Jones didn’t win that event. His problem can be best described by the nickname he acquired: “club thrower.” Jones often lost his temper – and his ability to play well.

An older golfer whom Jones called Grandpa Bart advised the young man, “You’ll never win until you can control that temper of yours.” Jones took his advice and began working to discipline his emotions. At age twenty-one, Jones blossomed and went on to be one of the greatest golfers in history, retiring at age twenty-eight after winning the grand slam of golf. Grandpa Bart’s comment sums up the situation: “Bobby was fourteen when he mastered the game of golf, but he was twenty-one when he mastered himself.”

People who often experience relational difficulties are tempted to look at everyone but themselves to explain the problem. But we must always begin by examining ourselves and being willing to change whatever deficiencies we have. Critic Samuel Johnson advised that “he who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts and multiply the grief which he purposes to remove.”

The human mind has a tremendous amount of power in our lives. That which holds our attention determines our actions. Because of that, where we are today is the result of the dominating thoughts in our minds. And the way we think determines what our attitudes are. The good news is that you and I can change that. You can control your thoughts, and because of that, you can control your attitude. The point is that your thinking prompts your emotion. Why is that important? Because your attitude is your emotional approach to life. It’s the framework through which you see events, other people, even yourself. That’s why you can believe in the saying, You are not what you think you are, but what you think… you are.”

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9 Things a Leader Must Do

All these people were very different from one another. A good number of them were in business or other arenas of leadership, but they had different backgrounds, different personalities, different economic circumstances, and different abilities. However, they were the same in that they shared this particular way of handling life and work. And that commonality is the déjà vu experience.

For successful leaders, the invisible world is where the real life is. The same is true at all levels of leadership in the business world. Every blockbuster deal, every new rung on the corporate ladder, every project design, every company merger, and every successful sales campaign begins in the invisible soul of human beings. Leadership success is the process of digging up the treasures of the invisible soul in order to bring dreams, desires, and talents into the visible world.

Déjà vu leaders evaluate almost everything they do in this way. They see every behavior and decision as links in a larger chain, steps in a direction that has a destination. And they see these links in directions, the good and the bad. They think way to attain the good things they want in life and to avoid the bad things they don’t want. In short, they rarely do anything without thinking of the ultimate consequences. They play the whole movie, so to speak.

Déjà vu leaders tend to call on themselves as the first source to correct difficult situations. It doesn’t matter whether they think they are to blame or not. Even if someone else is at fault, they take initiative to address the problem and seek a solution. Whatever the answer may be, déjà vu leaders make a move.

Déjà vu leaders are different. They value the little increments, the tiny steps. Wanting it now keeps you from having it. Taking the long road, one tiny step at a time, will actually get you there faster because you will not lose time by trying shortcuts.

Déjà vu leaders have transcended the need for revenge. Their first goal is to make things better for the other person or group. The other’s benefit is their utmost concern. That does not mean they have no interest in their own benefits. It simply means that in their treatment of others, their goal is to do well by them regardless of how they are treated. They don’t play fair; they play right.

Déjà vu leaders go against the odds if the odds are against what is right. They are willing to be the odd one, risking loss of approval in order to do the right thing. They understand that the approval of others does not go very far in making one truly fulfilled. It may be nice for a moment, but getting up everyday and doing what you believe in is much more lasting.

The principles are available to everyone. Do not see leadership success as a goal that you cannot attain or a prize only for special or lucky people. Success is never embodied in a person, but in the ways of wisdom that transcend any one individual. What déjà vu leaders do is find those ways and practice them.

Be encouraged to embark on a path of putting them into practice into your own life and becoming a déjà vu leader.