Today’s business leaders face stresses from all directions – economic challenges (recession or no recession), hiring struggles, supply chain disruptions, inflationary pressures, political turbulence, entitled employee attitudes, and information overload from noisy media.
As leaders juggle with all of these disparate balls in the air, the ball they often take their eye off of is themselves.
Kevin Lawrence, author of Your Oxygen Mask First, led a workshop for business owners and guests of Executive Forums Silicon Valley in downtown San Jose, to help the leaders be a little selfish for the day – to put YOUR OXYGEN MASK FIRST.
Mr. Lawrence is an award-winning business coach and has a passion for educating leaders on the importance of expanding mental health and mental growth and building leadership resilience.
The workshop opened with a discussion of the challenge – driving and maintaining leadership performance at the sweet spot as shown in the graphic below without progressing to burnout and sometimes even meltdown. Mr. Lawrence gave many examples about how leaders experience challenges, and the methodologies for diagnosing issues, as well as resources to use when sliding down the unwanted slope towards meltdown.
This discussion was followed by a description and a personal assessment of the 17 Habits that help high achievers survive and thrive in both business leadership and life. Each participant created a wheel of satisfaction (polar plot) of how each of the 17 habits below showed up in their life, for identifying key strengths and areas of opportunity.
After group discussions around the issue of balance in members’ lives, a set of resiliency habits have created that support a balanced life through specific, timed, and repeated activities to strengthen the body, mind, and soul.
Members and guests shared their existing resiliency habits for making improvements, such as deeply personal rituals specific to each individual leader – from musical instruments, to fitness routines, to bicycling, to meditation, to reading. Feel free to jot down your resiliency rituals using the grid below.
Moving forward from the leader’s resiliency discussion, the group discussed Leadership Habit Number 17 – Make Yourself Useless. This habit revolves around top-grading employees with the objective of building a team that delivers better results than you, or even without you. As stated by Harvey Firestone, “The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership”. The group, using a top-grading worksheet, was able to identify and rank employees and establish specific action plans to coach up or coach out.
It was a great session of deep thinking and dynamic exchange that happens monthly at Executive Forums Silicon Valley where we leverage the collective intelligence of the group for the benefit of each individual member.
I want to thank Kevin Lawrence (Lawrence & Co) and recommend that you contact him directly to learn more about his workshops and his book, Your Oxygen Mask First.
A shout out to some Executive Forums Silicon Valley members who celebrated over six years in the Forum – your business leadership and camaraderie are so very much appreciated.
I also want to thank the Silicon Valley Capital Club for the venue, meals, and logistic support. I highly recommend the Club for your events. Please contact Edith Hernandez (edith.hernandez@invitedclub.com) to arrange your next event.
At Executive Forums Silicon Valley, selected business owners and leaders work together to gain clarity, insight, and accountability to ignite their leadership engines, grow their businesses, and improve their lives. If you are interested in learning more about Business Owner Advisory Boards or the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) please contact Glenn Perkins at gperkins@executiveforums.com or call 408-901-0321. For more information visit http://www.execforumssv.com/.
Leaders of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation family businesses gathered to learn from each other and enjoy a morning of fun in the awesome SAP Boardroom Suite at Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers.
The session, hosted by Bridge Bank (Emily Ruvalcaba) and Executive Forums Silicon Valley (Glenn Perkins), was designed around a discussion with panelists Brittni Daley-Grishaeva, Adam Beck, Dee Ann Harn, and Ian Barth who shared lessons learned about the challenges and opportunities in taking over from the previous generations.
Prior to the panel discussion, the attendees participated in a Personal Histories networking activity during breakfast. This was followed by a team scavenger hunt in the 49ers Museum to experience and learn from the culture of a large family business—the San Francisco 49ers.
An intimate panel discussion revolved around themes and questions such as:
How or when did you recognize the “super power” of your predecessor? How were you able to replace that “super power” within the organization? How did you apply your own “super power” within your company
What counsel or guidance would you give to those who are assuming a new leadership position in dealing with or overcoming entrenched personnel in a company?
Looking back, what is the biggest opportunity to shake things up that you identified when transitioning?
Can you comment on what may have been scary for you when you took over your position? What was that particular aspect of the business troublesome for you? What did you do to overcome those fears?
What counsel or guidance about support structures or scaffolding would you give to those who are assuming a new leadership position in a company?
Open questions and discussion based on attendee questions.
It was a fantastic event and we want to thank the attendees and panelists for an awesome morning and for being so open to sharing their experience and expertise with everyone.
If a learning and networking event such as this might be of interest to you and the leaders in your generational business, please reach out.
Leverage Your Time for Bottom Line Results with an Engagement Manager
Investing time in building and maintaining relationships – both external to the organization and internal to the organization – is critical to the success of every CEO.
I recently learned of a structured approach for enhancing relationships by Patrick Ewers, founder and CEO of Mindmaven, a coaching firm that works with leaders AND their assistants.
Using the Mindmaven model — leverage, intent, and fellowship— I began implementing some of these principles within my own business and invited Patrick to share it with members of the Executive Forums Silicon Valley peer groups.
How leaders can “achieve True Greatness by freeing up 8+ hours a week so they can use that time to invest in what truly matters most: relationships.”
Patrick shared with us several hands-on, step-by-step ways in which a CEO can gain leverage to build better relationships by training an executive assistant to become a CEO’s “engagement manager (EM).”
The term Engagement Manager (EM) is not the same as a social media engagement manager, but this role has some of the same results.
An EM is trained by the CEO to address tasks that not only free up a CEO’s time, but can increase relationship building opportunities, thus freeing the CEO to focus on high value activity which impacts bottom line results.
LEVERAGE tactics Patrick suggested:
Voice Communications via Dictation Software
Patrick demonstrated in real time how to leverage an hour or more a day using a phone application to dictate tasks, emails, and meeting notes. Leaders are much better at verbal communication and dictation can be done asynchronously (when time permits as opposed to when the assistant is available). Dictation files are delivered directly to an EM via email, text, or a project management system such as Asana. The EM receives the dictated instructions and moves the requested task forward.
Inbox Shadowing
A second technique discussed was inbox shadowing. By giving an EM access to a CEO’s email for “Inbox Shadowing,” a CEO can trust that emails are sorted by priority so they can move quickly through their inbox. Sorting labels or folders might look like this:
Drafts (responses drafted for CEO review)
Please Handle (emails on which the EM needs CEO input first)
Completed (emails completely handled within authority of the EM)
FYI emails (to read later)
Using dictation and inbox shadowing, an EM can be responsible for drafting follow up emails, meeting debriefs, and pre-meeting planning documents.
Meeting Debriefs and LoopLeverage
With structured and habitualized Meeting Debriefs, a CEO can quickly capture important details from a meeting in a voice dictation sent to their EM who then implements the Mindmaven LoopLeverage technique.
LoopLeverage uses followup tasks, reminders, and tracking in a CRM, calendar, or project management software. These reminders, set for the EM, allow the EM to proactively follow up about promises made to and by the CEO. The personal connection information and business key facts that a CEO learns and shares in their Meeting Debrief dictation also gets tracked by the EM to bring up for robust future meeting conversations.
Together these leverage techniques—Meeting Debriefs and LoopLeverage—help a CEO build trust and stronger relationships while also lifting their mental load, ultimately resulting in increased intent and fellowship, goals of the Mindmaven model.
Culmination of Time, Training, and Small Steps Yield Results
Patrick emphasized that it takes three to six months for a CEO to make these steps natural and train an EM. However, small ideas and steps over time lead to cumulative results that can result in free time for a CEO to generate big ideas. And results.
If you are a leader who could use 8 to 10 hours a week to of free time build business relationships (internal and external) and reduce stress associated with low impact high urgency tasks, I recommend reaching out to Patrick Ewers and the Mindmaven team (www.mindmaven.com/contact) to have a discussion.
At Executive Forums Silicon Valley, selected business owners and leaders work together to gain clarity, insight and accountability to ignite their leadership engines, grow their businesses and improve their lives. If you are interested in learning more about Business Owner Advisory Boards, Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), Stages of Growth, Value Builder System or becoming a member at Executive Forum Silicon Valley, please contact Glenn Perkins: gperkins@executiveforums.com or call 408-901-0321. For more information visit http://www.execforumssv.com/.
Executive coach, speaker and author Vitale Buford presented at the Silicon Valley Executive Forum about overcoming perfectionism in May 2021.
She started by quoting Brene Brown: “Perfection is a 20-ton shield that we lug around thinking it will protect us when, in fact, it’s the thing that’s really preventing us from taking flight.”
Striving for excellence is a positive passion and a self-initiated drive that makes a great CEO or a leader, while being a perfectionist is allowing one’s worst critique constantly judging oneself as a bystander. A perfectionist mindset is based on limiting beliefs about oneself and others, and is mentally, emotionally and psychologically debilitating.
Symptoms of perfectionism in work and in life
Symptoms of perfectionism can be:
People-pleasing
Approval seeking
Control
Avoiding conflict
Anxiety and fear
Obsessive thoughts
High expectations
Low self-worth
Comparison
Procrastination
Feeling stuck
Indecision
Perfectionism is manifested in our careers like this:
In identifying patterns of perfectionist behaviors, Ms. Buford listed “slow and fast perfectionism” for our intentional observation:
Slow:
Procrastination
Indecision
Fear of failure
Imposter Syndrome
Feeling stuck
Anxiety
Black and white thinking
Avoiding conflict
Fast:
Approval seeking
People pleasing
Unrealistic expectations for yourself and others
Obsessive thinking
Need for control
“Work harder, achieve more” thinking
Constant overwhelm
Both slow and fast perfectionism can negatively affect our relationships, personal development, family and parenting, finances, health, fun and enjoyment and the ability to lead oneself and others.
Step 2: Mindset Change
Ms. Buford suggested using “habit of self-compassion”, summarized as “Four Cs” - criticism, curiosity, compassion, and choice, - to reframe perfectionist way of thinking, with mantras and routines:
Notice your Criticism
Get Curious
Show yourself Compassion
Choose better
Step 3: Action
What does it take to build habits of self-compassion, other than time?
“Reframing, mantras, routines” are the three words Ms. Buford used to conclude her presentation.
To get out of the negative and self-destructive habits of thinking, first refrain from thinking “what if…”, insead, think “even if…”. Refrain from viewing anxiety-causing unknown as “uncertainty”, but to view it as “possibility”. Refrain from constantly doing the “balancing” acts of pleasing everyone, and start to actively pursue your own “priority”.
Mantras like these ones below can also help us feel good about ourselves:
“I give myself room to be human.”
“Done is better than perfect.”
“I cannot miss out on what’s meant for me.”
Action leads to confidence leads to action.
Creating new routines to reinforce new habits of thinking can gradually lead to changing perfectionist behaviors.
To get more information about overcoming perfectionism, please contact @VitaleBuford
At Executive Forums Silicon Valley, selected business owners and leaders work together to gain clarity, insight and accountability to ignite their leadership engines, grow their businesses and improve their lives. If you are interested in learning more about Business Owner Advisory Boards, Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), Stages of Growth, Value Builder System or becoming a member at Executive Forum Silicon Valley, please email Glenn Perkins: gperkins@executiveforums.com or call 408-901-0321. For more information visit http://www.execforumssv.com/.
Executive Forum Silicon Valley invited Emily Scott, a thought partner working with her clients to help unpack their money stories to improve their personal and professional financial decision-making, communications, and relationships. With no assets under management, Emily’s sole skin in the game is her clients’ peace of mind and clarity in discovering their money mindset, exploring their legacy, and determining their philanthropy. Emily works with financial advisors, and other professionals to help their clients understand the role of money in all aspects of their lives.
Identifying one’s own feelings about money
Ms. Scott started with a self assessment on a scale from 1- 10, to see the intensity of one’s feeling about one’s money, more or less categorized into four types of emotions:
When it comes to decision making the personal side of money is more important than the technical side
There are two sides to money, the technical and personal sides. Both sides are equally important and complex, but it is the personal side that drives decision-making, said Emily.
The technical side includes aspects such as taxed, investments, estate planning, cash flow, risk management.
The personal side encompasses relationships, emotions, hopes and dreams, self-esteem, sense of well-being.
Aristotle said: “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
Everyone’s relationship with money starts with one’s core beliefs about money. Our money story starts early in our lives by the implicit and explicit messages we receive on a daily basis. This story comes from our homes, our cultures, gender, media, and more. For most, we are taught to not talk about money and any feelings we have are deeply embedded and manifest in ways we don’t even realize.
The source of all money-related thoughts and behaviors derives from one’s core beliefs.
Thoughts and behaviors around money lead to outcomes and consequences.
Better outcomes with money depend on changing one’s beliefs, thoughts, behaviors
If you are not happy with your money situation, you need to start to adopt NEW beliefs, as shown in the below example of a “personal wealth mission statement”:
“I want my money to represent who I want to be as a human being, with my knowledge and emotions aligned to maintain my security, flexibility, freedom, and generosity.”
Several things need to happen in order to achieve better outcomes:
Recognize beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors that are detrimental to your new goals;
Rethink and reframe new beliefs and thoughts that are intended for better outcomes; Revisit these beliefs, to get clarity and confidence;
Align intentionality with developing new habits and routines for reaching your new goals;
Getting your subconscious (your “computer”) to work for you, until your goals are accomplished.
To get a personal consultation about changing your relationship with money, please contact Emily Scott’s email: emily@emilyscottand.com or call her at: (415) 609-1900.
At Executive Forums Silicon Valley, selected business owners and leaders work together to gain clarity, insight and accountability to ignite their leadership engines, grow their businesses and improve their lives. If you are interested in learning more about Business Owner Advisory Boards, Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), Stages of Growth, Value Builder System or becoming a member at Executive Forum Silicon Valley, please contact Glenn Perkins: gperkins@executiveforums.com or call 408-901-0321. For more information visit http://www.execforumssv.com/.
A Roadmap for Pivoting a Business Towards Future Growth
In times of turmoil, we hear the inevitable cry to pivot your business into a new set of products or services. Exactly how is that done? What are the steps?
Do we need a crisis to pivot our business?
Shouldn’t we always be looking to pivot our business?
And, if pivoting is so easy, why doesn’t everyone do it?
These questions were explored at the Executive Forums Silicon Valley Top Executive Forum this month through a presentation and discussion led by Beatrice Stonebanks (Stonebanks Sales Management Teams).
The discussion explored both the impact of the current COVID 19 environment as well as general long-term industry and buyer trends. After all, no one wanted to be like BlockBuster Video who missed the trend and technology of HOW consumers wanted to procure and engage, even though they knew all along about consumer demand for video content. Same goes with many taxi companies who did not innovate and pivot towards new ways of meeting customers’ needs for transportation and missed the trend and technology of HOW consumers wanted to procure and engage.
Ms. Stonebanks walked the members through some specifics on how to use industry reports to answer the following types of questions, as a roadmap to focus on:
What are the trends in your market?
Exactly why are your best customers buying from you?
What technology will be used to buy your products and services?
Where are the growth sectors that value similar characteristics?
What happens in your target markets if a Black Swan event happens?
How must you embrace technology to stay relevant to your customers?
This is a concise and straightforward method using just a few key questions to determine why your best customers value your product, service or company and what additional value you can provide.
The members were led through the “Stonebanks Sales Management 10 Step Process” that acts as a roadmap to help companies work through this process. A summary of the ten steps of this process are:
Access 2020 Tech Trends Report
Research Your Sector (or the sector you might pivot into)
Keyword Search a Term or a Specific Niche
Conduct an Ideal Client Summary
Create a Decision Matrix for Your Company
Choose your Preferred Target Niche(s)
Review the Top Ten Fastest Growing Sectors – Match with Your Niche
Analyze Optimistic and Pessimistic Trends in Selected Sectors
Adjust Your Products or Services Accordingly
Create Your Business Development Game Plan
Each specific member company was presented with a quick summary of the results of this process. For example, for one member who runs a full-service printing company, the following trends were identified. Although these types of trends are just the tip of the iceberg, consider how valuable this type of data-derived information can be in developing business growth plans. These trends were identified for the printing company:
print on packaging is a growth area – flexography, gravure
professional services to other printers
geographic collaboration (FTD model) are applicable
sector growing by 12% through 2024
This short article cannot do justice to the richness of the discussion around this process, and how it is relevant at all times, beyond COVID 19.
So pivoting is not that easy, however, there is a process that can be used. If you are looking to skate your company to where the puck will be (or how to use the puck in a completely new game), I recommend that you contact Beatrice Stonebanks (510 338-0896 www.stonebanks.net).
At Executive Forums Silicon Valley, selected business owners and leaders work together to gain clarity, insight and accountability to ignite their leadership engines, grow their businesses and improve their lives. If you are interested in learning more about Business Owner Advisory Boards, Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) or The Seven Stages of Growth, contact gperkins@executiveforums.com or call 408-901-0321. For more information visit http://www.execforumssv.com/.
Your Business’ “Grey Wolf” (Part 3 of 3, Organization Rewilding)
The grey wolf metaphor comes from the success in the revitalization of the Yellowstone Park’s complex ecosystem in the 1990s. Through the introduction of a Key Systemic Element (grey wolves), a complete transformation occurred to bring back vitality, life and growth of the park. Similarly, businesses are a complex ecosystem and through the identification and introduction of Key Systemic Elements, in short amounts of time, vitality, life and growth can be accomplished. An expanded version of the Yellowstone Park story is provided at the end of this blog.
In February 2020, Executive Forum Silicon Valley (“EFSV”) members feasted on the insights and wisdom from the book “Navigating the Growth Curve” and Organizational Rewilding concepts that helped them understand, predict and solve the increasing complexity at every stage of company growth.
In Part 1 of this series, 7 Stages of Growth, we discussed that the different stages of growth are based on the complexity of a company (in proportion to the total number of people) and require different “Gates of Focus” – people, profits and process – at different times.
In Part 2 of this series, “3 Faces of a Leader,” we discussed “Hidden Agents” that can derail a company’s growth. These Hidden Agents such as the 27 Classic Challenges, the Builder Protector Ratio (confidence to caution) and the 3 Faces of a Leader (visionary, manager, specialist) must be optimized at each stage of a company’s growth. Also discussed were transitions between stages such as the Flood Zone (overwhelmed by work) and the Wind Tunnel (new systems required).
Here in Part 3, we will be looking at the “Key Building Blocks” and “Non-Negotiable Rules” for growth companies. It is through the analysis of these elements and the previous stages of growth principles – Gates of Focus, Hidden Agents and Transition Zones – that the key systemic element (grey wolf) can be identified to revitalize any company.
First, let’s explore the similarity between the situations that frequently occur in small and medium sized businesses with the challenges faced in the Yellowstone Park. The key point is the first – businesses are complex ecosystems (people, products, processes, places and projects) and as the number of people increases so does the complexity of the ecosystem.
Additionally, in complex ecosystems symptoms may be obvious, however, solutions are not. And because there are unseen forces at work, the situation may not appear that bad (impacting growth) and their ecosystem is not self-repairing. The correlation and similarities are detailed in the table below:
System Element
Yellowstone Park
Small Businesses
Featured a complex ecosystem
Yellowstone’s ecological system is comprised of complex relationships between flora and fauna.
Businesses feature a complex system of interrelated, dynamic, and living resources. The level of complexity is impacted by the number of employees.
May not have appeared that bad
An untrained eye may not have considered the situation in Yellowstone that dire. The lack of vegetation and animal species mirrored other places in the U.S.
You might not even see areas that are unhealthy or lack vitality. “That’s how it’s always been” or “It’s still better than the last place I worked” are common justifications.
Obvious symptoms, unclear solutions
The obvious problem was the overpopulation of elk. The reintroduction of elk hunting reduced the population, but did not have a dramatic impact.
What is obvious is the surface symptom. Leaders are often too busy or lacking the tools necessary to identify root causes and are stuck playing “whack-a-mole.”
Not self-repairing
The Park could not solve its imbalance without the involvement of humans, because it was the human eradication of wolves that started the decline.
Leaders must be intentional to identify the missing elements and actively infuse them into the business ecosystem.
Unseen forces at work
The decrease in wolf population had an Instinctive relationshipwith deterioration of the ecosystem. Upon spontaneously communicating the new reality the environment responded.
You don’t have to fix everything. Instead, infuse the right elements and the unseen forces often resolve the other challenges on their own.
Depth of impact unexpected
Inserting a keystone predator had the intended results of reducing elk population. Experts were amazed by the transformation; the breadth, depth, and speed of change was totally unexpected.
When any key systemic element of a business is absent, the entire organization suffers. Infusing the right elements does achieve the expected improvement and the ripple effect will go beyond your expectationin ways you could not anticipate.
Non-Negotiable Rules and Building Blocks
Regardless of the type of a business there are several areas of competency that must be developed, nurtured and mastered at each stage of company growth. These business competencies (non-negotiable rules) fall into six key disciplines – business development, business model, financial systems, operations, leadership values and workplace community and three broad areas (building blocks) – Infrastructure, leadership and culture.
Let’s take an example of how this shows up for a Stage 4 company (35 – 57 employees). With respect to the six key disciplines or non-negotiable rules, a Stage 4 company should be focused on the following items:
Stage 4 Company – Non-Negotiable Rules
Business Development
Effective marketing campaign management system, repeatable sales process and a customer care program.
Business Model
Scrub the business plan annually with quarterly reviews.
Financial Systems
Established departmental budgets and advanced weekly and monthly key performance indicators.
Operations
Implement master processes and allocate 5% of revenue to build and automate systems.
Leadership Values
Hire or train professional level managers who are accountable and proactive.
Workplace Community
Share project management and foster competition between department teams.
Similarly, with respect to the three broad areas or building blocks, a Stage 4 company should have in place or be working on the following:
Stage 4 Company – Building Blocks
Infrastructure
Accountability Charts, basic Key Performance Indicators, Position Role Descriptions should be in place. The Stage 4 company should be working to improve Process Systemization and Weekly Personnel Check-ins.
Leadership
The Business Model and annual business plan should be in place and the Stage 4 company should be working to train and improve managers.
Culture
One on One Discussions, Vision, Mission, Core Values, Brand Values and New Hire Onboarding should be in place.
What Doesn’t Get Done at One Stage Will Hold a Company Back
A complete visual of the non-negotiable rules and building blocks for all 7 Stages of Growth is shown in the following graphic. Be aware, what doesn’t get done at one stage will hold a company back from growing to full potential.
ReWild Key Elements (“Grey Wolves”)
How does a company establish the missing element that is holding back growth? How do you identify your grey wolf? The Rewild Group (www.rewildgroup.com) has established a business assessment that uses all of the elements we have discussed in this blog (Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3) to establish a prioritized set of grey wolves for individual companies. This assessment is primarily driven by data from the 650 companies researched by James Fisher in “Navigating the Growth Curve” and with additional analytical tools that examine relationships between Gates of Focus, 27 Challenges and Non-Negotiable Rules.
The types of grey wolves that are impactful for small and medium sized business are shown in the following graphic. As an example of how this works, Stage 3 and Stage 4 companies that may have low profits (symptom) may benefit most by establishing Master Processes. This grey wolf has the impact of operational efficiency, employee productivity, and speed of product or service delivery which all positively impact profits.
A Stage 5 or Stage 6 company experiencing employee turnover and lost expertise (symptom) may benefit most by an Exceptional Manager Program that builds across functional teams, reinforces company values and addresses needs of lower level employees. This grey wolf better aligns the workforce, improves accountability and engages employees to reduce labor churn.
As shown in Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of this blog, the Stages of Growth and Organizational Rewilding are powerful analysis and solution tools to help a company grow and revitalize companies where growth has stalled. Understanding all of the analytical tools – Gates of Focus, Hidden Agents, Transition Zones, Non-Negotiable Rules and Building Blocks – and what is most important at each stage of growth, will help a business leader focus AND help a leader anticipate what is coming down the line. Wouldn’t you feel better if you knew what to do now and what to do next?
Find Your Own “Grey Wolves”, Clarify, Insight and Accountability at EFSV
Reach out directly if you are interested in learning more about the Stages of Growth or Organizational Rewilding, or if you would like to brainstorm about what kind of “grey wolves” are needed to revitalize your company’s ecosystem.
Executive Forum Silicon Valley (“EFSV”) is a platform where successful business owners, CEOs and executives act as their fellow collaborators, co-inventors, partners and even “co-conspirators”, in getting a clear picture of where they want to go, what stands in the way, and how to achieve their respective growth goals. Forum members share resources, conduct self-assessment and identify opportunities. Upon getting clarity in the way forward and strategic insights and the illumination of leadership blind spots, members hold each other accountable with support and encouragement. If you are interested in learning more about the Stages of Growth or becoming a member at Executive Forum Silicon Valley, please contact gperkins@executiveforums.com or call 408-901-0321. For more information visit http://www.execforumssv.com/
In 1995, Yellowstone National Park’s ecosystem was rapidly disintegrating. The expanding elk population was defoliating the park at an alarming rate. Yellowstone Park was on the verge of becoming a barren landscape, where many of its resident species could not survive. The solution to this issue wasn’t clear, but the U.S. Forest Service Rangers and a team of scientists knew they needed to act soon.
Grey Wolves Rebalanced Ecosystem
They chose to reintroduce several packs of grey wolves, who had been missing from the park for 70 years, into the ecosystem. Amazingly, within a short six-year span, the park dramatically transformed.
As one might expect, the elk population was reduced, creating smaller but healthier herds. Additionally, the remaining elk population avoided open valley areas so as not to be easily trapped by the new predators. Saplings sprouted in the once barren meadows, providing material for beavers to create new dams. Berry bushes and underbrush created shelter for small mammals. These in turn provided more food for growing populations of badgers, foxes, and birds of prey. Rapid tree growth gave homes to an increased population of songbirds. The river banks were reinforced with wild grasses that were no longer over-grazed. Every level of the trophic chain (food chain) began to flourish again.
Balance had returned to Yellowstone’s ecosystem through one simple change – the reintroduction of packs of wolves. The insertion of the wolf packs as a “Key Systemic Element” rippled all the way down to how the rivers and streams flowed through the park.
Business Organizations Need “Grey Wolves” as Key Systemic Element
We realized that there are powerful parallels between nature’s ecosystems and human business organizations. Many of the businesses we have encountered exhibit the same loss of vitality that Yellowstone was experiencing in the mid-1990‘s. Inserting a keystone predator had the intended results of reducing elk population. Experts were amazed by the transformation; the breadth, depth, and speed of change was totally unexpected.
7 Stages of Growth and Hidden Agents (Pt 2 of 3, Organization Rewilding)
Do you ever feel like there are times in your business that you keep bumping up against an invisible force field? Something that holds you back regardless of how hard you try to grow or move forward? What you may be experiencing is something James Fischer, in his book Navigating the Growth Curve, calls Hidden Agents or growth Transition Zones. Hidden Agents are obstacles to growth that were not easy for a leader to identify. Additionally, as companies move from stage-to-stage, they experience Transition Zones that complicate growth and can create business chaos.
In this blog, we will continue to reveal insights and wisdom from the book “Navigating the Growth Curve” that help leaders understand and manage the increasing complexity at every level of business growth. These materials were reviewed, discussed, learned and made actionable in the February 2020 Executive Forums Silicon Valley mastermind sessions.
Hidden Agents
Sometimes on the surface, issues look unclear and may only really show symptoms or side effects which can make it difficult to identify the real cause and design and implement the correct solutions. The three hidden agents identified by Fisher are shown in the graphic below and are obstacles to growth, hidden below the surface and difficult to diagnose.
27 Classic Challenges
One of the hidden agents identified in James Fischer’s research are the 27 Classic Challenges that companies face at one time or the other. Many times, several of these Classic Challenges were critical for business to address at a specific point in time – related to the company’s current stage of growth. The successful companies took the time and energy to focus on a critical few at any one time. They addressed the most critical challenge for their stage of growth and moved on. Take a look at the graphic below and identify your company’s stage and assess the challenges you might want to address. The key is for the leader and team is to stay focused on the right things at the right time.
Builder Protector Ratio
A second hidden agent identified in James Fischer’s research is the builder protector ratio. The B/P Ratio can be explained by understanding that in every company there are Builders (risk takers) and there are Protectors (risk averse). The Builder/Protector aspect of the Stages of Growth is a measurement within a company of confidence vs. caution.
Builders (risk takers) create new ideas and take new initiatives, find ways to expand revenue and profits, challenge the way things are done, and are highly confident.
Protectors (risk averse) are cautious and slow-paced, seek stability, may not feel confident in company’s financial strength, and tend to be suspicious of new markets.
As navigating the growth curve materials are about growth companies, you can see in the graphic below that the ratio of Builders to Protectors is greater than one for all of the stages except for the Delegation – Stage 3. Are you hiring enough Builders to achieve the right ratio at your stage of growth?
Three Faces of a Leader
The third hidden agent is called the Three Faces of a Leader Blend and is reflective of the leader within an organization. Depending on a company’s stage of growth, the leader must deliver a different blend (mix) of leadership attributes to make the company successful and keep the company growing. The three leadership attributes that must be blended in each stage are being a Visionary, a Manager and a Specialist.
Visionary Leader - makes sure the company knows where it wants to go.
Manager Leader – grows company through managing the work and the people.
Specialist Leader - delivers work to make sure the product meets clients’ needs.
As seen in the graphic below, the Visionary Leader is extremely important in a company’s early and late stages while the Manager Leader is dominated in a company’s middle stages. Note that the Specialist Leader decreases continually as a company grows.
Transition Zones
Finally, let’s look at what happens as a company transitions from one stage to another. A Transition Zone is a phase of chaos that the organization goes through to prepare for the next Stage of Growth. Rarely does it go smoothly, however, it does always go predictably. You can expect confusion and some chaos with your staff as you work through these zones, but if you aren’t prepared for them, they can take a toll on you and your leadership team.
Transitions between stages occur as either predictably as Flood Zones or Wind Tunnel. A Transition Zone is a phase of chaos that the organization goes through to prepare for the next Stage of Growth. Without this chaos, the organization would not be able to sustain itself or be able to compete in the next Stage of Growth. These zones can sometimes be identified by the mumbled complaints at leadership for putting the company in this ‘mess’. In truth most often the chaos couldn’t have been avoided and was a natural result of the company preparing for its next Stage of Growth.
Flood Transition Zone - a transition where the organization experiences a FLOOD of activity. It is being overwhelmed. The feeling inside a company is that you don’t have enough people to handle all the work. You feel like you can barely keep your head above water.
To address the chaos during a flood transition zone, you must
Communicate to people the upcoming increase in workload
Avoid the temptation to add new staff (hire at last resort)
Focus on the WAY your company manages workload
Wind Tunnel Transition Zone - is defined by a condition where the company needs to let go of ideas and processes that no longer work and create new ones that do. Often times the leadership of a company will have a difficult time realizing that what worked in the past is not going to work any longer.
To address the chaos during a wind tunnel transition zone, you must
Communicate growth and processes must change
Evaluate (measure) which processes must change
Don’t blame people for issues that require new processes
Consider the use and implementation of technology
As you can see in the graphic below, the Flood Transition Zone occurs leaving Stages 1, 3 while the Wind Tunnel Transition Zone occurs leaving Stages 2, 4 and 6.
The Stages of Growth material is very rich and challenged each leader in the Executive Forums Silicon Valley community to think deeply about the current state of their business and how to shore up the foundations for future growth. Having the knowledge to predict what is coming next and be able to align leadership and company focus to address these challenges can keep growth on track. We have discussed in pars 1 and Part 2 of this blog the following concepts.
Stages of Growth – the number of people drive complexity and growth stage
Gates of Focus – profit, process, people – where to focus and when
Four Key Messages – if you are not growing, you are dying
Hidden Agents – Classic Challenges, Builder Protector, 3 Faces of a Leader
Transition Zones – how to address the Flood or Wind Tunnel transitions
Part 3 of this blog, we will discuss the “Building Blocks of infrastructure, Culture and Leadership” and how to “Rewild” your business to get it back onto a high growth trajectory.
At EFSV, selected business owners and leaders work together to gain clarity, insight and accountability to ignite their leadership engines, grow their businesses and improve their lives. If you are interested in learning more about the Stages of Growth or becoming a member at Executive Forum Silicon Valley, please contact gperkins@executiveforums.com or call 408-901-0321. For more information visit https://execforumssv.com/
7 Stages of Growth and 3 Gates of Focus (Pt 1 of 3, organization rewilding)
In February 2020, Executive Forum Silicon Valley (“EFSV”) members feasted on the insights and wisdom from the book “Navigating the Growth Curve” that helps understand and manage the increasing complexity at every level of growth. They each take back to their own organization the tools acquired at the Forum for engaging the people in their own company to deal with challenges at their particular stage of growth.
EFSV is a platform where business owners, CEOs and executives act as their fellow collaborators, co-inventors, partners and even “co-conspirators”, in getting clear picture of where they want to go, what stands in the way, and how to achieve their respective business growth goals. Forum members share resources, conduct self-assessment and identify opportunities. Upon getting clarity and insights, they hold each other accountable with support and encouragement.
Based on the research of over 650 successful companies with up to 500 employees, “Navigating the Growth Curve”, by James Fischer, describes a model for successful growth and identifies insights, behaviors, and focus areas that the leader needs to manage and balance.
People, Profit, Process “3 Ps” for Successful Growth Companies
Fischer found in his research that successful growth companies are light, agile and intelligent, and throw out the old model of “business as a machine”. These companies flourish by using the lens of the following “Three Gates of Focus” in addressing challenges as they arise:
Growing people
Growing profit and revenue
Growing processes
Conversely, unsuccessful Companies often share these three traits:
work environment without staff satisfaction
lack of a sustainable profit model
cannot understand, predict, and manage their growth
Understanding Where You and Your Company Are Today: The 7 Stages of Growth
You can identify your appropriate Stage of Growth from the graphic below. As shown a company’s Stage of Growth is directly proportional to the numbers of employees as that drives complexity into every phase of the business. As a company grows throughout the 7 stages, the complexity level of that company increases based on the most challenging aspect of managing any organization – people. Not profits, not processes – but people. The higher the number of people in a company, the more complexity.
A description of the what the company needs from the CEO, the typical priority challenges and the personnel balance needed, and the lenses of focus to keep a company growing in each Stage of Growth are as follows.
Stage 1 – Startup (1 – 10 employees)
3 Gates of Focus Priorities – Profit, People, Process
3 Faces of the Leader – 40 % Visionary, 10% Manager, 50 % Specialist
Classic Challenges – Chaos, Inadequate Sales, Limited Capital to Grow
Personnel Type Ratio – 4 Builders to 1 Protector
Stage 2 – Ramp Up (11 – 19 employees)
3 Gates of Focus Priorities – Profit, Process, People
3 Faces of the Leader – 40 % Visionary, 20 % Manager, 40 % Specialist
There are four key messages associated with growth principles that a leader needs to understand as your company progresses from one stage to another:
Message 1 – Movement from stage to stage is not clear-cut. In business, there is no black and white, there is only gray. You don’t simply BECOME a Stage 2 company overnight. You begin to be a Stage 2 company as soon as you enter Stage 1. Preparation for the next stage begins as you enter the current stage.
Message 2 – What’s left undone from prior stages must be dealt-with. What you don’t get done in a specific stage of growth DOES NOT GO AWAY. -Not solving People, Process and Profits challenges during your current stage will simply put harder demands on you as a leader in the next stage of growth.
Message 3 – Length of time a business has been around can make a difference. Slower growth is usually easier to manage. Many companies choose to stay at a certain size (usually for the lower stages). They prefer to grow in other dimensions, not in employees. Simply assuming that you have “taken care of business” because you have been doing business as usual for some time isn’t the same thing as addressing your current stage challenges.
Messages 4 – If you are not growing, you’re dying. Stagnation will not allow you to be successful in an ever-changing competitive world. Something has to continue to grow and change for your organization to thrive. However, humans tend to gravitate toward a state of equilibrium because it is safe and understandable. But if we stay in that state too long it leads to slow decay and death, just like in nature.
More on the Three Gates of Focus: People, Profits, Process
Every issue found within a growing enterprise can be understood through one or more of these Three Gates. When looking for clarification with an issue, ask yourself: is it a Profit problem? People problem? or Process problem?
Then you can FOCUS on the right thing at the right time. To that end, the Three Gates of Focus shift priorities based on your stage of growth.
At the Executive Forum Silicon Valley, members first determine which of the Three Gates of Focus they most focus on today, by list and assessing priorities. Next, they compare with the following chart, “Three Gates of Focus and Stages”, to find the IDEAL Gates of Focus priorities to line up with each of their companies’ stage of growth. The members discussed how to get their focus back in alignment with their particular stage’s priority and identified a set of initiatives focused on each member’s key areas of concern.
The above Gates of Focus are always stacked in order of the most important focus for that particular stage of growth. For example, Stage 1, the Profit Gate is the primary focus, with the next focus being the People Gate and the last is the Process Gate.
Different stages of growth require different types of focus. Once you’ve identified your own stage of growth, the model below helps you do the right things at the right timeby shifting among these three key focuses: people, profits and process.
In Part 2 and Part 3 of this blog, we will discuss the Hidden Agents that can hinder and hold back your growth. Three Faces of a Leader, the Builder Protector Ratio, the Classic Challenges will be discussed as well as how to “Rewild” your business to get it back onto a high growth trajectory.
At EFSV, selected business owners and leaders work together to gain clarity, insight and accountability to ignite their leadership engines, grow their businesses and improve their lives. If you are interested in learning more about the Stages of Growth or becoming a member at Executive Forum Silicon Valley, please contact gperkins@executiveforums.com or call 408-901-0321. For more information visit https://execforumssv.com/
Ray Dalio’s Four Guiding Principles for Business and Life (Part 2 of 2)
In Part 1 last week, we shared about Ray Dalio’s first two principles: 1) Embrace reality and deal with it, 2) Practice radical open-mindedness. Today in Part 2, we are continuing with Dalio’s 3rd and 4th principles, all of which have provided clarity and insight to members of the Executive Forum Silicon Valley (EFSV.)
Principle #3: Use the 5-step process to evolve
Dalio´s third Principle is a 5-step process that he uses to evolve both personally and in his company. Some of these may seem obvious to you but according to Dalio, what inhibits most people´s growth and evolution is the flawed execution of one or more of these steps.
Let’s look at each in greater detail:
1. Have clear goals
Prioritize
Be audacious
Great expectations create great capabilities
2. Identify and don’t tolerate problems
Identify the biggest problems first Don’t avoid them because they are rooted in the harsh realities of your business. Once we identify a problem, don’t tolerate it
3. Diagnose problems to get at their root causes
Focus on “what is” before deciding “what to do about it”
Distinguish symptoms from the true root cause
Root causes can be found with honest effort
4. Design plans to get around them
There are typically many paths to achieve a goal
See the plan as a movie script and be creative
It may not take a lot of time to design a good plan
5. Do what’s necessary to push through results – Push through to completion
Great planners who can’t execute go nowhere
Good work habits are vastly underrated
Establish clear metrics to follow your progress
The 5 steps must be completed in order. To evolve, we need to do them fast and continuously. Weaknesses don’t matter if we find solutions by either getting better at it yourself, or finding others to cover your weakness.
Principle #4: Understand how people are wired
Both genetics and environment make people think and act in very different ways. Everyone is unique and people often are not aware of which type of person they truly are. People end up not understanding each other and ignoring others’ points of views and values. Our brains are unique in the way they work. Some of the different ways people are wired are:
Big picture vs Detail-oriented
• Big picture thinkers think detail-oriented people have no imagination
• Detail-oriented people think big-picture people are dreamers
Extroverts vs Introverts
• Extroverts love talking out ideas
• Introverts prefer thinking privately and sharing after they’ve grappled with a problem
Planners vs Doers
• Planners stick with a plan and are rigid to adapt
• Doers change direction often based on new information
Left brained vs. Right brained
• Left-brained people reason sequentially, analyze details and excel in linear analysis
• Right-brained or lateral thinkers think across categories, recognize themes and synthesize
The power of knowing how you and others are wired. Be curious to understand how people who see things differently came to see them that way, try to understand where they came from. Then, seek to understand our and others’ strengths and weaknesses to get the best results out of everyone. One of the ways is using behavior and personality assessments to get a clearer and more objective reading of people and yourself.
The Power of Habit. Habit is inertia, the strong tendency to keep doing what you have been doing. It can take time to change a habit, yet habit is the easiest way to change our behavior. In nurturing new habits, be patient with yourself and others, provide incentives that are tailored to the individual, and celebrate small wins to create positive momentum.
Putting it all together: “Evolution is life’s greatest accomplishment and reward.”
EFSV members’ insights
Members at the EFSV found the above four guiding principles for business and life tremendously inspiring and helpful. They shared with each other their own new insights and discussed the value of establishing, recognizing and evolving key principles as leaders of organizations.
Some principles of leaders of the Executive Forums Silicon Valley Forum that have contributed to their business and personal success include:
“Do Right by Others”,
“Be Open to Perspectives that Questions Your Assumptions”, “
“Care About People”,
“We Don’t Win Alone”,
“Be Comfortable Holding Multiple Conflicting Points of View”,
“Be Grounded in Reality and Discover Others Points of View”, and
“Never Be Outworked by Others.”
Through learning to specifically identify and declare our principles, we as leaders can respond to the challenges of the day in a consistent and principled manner to help our companies thrive.
If you are interested in participating or learning more about becoming a member at Executive Forum Silicon Valley, please contact @GlennPerkins at gperkins@executiveforums.com or call 408-901-0321. For more information visit https://execforumssv.com/
