Christopher V. Flett

Who am I kidding. I LOVE criticism. I know that might seem weird. With the touchy-feely world the way it is, we aren’t supposed to criticise nor are we supposed to be happy to get criticised. With the book, I had my share of critics and praise. The praise is nice, but the critics made my day, especially when they were angry. When the reviewer from  Business Week called me the ‘Shock Jock of Business Management‘, I think she meant it as an insult. I took it as a compliment. I love that title and use it in different promotions.

I grew up in a home where scrutiny  and criticism were the dishes of the day. I was expected to be my best, or get called onto the mat to answer for it. Criticism, if served with the best intent, is a tool for development. The only thing is that the person giving the criticism has to have the expertise to do so.

When I watch American Idol, America’s Got Talent, or any of the other white noice on television, I’m not watching the talent and neither are you. I’m watching for the horrible singers to get destroyed by the judges. My question is always, “Don’t they have any friends or family?” When you sound like a cat getting murdered,  and your family encourages you to get up in front of millions to showcase your talent, they are either:

• tone deaf
• in-bred
• scared to tell you how horrible you are
• sadistic bastards

If I had a family member that brutal that wanted to get up on stage, I’d lock them up in the basement until the show is over. I love it when the horrible ones look at the judges and say, “Well I don’t agree with you. I think I am good and you don’t know everything.” Well Tiger, these are the people that control your destiny in the palms of their hands. In the example of American Idol, you have a best selling artist, a song writer, a music producer, and a record executive. I think they know if sound like a whale in heat. I’m not expert and I know that they suck and that their families have abandoned them and common sense.

With anything, take criticism with a grain of salt. “Never take compliments to your head and criticisms to your heart.” I welcome criticism from reliable sources. But…that person has to instill credibility that they have the expertise to criticise. If you are at work or in your business and someone makes a ’suggestion’ on what you could be doing better, ask them ‘when they have done it that way and why?” You’ll often see a deer-in-the-headlights look back. They haven’t done it, but consider themselves an expert. If you are an A-Personality, you are likely your greatest critic (this is true for me). Only truly accept criticism if that person:

A) Have the knowledge base to critique

B) You’ve asked them for the feedback and

C) You are going to actually do something with it.

I believe that we all know when we hit a home run or when we strike out. But if you don’t, ask someone you trust who has your best interest at heart. And then take action to get better, stronger, or in-tune and give it another shot. We learn the most from our mistakes, not our victories.

C/

Is the recession really a bad thing? I get that there are a lot of people that are now having to take stock in what they have, but isn’t this a good thing on some level? There are a couple of things I really like about the recession. Here they are in quick point:

• I’m heading to the UK soon. It used to be $7,800 for a trip. Now it is $4,099. I’m going to save $3,700 on this trip.
• There is less competition on what we do because the people who were coaching for something fun to do, have now retreated into the shadows.
• Everyone needs to explore new business ideas. There are business models that look for new angles all the time (this is the Ghost CEO where we have new ideas all the time, sometimes to our frustration) and those that are forced to explore new things.
• Great business leaders are coming out of the woodwork and joining our team.
• It is the time to be exceptional. Those that step into it will get rich now, and richer later when things correct. War makes generals. Now is the time to get your experience and eat it up. Step up and stand out!

Fiona Walsh and I were talking a few weeks back. She is speaking to a group of professionals and wanted to offer them a tool. Something they could use after her presentation to build business. Many in the audience wouldn’t likely be a client fit for us, but they should have access to a resource to continue on after hearing Fiona’s keynote. Born were the ePACKS. These ePACKS are business development resources that are industry specific and are filled with business building tools that we use with our clients. Clients on a budget can now access the power of the Ghost CEO from the comfort of their homes. We have put two of these packs up (one for Photographers and one general service business tool.) Without promotion, we have had 22 downloads from people all over the world, who happened upon the tools. This is with no direct marketing  at all and all since last Tuesday.

I’m a bit shocked at how quickly it is taking off. We are less than 30 days into this model and we have 30+ affiliates promoting the ePACKS, and meetings set up with organizations we have relationships with, to partner on these tools. An unbelievable opportunity.We will provide the tools, the organization will share them with their members. Their members will get access to the most powerful tools in business development today.

What about you? What do you have in your business life that needs a slight shift of angle. A different way of looking at things. What opportunities can you find in adversity? By the end of July, we’ll have between 15-20 ePACKS available to the market, with more added each day. Full of worksheets, strategies, and tactics, we will now be able to reach even a greater market, without having to kill ourselves physically. Now I have every company I’m involved in, following suite. How can we service a larger market, with authentic tools, that deliver on our promise? That’s the question of the day and the challenge we are up to. My trip to the UK is to work with our existing coaching team there as well as to meet with other business coaches who might fit into our model. Rather than paying for the trip out of company resources, it is likely this new digital strategy model will bankroll the trip.

It isn’t about abandoning your old model in favour of a new one. It is about believing you can have it all and then going out and making it happen. It all takes time however. The first ePACK took me a solid week to produce, and I already had the tools at hand. Luckily, with the sheer volume of clients we’ve worked with, future ePACKS won’t require as much of an investment.

Live big and be big. Now is your time to shine!

C/

I’ve seen it all in business this year. Drama queens, crying babies, emotionally uncontrolled outbursts, and that’s just the guys. I find myself forcing myself to be a swim instructor, when people are looking for a lifeguard. I don’t get why people can’t follow easy to understand rules. I have clients right now that are walking the gray line with me. They know the rules and they are one toe in and one toe out. Little do they know, they are on their way out. It isn’t personal, it’s business. When I start caring more then they do, it’s time to finish the relationship.

A week ago I was meeting with the big kahuna of a company here in Vancouver. His staff are either top performers or deck meat. He doesn’t know what to do with the deck meat to get them into becoming performers. I asked him if he had clearly stated his expectations. He felt that he had. Upon further probing, he allows bad behaviour so that becomes the norm. Not unlike kids. You can’t let them run with scissors on one day and tell them it’s wrong the next. You need to clearly let them know what you expect of them. Same goes with your colleagues, clients, and employees. He asked me, “what would happen if your employee showed up late for work?” I told them I would write them up and the next time they would be fired. He seemed shocked at this. Here’s the thing. I tell everyone that I work with that I don’t like late. It is disrespectful and if they do it to me (who they work for) they would do it to a client. I don’t like this. If a client is late for me, they are likely late for their clients. I also don’t like this.

Once you outline what your expectations are of people, they will either meet them or not. If they can’t you get rid of them. Clients and employees the same. There will be excuses. These sub-performers will have a lot of excuses for you. if they put the time into having higher standards that they did into explaining why they can’t do something, they’d be successful. But it isn’t your job to change them. If they don’t want to come up to your standards, then natural selection comes into place.

I spent time with a friend that owns a landscaping business. He talked about the lack of work ethic and the copious amount of excuses he gets from domestic labour. Immigrant labour works their assess off, but the guys around here show up 5 minutes late, take an extra 10 minutes for lunch, and simply don’t have high standards for themselves. I’ve been hiring firms in India and Russia ovet the last two quarters. Aside from the work being disgustingly affordable, the work ethic and production is second to none. They get it done because they want more from me. They exceed my expectations to the point where I’m walking around looking for work to give them.

If you find that people aren’t meeting your expectation and you are frustrated (like I am), ask yourself the following questions:

1. Have I been clear on what I’m asking for?
2. Does the person have the ability to do what I’m asking?
3. Deep down, does any part of me question their competency?
4. Am I allowing them to overstep my boundaries or are they causing me to break my own rules?
5. How much time/stress/energy am I wasting managing this relationship?
6. How good would it feel to get rid of this person?
7. If I had a better replacement ready to go, how long would it take me to fire this person from my life?
8. Is this person a problem or a solution to me?
9. Do I look forward to seeing this person?

I’m sure these questions work as well in the personal arena as they do in the professional. Don’t let boat anchors take up space in your professional life. If they can’t get it done, burn them and replace them with someone who wants to be the best and works hard to get there. If there is one thing that reverts me to the old Alpha Male traits that I talk about in What Men Don’t Tell Women About Business, it’s people that waste my time, overstep my boundaries, or can’t get it done. I don’t want excuses. I want you to tell me: A) I can get it done. or B) I can’t get it done. If you can get it done, then do so. If you can’t, then piss off and make room for someone who can.

Cheers,

C/

One of my favourite quotations is: “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog.” I was sharing a story with a friend over lunch this week about my time as a bouncer. I had moved to Northern BC to work in a pulp mill as a first aid attendant. As luck would have it, the mill went on strike the day I arrived so I scrambled for a job. I found one the next day at the Cadillac Ranch, a biker bar near the city centre. They told me I needed to wear cowboy boots, a stetson hat, and a white shirt. They told me that they would start me off at $25.00 an hour. HOLY SHIT! I thought, that was $3 bucks more than I was going to make at the mill. Obviously things turned out in my favour, or so I thought. That night, about 30 minutes after I started, the cooler (head doorman) got stabbed in the thigh. What I didn’t realize was my first night of work we both payday for all the logging camps and also happened to be a night when a Tyson fight was on. The worst night to be a bouncer is on a fight night. Every jack ass who watches the fight and drinks a case of beer magically becomes a boxer and heads out to a night club to test his metal.

That night I worked four hours, got in 7 fights, and spent three hours in the hospital at the end of my shift getting my gums sewn up and my knuckles set (broke knuckles in both fists).  For the next two weeks I thought I needed to be the toughest guy in the bar. I would stand mano a mano with these crazy loggers and get my ass handed to me. I remember kicking a guy in the head, him laughing, pulling me outside, and kicking the shit out of me. Nice way to make a living.

It too me a month to realize that I didn’t need to be the toughest (wasn’t going to happen anyway). Instead I needed to be the quickest. My new strategy was to invite guys outside for a little chat and as soon as they walk out the door, sucker punch them. This didn’t work every time, but my winning average definitely increased. I learned a lot of lessons both wresting on the floor of that bar and nursing my wounds in the hospital after most of my shifts. If you try to be big against those bigger, you will always lose. If you can be quicker or more cunning, you’ll win most bouts.

In a good economy, big business can eat everyone’s lunch because they have lots of labour, lots of money, and lots of clients. A 400 person company can destroy a 2 person company by sheer access to assets. But…when things go sideways, the little guy can start to eat up market share because he/she can move quickly, grab things the big guys take to long to do, and in some cases, get a contract and sub it out to a big guy because they are looking for work to keep their staff busy. Now is the time for little guys to get bigger, while the big guys are withering away. But it takes a plan. Plan = cunning. My plan as a bouncer was to drill my opponent before both feet hit the sidewalk, his strategy was to come out, give me a lickin and leave me there. I thought ahead, thus I ended up ahead. Same goes for a small company. You have all the advantages if you take them. What you have going for you is:

1. Small(er) overhead
2. Can move quickly
3. Can seize opportunities without having to go up the chain of command
4. Can customize offering within the meeting
5. Don’t have to worry about stepping on the toes of other people in the company
6. Are not making decisions based on payroll of 1,000 people
7. You can change your business model tomorrow with little effort. Imagine Starbucks abandoning coffee and going into Root Beer.
8. You can hire people, laid off by the big guys, as contractors for your company. You get their experience and expertise, you only pay them when you need them, and they are used to working as employees so they are cheaper then hiring other companies.

You need to be strategic right now. If you hear a company is doing layoffs, look to meet the people getting layed off and find out who the company’s clients are. Start a conversation with those new targets and look to see if you can grab some work away. When the target says, “we are really happy with Company X“, you say, “if you should feel any dip in service because they are laying off 500 people, give us a call. We intend to hire about of the talent they are laying off.”

Fist fighting is like business during a recession. There are no rules. There isn’t any playing fair. These big companies will roll over you in strong markets. It is up to you to take advantage of the situation and grab yourself some free business. They are battening down the hatches; you are putting the sales up and sailing into the storm. For professional women, this can be hard. Going on the offensive can feel weird. Get past this. It is your time to shine. If you need inspiration, watch Elizabeth – The Golden Age. There is a part when Queen Elizabeth is dealing with the Spanish minister who is telling her to bow to them, or he is going to kick the shit out of England. It’s one of my favourite movie scenes of all time.

Queen Elizabeth I: Go back to your rathole! Tell Philip I fear neither him, nor his priests, nor his armies. Tell him if he wants to shake his little fist at us, we’re ready to give him such a bite he’ll wish he’d kept his hands in his pockets!

Spanish Minister: You see a leaf fall, and you think you know which way the wind blows. Well, there is a wind coming, Madame, that will sweep away your pride. [turns to leave with his ministers]

Queen Elizabeth I: I, too, can command the wind, sir! I have a hurricane in me that will strip Spain bare when you dare to try me!

——–

We are looking at years of challenging markets before everyone gets fat in business again. Now is the time for you to mark your territory, take from those who are playing defensive and get assertive. Dire Straights said it best, “sometimes you’re the windshield, sometimes you’re the bug.” Which will you be?

I don’t play well with others. I try, god knows I try. But I just don’t like it. It’s not that I don’t like doing work with others. I do…some people. I guess it’s just that I see people in business looking for me to do everything for them. Fine for clients, not great with alliances. I like to know the role I play and the role they play. When these roles are defined, I like that. When they are muddied, I want to take my ball and go play by myself. Here are two examples. One of me playing nicely, the other not so much.

Example 1. Me playing well with others.

Went to a meeting with one of my coaches on Friday. We had lunch with one of her clients and before we went in, I asked her: “What role do you want me to play and what role do you want to play?” She told me what she wanted me to do and what she wanted to do. We went in the meeting. Had an engaging conversation with the client, she charted a course of action for the three of us, we left, debriefed on the way back, and it felt good. No drama, no struggle. Two independent people engaging in mutually beneficial work and each doing what we do without needing the other to make it happen. She showed up and I showed up. We did our thing and moved the opportunity forward. This type of situation I LIKE (said with a Borat accent).

Example 2. Me not playing well.

I met with a US alliance last time I was in Seattle. We had discussed a course of action to acquire some new opportunities. I’m the planner; he’s the doer. We sat over dinner discussing the different goals we had for June and what needed to get done in the next 30 days. Two weeks after the meeting after hearing nothing, I called him. He had got caught up on something else (personal) and was wondering if I could ‘help’ him get his part done. “No asshole. I’m not going to do your part and my part and share the money with you. Not interested. Alliance done. Good bye.” I’m not interested in playing both positions in the relationship. We have an old Alpha Male acronym, FIFO. (Fit in or F*CK off). If you want to be a winner, act like a winner.

Lesson to learn? Don’t let idiots waste your time. Life is too short. If you are doing business with people that can’t get it done (partners, alliances, vendors, etc.) you need to get rid of them. You aren’t going to bring them up; they are going to bring you down. I’m fortunate with the coaches in the Ghost CEO. The are all players. They selfishly want to get it done. I selfishly want them to get it done. Thus we get it done together. Here is the quickest way to get deep-sixed by someone like me in the business arena:

• Be late for a meeting or stand me up. (my schedule is busy and I’m always shocked when someone is 10-15 minutes late for a meeting with me. I have a 5 minute rule now. You are 5 minutes late and haven’t called? I leave and no more meetings for you. I especially like it when you tell me that you ‘didn’t think it would be a big deal.’
• Waste my time. Show up to a meeting unprepared and looking for me to tell you want we are going to talk about. If you want to be my equal, be my equal. Be a boyscout (girl guide) and be prepared.
• Waste my money. Ask me to invest in things to make ‘us money’, only to show me no return on the investment. My money is like my kids. When it leaves my wallet it says, “Daddy, am I ever coming home?” If I can’t answer “Yes!”, then I don’t let the little guys go.
• Question my expertise. You want to do business with me? Then let me do what I do.
• Not do your part. If you show up without having done your stuff. I mentally check out. I might sit there and nod, but I’m plotting your professional death.
• Ask me for help and then not be ready when you asked for it. People all the time ask me for introductions. Then when I go to do them, they tell me to wait. I’m sorry people. I am not sitting here waiting for the chance to build you opportunities. Trick me once, shame on you, trick me twice…I’ll eat your lunch. If you can’t get it done, you lose all credibility with me.
• Don’t tell me how you are going to: help me, make me money, impress me, shock me, etc. If you are going to do it, let your actions speak for themselves.
• Don’t introduce me to wood. ‘Wood’ are people that just don’t get it but are looking to be inspired. I’m not looking to de-throne Tony Robbins. I don’t want to make people give a shit. If you don’t give a shit, stay clear of me please.
• Don’t tell me you are going to do something and then don’t. I can make a list of about 100 people I know who were going to: write a book, travel the world, make a million dollars, get on television, blah, blah, blah, blah. Talk is cheap. Let’s see action. There is never a shortage of people who want to sit down with me to tell me how they still haven’t done what they said they were going to do.
• Don’t owe me money and think that I forgot. I don’t have a problem with people owing money. I have a problem with people owing money and not taking steps to organize payment. If I have to chase you for money, we are going to get serious quickly. Take some steps to show me that you honor your debts.
• You aren’t just like me. Every day I hear someone say, “I’m doing this just like you.” Really, just like me? It doesn’t look like how I do it. It isn’t the same outcome I’m getting. Let me guess…I’m lucky? I was in the right place at the right time? The timing isnt’ right for you? You’ve been really, really busy? Save the drama for your mama pikers. If you were just like me, you’d be kicking the shit out of yourselves trying to achieve your goals rather then sitting back talking about how ‘tough it is.’

Long story short, I prefer to play alone. I like the conversation, I know when I’m being fed a line of bullshit, and I can ignore myself if I’m getting too obnoxious. There are certain people that I don’t tire of connecting with. The Ghost CEO team, Paul Rovers (my partner in the Hanging Pig), and a few other partners I have. The great thing about these people is we can tell each other to fuck off, but we still always deliver on the bottom line.

Moral to the story. If you want to ride the big train, act like you have a ticket.