When I hear people say things like, “I want to be famous”, “I want to have my own television show”, or “I want to be like Oprah”, the first thing I think is…’do you really?’ One of the problems with today’s world is we glorify people on television, in the media, and who we have termed ‘worth watching’. Billions of people watch the royal wedding to comment on who is wearing what and if you ‘like it or not’. Everyone has an opinion on famous people even though you never have (and probably never will) meet them. Just because you know of them doesn’t mean you know them.

Seth Godin recently blogged about this phenomenon where someone didn’t like Angelia Jolie. When asked what movie they didn’t like, they said, “Oh, I haven’t seen any of her movies, I just don’t like her”. When you enter the public eye, everyone (and I mean everyone) has an opinion on who you are. They know you as they see you, not as who you are. The criticism doesn’t matter if you know that the work you do is important and contributes; it must be horrible if your only measurement of success is public opinion.

Wanting to ‘be like Oprah’ is just talk by people. If you truly wanted to be like Oprah, you’d get yourself a job in media at the age of 17, position yourself to have a talk show, do so for 25 years successfully, and then you could be Oprah. What most people mean when they say they want to be Oprah is:

• I wish people respected me like they respect Oprah
• I wish I had the money and power like Oprah
• I wish I had the houses and the lifestyle like Oprah
• I wish people thought me important like they do Oprah
• I wish people would add me to their list of people they want to meet

You know what Oprah wishes for?

• To walk down the street by herself, unmolested by fans
• To have a meal out without security having to hold crowds back
• For their not to be public discussions about her sexuality and her relationships
• That people focus on the good she does rather than things that happen outside of her control
• That people wouldn’t obsess about if she is gaining or losing weight

When people become famous, their lives change. If they worked at becoming famous just to be famous, it’s going to be a big disappointment for them. Things they took for granted (eating a meal quietly, going for a walk with their kids, etc.) all changes when people start to know who you are. You have a great deal of fans but sadly, a great deal of critics who all have an opinion of who they think you are.

If you become famous because of your work and your work is your passion, than the ‘becoming a public figure’ is probably a bit more bearable. If however you think that being famous is going to ‘fix’ something in you or will be your ‘quick trip to riches’, you are going to find yourself sadly mistaken. Jonas Salk, created the Polio vaccine, Van Gogh created beautiful pieces of art but was a poor throughout most of his life. Then we have the “Snookies” and the “Situations” of the world. That are famous, but absolutely contribute nothing to society other than acting as today’s jesters.

If you are driven by the external affirmation of your peers, rather than by what really floats your boat (your driving mission in life), you will find yourself after many years of climbing the slippery slope either regretting the fact that you never became famous or worse, regretting the fact that you did.

Recently, I’ve been chatting with professionals who are in the role of CEO for their companies (the size of these companies ranging from $500,000 in revenues through to one with a market cap of $250,000,000). Although these professionals are extremely diverse (both in age, style, experience, and industry), they were all struggling with the same question…what is a CEO supposed to do. All of them are engaged with their teams, they are all prepared to roll up their sleeves and get the job done. I thought it timely to discuss the true role of a CEO.

*Please note that this is directed at leaders of companies that have teams underneath them. If you are the CEO of your company and it is only you, this information is not going to fit.

The role of a CEO is to:

• Set the strategic direction for the organization.
• Engage in high end meetings with other leaders in client/alliance organizations.
• Ensure all senior management (C-Suite) have the right tools and teams in place to achieve organizational objectives.
• Engage with the board (if publicly traded) or investor (not necessary publicly traded) and offer commentary on the direction of the company.
• Manage the revenue direction of the company ensuring that it is trending in the right way.
• To hold the ‘brand’ of the company and model how they expect the senior management to conduct themselves.
• Keeping everyone’s eye on the bottom line of the business. Everything should be bottom line driven in a ‘for-profit’ business.
• Examining the corporate structure of the company to make sure it is set up properly (from a development point of view)
• Support, coach, and mentor their senior leadership.

The things that CEOs do that they shouldn’t:

• Do the work for their senior management
• Do the tactical components of the company’s initiatives (this should be done by others; the role of the CEO is strategic).
• To trouble shoot tactical issues (this is the responsibility of managers underneath the CEO).
• Hiring, managing, firing of non-management positions.
• Bird-dogging opportunities (a CEO should be examining deals that come in through a staff member, not routing out the opportunities on their own).
• Excessive travel that is non-investor related.

The CEO should have the most responsibility and do the least amount of work on a daily basis. Not to say they are sitting on their hands, but they should be reviewing the work produced by others and giving direction. To use an over-simplified analogy, the CEO of a company is the Owner of a Sports Team. Their C-Suite Management (CFO, COO, Director of Marketing) are the coaching staff and the individuals that oversee the stadium the games get played in, player acquisition, and so on. The players of the team are the front line employees. The fans are the customers. When using this example, almost every CEO I know thinks they are the coach on the bench, giving players direction. No! They are the ones overseeing the whole organization, not the tactical (what’s happening on the ice or the field).

Just because someone holds the CEO title, doesn’t mean they know how to do the job. The challenge for most CEOs (often the Alpha personality) is that to be an effective CEO, you need to do less, not more. Great CEOs have the right teams to do the work; CEOs that are having challenges often do the work themselves that their teams should be doing for them.

“Do or do not…there is no try”

“Named must your fear be before banish it you can.”

“Size matters not. Judge me by my size do you?”

“[Luke:] I can’t believe it. [Yoda:] That is why you fail.”

“Always in motion is the future.”

“You will find only what you bring in.”

“So certain are you. Always with you it cannot be done. Hear you nothing that I say?”

“Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.”

What does all this mean? To overly simplify it, it means that you are the master of your own destiny. What to focus on and practice is what you get. If you live in fear, have limiting beliefs, are fearful of losing things, or too stubborn to listen to new advice, you get what you get. Sometimes in business, you need to clear your mind, consider what serves you  (and what blocks you) and take steps to train your mind for success if you want to be successful. It isn’t that you won’t have negative thoughts (I still do), but as soon as you go there, you need to hit the reset and remember that you have control over the outcome when you take responsibility and train your mind to look for the solution, rather than obsessing about the problem. What Yoda quotation most resonates with you young Jedi?

Comments welcome…

Enter stage right…a program. Everyone benefits from having a program they follow. Whether it be learning the flute, how to drive, a new language, or how to cook, there is a recipe that you go through to get the end result. How successful would you be at Spanish if you never learned any of the words or how to read it and instead just decided to ‘wing it’ if you get the opportunity. How successful would you be driving if you didn’t get in a car? Business acumen comes from learning the fundamentals of business and then putting them into practice. The fear people have in business relates to a negative happening. In every case, their inaction or decision not to take a proactive approach to the situation almost guarantees that the situation that they are afraid of will happen. Here are some recent case studies that I have witnessed where professionals allowed their fear to get in the way of their success and ended up fulfilling the fearful prophecy.

1. Timing

One colleague was considering making a career move but feared that she wasn’t as talented as others on her team. She decided that she would wait to see who would throw their ‘hat in the ring’ and decide if she were stronger or weaker than them. If she were stronger, she’d throw her hat in the ring; if weaker, she would wait for the next promotion to come along. Her fear was centered in looking foolish or weak to her superiors and feeling that this would negatively affect her reputation. A bunch of people threw their names in for consideration over the following two weeks and after she did her competitive assessment and realized she was the strongest candidate, she put her name in. Her boss called her in the day after she applied and told her how disappointed she was that she had waited to put her name in. When the management team had looked at the candidates, they thought she hadn’t been interested (as she hadn’t put her name in at that point) and now second guessed her ability to capture opportunity. Long story short…didn’t get the job and is now looking for another role in a different company. she

2. Money

One client was so concerned with a now positive cashflow, that she refused to spend money on staff. She was enjoying positive cashflow for the first time in her three-year old business and was worried that if it stopped, she wouldn’t be able to pay for the sales rep she wanted to hire. She deferred the hire to the point where she was trying to do the sales and run the business at the same time (neither totally successful and balls dropping). Her contracts completed with her clients and without clients in the sales funnel, she went from feast to famine in 30 days. If she had invested a bit of money in a sales rep who could have helped her fill her ‘funnel’, she would have had consistent work and enjoyed continued success. Her fear of not having money blocked her from making the decisions that would ensure she had money.

3. Fear of the unknown

One of the best characteristics for a business professional to have is curiosity. There is not one expert on the planet that was born an expert. Everyone started knowing nothing, getting curious, getting interested, acquiring knowledge, practicing skills, becoming proficient, gaining expertise, and now are leaders. The same is true for business. Not one of us started with innate knowledge. It is all learned. Some theoretical; some practical. The practical stuff is the magic. When you don’t know…don’t avoid. Instead get curious, gather information/find someone who can teach you, and start your path to expertise.

Fear is an acronym for (False Expectations Assumed Real). You can either let your passion and belief in yourself drive your business or you can allow fear to take the driver’s seat and run your model into the ground. In the end, it is (and always will be) , your decision. Make the right one!

My dad always said, “You can play now and pay later or pay now and play later. If you play now, it will always be more expensive down the road.” What he was teaching us is that you need to put the work in BEFORE you reap the rewards. With the credit/housing crisis here in the US, it shows that many people tried to ‘live the lives they wanted’ before they had earned them. Buying houses they can’t afford, cars they can’t service, and vacations that they pay on their credit cards. People are being wiped out because they didn’t do the work first. They wanted to ‘pretend’ that they had arrived before ever paying the piper.

I’m spending a month in the tropics which feels both relaxing, but more important, gratifying. While my friends were all getting the big homes, the big cars, and taking the big vacations with the impressive pictures…I was building. I didn’t vacation, I didn’t buy the big house, I didn’t buy the new cars, and I didn’t jaunt all over the map to party. Instead…I worked. I know that paying now, would allow me to play later without worry. Here I am. The stuff in your life will not make you happy just by having it. You can go run up your credit cards and live like a rock star and that will bring you momentary happiness. Then the dread will set in when you realize the Visa bill is coming tomorrow and you are paying 19% interest on a balance you can’t possibly cover.  A friend emailed me bitching that I get to take “all this time off” and he gets two weeks of a year. I told him that it isn’t unfair, it is that we have made different decisions. He chose the ‘security of a job’ and I chose to build an asset that created revenue. Remember that security that you crave may keep things out (unemployment, no money, etc.) but it also keeps you in (doesn’t allow you time to explore things you are passionate about, spending time with people you enjoy, having the freedom to choose.

Building a business is the single most important time investment you can make in your long term ability to ‘play’. It will generate revenues that allow you to sneak away without financial hardship. You may work very hard for 1,2,3,5 years, but in the end, that investment will return to you over and over again. When you see people enjoying the spoils of their hardwork, don’t feel sorry for yourself. Instead, find the inspiration to model what they have done so that you can enjoy what the enjoy. It isn’t about taking risks, it’s about getting past instant gratification (which we are all to focused on). Stay your course, build your model in a sustainable model, and enjoy all that being a business owner has to offer. We all start with the same options. How will you leverage yours?

For me…I’m needed back at the pool. There’s a drink waiting…

Over the last month, I keep on coming across women who are miserable in their jobs. They don’t feel acknowledged, they feel overworked, underpaid, not appreciated, they work with idiots, their bosses are idiots, and they start to dread Sunday nights. This is not good. THIS IS NOT GOOD! Life is to short to spend time in an environment that you hate. I decided over a decade ago to leave the corporate ranks and start a business. I gave my notice at 1:26PM on a Friday and never looked back. That….was….stupid… I left without a plan and nearly killed myself getting the company up and running. I made it harder than it needed to be because I let my job take me to the brink of desperation. I was in a place where I’d rather lose everything than go into my office another day. Hindsight is 20/20 and looking back now, there were a lot of things I would have done differently. Below is the advice I would have given to my decade younger self when in a position moving towards total desperation in a job.

1. Take some time to ponder what it is that you want to do and then how you can make money doing it. I left my job and started a research firm because it was the only work I knew I could do well. I wanted to do a bit of traveling, learn a lot more about business, and see my work create change. I moved into the realm of Economic Development almost immediately because I followed stories closely (in the media) of things that were happening in my home town. If I had known what the hell I was doing, I would have started getting curious about the role I could play in Economic Development (while I still had a job) and look to create initiatives in the workplace that would serve my boss AND give me skills that I could transition out. I never took time to be curious in my job because I was too busy hating it. I let the situation control me rather than controlling the situation.
2. Talk to people doing what you want to do. The best place to get information on what you are interested in doing is to look at those doing it. Anything from going to conferences, reading websites of those in the market space, doing media queries, attending networking events, and even extending coffee invitations can all give you the necessary pieces to get clear on what you might want to do. Remember though that people lie. If things are crappy, they will make them out better than they are; if they have found a ‘goldmine’ in the market, they’ll play it down. You have to be an ‘investigator’. Put a ‘case’ together on what is happening in that market you are targeting and cross reference, validate, fact check, and do some primary research (where you collect the data firsthand) and start putting the ‘real’ story together in your head.
3. Change your language. I used to say, “How the hell am I going to have the life I want working in this job?” That was the wrong conversation to have with myself. What I should have said was, “What is the ideal life I have in mind for myself and how can this job (in the short term) help me get what I want?” I was so busy being negative in where I was at that I forgot that the company I worked for was riddled in opportunities, I was just to mad/blind/pissed off/head in ass to see them.
4. Make a plan. You control the timing. If you have ever seen the movie “Sleeping with the Enemy” with Julia Roberts, you’ll know what I’m talking about. She is married to an abusive asshole and thus decided to make her leave. She starts stashing money, takes swimming lessons, and prepares to make her move when the timing is right. Then she creates all the opportunities required to make the transition. This is smart and something I didn’t do. I quit and then figured out what I was going to do, how I was going to do it, who I was going to do it for, how I was going to fund it, etc. I made it harder than I needed it to be because I didn’t take time to plan. If you are so miserable where you are at, then put in some time to coming up with a plan to make your exit. When the plan feels right, the planets align, you get a ‘sign’, whatever, you can make the leap knowing where you are going to land.
5. Put your plan into action. Start taking the steps to make it a reality. Good ideas are a dime a dozen and there are many poor souls that are retiring at 65 (from jobs they hated), that had a great idea in their 20′s. The difference between a visionary and a dreamer is a visionary puts their dream to work.
6. Find an adviser. Find someone that can quickly push you to the right model and guide you over the speed bumps. I hear women say all the time, “I can’t afford to have a business coach/personal coach/business adviser work with me.” Ummm….you are selling your soul each day you go to a job you hate. A couple of hundred dollars a month isn’t worth it for you? Getting good support isn’t thousands of dollars a month. It’s a couple hundred dollars. Probably less than you are spending self-medicating your shitty situation with shopping/martinis/travel/Jimmy Choos. What’s your life worth?
7. Start today. Women are too loyal. I recently had a colleague that was thinking about jumping from a shitty job into her own business, but her nerves/fear/life got in the way of it. She decided to forgo the dream and stay in her shitty job because she is: loyal/responsible to her family/nervous it won’t happen/etc. None of this is wrong but I know in time, it will be a decision she will likely regret. Shitty jobs and business situations rarely fix themselves. When women are considering a change in life, they think of how it will effect everyone else first and then themselves. This is a dangerous game to play in that you always come in last and it’s from your own doing.  I hear women bitch and moan about their jobs and I always ask, “What are you doing to change things up?” The answer always is, “Nothing right now…” Well princess, life isn’t shit and giggles. It is up to you to make it what you want it to be. With the right plan, passion, direction, guidance, and effort, it can be exactly what you want, if you claim it.

Take a step today. Don’t waste your bosses time googling stuff when you are supposed to be working, but look at how you can best use your time/resources to move yourself to the next level. Here are some quick suggestions on how to make that happen:

• Start attending and and all networking events with an intention to build your professional network
• On your lunch hour, start doing some research surrounding your ‘dream work’ and start making a business case for yourself on it. Be discreet!
• Start learning everythign you can about the thing you want to do. If you want to be a professional speaker, go see speakers, read the blogs of speakers, talk to event planners about how they hire speakers, read books on building a speaking business, track speakers that you would most like to model, work on topics you would like to speak about, make a list of the top characteristics of a great speaker, and so on.
• Commit 4 hours a week to developing your plan. This could be sitting in a coffee shop, talking with mentors, interviewing people in the market you want to enter, reading websites of companies doing what you want to do, etc. Invest in you and you’ll always get a return.
• Find a coach. If you have personal shit in the way, work with a personal coach. If you want to build a business model or make a career leap, find a business coach. It is  important that whatever model you consider, it must feel ‘right’ for you. Sometimes a coach might be the only person you are completely honest about your goal with. Interview a handful of coaches and choose the one that ‘feels’ right for you.

It isn’t about you ‘cheating’ on your job. It is about you cheating yourself out of the life you want. Time is precious and you are never going to get today back. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. Consider how you are going to make 2010 exceptional for you and what you need to have in place to make it so.

Best,

Chris.

I’m in the process of forming five new profit models right now. I was corrupted, long ago, by the sweet, sultry seduction of Capitalism. More is more and less is less. In a market like this, the strong rise to the top and the weak wither. I’m okay with this. There hasn’t been a more constructive, affordable, and exciting time to start a new business, or re-work an existing model. In upcoming weeks, I will show you my new ‘babies’ and give you details on what they do, how they make money, and the big picture for them. My partners have varying levels of skills they bring to the table. Some what to have a company that can feed the ego, others want one that will make them wealthy. I want both.

I have a lot of interest from people wanting me in a new venture. Some want the start-up costs, but most want the direction to take it to a big level. This is good for the ego, but what I must watch myself with is deciding if this partner can make things happen as well, or if they are going to limp into the business expecting me to chew their food for them. I think I have gotten better over the last few years stripping the mud out, but it can still seep in. What’s exciting is I have two good friends that I’m exploring a working model with. Doing business with friends is traditionally a bad idea, but having worked with one for 10 years and the other for 7, I’ve seen how they do business and I’m comfortable. What I love is that I’m a starter and they are finishers. I get the fire going, and they keep the fire going. That’s a good partnership for me. When partners want me to start it, manage it, tweak it, fix it, and they watch it and tell me what else it needs, it’s like having someone in the kitchen telling you how to season your food. If you aren’t a chef, get out of the kitchen. If you want to be a chef, get your pots and pans and get cooking!

Here are some questions I ask myself and you should too, if exploring new business models:

1. What role will each of us play?
2. Who brings what to the table?
3. Why are either person interested in the arrangement?
4. What type of investment (money and more importantly time, is required?)
5. Can either side keep their word and their end of the bargain?
6. Who has the most to gain/lose from the relationship?
7. Is this worth my time to be involved?

• I have one partner who moans that “he didn’t get enough time with me when we first started our model.” When asked if he called when he needed help, he replies, “No, I knew you were busy.” Well Tiger, if you want something, you need to ask for it. I’m in business, not mind reading. When he tells people this, it makes him look old and weak. Especially to other people I work with who know I return their calls.

• Another partner calls all the time with opportunities and I say to her, “What the hell do you want?” when I pick up the phone. She says, “To make you some goddamn money.” Then I say, “Please continue, I have all day for you.”
• A third partner is an amazing closer. He brings in big deals, but consistency is a challenge. We fight over breakfast, come up with a plan, follow the plan, fall of the wagon, fight over breakfast, come up with a plan… It might sound stressful, but it’s fun because he has potential and I think I beat a work ethic into him. Might be a losing battle, but I’m confident. There is no one better at engaging people than he is. I’d like to bottle it and sell it.

When both parties are coming to the table, business is fun. When one is hauling the other along, or a model is stalling, that’s not a lot of fun and it isn’t going to get me fired up to focus on it. Now with over 20 companies under my belt, I get how this song goes. I’m not a big fan of sharing my pie, unless the person coming to the table is bringing some ice cream. When you are looking at joint ventures, consider the personality first, the business model second, and finally the profit model. If all of those make sense, give it a go. If it’s a great model with the wrong person, get out. If it is the right person with the wrong model, get out. And be clear with what you want from the relationship. I’m in a position now where I’m very clear what I want out of a model and then I ask for it. The strength in this style of negotiation is I’m not focused on doing the deal. If I get what I want, I’m good to go (granted it’s the right person, model, and profitability), and if it isn’t a model that works for me, I wish them the best and bow out.

I will do business with almost anyone if the model interests me, the person can get it done and can be trusted, and there is money to be made. I’m open to hearing about any opportunity but unless I can answer the above questions effectively, I don’t put the model into play. Follow my advice friends and make sure of what you are doing, who you are doing it with, and how it is going to roll, before you commit. Remember, you can always back out if it isn’t working. Only death is forever and working with a boat anchor is death, trust me.

C/

I’m taking some time away from the dreaded blackberry this week. I remember back in 1995, I was working on a political campaign and I had a cell phone. I thought I was hot shit and would have it in my hand all the time. It was status back then. Now I have two cell phones, a blackberry, and a monthly bill that circles $500.00 That cool toy has become a leash in business. People assume that because you have a blackberry, they can email you any time of day or night and you should respond in seconds. No, I will not imitate Pavlov’s Dog and bark every time that annoying little red light starts to flash. Instead, I will stop forwarding my email to it, use it only to check restaurant reviews, and give it an overdue ‘time-out’. Will the businesses come crashing down? Will partners revolt and start burning crosses? I don’t think so, but like anything in business, you need to see if things ‘hold water’ by testing them. Let the testing begin…

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/