Insights

The disconnected and distracted company is the new normal. The glue that binds people together has withered away. Business as an efficient machine and the exponential growth of technology, the internet and smart phones has turned people into isolated islands and drones. Even worse we are disconnected from our customers.

It’s time to rethink how we do business. It’s time to reboot. The way forward is to reconnect with ourselves, with our teams, with our customers, with people, to redesign our lives at home and at work to be human centered. Business is now about doing work that matters, to make a difference and to build community, to reconnect.

Business now is about purpose, our values, it’s all about people, it’s about meaning and fulfillment. It’s people to people not B2B or B2C. How do you make the shift? First you step out and enter new conversations, and explore the new possible. Get back to what’s really important.

Life and business can be hard going. Sometimes things go south and stack up for even the most resilient of us. Events and people can undermine our well being, emotionally, mentally, and physically. We can end up dreading what’s next, and not knowing what to do. It happens to all of us.

Getting things in perspective, getting back to what’s important, finding a way forward is easier said than done. Fear can be paralyzing. It might seem strange to say, the value in that is sometimes you just need to stop, to step back, be still, breathe, take a break, speak to someone, go for a walk, and check in.

A powerful way to check in with yourself everyday. It’s a simple question – What I am happy about in my life today? Even if you have to stretch the truth a bit to start with. It gets you back to you and what’s most important. It helps you to activate your internal compass. It helps you make new choices.

What we love, what is most important to us gives us purpose and meaning. When we have that we can make a difference in the world.

Imagine doubling your business. Doubling cash-flow and velocity of cash. Doubling profitability, productivity and performance. What if you could do it without working harder and do it in the same or less time with the same number of people? How? Most would say it’s not possible. But how could you?

There is one thing you can do. Focus on better numbers. Better business accounting alone can double a business in 12 months or less. Most businesses are looking at the wrong numbers at the wrong time. Big picture numbers like revenue, expenses and net profit are results not drivers.

If you want to double your business in 12 months or less start with better business accounting looking at the right numbers at the right time. Numbers your team can connect to and drive. The numbers behind the numbers that truly drive your business. Look under the hood, it will change everything.

We all know that disruption is coming. Where it’s coming from and how to manage it is the million-dollar question. Most don’t realise that the disruption that could really hurt us is more than likely going to come from outside our industry. We don’t even see it coming. It seems obvious after the impact, yet we are blindsided.

Take the case of the car wash industry in Buenos Aires Argentina. It had suffered dramatically declining revenues almost overnight even though there were more cars on the road and Argentinians are proud of clean cars and time poor. Revenues halved for no seeming reason. What happened?

It took some digging to find out why this was happening and the result was unexpected: it was not water restrictions or anything in the industry you would expect. Instead it was the dramatic improvement in weather forecasting technology – people were not getting their cars washed if it was going to rain.

How are you informing yourself about the trends that could impact your business? What are you reading? Which conferences are you attending? Smart business owners are casting their information net very wide, including outside their industry. No industry is immune. Rethinking business is not an option any more.

When was the last time you learnt something that would help you be a better business owner? When was the last time you went to something designed to strengthen your skills as a leader?

One of the biggest challenges business owners face as their team grows is to make the shift from being the chief doer to someone who can get things done through others. If you’re not working on yourself, you are the biggest chokepoint in your business. Your team and your business cannot grow more or faster than you do.

So what learning are you doing?