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“Cash is King” Doesn’t Tell the Whole Story
You’ve heard the expression: Revenue is vanity. Profit is sanity. Cash is king. Best I can tell, this quote comes from Alan Miltz, who co-wrote Scaling Up with the great Verne Harnish. And the sentiment is accurate. I know it. You know it. We all know it. If you run out of cash, you’re screwed.
All Business Leaders Think About Quitting
Welcome to the four and final post in our series on leading bravely. Here’s the dirty little secret all business leaders share. Every single one of them has thought about quitting. Correction. Every single one of them thinks about quitting. On a regular basis. For me, it’s like clockwork. Every 3-6 months, I swear I’m going to hang the whole entrepreneur thing up.
In Business Decisions, Aim for Directionally Accurate
Welcome to the third post in our four-part series on leading bravely. It’s sometimes hard to do the right thing. Even when you’re 100% sure the thing you’re doing is right. A perfect example: realizing an employee is no longer a fit for your organization. You may be certain that letting them go is the right thing to do (for the business and, ultimately, for them as well). But—and this is especially true if you have history and really love them as a person—that doesn’t make it easy.
Leading Bravely Part 2: Protecting Your Confidence
To act bravely, you need confidence. You need the confidence to believe that what you’re doing is probably right. You also need confidence to bolster you when you’re inevitably wrong. If you’re emotionally wrecked every time an idea doesn’t quite work out as expected, you’ll quickly lose faith in yourself. How do you know when your confidence might be faltering? You’ve experienced the symptoms.
Why Leading Bravely Is Key To Entrepreneurial Success
Over the course of my career, I’ve worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs and thousands of leaders. And there’s one quality that the most successful of them all have in common. It’s not intelligence. It’s not charisma. It’s bravery. The best—and maybe the only—way to be a truly great leader is to be brave.
You Don’t Need to Act Like a Leader: Do This Instead
Do you have a person in your life—an employee, a relative, a passing acquaintance—who just gets under your skin? And whether it’s due to circumstance or an ingrained belief that you need to be nice, you grit your teeth and pretend to get along? Pretend not to see their flaws? Pretend, essentially, that you have a positive relationship with them, when the reality couldn’t be further from the truth? Here’s the thing: the only person you’re really fooling in this scenario is yourself.
Iteration vs Innovation: Which Matters More in Business?
To iterate or to innovate? What, actually, is the difference? I wasn’t sure myself until a few months ago, when I had the opportunity to listen to, and learn from, a genius named Duncan Wardle. Wardle’s creative credentials are as bona fide as you can get. And he articulates the concepts of iteration and innovation better than anyone else I’ve encountered. Here’s my highlight reel from Duncan Wardle’s talk—and what I’ve learned about the importance of iteration AND innovation in business.