Seat-of-the-Pants Success is a Myth

By Doug Edgar - January 17, 2010

At some time in the past you likely pondered where you would be in 2010. Are you there?

I can guarantee that anyone who is there got there with formal goals, strategies and hard work. Seat-of-the-pants success is a myth. With a plan we get to where we want to be; without a plan we get to a random place that may or may not be desirable. The seat-of-the-pants myth is powerful because some people end up in wonderful random places. We’d rather see that as the rule even though the adage “fail to plan; plan to fail” is proven over and over again.

Here’s why we need to plan: We make decisions and take actions every day. The accumulation of daily decisions and actions over months and years determines where we will be at a future point in time. Without a plan, our daily decisions are guided by the demands of the moment. With a plan our decisions and actions are guided by our goals. It’s that simple.

We all know about the importance of long term and short term goals (well-defined steps leading to our dreams), business plans (roadmaps for reaching our goals efficiently) and strategies (how we will move our business along the road, avoid potholes, avoid bad drivers, and compete with other drivers going to the same place). So why do so many fail to plan?

As entrepreneurs, we have the freedom to do what we think is right. We are free from bureaucracy, able to follow our instincts and implement our ideas at will. Having a plan can feel bureaucratic. Worse, it can feel like putting on a straightjacket. Many of us left the corporate world to get out of a straightjacket so why on earth would we willingly put one on again?

If a plan feels that way it is a bad plan. A plan is merely the formal, organized expression of our instincts and ideas. Plans communicate our instincts and ideas to employees and other stakeholders. Plans verify to stakeholders that we know what we are doing.

Plans do not bind us to an irrevocable course. They show us the course we are on and give us the ability to change course wisely as needed. Plans can change at any time. Large organizations are like ocean liners that take great distances to change direction or stop. They need long planning horizons. Entrepreneurial organizations are like cruisers that can change direction on a dime. Whereas the liner is committed to a port and can change it only with considerable planning and effort, a cruiser can change ports easily. A cruiser can venture even into uncharted waters provided it has the skill to navigate through them.

Having a plan for our business simply means we are focusing our skills, knowledge, wisdom and instincts on the steps necessary to achieve our dreams. A plan is not a straightjacket, it’s a framework from which we can unleash our instincts and ideas for maximum benefit.

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Chop Wood, Carry Water, Live Well

By Doug Edgar - December 21, 2009

We so easily forget that chopping wood and carrying water are required to live well.

Imagine the life of early settlers. Survival required the completion of daily chores like chopping wood for the fire and carrying water to the kitchen. In winter there was no forgiveness of these chores. They couldn’t be put off until the next day or next week. People couldn’t call in sick or take a mental health day. Nobody had the option of finding a better job. Do and live or don’t and die.

Goals were clear. Chop enough wood to stay warm and cook meals. Carry enough water to quench thirst, cook and bathe. There was no question about whether they liked chopping wood. They just chopped.

Today most of us still need to chop wood. We call it working. There are innumerable types of jobs that we do. They are all the equivalent of chopping wood and carrying water. Few of us have a choice about whether to work or not. Some of us have no choice about the type of work we do. We all have a choice about our attitude towards work.

The choices we have nowadays complicate our thinking. If we don’t like a job we can find another one. Some fall victim to the grass is always greener syndrome and trudge unhappily from job to job. Others think the job is making them unhappy when really it is about working. They try other jobs but work is still there. None of us can escape chopping wood of one sort or another.

Back when there were no options, we could chop wood with a smile, we could be content with having wood to chop, or we could chop wood angrily. We can easily conclude by looking at such a situation that one might as well choose to be happy or content.

In today’s context, we choose to be happy from where we are at. If we don’t like our job we can change our attitude by admitting that we must chop wood whether we like it or not and that, for better or worse, that’s the wood we have to chop for now. We can be content with what we have rather than craving what we don’t have. We can accept our lives as they are now rather than living in the future when our lives might be something else. We can make our own grass greener by tending to it rather than wishing for our neighbor’s grass.

Choosing to be happy with our work as I’ve described it is not the same as choosing to settle. Instead, happiness will increase our drive to improve our lives and the lives of those around us and it will increase our ability to do so successfully.

What is your situation? Are you unhappy because of your job? Happy because of your job? Happy despite your job? Please leave a comment.

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How Values Make or Break Your Business (And You)

By Doug Edgar - December 16, 2009

CheatingThis is the fourth and last post in my series on values. Understanding values and their impact on our lives is particularly important to me.

I spent thirty years in a career that made me terribly unhappy. I lived a double life; successful and confident on the outside; fearful, anxious and frustrated on the inside.

Because I was good at it and because the money was good, I struggled forward expecting that eventually I would “get it.” I read dozens of self-help books trying to fix whatever was broken inside me so that I could become what I portrayed on the outside.

It took me all those years to figure out that what was broken was the outside. My drive came from the misguided value I placed on money and appearances. I figured if I had monetary success everything else would follow. In fact I had it exactly backward. When I figured out what was really important to me I was able to change my life.*

When I look at the wealthiest, self-made people in the world I don’t see people obsessed with money; I see people obsessed with doing things they love or that are important to them. They may be miserly or lavish with their money but they thrive on the work they do. The Forbes list of the world’s billionaires is filled with such people.

Money isn’t the only thing we get wrong. Children take up the family business rather than pursue their own dreams. Both parents work not because they must or want to but because they’ve bought into a double income lifestyle for their kids. Doctors, lawyers and other professionals struggle on even when they find out that they don’t like the job. They won’t walk away from the monetary investment in their education and the psychological investment in their career choice.

I recognize that we can’t all do what we want. We sometimes don’t have a choice. For those that do, please don’t waste another moment. Figure out what is really important to you and start doing it.

So, with that background, let’s move on to the final post in the Values series.

Core Values Part IV

This final post in my series on Core Values is written at a time when Tiger Woods is under intense scrutiny for his personal failings. Tiger Woods Inc. generates tens of millions of dollars of revenues each year. (The figure I heard most recently was $95 million annually.) The brand has been carefully nurtured and developed from the time Tiger was a two year old appearing on the Mike Douglas Show (video). For his whole life Tiger has been presented by his father and others as someone special, a man with a destiny not only on the golf course but beyond.

At this time, Tiger’s public image and his brand are in shambles. His confessed infidelities are so far removed from the persona he portrays that the world was first in shock and disbelief, then in disgust and now in confusion. He is still the best golfer in the world and his philanthropy is legendary but he is not the man his brand presents. His lack of authenticity is causing the damage to his brand. Simply put, we loathe a fake.

(One must wonder about Tiger’s recent performance on the golf course and how his hidden transgressions may have been affecting him. For the first time in his career he lost a major tournament after being tied or in the lead going into the final round (The 2009 PGA Championship in August). Also, 2009 is the first year since 2004 that Tiger did not win a major. Was he already feeling the heat from his wife, Elin?)

Tiger’s woes are an extreme example of the importance of espousing our true values. Don’t say one thing and do another. And we can only espouse our true values if we know what they are, thus my emphasis on uncovering them.

Once you’ve uncovered your values, write up a second list that identifies values important to the success of businesses in your industry. Do both lists line up? If you value excellence but you are in an industry that requires compromises on quality or service, you may struggle. If customer service is not important to you but it is for the success of your business, you will struggle. Better to identify any incongruities now than thirty years from now like I did.

If all your values line up and provided they confirm that you are in the right business, ask these key questions:

  • Have you hired people who have similar values (or values that fit well)?
  • Do you have the kind of customers who will respond positively to your values?
  • Are your vendors compatible with your values?
  • Look at your competition through the lens of your values and the list of values that are important for success in your industry. Do they have any weaknesses? Do you have any advantages?
  • Do your strategies align with and build on your values?

The answers to these and other questions provide the foundation for developing strategies, goals and objectives for your business. Without going through the work to identify your true values, your strategic plan will be less sound.

The next post will be first in a series on strategy development that builds on vision and values.

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*For more on my story, please visit my personal blog, DougEdgar.com. (It is under construction so if things are a mess, please visit again.)

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