Time to start taking care of each other

Yes, 'tis the season - a season I dearly love. And this article is definitely related. It's actually about what really matters, in business. Your business. My business. Everybody's business.

See, I love business. The more I'm in business, the more I'm in love with business. I love what businesses do for people.

The other day I was talking with a gentleman who does a lot of work for us. He used to own an airline food catering company, employing hundreds of people. He was telling me that he used to hire some disabled folks to do two jobs: shining the silverware (this was back when airlines actually used "silverware") and cleaning out the little salt and pepper shakers used in the first class section. "It was mind-numbing work, but they loved to do it - and they did a great job."

Then, this morning, my husband was telling me about a guy he employed years ago when he was running a factory manufacturing medical plastic disposable products. This guy was a "door slammer." He opened the safety door, pulled out the molded part, and slammed the door so the next part could be formed. His IQ was in the 50's, he lived a simple but decent life, he was gainfully employed, and doing a job that was important. After all, if the doors were never opened and closed, those vital plastic parts would never make it out into the world were they could help doctors cure patients. Opening and closing those doors was all he did. He was happy doing that job, and dedicated to doing it well.

I've been recruiting for clients for years, as part of my business growth consulting, finding people for technical, marketing, sales, support and management jobs (including CEOs). It's rewarding work. When the right person is finally found, the client gets the right person for the job, the person gets a new job that he or she loves, the employees get a cheerful and productive co-worker, and the customers get taken care of even better than they were before. It's all good.

Now let's switch to another side of this story. Lately I've become acutely aware of how business owners are robbed of their revenue by the "attention grabbers," the voices out there that distract us from our most important work, and keep us from the revenue that is ours for the asking.

There's the general buzz of the media of all types - mainstream, blogosphere, social. It's all available to us, always there, always tempting us to pay attention - to turn our attention away from the people who really matter to our business (our customers, first and foremost, and then our employees and vendors/partners). If you were to count up the number of minutes or hours you spend every day paying attention to "media," you might be surprised.

What does "business doing good" have to do with "media stealing your attention"? A lot.

In order for your business to do the good it just naturally does - just by giving people gainful employment and by meeting the needs of customers - you need to be focused on running your business. On doing what only YOU can do.

As the day progresses, and you find yourself paying attention to some athelete's marital "transgressions," or sucked into the latest political circus, ask yourself this question: "Can I influence this directly?" In other words, is there anything you can do that would alter the outcome of this event? The answer, 100% of the time, is "no." Outside of voting in elections, and sending an email to your congressman, your ability to influence current events is very limited. Most of those events are going to happen whether you are paying attention to them or not.

On the other hand, when it comes to your business, 100% of the time, there is something you can do to improve the outcome - of any decision, event, process, policy, or action that you or any of your employees take. You have control over your business environment. Nothing in your life, outside of your interactions with loved ones, is more dependent upon YOU.

When you turn your attention to "news," one of your customers is frustrated. As you shake your head over the latest decision by some politician, one of your employees is doing something that will drive customers away. As you worry that your 401K will dwindle to nothing, one of your business partners wonders if you are ever going to fix that thing he's been bugging you about for more than a year.

We have come to mistake absorption for action. We have come to think that "news" is important. We're wrong.

One business owner I know spends a lot of time reading articles in The Economist and other financial journals. Meanwhile, a competitor has moved into his market, and, in the last few years, has taken the leadership position away from the business owner I'm describing, who had enjoyed it for more than twenty years. The competitor was more attuned to what customers wanted, more aggressive about establishing and maintaining relationships with vendors in the industry, and better at the marketing game - including the name of the company (the name describes what the company offers, whereas the other company's name is an acronym). At each turn, they've been that much better, that much more aggressive, and constantly improving.

Meanwhile, the business owner continues to pay more attention to macro trends than to the processes and relationships that grow revenue. This is a harsh assessment, and it saddens me to say it, but it's true.

It's time to change our thinking. It's time to turn first to those activities that we can affect directly, that only we can do, that so many people are depending on us to do. It's time to examine our priorities.

Most importantly, it's time to start taking care of each other. That customer who needs your attention. That employee who needs additional training. That vendor who needs you to listen - and act - on his suggestion to fix that thing that has been driving him nuts for ages.

As you do these things, you will be breathing new life into your business. It will become more vibrant and more meaningful. You will become the optimum expression of the hopes, dreams, talent, and hard work that you have put into it all these years.

And - you knew I was going to say this - your revenues will rise.

Merry Christmas.