(Time to read this Blog is about 3 minutes)

Before we get to the main topic, here are a few things to get you thinking or smiling:

1. My Biz Quote of the week:
   “Many things in business and life are outside of our control.  But two key things that we are in total control of are our attitude and our effort!”   
   …Donald Cooper.
    
2. Quick Biz Tip:
   What’s your ‘efficiency edge’?
   Are you committed to achieving world-class operating efficiency in every part of your business?  If not, you’re in trouble.
    
   Quebec-based Goodfellow Lumber’s new Hundegger K2i machine from Germany…

1. 1. Has doubled their factory capacity,
   2. Creates faster delivery…and,
   3. Can process larger pieces.

So, what equipment, processes, systems, technology or skills would give you an ‘efficiency edge’ in each part of your business?  How will you make that happen…and by when?

3. I’ll help you support the Ukrainian people. Here’s a special offer to the next business or Association that books me to speak at their 2023 Conference.  I’ll speak for ‘no charge’ if you send my $9,800 fee to a Ukrainian Relief Agency.  You cover only my travel expenses from Toronto. 
    
   If you’re interested in making a difference for the Ukrainian people, email me at donald@donaldcooper.com for our list of bottom-line management and marketing topics.
    
4. Romance Fraud. Over 90,000 cases of ‘romance fraud’ were reported in Canada last year with losses totalling $530 million.  Up 38% from 2021.
    
5. The ‘evils’ of punction.  After my last two Blog articles about ‘The 2 kinds of liars’ and ‘The dangers of radical wokeness’, I thought I was finished with rants for a while. No such luck!
    
   I’ve just been reading about the ‘evils’ of punctuation and this one has really got me stirred up.  Here’s a quote from the internet:
    
   While older texters may consider the period an innocent symbol that a sentence has ended, digital natives (young people) consider it a form of aggression.  Gen Z and millennials state that ending a sentence with a period is overly hostile and, worse yet, extremely uncool.
    
   I have no words for this stupidity and for the fact that, according to this bit of wisdom above,  it’s worse to be ‘uncool’ than to be ‘hostile’!   OMG!  

Now, to this week’s important topic:

Your real job as a business owner, leader or manager:

There have been a gazillion books and articles written on how to be a more effective leader or manager.  Here’s my take on this in just 70 seconds.

1. Your 1^st job is clarity. As a business leader or manager, your first and most important job is creating ‘clarity’…and nobody much talks about that.  If we, as owners, leaders and managers, don’t know clearly ‘who’ we are, the compelling value we commit to deliver, where we’re going, how we’ll get there, what we’ll stand for along the way and the bottom line we must generate to keep the party going, how will our target customers and staff know who we are and what to expect from us?  Without that clarity, How can we be focused and intentional in running the business and how will we know what talent we need to attract, develop and retain to make it all happen?
    
   Note:   Click here to download my insightful Biz Tool #A-4, ‘Our 1^st Job Is Clarity!’ to calculate a clarity score for your business.    
    
2. Create the ‘5 Pillars of Clarity’:
   1. Your Statement of Purpose (our 5 ‘Whys’). Our Customer Purpose, our Employee Purpose, our Shareholder Purpose, our Community Purpose and our Environmental Purpose.  Click here  to download my Biz Tool #B-2, ‘5 Purposes For Your Business’.
   2. Your Statement of Values. How you commit to behave.  Your values, standards and ethics.
   3. A clear, specific and measurable 3-to-5-year Vision Statement for the future of your business stating what you commit to become and the extraordinary bottom line you commit to generate. This is not the vague, airy-fairy aspirational Vision that most businesses have.  They’re not worth the paper they’re written on.
   4. An Annual Mission. Specifically, what you commit to do this year to move towards your 3-to-5-year Vision.
   5. Your detailed Commitment To Action. To deliver your Annual Mission, specifically, this year, what will be done, by whom, by when, at what cost, with what outcomes, measured how…and rewarded how?
       
      Note:  For step-by-step insight on creating your clear Vision, Mission and Commitment To Action, you can purchase my step-by-step 40-page ‘Vision Critical Guide’ as a downloadable PDF for just $24, Click here.
3. Build a Team that will get you to where you commit to be in 3 to 5 years. For help with this, Click here to download my Biz Tool #A-17, ‘Evaluate Your Talent Pipeline’. 
    
4. Create a culture that attracts, engages, challenges and rewards top performers, while also encouraging world-class operational effectiveness and efficiency. A culture of:
   3. clarity, empowerment, commitment, accountability, urgency, excellence, efficiency and profitability.
   4. integrity, learning, empowerment, opportunity, fairness, safety, diversity, inclusion, empathy, respect, acknowledgement, passion and joy.
       
      For help in creating a winning Culture in your business, Click here to download my Biz Tool #B-18, ’14 Keys to Creating a Winning Culture.’

5. Create and communicate internal and external Polices that are congruent with your commitments, values and culture. External Policies that give you a strong competitive edge with your target customers and internal Policies that attract, empower, engage, honor and retain a top-performing Team.
    
6. Listen, communicate, mentor and encourage. Be the ‘Chief Listening Officer’ and an effective communicator.  Don’t be an ‘invisible boss’.
    
7. Follow-up and measure performance. Measure, celebrate and reward performance and deal with quickly and effectively with non-performance.  Failure to deal with non-performance is one of the biggest problems in many businesses today.
    
8. Be the guardian of profitability and cash flow. Understand the math of profitability. If you don’t understand our numbers, you don’t understand our business. Be clear about your profit commitments. Your profit is something you plan for and commit to, not something you hope for.
    
9. Given all of these leadership duties, determine how you must improve as a leader and if you’re the best person to operate the company now and in the future. Deal with the myth of, “I own it…therefore I manage it.”

So, how would you rate your performance on a scale of 1 to 10 in each of your 9 key roles as a business owner, leader or manager?

If you’d like help in becoming a more effective leader, or in helping your next-gen Team members prepare for their future leadership role, I’m easy to find at donald@donaldcooper.com.

That’s it for this week…

Stay safe…live brilliantly!       

Donald Cooper 

Donald Cooper speaks and coaches internationally on management, marketing, and profitability.  He can be reached by email at donald@donaldcooper.com in Toronto, Canada.