Business Concern
79 episodes - English - Latest episode: 29 days ago - ★★★★★ - 1 ratingOwners of a private business interest have concerns about maximizing the value received from that interest, preventing and resolving owner disputes, and implementing an owner agreement with buy-sell provisions. This podcast deals with these issues.
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Episodes
Give God a Chuckle
March 31, 2024 13:23 - 7 minutes - 6.95 MBThere is a well-known Yiddish proverb (der mentsh trakht un got lakht) that man plans and God laughs. It makes you smile because even though you try to prepare for the future, there is always something unexpected happening. As we confront unforeseen obstacles, we are constantly reminded of how difficult it is to predict the future. Often this is cited as a reason not to plan. However, even though we know we cannot predict the future, there are many benefits to planning, one of which is that ...
Strategic Planning – an Oxymoron?
March 01, 2024 23:09 - 8 minutes - 9.26 MBIs “strategic planning” an oxymoron? Asking that question and considering an answer gives us a clearer way to look at strategic thinking that will make our planning more effective and make our businesses more profitable. Strategic thinking involves considering the probability of future events, while planning involves detailed descriptions of actions to be taken with current resources to achieve certain goals. How do strategy and planning combine to form a strategic plan? Or do they? An oxy...
Why You Should be Able to Articulate Your Values
February 01, 2024 20:18 - 10 minutes - 9.89 MBMost of us do not wear our values on our sleeves. There are many reasons for this – most of them social. Regardless of social norms, in the arena of business ownership, each of the owners of a business should be able to articulate to the other owners their personal values with respect to the business principles by which the business is planned. The planning process is well recognized. A business principle is determined by an owner from that owner’s personal values. Your personal values...
The Smell of Fear
January 09, 2024 19:07 - 5 minutes - 5.91 MBWhat feeling do you have when you see something different in the workplace? What about encountering a new experience? What if someone suggests something that is “off the wall?” Is someone laughing when you do not know what is funny making you feel left out? Do you have an impulse to make fun of something that is new or different? Is your response to deride someone or something new or different? Realize that when your reaction to change is emotional and results in derisive actions, often that...
Dynamic Planning – Like a Guided Missile
December 04, 2023 21:50 - 9 minutes - 11.2 MBA traditional business plan determines action to be taken to accomplish the plan goals and monitors the effect of those actions in reaching the plan goals. If the goals are not reached, the plan is revised and the process repeated. The launch of the business plan is much like the launch of a missile, a rocket that is launched by aiming it and then launching. Of course, a higher level of performance is reached with a guided missile, a rocket that uses a guidance system to steer the missile to...
Wait for the Fork
November 03, 2023 20:20 - 9 minutes - 10.2 MBI advocate group decision-making, but am often asked: “what exactly is the role of the leader where there is a group involved?” Not understanding that leadership role can lead to humiliation and lack of credibility – not to mention bad results. By understanding the leadership role in group decision-making and waiting for the fork, you can elevate your practice of leadership from rote activity to an art form. It is that leadership art that can bring excellent business results. Leadership ca...
Do Your Co-owner’s Plans for the Business Include You?
September 27, 2023 20:00 - 6 minutes - 6.45 MBMost businesses are founded on assumptions. Founders with a common purpose initiate the business, and, upon its profitability, assume that all owners share the same goals and interests. What do you know about your co-owner’s plans for the business? Have you simply assumed that all of the other owners have the same interests and desires? What if this assumption is incorrect? When the assumption that all owners want the same thing proves to be wrong, there is inevitable conflict. To prevent th...
Increase Personal Wealth by Prior Diligence
September 06, 2023 18:26 - 8 minutes - 9.56 MBOften the primary long-term goal of business ownership is to increase personal wealth to achieve financial independence. Wealth can consist of non-financial assets valued to show a high net worth. But financial independence requires liquidity. Liquidity is achieved when readily available liquid assets are held at a low risk of loss. Non-financial assets such as home equity and business equity are non-liquid and held at risk, as are financial assets such as stock and bond portfolios. How does...
Flat or Pyramid Governance Structure for Effective Business Decisions?
July 31, 2023 15:28 - 9 minutes - 10.4 MBGovernance of businesses generally consists of two structures: hierarchical (pyramid) or nonhierachical (flat). Can it be determined that one structure is more conducive to effective decision-making than the other? The hierarchical structure is the traditional legal governance structure of the corporation. That structure creates an overall executive officer (president or chief executive officer), a vice president, secretary, and treasurer. Other officers are added to the structure for admi...
Building a Business on a Volcano
June 26, 2023 19:05 - 9 minutes - 9.75 MBMost would immediately doubt the wisdom of a plan to place a building on the top of an active volcano. Yet, a majority of businesses consisting of more than one owner are built on a base that will erupt like a volcano. As with the volcano, the exact time of eruption or how much lava will flow cannot be predicted, but a major disagreement among business owners is probable and can erupt to destroy a business. There are things that can be done to keep the eruption from occurring. If you have ...
The Owner Agreement - Sustaining Business Profitability
May 31, 2023 11:30 - 8 minutes - 9.27 MBThe owner agreement – that understanding between multiple owners of a business – is the fabric of the business and is the basis of how the business may be sustained. This owner agreement fabric has many threads consisting of the communications between the owners. These communications, including oral, written, and experiential, are woven together to support the decision-making to operate and sustain the business. There are not many businesses that can sustain long-term operation where there i...
Time – Change Continuum
May 02, 2023 19:13 - 9 minutes - 10.4 MBThe time-change continuum at once motivates a business to plan and prevents the planning from being effective. In a competitive marketplace, where change may be exploited for economic advantage, to sustain profitable performance over time a business must change. For the purposes of this discussion we simply recognize as axiomatic that as time continues, change at some variable pace will also continue. We can call this the time-change continuum. A business can respond to the time-change con...
Do You Care about Making Your Business More Valuable?
March 30, 2023 20:00 - 7 minutes - 9.46 MBIt is not what you say, but what you do. Many founders of businesses who are now owner-managers of the business they founded, will tell you they want to make their businesses more valuable. But is that reflected in the actions they take? There are established actions business owners can take to make a business more valuable. What do these actions tell you about whether you really care about making your business more valuable.
Employee Arrogance
March 01, 2023 21:03 - 6 minutes - 7.96 MBMany who analyze and comment upon management leadership (myself included) praise the humility of a leader as a desirable trait. But in viewing and discussing employee behavior, the trait is less covered. We see frequently the arrogant business owner who looks in a mirror to plan and ignores the opinions of others. If arrogance is harmful to business prospects in management, can it also be harmful if prevalent in employees? The indicators of the presence of arrogance in employees are subtle...
Peering Through Business Fog
February 04, 2023 14:59 - 6 minutes - 6.99 MBIn the early morning hours, right after dawn, the motorist looks through the windshield to see nothing in clear focus with a gauzy, puffy whiteness allowing forms and shapes but little else until the car comes closer. The trip must be made, so the motorist sets a speed that allows room to brake for the unexpected but also is adequate for the required time of arrival. There is some tension in that calculation. The fog heightens the effort of perception. Different lighting is tested: brights-o...
“I Can Do Anything Better Than You . . .”
December 31, 2022 21:37 - 5 minutes - 6.12 MBLet’s say you can do anything better than anyone else, how does it help? Because you cannot do everything needed to operate a business, many of those things at which you excel will still have to be done by someone else. In fact, if you want to maximize the value you can get for your business, all of those things will have to be done by someone else.
When the Team Picks You Up
December 04, 2022 13:44 - 4 minutes - 5.16 MBSometimes things go the wrong way. It seems like everything you try is wrong. There is a malaise, even a downturn. You are too slow. You are looking at a dimming screen. The pressure is on, and you are feeling it. All of a sudden someone on the team does something – a thing you have never thought of – and the picture brightens. A source of energy is created and others on the team turn it into momentum. Now oblique images become clear to you. Suddenly, you are thinking of good things to do. W...
How I Learned to Love Confrontation
October 31, 2022 12:48 - 10 minutes - 11.4 MBI suppose there are some who naturally enjoy and seek out confrontation with other people. But this is not true for most of us, where confrontation presents very uncomfortable defensive emotions even to the point of invoking concern about physical danger. When confronted, my reaction would be one of anxiety and anger. As I began to gain experience in business consulting, especially as I grew further away from my experiences as a trial lawyer, my reaction to confrontational situations changed...
The Exhausting Burden of Always Being Right
September 30, 2022 22:20 - 6 minutes - 7.67 MB“As the founder and owner of this business, it was my courage and persistence that got the business started. I was the one that made the right decisions and made things work. When something needed to be done, I did it. There were some tough decisions to make, but making them and being right got the business to where it is today. Now I look around and do not see anyone who can do what I can do. No one else has the passion and dedication to make this business work. I have made the right decisi...
“I Will Talk to You About That for Five Minutes Tomorrow”
August 31, 2022 11:21 - 14 minutes - 15.2 MBHow often have you wanted to have a conversation – a difficult conversation on a tough topic – and the answer you get from the person you need to have the conversation with is: “I will talk to you about that for five minutes tomorrow” or something equivalent. From this response you know the conversation is unlikely to occur, and, if it does, it will not be given the attention it deserves. A critical conversation is one where a meaningful exchange of information and opinion occurs; it is also...
The Misunderstood Role of Leadership in Decision-making
July 31, 2022 13:10 - 7 minutes - 8.52 MBSmall to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) often have hierarchical structures which emphasize decision-making as a product of a small group consisting of the owners of the business who make the decisions without documentation. Much of what I do as a consultant is facilitating group decision-making and implementing dynamic planning (planning on a format that communicates planning decisions to all stakeholders as decisions are made). What often obstructs my efforts is a misunderstanding about wha...
Trust Your Gut
June 30, 2022 18:51 - 5 minutes - 6.25 MBHow do you make consistently good decisions? There are many who say: “trust your gut.” Maybe this saying is another way of advising you to pay attention to your feelings and emotions or experience when making a decision. But what about those who trust their gut and avoid part or all of the decision-making process? When in the decision-making process should you “trust your gut”?
Hearing the Unsaid
June 08, 2022 20:08 - 10 minutes - 11.6 MBAs with other human endeavors, managing a business consists of having critical conversations. The essence of effective group decision-making is having these conversations with those who have knowledge, expertise, and experience. A critical conversation is one where a meaningful exchange of information and opinion occurs; that critical conversation is also likely to be an emotional and therefore difficult conversation. Unfortunately, everyday conventions of conversation and emotions of ...
Conflate Power and Wisdom?
April 29, 2022 11:30 - 6 minutes - 7.4 MBDoes the fact that one has power also indicate that one is wise? Usually, it takes wisdom and perhaps luck to accomplish business success. Correct decisions are made to enable business success. A founder of a successful business acquires power. If that power indicates wisdom, what will limit continued business success? We know from many failed businesses that when power is conflated with wisdom, the quality of decision-making is diminished.
When the Goal is Wrong
March 31, 2022 16:53 - 6 minutes - 7.5 MBThe correct setting of a goal is of utmost importance and often overlooked in the planning process. Usually, a goal is set by the policy-making group, often dominated by owners in a small to medium-sized business (SMB). There is nothing more demoralizing to all business groups than a bad goal. The group that would execute the actions to reach the goal will immediately recognize the reality gap and ignore the goal. The group implementing the actions to be taken to reach the goal will be frust...
Is Fear an Appropriate Response to the Future?
March 04, 2022 13:07 - 6 minutes - 6.95 MBWe can get full agreement about the difficulty of predicting the future. So for our purposes it would be correct to refer to the future as the unknown. There is one thing we know about this unknown future: for the long term it will not turn out well. The future of living beings is death. According to the Small Business Administration, the average duration of a small to medium-sized businesses (SMB) business in the United States is less than five years. We could go on. As owners of sm...
Team Cohesion Through Goal Setting
January 18, 2022 10:52 - 5 minutes - 7.04 MBProductivity through team performance is improved when the team is cohesive. When the team is stressed with interpersonal conflict, remote work, and missed goals, team performance will suffer. Concentrating on how goals are set and continually revised will improve team cohesion.
Not Making the Goal
December 02, 2021 12:21 - 5 minutes - 5.97 MBhe bad news is that a goal for your business has not been met. What is the best way to approach the failure to meet a goal? In my experience, the good news is that there was a goal set in the first place. We have a place to start. The setting of a goal indicates a presence of a decision-making process that determined the goal and implemented a plan to accomplish the goal. That activity enables a very important inquiry: what occurred in the planning process that caused the goal not to b...
You May Have Authority – Do You Have Control?
October 29, 2021 14:50 - 5 minutes - 6.64 MBThink back to the last stupid thing someone told you to do. Your first thought: does the person have the right to tell you to do this stupid thing. If the answer is yes, then the thought is: how can I get around the stupidity. If the people who report to you have no respect for your decisions (they think you are telling them to do stupid things), then they will look for ways around what they perceive is the stupidity. Put another way, if your decisions are not perceived as good decisions by ...
Consistently Good Business Decisions
October 15, 2021 11:36 - 7 minutes - 7.5 MBA good decision is a decision that yields beneficial results. In a small to medium sized business (SMB) beneficial results are profits. The policy-making group of an SMB making consistently good decisions is likely to experience business success in the form of making a better profit. If you agree with this statement, then the question becomes: How does a SMB make consistently good business decisions? There is a discipline to assure that the SMB will make consistently good decisions.
Documenting the Plan – Essential, But a Form of Procrastination
October 02, 2021 13:57 - 9 minutes - 10 MB“If it is not written down, it is not a plan.” I would like to attribute that quote to someone, but after a reasonable Google search, I cannot. Nonetheless, I have heard the phrase and repeated it many times. The phrase makes sense for two basic reasons. First, writing something down is a fundamental way to rethink and confirm a thought process and decision. Second, it is difficult to communicate using only an oral means of communication. I rarely have anyone contest these observations. ...
Getting Real – Dreams, Values, and Goals
September 20, 2021 19:50 - 10 minutes - 13.7 MBLive your dreams. That sounds very good. But does that concept sustain a life? Dreams rarely come true, and there is frustration about not realizing a dream. Thinking about values, even values derived from dreams, can deal with the frustration of not realizing a dream. Think about dreams and contrast that with the concept of values. This thinking can lead to understanding how goals based on values is a discipline for thinking leading to decisions about goals enabling you to do all you can do...
Keep the Tigers
August 26, 2021 21:25 - 9 minutes - 10.7 MBGenerally speaking there is a type of employee that many business owners do not want in their business. This type of employee, whom I shall call a tiger, is one that may be described as aggressive, overreaching, obnoxious, opinionated, difficult, and narcissistic. I am going to argue that while business owners often find reasons to part ways with this type of employee over time, there are very good reasons for a business to find a way to keep the tigers.
Executing the Pivot
August 11, 2021 20:22 - 9 minutes - 9.97 MBChange is tough enough. No one likes it. The tendency is to deny the reasons for change exist and then procrastinate taking action. Sometimes, in a crisis, we have to change immediately. In a crisis, things are not just different, they have to turn around. Businesses from time to time have to deal with this type of required, rapid change. What has to be executed is called the “pivot.”
Cybersecurity Insurance
July 30, 2021 15:26 - 7 minutes - 9.04 MBRecent events of cybersecurity breaches and losses have led to the development of cybersecurity insurance - an insurance product designed to protect against losses related to computer or network incidents. For a small to middle sized business (“SMB”) with less than 100 employees, does a cybersecurity insurance policy make sense?
Planning for Cybersecurity Issues
July 15, 2021 18:03 - 9 minutes - 9.91 MBBusinesses with less than 1,000 employees (sometimes referred to as small or medium businesses or “SMBs”) are becoming concerned about cybersecurity. Not only is there an increasing amount of cybersecurity threats, but government regulations requ
Be Careful Whom You Like
June 30, 2021 11:15 - 6 minutes - 7.36 MBIt is human nature to like those who agree with us; it is also human nature to dislike those who do not agree with us. Call it arrogance or pride, we all know the emotional reaction. Those business owners who can get past this emotional reaction and evaluate the differing opinions they encounter, often find their perception of reality altered and the decisions they make becoming better. This trait of humility is one of the most important leadership qualities.
Optimism - Its Role in Business Planning
June 21, 2021 18:20 - 5 minutes - 6.04 MBHow optimistic should a business plan be? When a business starts, the thinking is about success and the plan will be optimistic. This is appropriate, but there is an issue of credibility linked to the degree of optimism. For the realistic long-term (3-5 years) and the realistic short-term (6 months to 1 year), the plan goals should be reasonably achievable for the plan to be credible. As a business matures, the setting of plan goals can have a significant effect on business growth.
Concentric Circles
May 31, 2021 19:24 - 8 minutes - 9.64 MBOne way to represent the difference between traditional planning and dynamic planning is through a Venn diagram. The Venn diagram for dynamic planning with concentric circles shows the communication of all of the items of the planning set to all business groups.
To Be Effective, the Planning Process Must Be Constant
May 17, 2021 18:08 - 6 minutes - 7.05 MBA reliable way to accomplish business success is to implement and operate a planning process. Many business owners do implement a planning process and begin to use it, but fail to realize the benefits because the process is intermittent. Then, once the process is perceived as ineffectual, it is abandoned. It is not enough to implement a planning process, that process must be a constant process.
Questions Owners Should Ask One Another
April 30, 2021 18:46 - 5 minutes - 6.9 MBQuestions initiate, form, and shape conversations. Conversations are the means by which owners articulate values to one another. Without these conversations, without an accurate perception of the other owners values, we have less information to understand the future actions of those who will influence the future conduct of our life.
Making a Decision - How Long is Too Long?
April 13, 2021 14:56 - 6 minutes - 6.93 MBWhile successful businesses usually have a decision-making process that produces quality decisions, that process can falter, and often it is because too much time has been taken to make a decision. The process of decision-making should be a structure of business procedure, but the time spent in the process for any given decision should be based on the specific decision to be made. This determination is very much part of the art of decision-making. When decisions take too long, the principal...
Dynamic Planning Allows Timing of Quality Decisions
March 30, 2021 09:18 - 9 minutes - 10.6 MBWhat makes planning a consistent part of the business operation is timing. If creating a plan takes a retreat, facilitation, enough writing to fill a three-ring notebook, and space on the shelf for the notebook, then planning typically remains a separate activity not involved in the essential conduct of the business. Planning is most effective when it is dynamic – where changes made to the plan are immediately communicated to all affected by the plan.
Out of Control
March 16, 2021 18:25 - 6 minutes - 7.23 MBLet’s be honest – no one is really in control. Life is a series of unexpected events that leave all of us disoriented at one time or another. While some events are foreseeable, the timing of those events or the probability of those events and the occurrence of unforeseen events is difficult if not impossible to forecast. Epictetus, the Greek philosopher, taught that events of life are beyond our control, but that the way we react to those events is what matters. You cannot control what happe...
Out of Control
March 16, 2021 18:24Let’s be honest – no one is really in control. Life is a series of unexpected events that leave all of us disoriented at one time or another. While some events are foreseeable, the timing of those events or the probability of those events and the occurrence of unforeseen events is difficult if not impossible to forecast. Epictetus, the Greek philosopher, taught that events of life are beyond our control, but that the way we react to those events is what matters. You cannot control what happe...
Girl Scout Cookies
February 27, 2021 11:52 - 6 minutes - 7.69 MBAfter dinner my wife offers a thin mint from a Girl Scout Cookie package. I notice the side panel of the package stating the five essential skills learned by girls in “the largest girl-led entrepreneurial program in the world.” I read the skills, impressed that indeed these are the essential entrepreneurial skills, but also thinking that the succinct list obscures the complexity involved with mastering each task.
Perceiving Reality – How Hard Can It Be?
February 16, 2021 16:19 - 7 minutes - 8.33 MBBusinesses that make better decisions have better results. Better decisions depend on an accurate perception of reality. For the policymaker of a business there is no more important skill than perceiving reality. It is a surprisingly complex capability.
"They Don't Speak to One Another"
January 27, 2021 16:29 - 6 minutes - 7.03 MBI have been involved with several businesses where I was told the owners “don’t speak to one another.” In all of these businesses, the businesses were profitable; yet those in the business felt the peril of the situation. In the event the owners would need to determine policy together, there was serious doubt as to the ability of the owners to share ideas and make decisions, especially if time would be a factor.
Lost
January 14, 2021 15:36 - 7 minutes - 8.72 MBFor the perplexed business owner, the metaphor of being lost is a good one. To examine this problem let us ask: “What does a hiker do to avoid becoming lost?” There are reliable ways not to get lost. The hiker without a GPS but having a map and a compass before starting out can identify the starting location on the map. Also, the hiker will have a destination identified on the map. Then the hiker uses the compass to determine the direction to travel. From time to time, the hiker checks...
Rather Be Lucky than Good – Really?
December 30, 2020 23:07 - 7 minutes - 8.55 MB“I would rather be lucky than good.” I can no longer even smile at that throwaway phrase I hear way too often. The problem is that it is impossible to be consistently lucky. You might have been lucky with early business success, but that success will fade with bad decisions. Consistent business success requires consistent good decision-making. It takes work, attention, and focus to make good decisions. Engaging in effective planning procedures is the only way I know of to make consistently...