No Excuse Sir
Growing Your B2B Small Business with Robert Poole
English - October 19, 2020 16:00 - 9 minutes - 6.57 MB - ★★★★★ - 4 ratingsEntrepreneurship Business Marketing small business sales marketing small business marketing small businesses tips growing small businesses small business owners entrepreneur Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
At West Point, I was a plebe (freshman cadet) where I underwent various drills, one of which was “The 4 responses.” For all questions asked, I could only answer with “yes, sir,” “no, sir,” “sir, I do not understand,” and today’s topic – “no excuse, sir.”
The “no excuse, sir” answer was meant to teach new cadets about taking responsibility and the importance of leadership by being accountable for the actions you did, did not, or will take. It created the mindfulness in me that there are no excuses for most problems I face. I decided to apply this principle to my business and the results have been astronomical.
Business is never smooth for too long. When you hit those bumps in the road, it’s easy to point fingers at everybody else, but what does that solve? In the short-term, it gives you an out because if someone else is to blame, you don’t have to do anything. However, what you’re also doing is taking power away from yourself and leaving no room to fix the situation, because if you “can’t” fix it, you won’t.
Instead, shift that mindset. Recognize that you do have control and be accountable for your business. When you own the problem instead of blaming an outside factor, it will be easier for you to take the actions needed to really solve the problem. More accountability and action lead to less stress for you in the end, and you’ll find yourself in a better position each time.
I hope this idea hits home with you. I know it has been both a positive, and at times when I didn’t do it, a negative for my business.
Key Talking Points of the Episode:
“no excuse, sir” exercise story
• Blaming an outside force for losses comes at a cost – you feel powerless and unable to fix the situation, which means you won’t fix the situation
• Taking total and complete responsibility for all matters in your business empowers you to come up with solutions to prevent problems from happening again
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