Luck and providence aside, nothing has a more pivotal impact on a businesses success than good strategic decisions.  What are good decisions made of?  Nothing can more effectively optimize the strategic decision making ability of a small business owner than knowing the market and their company's position in it. 

But, the devil is in the details - knowing the market means knowing suppliers, vendors, every aspect of your product or of the end product of which yours is a part, and on and on.  Also obviously important is an intimate knowledge of competitors and of the multifaceted (and in many cases, continuously evolving) customer issues, such as who they are, where they're located, their purchase motivation, timing and process, their perceptions and priorities with regard to the product and its utility, and so forth. Sometimes I refer to all of this as "watching the horizon."  What's out there? What is your environment like? How is it changing?

Unfortunately, it isn't as simple as just looking through binoculars to see the horizon. Also unfortunate is that fact that many small business owners don't take the time to actually do this.  Instead they seem to see the landscape only as it passes under their feet as a hundred-mile-an-hour blur as their business careens in whatever unorchestrated direction they happen to be going with their head down working IN the business instead of working ON their business.

Contrast this with the story of YKK.  If you are wearing clothing right now - and if one of the articles you are dawning has a zipper, check it and see if it doesn't have these letters stamped on the zipper pull.  Go ahead - do it right now!  Odds are very good you'll find YKK on your zipper because YKK manufactures most of the zippers in the world - more than 7,000,000,000 - yes, billion with a B, (between 60-90% of all zippers depending on whose numbers you believe).

How is it possible that in an industry as old as fasteners, one company can have that kind of market share for zippers?  Simply because Tadao Yoshida, founder of YKK, watched the horizon and acted accordingly.  He knew exactly what would position a zipper manufacturer in first place and what it would take to maintain that market share.

Although I realize my summary here will be a drastic oversimplification, here's what it boils down to.  One bad zipper, ruins an entire garment!  Let's assume a zipper costs 35 cents for YKK to produce.  Now, shift gears to YKK's customer - a clothing manufacturer making a $90 dress - which they spend about $30 - $40 manufacturing.  There's little chance they'll go with the 5 cent cheaper zipper without regard to quality.  It makes no sense even if that article of clothing is only one fourth the cost and price of the dress in our example. 

For 90% of apparel manufacturers in the world, quality and dependability reign supreme when it comes to the zipper because the zipper renders the overall product 100% useless when it fails, yet costs only a fraction of a percent of the price of the overall materials going into the product.

Mr. Yoshida understood the market and his desired position in that market - then he acted daily to ensure his company maintained a posture that leveraged this knowledge in order to obtain and keep the desired position in the market.  Here's a list of other examples of how YKK has done this:

• Yoshida innovatively designed better and better zipper making machines (proprietary and well-protected from competitor knowledge).
• Over time he brought nearly every aspect of the process for making zippers in house: According to a Los Angeles Times article on the company, “YKK smelts its own brass, concocts its own polyester, spins and twists its own thread, weaves and color-dyes cloth for its zipper tapes, forges and molds its scooped zipper teeth, extrudes the monofilament for coil zippers, hammers and paints the sliders, ... [and a bunch of other stuff - concluding with] ... fabricates the cardboard boxes in which zippers are packaged.”
• Not only does YKK make their zipper making machines, they make the machines that make the components referenced above. 

This type of vertical integration helps ensure complete control of their highest market-position-critical priority - consistent high quality (as well as other important aspects like cost and speed). 

I'm currently working with a rapidly growing company who is feeling their way into an amazingly similar situation to that of YKK.  As a strategic research team leader for the National Center for Economic Gardening, I'm pleased to see the strategic research team helping this company with valuable information to really understand the market and their place in it.  But, even for companies for whom their product situation or business models are vastly different from YKK's, the lesson is the same:

1. Know your market (ALWAYS - that means keeping your eye on the horizon).
   
2. Determine the position you seek in that market.
3. Identify the top key factors that would uniquely qualify your company to obtain and maintain that position.
4. Then, act on it - relentlessly.
   

So, how do you (or will you) keep eye on the horizon?  Please share your thoughts!

I recently facilitated a Project Management Essentials training for FranklinCovey.  I was impressed by how engaged the clients were in the part of the program that dealt with "people issues."  For most of us, when we hear the words "project management" we see a picture of items on a Gantt chart - tasks, dates, deadlines, etc.  But, the reality is, that this part of project management -- the process part -- is really only half of the equation for success. 

The Project Management Essentials program, which was developed in close cooperation with the Project Management Institute, rests on the foundational idea that PEOPLE + PROCESSES = SUCCESS.  Often we neglect the preliminary work of understanding the stakeholders and effectively communicating as we wrap our process components (think gantt chart) around the project at hand. 

So, what do effective project managers do on the "people" side of things?  Four simple guidelines (FranklinCovey refers to them as Foundational Behaviors):

• Demonstrate Respect
• Listen First
• Clarify Expectations
• Practice Accountability

Yes, they sound like common sense, but as we dissected actual projects we found out just how often these foundational behaviors are conspicuously absent.  What has been your experience with these foundational behaviors?  Have you worked on projects where the manager made particularly good use of them?

Managing means directing. Leading frees up those you oversee to perform to their highest ability (and frees you up to stop “managing” them). In the long run, leading employees is less stressful and more effective than “managing” them.

The Leading EDGE refers so a model for great leadership. EDGE is an acronym for each of the four basic components of the model. The beauty of this model lies in the fact that it is so simple and easy to incorporate with a bit of forethought. Here it is:

E – Explain
D – Demonstrate
G – Guide
E – Empower

After explaining what needs to be done, demonstrate how it is to be done. Then, let them do it as you guide. This process teaches and instills confidence. Then, provide resources and authority to the individual to go forward applying what they have learned, this is empowerment. Explain, Demonstrate, Guide, Empower. Simple. Effective. Try it today.  (Or, if you’ve got a boss who needs this advice, forward this to them!)

As a counselor for the Utah Small Business Development Center network, I work with many family businesses.  So, when the following “top ten list” it caught my attention.  Lucy Meyring, who operates the Meyring Livestock Co., a fifth generation ranch in Colorado’s North Park, says that there are 10 main things that family members do to break up the family business.

Here they are:

1. Assume all genetic relationships equal good working relationships.
2. Believe the business can financially support any and all family members who want to join.
3. Assume everyone involved is willing to make changes.
4. Presume that a conversation is a contract.
5. Believe that mind reading is an acceptable form of communication.
6. Fail to build communication skills and business/family meeting tools when times are good.
7. Ignore the in-laws, off-site family and employees.
8. Forget to use common courtesy.
9. Have no discussion about, and no legal management transfer plan or buy-sell agreement.
10. Fail to celebrate.

Now, how about the things functional family businesses (as opposed to dysfunctional family businesses) do to succeed!  We can see from the list above what to do if we want to fail… please share your comments below about keys to family business success!

This fall, Snow College's VP for Academic Affairs asked me to serve as a member of the college's Mission Fulfillment Team.  This group is charged with helping the college see how well they are doing toward achieving their mission and advising on ideas for improvement.

It caused me to reflect on the simple, yet crucial, concepts taught in the book, The 4 Disciplines of Execution.  These four items apply to an organization and are a bit less granular than the keys to individual performance as mentioned in my blog posting of a few months ago titled, Let Them Manage Themselves. It may seem overly simple, but for an organization, there are really just four basic “to do’s” for good execution in a business or team. 

1. Everyone in the organization must know the goal. 
   
2. They must know what to do to achieve the goal. 
   
3. You’ve got to keep score.  In other words, constantly make sure everyone knows how they and the organization are doing.  This information should be timely. 
   
4. All must be held accountable, consistently.

Here are a few additional tips for making each of these four keys work well:

One key to the first item is involving everyone in the goal-setting process.  Engagement creates buy-in.

A key to the second item is simplicity.  Keep it simple.  Also, strategically, you should realized that “what to do to achieve the goal” may change depending upon trends and changes that affect your organization and its situation.  So, be sure you have a means of watching for leading indicators that may help you spot changes on the horizon so you can adjust as needed.

The key to the third item is relevancy, followed by timeliness and accuracy.

The key to accountability is ensuring everyone is very clear on expectations – which should have been established together.  Then, be consistent in holding everyone involved accountable equitably.

If you have insights that would provide additional help in applying these four basic principles please share them by commenting below.  I would love to hear them, and I'm sure other blog readers would too.  Here's to great execution!

In an attempt directed at securing the college-age market Coca-Cola partnered with a group of engineering students and a couple of YouTube stars to produce this online video.  It’s a nice case study on viral marketing by design.  While some viral pieces just happen by accident, there really is a science (and an art) to making it happen (as opposed to just hoping).

Here are a few tips to make viral happen for you:

• Consider the market you wish to hit, then gear everything around it (topic, contacts, medium, etc.)
• Irresistible!  If others find the urge to share it irresistible, you've got it made!  Without this, you don't have viral.
  
• Crowdsource - tap into the creativity of the masses
• Jumpstart it all with high-octane social media contacts.  Coke used Justine Ezarik (iJustine) and Josh Chomik (TheComputerNerd01).
• The message must get through - your brand, slogan, etc. "Share a coke" does that.

The students built an elaborate Rube Goldberg machine , including Coke’s polar bears, Pac-Man, a double rainbow, etc.  After two days of construction, they invite other students (who were, at the time, in the middle of final exams) to the big unveiling.  Even though they had a bit of corporate help, it’s still a fun project - and the whole thing kept the "student project" feel.  I understand there were 12 engineering students from Harvey Mudd and CalTech.  This is important, because its not just another commercial, it's a cool project students will share - voila, its viral!

After watching the video, please leave a comment to share some of your favorite viral pieces.

I consult and train on business plan development.  Like most others who do this, I encourage those I assist to make their business plan a living document.  Revisit it often.  Review and update regularly.  That makes a lot of sense in today's world, but the reality is, most of the time these end up in a drawer collecting dust.  They are useful because they help a person think through their business venture.  Having to articulate something in writing is very good for that.  Additionally, the process of writing a plan creates buy-in when the whole team is involved, not to mention the fact that it helps ensure that partners are on the same page.  And, the most common use for a plan I've seen is to secure funding from a lender or investor. So, the plan is written and accomplishes much of the aforementioned things. 

But, do they revisit it frequently?  Is it fluid?  Does it get updated?  No. 

Rarely, if ever do most small business owners actually update their plan. The version they took to the bank is the last version ever drafted (until they need another loan). 

Do they operate according to the plan?  Maybe.  But, for the most part, the plan is placed in a drawer and collects dust.

I've found that one of the valuable uses for the Business Model Canvas is helping a business keep their plan fluid.  Helping them think through changes and make changes to the plan is best done when they have a visual tool that makes it simple and easy to think through adaptations, changes and improvements.  The business model canvas keeps the business planning process alive, even after the business plan document is stuck in a drawer to collect dust.

What helps you maintain perspective of your company's direction and keep the plan current?

Yes, you know where this is going... How do you eat an elephant?  You eat it one bite at a time.  Cliche.  This valuable principle has been taught this way over and over by parents in homes, teachers in classrooms, trainers in corporations and executives in boardrooms around the world.

Today, I heard it put a different way.  Perhaps not quite as simple but definitely more insightful.  I spent the day with Chuck Coonradt and several business professionals from the Utah Small Business Development Center network.  Chuck is an author and founder of The Game of Work.  He is also an Angel Investor in the Park City, Utah area, which is where we met today. 

Here is Chuck's straightforward way of stating the elephant eating principle: "When you decrease the size of the problem, you increase the emotional willingness to solve it." 

This is perhaps not as rich in imagery, but it is definitely more instructive.  It hints at why we really need to think about eating elephants one bite at a time.  Emotional willingness to solve a problem is what every great leader seeks in those they lead.  

Where have you seen this work?

This week I had the pleasure of lunch with Susan P. Rice, founder of Cavanagh Services Group, Inc.  Cavanagh specializes in integrated project management and transportation services for hazardous and industrial waste. She started the company in 2002 after securing an SBA loan to purchase 30 waste containers and within one month had landed a $600,000 contract.  Since then the firm has grown rapidly and currently services areas throughout the country!  She was recognized by Utah Business Magazine’s “Fast 50, Utah’s Fastest Growing Companies”, and also received recognition in 2010 as one of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneurial Winning Women™.

Before lunch, in a brief presentation on entrepreneurship, Sue shared some great ideas regarding how the company has survived and thrived.  She spoke of peaks and valleys.  We've all heard about peaks and valleys, and we've all experienced them. 

On this topic her thoughts were brief but sound.  When in a valley, look at the obstacle and turn it into an opportunity - this is quite natural for her because in addition to owning her own company she is a very competitive athlete.  (How many ladies do you know who religiously read every issue of Sports Illustrated cover to cover?) 

And what of the peaks?  When at a peak, you've got to resist the temptation to coast.  Sure, enjoy it!  But, at the same time look for valleys.  Search them out.  Where are the areas you can improve?  This helps ensure that you will better survive the next valley and may even help you avoid valleys you would otherwise have been forced to pass through.

Words of wisdom.

What specifically have you done in your company that has worked well for you with regard to peaks and valleys?  I'd love to read your comments.

Today, I had lunch with Jeri Mae Rowley, a highly respected speaker, trainer and... well, and "saddle-maker's daughter."  She tells the story of how she remembers hearing her grandfather, Ray Holes (yes, that Ray Holes!) say to her as he tapped away on the leather of a custom saddle while customers were in his shop, "Aren't we lucky!  Those people work hard for so little and they choose to do business with us." 

Not only is Ray Holes a nationally known saddle-making legend, he was also humble, appreciative and wise - wise in how he shared his vision!  Ray shared his vision with each member of the family who worked in his shop - including Jeri Mae Rowley. He shared it in simple conversation and by genuine example.  Living your vision is the best way to deeply communicate it to others.  Ray believed in treating others respectfully - whether they were customers, employees or even competitors - and he believed in appreciating them too.  Those two key components, coupled with best-of-the-best quality went a loooooong way to building a business and covering whatever shortcomings he or his business may have held.

Do your employees know your vision by what you say and do daily?