First Serve Strategies

Archive for May, 2009

Excerpt for Laurence A. Baiada Center for Entrepreneurship Newsletter

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

- Winston Churchill

Have you ever noticed how much energy is spent focusing on things that are unpleasant? Whether discussing current events with friends or watching the evening news, the topic invariably turns to threatening weather, crime in the streets, disease, political scandal or a bad economy. If you think I am overstating the case, categorize every conversation or encounter you have in one day on a sheet of paper with two columns. In the left column list all encounters focused on something positive. In the right column list all of the encounters focused on something negative. By the end of the day, that piece of paper will be listing to starboard.

Consider the amount of time and attention in the first quarter of 2009 that was devoted to talking and writing about the woes of the economy. There are roughly 200 million working-aged people in the United States. If each of those people thinks about the woes of the economy for only 20 minutes a day, it amounts to 6 billion hours. Now consider the possibilities if those 6 billion hours were spent focusing on entrepreneurial opportunities.

People often ask me how the entrepreneurs we work with every day are dealing with these difficult economic times. My answer is always the same. They know times are tough, but their focus is on building their businesses and making a difference in the world. The economy, good or bad, is just one of the many external factors they need to consider when trying to execute on their visions.

In a recent interview, one of our entrepreneurs, Zach Conover, was asked about the skills necessary to be a successful entrepreneur. He said, “Being a good entrepreneur is like being a good pitcher in baseball. You need a short memory. You have to remain confident after a bad pitch that your next pitch will be better.” That is the voice of an optimist who sees the opportunity in every difficulty. That is the voice of the Baiada Center.

©Mark P. Loschiavo

Forty years ago, Herman James, a Tennessee mountain boy, was drafted by the Army. On his first day in boot camp, the Army issued him a comb. That afternoon, an Army barber sheared his head. On his second day, the Army issued him a tooth brush. That afternoon, the Army dentist yanked several of his teeth. On his third day, he was issued a jock strap. The Army is still looking for him.

As leaders we communicate in many different ways. Sometimes our non-verbal communication comes across “loud and clear” even when we mean nothing by it.

Several years ago when I attended a Middle Management School for IBM one of the first things they told us is that the people in our organization, who are not our direct reports, are generally afraid of us. I found this difficult to believe, since I see my self as a very approachable person. The fact is that the further removed a leader is from his or her people the more they rely on his or her Signals for communications and intent.

As leaders we must work hard to determine how we are perceived by our people. We must also be deliberate about the signals we send. We don’t want them running for the mountains, when we are expecting them to charge the hill.

©Mark P. Loschiavo