 “Some people regard private enterprise as a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look on it as a cow they can milk. Not enough people see it as a healthy horse pulling a sturdy wagon.” Winston Churchill
Things don’t seem to have changed much since Churchill’s time, do they? There are still plenty of people who think Capitalism is a dirty word; who see those who want to make money as selfish and ‘evil’. Maybe they’re focused on the banks going bust or the big corporations that have evaded tax, or the massive bonuses paid at one end, with the minimum wage at the other. Many other people still see business as the golden goose, the cash cow, the easy way to make a lot of money. Easy? Absolutely! Piece of cake. We’d all say that wouldn’t we?! My dad took the ‘easy’ route to make his fortune, starting out at the age of 14, selling sticks in the winter, and ice cream in the summer, off the back of a pony and cart. Not quite Churchill’s sturdy horse pulling a sturdy wagon - a bit smaller scale. He worked hard, built relationships, saved his money, and then invested in a coal business with a lorry, and went from there. He always had at least half a dozen people on his books, never laid them off in the summer when no one wanted coal, he looked after his customers, and always paid his taxes. Over the years he built up a great business and made a lot of money. Did he have a nice house, a nice car and a bit of luxury around him? Absolutely. But he was also a generous man, so he did a lot of good with his money, and looked after his family, both immediate and extended. When he died, there were literally hundreds of people at his funeral. So money has never been a dirty word for me. The decision to start your own business is not an 'easy' one. Building a business is tough, and stressful, and risky. Making a success of it is something only 5% achieve, with the other 95% failing in the first few years. There are plenty of reasons why a business fails, but one of them should never be from embarrassment. Too many small business owners seem to want to avoid making too much money, terrified of the stigma that may come with it - ‘It’s not about the money’, they say, 'I want to help people, and do some good’. Well here’s the thing… The more money we make, the more tax we pay - taxes that go to help those less fortunate. The more money we make, the more help we need, the more people we give employment to. The more money we make, the more people we can help, the bigger our charitable donations can be, the bigger the projects we can support, the more people we can help. We become like the pebble in the pond, causing a ripple of goodness! Business owners who want to stay small, who don’t want to be seen to make money for fear of being classed as an evil capitalist, are actually doing less good in the world. Now there’s a thought. Do one thing: Check your money mindset, and commit today to doing more good! For more information on how MPL can help you visit www.mariannepage.co.uk or contact me on hello@mariannepage.co.uk
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 Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin…
Long, long, ago in a land far, far away there lived an old man. Each day he went to the stream with two earthen pots hung from either end of a pole. One was perfect, always full of water, the other was cracked and leaking, only half full when he got back to the house. One day the cracked pot said (stick with me) to the man, ‘I’m so ashamed’. ‘Why on earth would that be?’ asked the old man. ‘I’m hopeless!’, said the pot, ‘water leaks out of my cracks all the way back to your house and you never get home with two full pots of water. I’m a failure.‘ “‘You couldn’t be more wrong’ laughed the old man, ‘you’re a wonderful pot. On the way back home look carefully at the side of the path and tell me what you see.’ All the way home the cracked pot paid attention, and at the end of their walk the old man asked him what he’d seen. ‘Flowers’ answered the miserable pot. “I know they’re beautiful, but it doesn’t help me. It was nice to look at the flowers but here I am only half full again. I’m still leaking. I’m still a failure. I’m so sorry old man.’ The old man smiled. ‘ You daft old pot’ he said, ‘There’s no need to be sorry. Did you not notice where the flowers were growing?’ ‘Well yes,’ said the puzzled pot. ’On my side of the path, why?’ ‘All these years I’ve planted seed on your side of the path. And every day as we walked back from the stream, you’ve watered them, and the seeds have grown, and the flowers have bloomed for all the villagers to see. You are a wonderful pot. Because you are the way you are, the village path is full of beautiful flowers.” The cracked pot glowed with pride and happily watered the path for ever after, content that he was after all, a wonderful pot. Sweet story, but how does it relate to you and your business? There are a few key learning points:
For more information on how MPL can help you visit www.mariannepage.co.uk or contact me on hello@mariannepage.co.uk  A Leader is best when people barely know that he exists.
When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say, ‘We did this ourselves’. Lao-Tzu (Book of Tao 6th Century BC) The first time I read this, I loved it. Every time I read it I get goose bumps. I can’t quite get my head around the fact that it was written in the 6th century BC mind you - it makes my brain hurt. Especially as here we are in 2015 still trying to get to grips with leadership, though at least the default position has moved on from being ‘him’. Makes me think of a course I was on once, about leadership communication, where they asked everyone for examples of the last thing their leader had said to them. ‘Merry Christmas!’, said one guy. Considering the course was in August, it clearly indicated a leader whose people barely knew he existed, but maybe not in the way Lao-Tzu intended! The reason I love what Lao-Tzu wrote, is because it’s what I believe too. Even though nobody who I ever led would say they didn’t know I was there, I do believe passionately that the best leaders replace themselves. They give their people the tools and the training, the systems and the development, the ownership and the support they need to deliver results with minimum intervention. Then they get out of their way and let them get on with it. The business owner’s mission, is to do themselves out of a job, though I have to admit that Lao-Tzu said it more poetically. Like me, you must have had someone tell you to do something just as you were about to do it? My dad was a great one for that; he’d see me getting up from the settee and ask me to take his empty cup into the kitchen with me, even though I was going to do it anyway. ‘I’m doing it! I’m doing it now!’ as Basil Fawlty would say. Or maybe you’ve come across people who want to explain things in detail to you without checking your knowledge first. Annoying isn’t it. If you find being told what you know already annoying or frustrating, there’s a good chance your team will too. And if they don’t, then maybe they shouldn't be in your team. The people we want are those who relish responsibility, who have ideas, who learn what their role is, and what standards are expected of them, and then set out to make it their own. Those people who want to grow and develop. We don’t want those who wait to be told what we want them to do every day, who have no initiative, no enthusiasm and no personal goals. Those people will never replace us. They will keep us trapped in the long hours, lots of stress cycle. As a leader, we need to give every individual we hire the opportunity to be in that first group. And to do that, we need to give them four things:
Do one thing: Download this table, and take 30 minutes to review your team both employed and outsourced. Decide which group each individual falls into, and then commit to one action you will take to help them to take ownership of their role. (If you have several teams, ask your team leaders to perform this task, and you assess them.) For more information on how MPL can help you visit www.mariannepage.co.uk or contact me on hello@mariannepage.co.uk |
AuthorMarianne is the author of three books, and is currently working on her fourth, whilst regularly writing her blog, we hope you enjoy it :-) Archives
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