“It’s not me, it’s you…” How not to be the world’s worst boss

George Constanza claimed to have invented the “It’s not you, it’s me” breakup line. He then goes on to elaborate, “Nobody tells me it’s them, not me. If it’s anybody, it’s me.” People are guilty of using this cliché to let someone down easily but we know the opposite can be the more truthful statement. It’s not me, it’s you.

I was recently cleaning out some files from a previous job and I came across a piece of paper that hung in my office as an affirmation of how I was trying to lead my team. This isn’t a Steve Jobs motivational quote or a picture of a cat encouraging me to “Hang in there.” This was actually something I lifted from an article listing the five things a bad boss does. Preferring to be more proactive, I re-wrote it in the affirmative to read as all the things a good leader does and hung it on the wall directly in front of my desk and in plain sight for anyone to see.

I had a horrible boss at the time. He regularly committed most of the “don’t do” items on the original edition of the list and, over time, his poor leadership drove me to start questioning my own abilities. It drives me nuts I can’t remember where I found this because it was a massive help to me when I needed it most. I realized it wasn’t me; it was him that had failed. Sometimes it really is someone else who has screwed up and you can accept that’s on them.

It’s not me, it is you.

Below is the list and if you are a leader of people, ask yourself if you are doing these things. If you aren’t why?

  1. Don’t question everything. Trust your peoples’ knowledge or experience or unique expertise. Don’t bulldoze in on every decision and make snap judgements based on what limited information you’ve been able to glean from a status report or something you overheard while refilling your coffee.
  2. Don’t abandon ship. Have an employee’s back. Never call an individual out and shame him or her when some element of a project goes sideways.
  3. Don’t play favorites. Acknowledge each employee’s strengths and weaknesses and use this understanding to build powerfully effective teams. Don’t choose one “pet” employee who does one thing well and hold them up as the standard by which all performance must be measured.
  4. Lead with requests, not demands. Give people time to complete the task and don’t ask for things in a shorter time frame just to sit on the decision or action for weeks. Ask for their participation and input- resist dictating it. Show them the “WIIFM.” (What’s In It For Me)
  5. Never intimidate, obfuscate or manipulate. Remember that the atmosphere you create for your team starts with you. Be consistent in how you respond to issues. Don’t alternate between bouts of compassion and irrational flares of rage. Be transparent as much as possible with information.

So what did I miss? Leave a comment below to add to the list or challenge one I have listed.

Ever Been Punched in the Face?

I have only been in one real fight in my life and if YouTube had been around, I’m sure my scuffle would have received a critique similar to the famous Star Wars Kid video. I don’t remember much about my fight because everything kind of went blurry in the moment. I can only imagine there were a lot of flailing arms in an unflattering display of failed pugilism.

One thing I will always remember is getting punched square in the face. There is something so incredibly jarring and absolute about getting hit in the head. It was something I decided, in that split second, wasn’t for me.

Mike Tyson famously said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Recently, that quote started to seem increasingly relevant to Redhawk and the work we were doing with clients.

Our firm works primarily with entrepreneurs and owner-operated companies. More specifically, we work with companies that are in some kind of transitional phase. This is represented both in periods of growth and recession. The realization of this transition happens when the current business structure or model can no longer operate as it has and continue to grow successfully.

Sometimes this happens slowly over time and creeps up on our clients. In some cases, this point of inflection is immediate, explosive and violent. A key supplier folds, an important employee quits or a major customer leaves and the business has been fundamentally changed overnight.

They got (figuratively) punched in the mouth.

This is where one of three things happen and is best captured in a quote my friend Ted Alling posted to LinkedIn recently:

“Bad companies are destroyed by crisis. Good companies survive them. Great companies are improved by them.” —Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel

Company leadership that is focused on surviving immediately concentrates their efforts on damage control and minimizing the impact as much as possible.

  • They offer significant discounts to win major customers back.
  • They publicly fire a key employee to signal the problem has been corrected.
  • They re-brand themselves in an attempt to create distance between their image and their failure.

In the aftermath of this business “assault,” we see if an organization will rise to the challenge and merely survive or come out of the crisis prepared to THRIVE. Great companies are not only ready for this kind of challenge but relish the opportunity it presents to push forward and get even better.

How well can you take a punch? Here is an abbreviated list of questions to consider:

  1. How many customers do you have?
  2. What is the average revenue per customer? Any customers who represent more than 20% of your annual revenue? What happens if they go away?
  3. What redundancy do you have in your supply chain? Are you tied to a single source for any major production requirements?
  4. Do you have a succession plan for key employees? What happens if they win the lottery and never come back to work? Are you prepared to deal with that?
  5. Do you have clear organizational goals? Does everyone know what they are? Is progress toward those goals regularly shared with everyone?
  6. Do have your business rules and operating procedures documented? Are they kept up to date and relevant?
  7. What is your Current Ratio? Can you survive a downturn in your revenue?

This is a very basic list but if you find you are missing any of these, take the steps now to correct them.

Good companies are prepared to take a punch. The best companies are ready to make the puncher miss.

Birmingham is the Marv Levy of Entrepreneurism

This October marks 6 years since our family moved from Atlanta, GA to Birmingham, AL. In that time, our kids have grown a few feet, I started my first two businesses and gained several more gray hairs in the process. Moving from a growing Atlanta metro to the decidedly smaller Birmingham was a big transition.

The first two questions we were asked when we moved in were if we had found a church to join and what football team we supported. In case you are totally unaware of the college football culture in Alabama, there are only two teams in the world- University of Alabama and Auburn University. I have much love for all my Samford, UAB and Troy friends but most of them incorporated either the “Roll Tide” or “War Eagle” vocal reflex during childhood.

Those questions were an early indication that our new life in Birmingham may be a bit simpler, exceedingly sincere and endearing.

Atlanta was a transient city and it seemed like no one there was from there (including us). Everyone came from somewhere else as Atlanta serves as some kind of young professional waypoint. People come and people go in Atlanta as the general economy waxes and wanes.

Socially and emotionally, the transition for our family was easy. After spending several years becoming more involved in the business community here in Birmingham, one thing struck me as the start of the football season grew near.

From a business and economic development standpoint Birmingham is the Marv Levy of cities.

Let me elaborate on that awkward comparison.

Marv Levy is a first-ballot NFL Hall of Fame coach and has one of the most interesting legacies in the history of football. He took the Buffalo Bills to 4 consecutive Super Bowls- losing all four. Some regard that as abject failure while others recognize it as one of the most impressive runs in professional coaching simply based on the incredible odds against reaching the championship game 4 years in a row. It had to be excruciating to get that close and not reach the pinnacle of success.

Much like Marv Levy’s Bills, Birmingham’s success or failure is largely based on the perspective of the interpreter. I think it’s fair to say the city has often taken two steps forward to take one, two or even three back in some cases.

Birmingham was a juggernaut in the steel industry because the three main components to make steel were in close proximity to the city. Foundries, furnaces and mines popped up everywhere with more than 26,000 people employed in some facet of steel and iron production.

This steel boon contributed to Birmingham receiving its nickname- The Magic City. At the beginning of the 20th century, Birmingham expanded in population and infrastructure at such a rapid rate, it was considered to be just like “magic.”

Two steps forward.

In the 1940s, Birmingham raised the aviation fuel tax while courting Delta Airlines to place their hub here. Delta chose Atlanta- something that has played a major role in our neighbor to the east establishing itself as a major economic city, eventually getting the Olympics and proceeding to grow like crazy. That also created a durable disdain for Atlanta in older Birmingham social circles.

One step back.

Birmingham’s history is complex. It is recognized as a successful pioneer in heavy industry while also being glacially slow to recognize the responsibility of driving social progress and civil rights. This historical dichotomy should create a crippling gravity working against innovation, development and growth.

Thankfully, we have a whole new group of entrepreneurs in Birmingham that remind us just how close we are to realizing our full potential as a city and region.

Having spent some time with several companies at Birmingham’s Innovation Depot, talking with the newly-minted entrepreneurs at Co-Starters in Woodlawn and donating time to Rev Birmingham, I am reminded of the famous Marv Levy quote:

“Where else would you rather be than right here, right now?”

In many ways, it feels like the Birmingham entrepreneurial community has ripped off the rear view mirrors and put the pedal flat against the floor despite the disadvantages we have inherited or have self-inflicted.

We have high tech companies like VIPAAR providing virtual augmented reality allowing surgeons to consult with other surgeons thousands of miles away, in real time, as surgeries are being performed. Motus Motorcycles, the first American-manufactured and designed sport touring motorcycle, started delivering bikes to their first customers in the last 60 days. Other creative businesses like Revelator Coffee who literally make each cup of coffee by hand and craft brewers Good People, Trim Tab, Avondale and Cahaba appear to embrace and leverage the advantages of our small enclave. Their success may be because of Birmingham or in spite of it but that doesn’t really matter.

What matters is that Birmingham has developed a meaningful entrepreneurial community of products and services. Birmingham is showing that is doesn’t need or even want to be Nashville, Atlanta or Dallas. As my friend Deon Gordon, the head of Business Development for Rev Birmingham says, “We are trying to be the best Birmingham we can be.” The unique combination of stubbornness, naivety, creativity and crocodile skin among our entrepreneurs has created an up and coming business community for which I am equally proud and excited.

Like Levy’s Bills, Birmingham routinely gets so close to what feels like ultimate success but just hasn’t reached the level where our entrepreneurs are widely celebrated. Far from just getting a participation trophy, Birmingham entrepreneurs have already succeeded by striving to get better every day- even if that isn’t fully appreciated by the general population. We… are… so… close…

So I ask you- “Where else would you rather be than right here, right now?”

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