Scared money doesn’t make money

How bold will you be in 2024 and beyond?

I am not talking stupid bold. I am not advocating for people and businesses to throw money away. Heck, if you do…throw a little my way 😊

Play confident, don’t do anything earth-shattering, but keep moving forward. In whatever you are pursuing.

But TK – there is a saying “fortune favours the bold” and there are people and organizations that subscribe to this mindset. We are often in awe of those amazing successes that have achieved fame and fortune.

And then many people think, “sigh, why couldn’t that be me…”

Because you need to determine how bold you will be. And then get after it. With bold investments. And this is not easy.

As an individual we all have self-limiting beliefs that we often use as our first filter about whether we should or should not do something.

There are only the best of the best participating in sports at the highest level. There is only one top student in a class.

As an organization (comprised of people – key point to remember) there are people involved in planning and decision-making at all levels of the company. And many of these people have, or should have, some input into the future plans and tactics of the company.

And yet, there are more new business innovation failures and outright business failures than there are successes in either category. When I teach strategy and marketing the textbooks indicate 50 to 70% new business failure within 5 years and up to 90% of new products that don’t make it past a year (give or take a few % points).

If you are reading this far you might be thinking I am pouring cold water on your personal flame.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

The equation is simple for anything on a personal or business level.

The harder you work the luckier you get

Or

If you do not take a step forward, lift heavier (physically or mentally) you will not move beyond where you are today.

If you want to “unscare” your money and other investments there are countless ways you can grow forward.

The first step is to say you want to move forward. If you play timid, if you bet timid (remember all those experiments about loss aversion?), if you act timid there is no way you can expect bold results.

And this is hard. Pushing forward in a bold manner requires mental toughness, perseverance, intestinal fortitude (the guts to act and a stomach strong enough to keep food inside), emotional stability, and a strong circle of support (personally and business-wise). I personally add my faith to this mixture – your choice as to what you believe in.

There will be bumps, bruises (mostly emotional), and some disappointments.

And then we realize it is not as bad as we thought (because it was mostly in our own heads).

Our investment – be it time, money, physical or mental effort – will determine our results.

The bolder you play, the bolder your results might be.

I must reiterate – this is not a magical formula. It is based on your deep thinking and hard work. Your goals will determine what you need as inputs.

If you are easing off (retirement???) then expect results accordingly. If you are starting out in your career or in a new business get ready for long days, fun days, gruelling days, and then you do it all again the next month.

The fine print is always “results are not guaranteed and will vary.” Nobody can predict the future – but we can ready ourselves and our organizations to make sound investments and drive towards results.

I will also recommend adding in a good dose of humour into your investments. You need to be able to laugh at some things knowing you might shed a few tears in other situations.

Life is a heckuva ride. Winning and losing. Growing older and shrinking a bit (except my belly haha). Loving and losing (people, pets, companies that no longer exist).

And the adventure begins again each day. What wonders await? What do we want to try? What do we want to master? Who do we want to meet with, collaborate with, get introduced to?

As you head into 2024 I am not advocating for any specific resolution for you. I am advocating for you to figure out what kind of money you are playing with this year.

My money is on me and it has a wry smile and is ready to go…Onward!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

The smile and joy on our two year old grandson’s face as he got to open a few early presents (because we won’t be with them this year) reminded me of the wonder of experiencing so many things in this world for the first time.

This is such a joyous time of year.

Let’s keep making it so.

No matter what our job, let’s do our best with a great big smile and our
best effort.

No matter what happens to our health (physical, mental, or emotional), let’s
build our resilience and come back stronger.

No matter the pile of work we have, let’s be grateful we have work.

Not much snow yet to be shoveled, and I will do it when I have to so people
can be safe when they visit.

No matter how many things I see and experience that are downright silly, I
will try and look for that silver lining and offer encouragement not criticism.

I know there are a lot of challenges in life. Heck, there have always been a lot of challenges. Challenge accepted!!!

I am delighted to be a judge again in the Customer Centricity World Series  – the terrific work of
the applicants gives me hope that customer centric cultures do exist!

That said, based on some recent interactions with companies and government
organizations (who will still remain nameless to protect the guilty) there is 
so much work remaining to create customer-centric organizations. If leaders would only walk the same path as their customers, and use the same tools ass their employees, they would realize the mountain of crazy policies and procedures they are forcing their employees to deliver.

And there seems to be no end to this lunacy.

I hope they make new year’s resolutions to fix their processes, train their
folks better, and allow front line contact people to make the right and
necessary decision. Eliminate the policies that your people cannot
realistically enforce and still feel good about themselves.

Organizations do not make policies. The sign says management does. So, let’s
hold management accountable!

Be safe and responsible, love your family and friends, smile for everyone, and love life! Be grateful for what we have – we have a lot. I have the best family (sorry, not sorry, to all readers), and fantastic friends and colleagues. Coffee and lunch are great in the hometown. Zoom let’s me stay in regular contact and see people that I have become close with in the past few years. Nothing beats a handshake or a hug and I know we will exchange these soon, too.

But enough about me. In the spirit of giving please enjoy some of my seasonal favourites from Hammie, The Family Circus, and Burl Ives.

Merry Christmas to all…and to all a Good Night!!!

Prove Me Wrong

We just had a good snowfall last week and it covered up a problem I want to share.

It is a crappy problem. I fear it is in all major cities.

The people committing this atrocity are horrible people and I cannot see how humans can solve any major personal, business, or world problems until they take care of this first.

Let me back up a week. We had snow and it was cold for awhile around Halloween and into early November. Then we had some warm weather and the snow melted.

It doesn’t seem to matter which route Trappar chooses for our morning walk/run (he runs and fetches while I throw the ball) I always see the same issue.

Many people do NOT pick up their pooch’s poop. For the record I always carry at least two extra bags.

Now, this does not mean every dog owner is guilty because in the garbage containers there is always a lot of poop bags (the City needs to empty these more frequently).

But, come on people…how tough is it?

Has it come to this?

If you cannot pick up after your dog I don’t trust you to make major business decisions that benefit your customers or employees. I just DO NOT!

So, forget about any other major decision in the world, I just do not believe these people are capable of handling it.

If you cannot perform the fundamentals in any skill, trade, or job, you cannot move forward to more complex or involved actions.

This tenet holds true here.

And with our recent snowfall the problem persists as evidenced by the “road apples” on the nice white snow.

And for anyone that is not picking up after their pet and they disagree with my point, then please, prove me wrong.

You can’t because you are full of crap.