One of the things I have had to learn the most and am still learning is the importance of a poker face in executive management. You can’t get overly excited or disappointed - EVER. I’ll give you a perfect example…

Let’s say you’re on a sales call and it seems to be going well, the other side says “they’re excited and ready, just a few steps left and let’s get this deal sealed.”

Your reaction?  WOO HOO!!! BIG one, I gotta go and tell EVERYONE, this is huge. Ok, let me start planning around this, I can hire 10 people, I can do this and that and this and that and I can go around bragging about this to everyone.

Guess what? If I had a nickle for every sales call that went well and I thought I was going to close but ultimately led to ZILCH revenue, well, I wouldn’t need to be in business right now

Bottom line is a CEO needs to be stable (something I admit I’m still working on). The best example is a cooooool poker face. Take good news at strides. The rule that I made 2 years ago and am getting better at day by day is to NOT get excited or even think about a sale until the check arrives, cashes and clears - NOW, I have a sale and can start spending the money!

No worries, when anyone is new at this it’s only human nature - but eventually after years of getting slapped around, it grows out of you.

Again, I start to understand why CEOs always look so serious, resolved, calm and well they look like good poker players!

Oh, by the way, a good poker face really helps in sales too.

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Sunday night my friends and I had a “wing it” moment where we just decided on the spot to go see a movie. On the way TO the movie, one of my friends started complaining about a certain aspect of his company/job. He’s a Director level position at a Credit Union.

Well, it just so turns out that what he’s complaining about, our company has an expertise in! Perhaps not *specifically* in the “banking” industry, but the general technology and know-how of how to resolve his big pain-point, we have it!

That immediately got me thinking…why not?

Could this be another way to use our existing technology and team talent to access a completely different market with a completely different service?

- In short, that was Sunday night, it’s now Tuesday morning, 11:30 AM - I’ve had 5 phone calls between advisers and team members.

- I’ve met with that friend TWICE since then to iron out bringing his company has a possible beta test client.

- I’ve spent countless hours researching the market - even found some competition (which is a good thing).

- I’ve done an expense chart to see what we would have to charge to be profitable.

- I’ve got a full t0-do list that I need to approach to finalize my market research.

Yes, THAT is a true entrepreneur right there. I got an idea and I MOVED on it, at least for research.

Now, the only part I have to be careful for is that my enthusiasm does not hurt us. I have to make sure I do ALL my research and strategize appropriately. Right now may not be the best time to get my team involved in something completely different. Also, one of my advisers was not excited about the idea at all, his exact comment was:

“These kinds of companies suck…”

He’s a very smart and well rounded businessman who has been on many boards and has helped raise money for many companies, so I do listen to his opinion. But of course, the entrepreneur in me still says “I’ll do my own research to see if I can’t change that …”

Either way, market research and taking your TIME to understand the idea is critical - don’t just jump off and start something.

In our case, we have our hands full with what we already do and a distraction could be a bad “CEO decision” - remember, my post about “The Conflict of an Entrepreneur and CEO.” However, at the same time, I’m excited that I got my head to think outside the box.

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THIS is how and why companies have “spin-offs” or “sister companies.” Your knowledge, technology and team could very well fit like a charm in a completely different field than yours - have you thought about that? 

Just remember, don’t spread yourself too thin - stick to a dedicated plan and work on that. But, if there is room/money/resources to expand, why not try it? 

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I have an on-going joke in our company that it keeps being taken over by women. I joke about it, but it’s actually a bit true. 1 year ago our executive team was 2 men and 1 woman.

Fast forward to today and it’s now 2 men and 3 women. Every time I joke that I’m going to make sure the next hire is male (joking of course), I end up finding the perfect fit who just happens to be a woman.

If you look at our entire company, 60% are women. Now, you may be thinking, “what’s the big deal?”

The big deal is that in our industry this is incredibly STRANGE. Women are very hard to find and it’s very “male run.” But, I’ve personally never thought about it that way, hence, my team does not fit the convention.

Just as we were discussing this internally a month ago, I came across this article:

Entrepreneur.com - Why Aren’t Companies Cashing In On Women In Executive Positions…

“Women are real assets on the management teams of publicly traded companies, according to a 2007 report by Group and Organization Management, which found that women have a positive effect on a firm’s short-term performance, three-year stock price growth and growth in earnings per share.“

I was happy to see that I’m on the right track If just one woman can have positive impact on a firm, I guess I’ll just overload (kidding of course).

Reasons To Put Women In Executive Positions:

These are my own personal observations:

1. More logical - Women add the perfect amount of logic amongst a ton of “let’s take over the world” testosterone. They tend to think very methodically and can ask the right questions.

2. Promote balance - A company is not just about making money, it’s a culture and much more. Women are much better at promoting a “family” experience and making sure that everything is being considered with decisions - not just money.

3. Calm - During tough times, I find that women keep their calm much better - not sure why. They almost seem more confident or more optimistic (in cases). Men (including myself) can get my spastic and that’s when you make stupid decisions.

4. Better Team Players - This is my favorite because women have far lesser egos (for the most part) than men. They seem to be much more concerned about the company’s growth then they are about their personal growth.

Not to say they don’t compete to grow, but they’re the first ones to consider “what’s best for the company” - men tend to have bigger egos that get in their own way sometimes.

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I want to emphasize that I’m being “general” and there are always exceptions. I just want to push the fact that if you don’t have “the other side” in your team, you need to.

Whether that means you’re a women run company, well, then you need to bring on some male teammates.

In the end it’s all about BALANCE - men and women are different, they think differently and they react differently. Having both on the team allows you to have a good balance and “cross-check.”

How about YOUR team? Do you promote this diversity and make best use of it?

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Ok, be honest, how many nights have you stayed up staring at the ceiling scared sh**less about payroll…

I’ve definitely had times in the past where “I” did…I remember the questions:

• Where is the money going to come from?
• Should I lay someone off? But, that’s horrible…
• Should I try to raise money? But that’ll take so long…
• Should I go borrow money? But, I already have so much debt…
• Maybe that big account will close this week?

I always used to tell myself, “this must just be a problem that ‘I’ have because I’m a small business, once I get bigger it’ll go away…” Little did I know, it gets worse!

I was recently talking to the CFO and VP of Business Development of a company that does over $20 Million in revenue a year and has 120 employees. I was cracking jokes about the days that I’ve scrambled to launch a product just to get enough money to make payroll…honestly, I was looking for a glazed look on their face.

What did I get?

I got a loud, “Oh man, we know how THAT feels…hahahahahahaha” as they smiled and winked at each other.

I thought to myself, “what the heck? are you serious, how in the WORLD can you guys have payroll problems doing $20 Million a year?”

The more thinking I’ve done, I realized that actually the faster you grow, the more you hire, the more your expenses go up. It seems that BIG corporations really do run quite tight most of the time.

It’s not even bad financial management, it’s just the results of aggressive growth.

So, tell me, have you ever stayed up at night thinking about payroll?

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I had to talk about this today because a statement that a friend/adviser/mentor had made to me once came screaming back in force and punched me in the face as I listened to a friend talk about a business partnership he’s currently in.

Here’s the advice I had received long back:

“The minute one partner starts to think he/she is doing more than the other, that’s the very moment that you better either address it right away and resolve it or walk away from the partnership - nothing good comes after that first feeling unless it’s resolved…”

I know, a bit of a long statement and I paraphrased because I don’t remember the exact quote. But boy is this true!

I, myself had experience with this last year and my partner was courteous and “ballsy” enough to catch this himself and come to me and ask to leave the partnership. He was very fair about it  and actually made it very equitable for me so I could not really argue or get mad.

But, he saved the both of us MONTHS of pain and trouble.

Today, this was the same advice I gave my friend - either resolve it immediately or find a way to walk, we go into business to IMPROVE our lives, not make them worse… 

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Do yourself a favor and read “The Ultimate Question” by Fred Reichfeld IMMEDIATELY. I’m not even all the way through it (not even 1/2 yet) and it’s already completely changing the way I look at company growth, customer care and culture.

This is one of the simplest books I’ve ever read, yet it’s having the most profound effect - the ENTIRE book is around teaching you to ask all your customers ONE question. Your customers’ (collectively) answer to this question will reveal the health of your company and predict the company’s future.

What is the question?

Wouldn’t YOU love to know, you have to read - if I tell you that here, the book won’t pack as much PUNCH.

The book is structured around teaching you how to care for your customer and uses countless examples of major Fortune 500 companies and what they are doing to take their business to the next level.

All the examples I’m reading have my brain running WILD with ideas on what to implement into the next version of our platform…

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Be honest, how many times a day do you check your e-mail?

I’m preaching today, but honestly, I should listen to my own advice because I am addicted to  e-mail. However, I’ve had periods of time (when I travel), where internet is not available and my productivity shoots through the roof.

Here’s how most of us entrepreneurs and CEOs work - we have multiple windows open and one of them is surely our Outlook/Gmail/Hotmail or some other form of e-mail. To make matters worst, we have it set-up to ALERT us when there is a new mail, a small noise that we soon to respond to like little dogs do to a whistle.

E-MAIL KILLS YOUR PRODUCTIVITY…

Period - no question or argument about it. If you’re checking your e-mail more than twice a day (this includes me), you’re not being productive or efficient.

Let me give you an example…

Have you ever noticed how quickly you respond to phone calls? You might be in the middle of an important meeting, but you’ll STILL sneak in a peek to see WHO is calling and you may even actually pick it up! Especially if you’re in the middle of doing something that does not involve another person, you’re 90% likely to get interrupted by the phone and answer it.

Why?

I think it’s because of that sound, we’ve just been trained to answer.

Well, that’s the thing with e-mail now. Most of our computers make a sound or alert us. So, we’ve been trained to respond (like little dogs).

You should not spend all day checking e-mail, do NOT let it interrupt your work time. Bottom-line, think about how many of the emails you respond quickly to - how many of them are actually that urgent?

Here is some advice to DE-e-mailize yourself:

1. Turn OFF all e-mail alerts.
2. Check e-mail only twice - morning and evening.
3. Schedule blocks of time where you actually shut off e-mail completely.
4. Put an auto-reply in your e-mail that tells people your “checking schedule” and give them a phone number to call in case of sheer emergency.

Try putting those into place, one by one (I will try too). I bet you get twice as much done with half of the stress.

By the way, do the same with chat programs (unless you run a virtual company like me, then it’s critical). 

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So the more management we get into, the more I’ve been thinking about this concept. Especially having a largly virtual team, it becomes a big issue for us to think about.

Many don’t understand the concepts - micromanaging and macromanaging, I’m also now creating my own term - rightmanaging.

Micromanaging: 

The best way to describe it is the way Wikipedia does, “management style where a manager closely observes or controls the work of their employees, generally used as a derogatory term.”

This is for people who just can’t let go - many entrepreneurs/CEOs “may” start off this way, but if they plan on surviving, they won’t make it long with micromanaging.

Not only are you not productive because you’re too busy watching over EVERYTHING - this is a big morale killer for the team. It basically shouts that you don’t trust your team and also those who work for you get sick of it eventually.

Micromanaging is like sucking the life out of you, your team and your business.

Macromanaging:

Macromanaging is the FLIP evil of micromanaging, “For the most part they leave their employees with a lack of decision making, especially when the details of the job change and they need immediate assistance - Source: CrystalLinks.com. Your team will always need your guidance and structure.

Macromanagers are almost “lazy” - they completely leave their team alone and this is never a good thing - unless you have ONE HELL of a team.

Even me, with the great team I have, I do keep a close tie to what’s going on - but I don’t practice micromanagement OR macromanagement (but if I were asked which one I’m closed to, it’d be macromanagement).

Introducing…RightManaging 

Not sure if anyone else has ever introduced this term, but I came up with it in my head.

Rightmanaging is really just a good balance of micromanagement and macromanagement - it’s right in the middle. A good manager never wants to over-crowd their team, but you do want to be there to make sure things are going well.

For example/ If your team is working on a project, you don’t need to see how they are doing every single element. However, you do need to check in to see deadlines are being met. And, on those deadlines, ask for demos of what is being produced.

This will not only help you stay in touch, but it will make your entire team feel great that they are involved. I mean as a good manager, what’s really your MAIN goal…

Nope, not that employees are on time. Not even that they are all constantly working. Honestly, not even that they do it only your way.

Your main goal as a manager is to make sure the project gets done on or before deadline and is done with supreme quality!

So, knowing that - practice rightmanagement. Don’t get in everyone’s way, but make sure you’re at least there to bump into them every now and then.

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Part 6 of CEOs Dinner

Another great stat from last Thursday night’s dinner, this again from the same angel investor. He revealed something that I was shocked by!

The Inc 500 is a list that is published every year of the 500 fastest growing small businesses in the country (they do an Inc 5000) as well.

This investor revealed that over 85% of the companies on this list have never taken money from an outside investor! 85%!

So, think again if you want to raise money, is it really a good idea?

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Part 8 of CEOs Dinner…

Just to follow up to the stat we released earlier this morning (where less than 15% of the Inc 500 fastest growing companies actually take outside funding),  here’s another stat from the same angel investor (I told you he was chalk full of stats) that will knock your socks off!

Out of 19 Million small businesses, can you believe that only 15,000 are venture backed!?

So, again, if you’re looking for outside venture…

A) Now you know how hard it is
b) You also know that MANY are doing without it (actually an eclipsing majority are)…

I guess these “dinners” and “networking” really does work - I never knew all this!

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