Three key issues in the commercial sector are driving the demand and urgency for more green. One, sustainability has moved up the corporate priority list. Two, tenants are willing to pay a premium for best-in-class green spaces. And three, property owners, developers and mangers are increasingly reallocating capital to climate-positive strategies because there’s risk in owning assets that don’t meet sustainability goals.

For landscape companies targeting high-value commercial real estate clients, green is a multi-billion-dollar business opportunity, especially when it comes to integrating on-structure landscaping, green roofs and walls, and ‘living architecture’ as a way to give underutilized properties a second chance. Landscape contractors with experience in this sector already see it as an opportunity zone.

There has never been a better time to decide if outsourcing is a strategy that could work for your business. We’ve found that the decision to outsource vs. hire in-house often comes down to how forward-thinking we are when it comes to taking risks. We must also determine how fast we can get needed talent with needed skills at the right price. There are many ways for companies to be efficient, cut costs and gain competitive advantage, and outsourcing may or may not be the answer. But with remote work not going away and every organization already operating with some version of a hybrid model, sourcing external knowledge to fill talent gaps has become an essential ingredient for innovation.

Here’s how to identify if it’s right for you:

In-House vs. Outsourcing Pros and Cons. There are three vital factors to consider: cost, expertise and flexibility. Outsourcing enables businesses to quickly scale and mobilize on a project, access experienced talent in a targeted discipline and get assignments completed and delivered faster.

On the flip side, it’s important to understand the drawbacks it can have on company culture. While outsourcing can give your company strategic expertise, it can lower employee morale if employees feel they are being replaced. Clear communication, team building and opportunities for advancement and training can help your staff feel valued and optimistic.

7 outsourcing trends to watch:

1. Information Technology

Companies can save time and money outsourcing to experts who can help employees understand the digital universe and apply the tools they need to work smarter and faster. As cloud technology and AI expands, vendors may begin consolidating services to make it easier for companies to access ongoing insight, training and support. For example, a CRM expert could be used to build out a new system, provide initial training and monitor for three to six months to troubleshoot.

A growing number of companies are hiring fractional CFOs (chief financial officers) and plug-in finance departments or accounting teams to help manage spending, financial strategy and risk management. If you’re a small business or a start-up, you can hire an experienced fractional CFO with deep industry knowledge who doesn’t require a lengthy tenure and is an objective, cost-effective problem solver at a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire.

3. Fractional Executives-Marketing

Fractional CMOs (chief marketing officers) are ideal for medium-sized businesses without the resources to hire a full-time marketing director or marketing services team or agency to help with market research, collateral, content and digital marketing. Like other fractional C-suite positions, interim executives bring perspective, experience and an understanding of the industry and target audience without the overhead of a full-time salaried position.

4. Fractional Executives-Sales

Fractional CROs (chief revenue officers) give companies a boost in sales leadership without the cost and effort that it takes to recruit and onboard a full-time sales leader position in a tight labor market. For business owners looking to accelerate revenue growth, outsourcing to an experienced executive on an interim basis can jump start the process.

5. Business Processes Management

Further down the org chart are non-customer facing operational functions being outsourced to external companies with specialized expertise in front- or back-office functions that can fill critical needs in payroll, cost estimating, validation studies, property mapping, safety training and procurement.

6. HR Management

For businesses with less than 200 employees, outsourcing various HR services such as employee compensation and benefits administration, workforce administration, legal compliance, workers’ comp, talent management, recruiting and onboarding to industry specific experts solves capacity issues, delegates non-core work, and puts the people-focused work of human resources back to the internal human who does it best, without administrative overload.

7. Customer Service

A growing industry of articulate and knowledgeable customer concierge and CRM experts are becoming essential value-adds, offering 24/7 customizable support and handling everything from fielding inbound and outbound calls, leads and emails, analytics and website visitors.

Be sure to join the conversation at https://www.lawnandlandscape.com/article/all-about-outsourcing/

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For landscape companies targeting high-value commercial real estate clients, green is a multi-billion-dollar business opportunity, especially when it comes to integrating on-structure landscaping, green roofs and walls, and ‘living architecture’ as a way to give underutilized properties a second chance. Landscape contractors with experience in this sector already see it as an opportunity zone.

If you’re looking to implement green initiatives, the long-term benefits far outweigh the costs.

1. Is the green conversion trend nationwide?
Some states are signing bills into law that incentivize developers to convert commercial buildings into much-needed residential space, including mixed-use options. If your state isn’t among them, or zoning regulations are an obstacle for now, keep an eye on commercial development pipelines, stay close to your developer/owner customers so you can pivot when ready. Not every strategy works for every opportunity but by understanding the requirements and challenges, you’ll be able to move first.

2. Are conversions really the wave of the future?

While commercial repurposing and retrofitting has existed for decades, the growth potential was accelerated by the pandemic and empty office space. Every owner, developer and property manager needs the financial benefits that come with green conversions. Landscape contractors able to capitalize on this trend can not only communicate a commitment to green building practices but benefit from positive returns over the long term.

3. Where can I learn more? If you don’t have the bench strength or the capability now but want to ramp up, network with the Commercial Real Estate Development Association and the Building Owners and Managers Association, and do your homework. CBRE, JLL, Cushman & Wakefield and Urban Land Institute regularly publish insights that can help you plan beyond your traditional positioning and give you time to strengthen your focus.

4. How do I find opportunities?

Talk with your existing commercial clients at trade shows and targeted events. Talk to CEO colleagues in your peer groups who have built expertise in this area and learn what the process is like from the inside.

5. How do I create a successful green strategy?

Keep it simple with one or two critical targets and the steps that can multiple your effectiveness. A plan to capture more green work will come with logistical, operational and messaging challenges, but there are people who can help and ways to test your plan before you take action. Ask yourself: Does your current approach resonate with where your commercial accounts are going? Could having a sustainability framework contribute more to your performance and bidding success? Could expanding your green expertise serve as a platform for further innovation and growth?

6. How do I differentiate in a crowded market of sustainability messaging? Use data to quantify the green premium of landscaping, such as: linking landscaping to value creation, the cost savings you’ve produced for your clients by meeting performance standards for energy efficiency, safety, waste reduction, water and resource conservation, carbon sequestration and environmental quality. Build a portfolio of LEED projects and a resume of expertise in stormwater quality and erosion control, integrated pest management, habitat restoration and water-smart and pollinator-friendly landscaping. Give qualified members of your team LEED Green Associate training and credentialing to boost your company’s credibility as a knowledge partner.

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Diving into DISC The DISC model is not about making your team fall into a line-up of neatly organized categories. Rather, it provides insights into how individuals interact and communicate based on their unique personality traits. With DISC, you’re equipped to lead yourself, your team, and enhance your customer experience, fostering a healthier and more productive work culture in the process.

DISC is an acronym for Decisive, Interactive, Stabilizing, and Cautious, mapping out various personality traits and behaviors. Mastering this tool equips you to connect faster and more effectively with your team as you gain an understanding of their distinct style of functioning.

Unpacking DISC Personalities

The Decisive (Dominant) Personality Interactive personalities, otherwise known as influencers, are charming and sociable individuals who thrive in people-centric environments. Their focus lies in creating strong relationships within their team, even though they may occasionally falter on tasks and details. Roughly 25% of individuals fall into this category. In a hiring situation, an Interactive personality prioritizes personal connections over specific skills.

The Stabilizing (Steady) Personality Stabilizing personalities are the backbones of your team. They’re reliable, supportive, and excel at active listening, contributing to a serene and steady work environment. They tend to shy away from conflict and may need some encouragement to share their invaluable insights. Approximately 40% of people are of the Stabilizing personality type. When hiring, they value cultural fit and interpersonal compatibility.

The Cautious (Conscientious) Personality Cautious personalities are the meticulous individuals in your team. They are detail-oriented, love processes and structure, and solve problems with remarkable accuracy and logic. They may seem rigid, but their pursuit of perfection contributes to excellent results. About 25% of individuals are Cautious personalities, and their focus is on how tasks are done. In a hiring situation, they meticulously look for the perfect match in terms of attitude, skills, and performance.

Building Bridges with DISC Personalities Consider a hypothetical scenario where each DISC personality type is given the task of building a bridge.

Decisive personalities plunge into action, valuing progress over perfection. Interactive personalities revel in the people-oriented aspects of the task, planning celebrations and engaging in public relations. Stabilizing personalities carefully consider the impact of their actions on the team and commit themselves fully once they are convinced of the value of the task. Cautious personalities meticulously plan out every detail, ensuring accuracy and top-notch quality in their results.

In the end, a combination of all these types is needed to deliver a successful outcome. As a leader, your role is to facilitate communication and foster unity amongst these diverse personality types.

The Utility of DISC in Your Business Cultivating a team spirit and fostering a culture of unity is paramount for a successful business. Creating this ‘we’ mentality builds trust, improves communication, and reduces conflict. The DISC assessment tool is a powerful means to this end, facilitating an understanding of diverse communication styles and behavioral tendencies.

A recent study revealed that a significant percentage of millennials and Gen X dread going to work on Mondays, highlighting the importance of mental well-being in the workplace. They crave validation and value from their employers. Implementing the DISC assessment tool in your business is a great step towards building a culture where every team member feels appreciated and valued. It empowers you to lead and motivate your team more effectively, fostering a more harmonious and productive work environment.

If you have any interest in taking a free test, please contact robert@theradixgroupllc.com

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I’ve been an entrepreneur most of my adult life and from my experience, economic downturns are a great time to build a business. Today I’m a CEO and executive coach, and when business owners ask me how to succeed during tough times, the answer is: remove distractions and focus on what will gain you the most ground. Surround yourself with experts in areas you don’t know well, take decisive action every day, reinvent systems and processes that are more agile and effective, and invest in tools and practices that will make your business more competitive.

With that in mind, here are six areas to get right:

Digital Fluency

Get up to speed on data. Your tech priorities should include an analytic program for forecasting and benchmarking; updated accounting and marketing software; network- and cloud-enabled devices; a platform that improves customer experience; and cybersecurity technologies to protect your information.

Relevance

It’s the new competitive advantage. Being relevant means that you are constantly adjusting your services and business model to be in tune with your market’s needs and shows that you understand how your business resonates with your customers and the candidates you’re looking to hire. If you’re not relevant, yourcustomers and job applicants may go somewhere else.

It’s not easy running a company. But there are several strategies for being ready when the inevitable chaos creeps up.

Agility

Nothing can match the maneuverability of an agile organization when it comes to outperforming. Higher productivity, faster time to market, better quality, higher engagement — the list goes on. But transforming the business you built yesterday to one that will be nimble and quick tomorrow is tough. You need to break down traditional hierarchies, silos and structures to become flatter. You also need to put information and decision-making in the hands of the teams and people that do the work.

Leadership Development

Invest in building effective organizational leadership for both individuals and teams. It not only expands everyone’s capacity to be effective in their role, but develops strategic thinking and the ability to look at the big picture and excel at solving problems from 30,000 feet. Industry associations, peer groups or executive coaching and training can help with leadership development. Not asking for help when you need it is a missed opportunity to identify blind spots.

Resiliency

Every CEO’s resiliency playbook should include an effective crisis management plan that focuses on stress events outside your company’s control, a scalable strategic plan to create, preserve or recover value as quickly as possible, and a SWT — strengths, weaknesses and trends assessment to help you course correct.

Invest in the long game

Every business has four life cycles — startup, growth, maturity and renewal. Strong leaders make smart decisions about each stage the business is in, and how the market is changing and impacting growth. Your path to the finish line, whether it’s in years or decades, should always include a succession plan, a positive cash flow, a scalable service and a value proposition that is second-to-none.

In the end, “winds of change” have the potential to create strong and successful businesses, and strong and successful competitors. As a long-distance cyclist and as a CEO, I believe in being alert to changes in the wind as an opportunity to gain ground. A headwind for one leader is a tailwind for someone going in the opposite direction.

The only question for CEOs in 2023 is, how will you partner with the wind to win?

Reprinted with permission. GIE Media. Lawn & Landscape February 2023 (c)

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Rugby’s notoriously rough but the lessons I learned from the pitch offer important insight for leaders. Great team captains, like great CEOs, embody a leadership style that focuses on their players — their needs, their performance and their ability to win together. It’s one of the best examples I know of human-centered leadership — a style of leading and coaching by empowering others to bring their best game.

In my conversations with CEOs and leaders around the county, most assume they’re doing a pretty good job. But when the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) results come in, not all employees agree. When faced with this disconnect, how do leaders close the gap?

Inspirational leadership is much harder than it sounds. But whether you’re coaching a team or building a business, your ability to connect with every person you work with, in the way that works best for them, will strengthen your ability to shift from thinking about what your employees do, to why they are driven to do it.

If managing people is the toughest part of your job, consider changing your approach. Here are eight ways to develop the skills and mindset to become a wiser, more compassionate leader of humans:

1. Address basic needs.

Care as much about your employees’ needs for autonomy, excellence and purpose as you do about the purpose and excellence of your business. Build a workplace and work culture that offers a win-win proposition, where the success of your growth strategy is proportionate to your investment in improving your employees’ work experience.

2. Make everyone feel heard.

Listen to what employees really want and make sure they feel heard and respected. Repair the trust of employees who are disengaged or feel undervalued, and show appreciation for employees who give their best.

3. Invite ideas. Not all ideas have tangible value, but in today’s innovation-economy, your team’s ability to generate ideas and rethink obstacles will directly impact sales and improve customer experience — and give you a team invested in and accountable to results.

4. Model trust. If you want your employees to bring their best selves to work, they need to feel safe. Modeling humility and vulnerability, and choosing transparency over control, will create an environment of trust, where growing from mistakes and moving forward is more important than being right.

5. Prioritize alignment. Expecting everyone in your organization to be in agreement is unrealistic. Instead, strive to find alignment and compromise on key points so everyone feels they have a role in implementing your vision.

6. Celebrate individuality. The individuality and diversity of your team is a plus. When employees are respected and acknowledged for their uniqueness, and your workplace is relentlessly inclusive, it creates a stronger sense of belonging and reinforces what it means to pull together as one.

7. Value and purpose matters. People are motivated when they feel valued in their work and can have a positive impact. Strive to incorporate context and empathy around work performance, and help employees realize they can and do make a difference.

8. Don’t forget to have fun. Fun is the shortest distance between productivity and positivity between colleagues, and essential to team spirit — that feeling of camaraderie, mutual trust and pride that inspires everyone to come together as one. If company team-building events have been on the back-burner, it’s time to bring them back.

With quiet quitting and employee disengagement trending topics, leaving old leadership approaches behind could be more than a strategic imperative. Becoming more human-centric could re-energize your company for years to come.

Reprinted with permission. GIE Media. Lawn & Landscape January 2023 (c)

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If you’re looking to channel your inner superhero, I have good news. Most of them are not born: They’re made. From Top Gun fighter pilots to caped crusaders, CEOs are the action figures the whole company turns to in times of need.

The bad news? If you can’t communicate why your vision matters, the people you need most will never help you get your big idea off the ground.

I know. Because it happened to me.

A while back my partner and I grew a local landscape business into a regional powerhouse. We tripled its market value, grew our base and kept employees engaged. Our teams worked together to pull our vision over the finish line and reap the benefits of success.

However, there were times my ability to inspire didn’t meet the moment.

When I searched for a way to make our message more compelling, I turned to the motivational mantras of rugby — a game I played before business — to help our company become one of the greatest business teams in our market.

The New Zealand All Blacks is rugby royalty. They have a famously consistent team culture and perform the Haka — a Maori dance designed to intimidate the competition and energize the home team.

How did they become invincible? Was it showmanship or was it something else?

It turns out, it was a fierce commitment to win together.

How did they get there? They asked themselves three things:

• How can we be better?
• How can we make the team better?
• How can we make the future better?

How can we be better?

A conversation about change is the ultimate test of your company’s emotional intelligence and an opportunity to build trust. Invite your employees into the process and say: 1. “Here are my ideas about what needs to change and why.” 2. “I need your input on direction.” 3. “You are important to me and I need your help to make this work.” By putting your vision in the hands of your employees, they’ll be empowered to make it happen. Make the message and process bilingual so no one gets left out.

How can we make the team better?

As important as your executive team is, you need positive energy and enthusiasm from everyone to maintain momentum. Who are your company’s best cheerleaders? Look to your people in the field or the back office or someone you least expect who can be your greatest vision ambassadors. Celebrate incremental wins, recognize and reward progress on goals and make it fun so everyone shares pride in the results.

How can we make the future better?

Balanced Scorecards are the nitty-gritty of getting your company from here to there. They work to identify slippage, and improve operational performance and processes so your vision doesn’t get lost in the execution. As a management tool, it helps you choose the right things to measure so you can reach your goal, and puts those things into a comprehensive dashboard so everyone’s on the same page. In other words, it takes the abstract of big picture thinking and breaks it down into actionable, deadline-driven steps.

I’ve been an athlete and a CEO. In both, my success was a direct result of teams who made my game soar. But like jumping off a cliff and building an airplane on the way down, the more aerodynamic the wing, the faster your idea can climb.

Reprinted with permission. GIE Media. Lawn & Landscape December 2022 (c)

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Purpose moves people to make the world a bit better for all,” notes Naomi Simson, Co-Founder and Director of Big Red Group, the largest experience marketplace in Australia and New Zealand. “We have an ethos of valuing experiences over material goods.”

With a purpose to “shift the way people experience life,” her company offers over 10,000 experiences people can gift and enjoy. Her long-term goal is to “serve an experience, sustainably, every second somewhere on earth” by 2030, up from one every 2.5 minutes in 2017 when she reset the firm’s Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG).

Her journey with Scaling Up began in 2005 when her team attended Verne’s two-day Rockefeller Habits workshop in Sydney. There she set her first BHAG — to serve up 2 million experiences by 2015. This was quite a leap — 250x — from the 7500 experiences they had served up since the founding of the firm.

“Yet, we got there two years early and at the time we set it. ..it was sooooo improbable and hard to imagine,” exclaims Naomi. “We proved it was possible.”

Naomi’s original purpose for launching RedBalloon in 2001, when she left corporate life to become a mum in 1996, was “to spend more time with her little ones Natalia (now 20) and Oscar (now 18).” Her desire was to play with the children during the day and run RedBalloon at night. 22 years later her firm is on course to generate a quarter billion in revenue and more importantly, continue to scale its impact of providing people with experiences that will be remembered for a lifetime.

Dutch entrepreneur Hester Anderiesen Le Riche is on a similar purpose-driven path. Founder of Tover, she wants to change the way the world looks at people with cognitive challenges. “How do we accomplish this?” explains Hester. “With serious games with a proven track record of positively influencing quality of life. Playing for a better existence. That’s what we call ‘purposeful plays’

Scaling Up

Bootstrapping the business, for the first seven years, Hester raised capital and has scaled revenue eight-fold in five years. Tover offers 100+ games in 14 countries. And working with our Dutch coaching partners, she has also raised her own game. Originally targeting a BHAG of one million players per day over the next decade, she has 30x’d her goal to serve 30 million players per day by 2030. She’s upping her impact.

Don Wells, Chief Empowerment Officer for the San Diego-based non-profit Just in Time for Foster Youth (JIT), has his organization on purpose as well: “To engage a caring community to help transition-age foster youth achieve self-sufficiency and well-belong.” Currently serving 1600 foster youth annually between the ages of 18 and 26, his team originally set a BHAG to 10x their impact in the community to 16,000 youth annually in ten years.

Initially skeptical if the Scaling Up methodology would be helpful for a social venture, Don and his team attended a couple of sessions with a Scaling Up coach. As Don describes, “it started to change our thinking of what was possible.” As a result, the team stepped up their vision and presented to their board a credible plan to serve 100,000 youth annually by 2032.

Notes Don, “we came out of those sessions with a new resolve and the tools to make it happen.” It resulted in a statement where JIT is committed to “Building a nationwide Reliable, Responsive, Real ‘100K Community’ of life-changing choices and transformative impact for young people impacted by foster care.”

Don shares how “100K Community” is now the rallying cry for JIT over this next decade and
he and his team are excited for the possibility to have a much greater impact in supporting foster youth who are aging out of the system.

Scaling Purpose and Profit

Naomi, Hester, and Don are three of over 80,000 organizations around the globe using the Scaling Up/Rockefeller Habits tools and techniques to scale their impact while increasing their revenues, their capital raises, and their cash (donations). Dozens are detailed in the following pages and hundreds of mini-case studies and articles are available at www.scaleups.com.

For all of us at Scaling Up — and our 200+ coaching partners on six continents — what gives us great joy is helping you and your team scale easier with less drama. Increasing your financial performance is critical: doubling your cash flow, tripling your industry average profitability, and dramatically increasing the valuation of the firm. All this helps you sleep better at night and makes it a lot more fun to scale.

Yet it’s not just about the money. Scaleups (you!) are the unsung heroes of their local and global economies — generating most of the net new jobs and innovations in their respective communities. And directly, you are responsible for the livelihoods of millions of people. This is a responsibility we take seriously in supporting you and recognize the pressures this creates for you and your team, especially during chaotic times — and it’s expected to be chaotic the entirety of these “roaring 20s.”
Creating a great culture where people can thrive; provide products and services that delight customers; and generate extraordinary returns for all this effort, is what brings us joy. And whether your purpose is to spend more time with your family or have a significant impact in your corner of the world, for over 40 years we’ve been helping organizations of all sizes and geographies scale up successfully. These tools and techniques have stood the test of time so long as you and your team have a growth mindset and willingness to learn.

Most Important Routine/Habit

Leaders are learners! When Larry Page, CEO of Google was asked how he learned to run a company, he responded “I read a lot.” For instance, he read three books on how to name things. Bill Gates, for decades, maintained his famous “Think Week”, devouring a record 112 books/articles/whitepapers during one session.

Mark Cuban, the outspoken owner of the Dallas Mavericks, reads 3 hours per day. His goal is to find just one idea he can use to give him and the over 150 companies in which he’s invested an edge in the marketplace. Mark Zuckerberg’s personal development priority is reading a book every two weeks, exceeding by two the number of books (24/year) Topgrading author Brad Smart found separated A-player executives from B and C players.

And Charlie Munger, reflecting on the 50-year record of investing by his partner Warren Buffett, credited “his (Warren’s) first priority would be reservation of much time for quiet reading and thinking, particularly that which might advance his determined learning, no matter how old he became.”

All these accomplished biz leaders know one thing — nothing interesting can come out of your thoughts that you don’t put in first. Having a natural curiosity and thirst for learning separates the good from the great in our experience. Happy learning!

The post The Introduction Tools for Scaling Up appeared first on Bruce Wilson & Company.

Years ago, having someone in charge of ideas was a role given to marketing or outsourced to a creative agency. Today, both creativity and innovation have been brought in-house, with a culture of possibility and a chief possibility officer to lead it an important step change for competitive advantage.

As a serial entrepreneur, I’ve seen a lot of great ideas get lost in the execution, a problem that can happen at any stage of a company’s lifecycle and for various reasons. There’s momentum, there’s employee buy-in, but innovation stalls, becoming a wish list instead of a deliverable.

Here are six things you can do to make innovation more actionable:

Make innovation a priority. By encouraging employees to think big and collaborate, they will strive to innovate.

Reprinted with permission. GIE Media. Lawn & Landscape May 2022 (c)

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Doubt, it’s said, is the killer of entrepreneurial spirit. Today, we have several versions of this. “If you can dream it, you can do it,” from Walt Disney, is just one of many.

“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.”
– Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company

Much of the conversation around being an entrepreneur centers on bringing ideas to market, like in the TV show Shark Tank. But the importance of an entrepreneurial mindset is missing from what it takes to make the business idea work.

You can be an entrepreneur at any age and at any stage of your business. But like so many business owners, frustrations and setbacks can lead to second-guessing.

If you hear yourself saying, “what was I thinking?” when the daily grind is choking your creativity, here are a few things you can do to re-boot your motivation.

1. Read. Warren Buffet says he reads to learn 80% of every day because the best entrepreneurs are never content with the status quo. Always seek ways to improve problem-solving, and find inspiration in the experience and wisdom of others.
2. Do. Be on a quest for smarter, faster, better ways to grow personally and professionally. An entrepreneur is always in motion. Even at rest, an entrepreneurial mind is always thinking.
3. Get out of your comfort zone. Take responsibility for your future, surround yourself with the right people and a network of entrepreneurs, question everything, and be willing to pivot if it doesn’t work.
4. You don’t have to change the world. You can succeed if you find a way to solve a problem or make an innovative idea valuable. You just have to believe you can build something from scratch and succeed, with passion and resilience in equal measure.
5. Develop resilience. Anyone can learn to be an entrepreneur. Some personalities are a natural fit; others develop the skills and mindset through discipline and perseverance. The common thread connecting the two? Resilience. People who succeed, regardless of where or how they start, have a unique ability to bounce back. In other words, where others see problems and get stuck, entrepreneurs see opportunities and leverage.
6. “Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice” Steve Jobs’ quote brings René Descartes full circle. Entrepreneurs empower themselves.

A final thought on failure and risk.

Business is not easy. Every step of the way, entrepreneurs and CEOs experience a Rubix’s Cube of challenges. But just like it’s impossible to feel the pain of a long workout before starting, it’s impossible to lean into discomfort before it happens.

If you’re a business owner who feels like you’re flying solo on a long climb without a wisdom wingman or looking for insight that will help you “quit talking and begin doing”, as Walt Disney once said, contact Robert Clinkenbeard to learn more about the benefits of entrepreneurial coaching.

“Try to solve something that’s deeply personal to you. Ideally, if you’re an ordinary person and you’ve just solved your problem, you might have solved the problem for millions of people.”
– Brian Chesky, CEO, co-founder of AirBnB

About the author: Serial entrepreneur, author, podcaster, and Ironman athlete Robert Clinkenbeard is managing partner of green industry CEO peer group organization Bruce Wilson & Co., and principal of The Radix Group, LLC., a global entrepreneurial consulting firm. He is a member of EO (Entrepreneurs’ Organization) and a member of its western region board of directors.

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I’ve built and led several companies: some I fell into accidentally and grew organically; others I approached with a vision in mind. But across my career, one thing became clear: I owe my entrepreneurial success to a healthy ecosystem of diverse relationships.

We all agree that when it comes to competitive advantage, connections are our secret sauce. There’s really no other asset more beneficial than having a group of people, within and outside our organizations, who can help us be better at who we are and what we do. But how do we build a power network and how do we manage it when it seems like we already have too many balls in the air?

Here are seven things I know now I wish I knew back when:

1. One plus one equals three: No business and no CEO operates well in isolation. Effective leaders understand that “we’re better together” means having a network of high-value connections across generations and industries. These connections should also be at different levels and production areas, with people whose insights can help you build bridges, open doors and positively impact the success of your team.

2. Do your homework: Your network will change as your needs change, and quality relationships require nurturing. Define your strategy, research the market, determine what you want from the experience and how you’ll allocate resources to support it.

3. Build a circle of influence: Identify what your employees and your customers expect from you and build a network that can help your business provide solutions others can’t. If your employees or customers benefit from something you don’t offer, having access to a unique outside resource can be competitive advantage.

4. Give more than you take: Become active in your national and state associations and your local business communities. Join and commit to an organization for entrepreneurs, CEO peer groups and community chambers and non-profits, which offer opportunities to get involved and give back.

5. Focus on learning: Invest in professional development activities and build a network that includes exposure to world-class authors, speakers and thought leaders to stay on top of innovations, emerging technologies and economic and market trends.

6. Networking is a brand builder: Everyone from your workers to your suppliers to your customers to your colleagues has a stakeholder role to play in the success of your business. Encourage your employees to join associations that support their expertise and engage with your wider community on social media. Make increasing the capacity and visibility of your business through strategic networking a shared responsibility for your entire company.

7. Bring your people into a sharing mindset: Provide opportunities to help your employees build confidence and knowledge-sharing skills. Invite your team to read or listen to one good book every quarter and discuss takeaways and ideas they can implement. Start with: “Who Not How” by Dan Sullivan, as in, who can help me do this better versus how can I do this myself? Discuss why leveraging the strengths of others increases the strength of one.

We all have mindsets that don’t serve us well. If networking has been a challenge, change your approach.

Go from making connections to advance yourself to creating opportunities where everyone wins.

With the right frame of mind, and an attitude of giving more than you receive, you’ll plant seeds for a community of alliances that will last a lifetime.

Reprinted with permission. GIE Media. Lawn & Landscape Jan 2022 (c)

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