By John Paschall, Servant Leader

The One Most Important Key to Business Success

         As business leaders, you and I typically receive, process, and deal with large volumes of information and ideas each day.  We spend a significant amount of time searching for the “gold nuggets” in that mountain of “dirt” that could prove to be the idea or strategy that will propel our business to new heights.  Would you like for me to let you in on the one most important key to make your business successful?  Thought so…get ready…here it comes….

         The one most important key to your business success is….you and your attitude!  “Really?”, you say.  That is the secret?  You mean to tell me that I can’t blame my lack of success on someone else or some outside force (economic climate, political climate, weather climate)?  No you really can’t.  Now certainly we realize that there are forces in our daily lives that serve to either help or hinder us in our business effort, but the most important factor really is our attitude.  Why is that?

         Your attitude is the most important key, because it is really the only thing that you have complete control over.  You and I cannot control the weather, our customers, who is in or out of political power, etc.  Now we can certainly contribute our part each day, but the only thing that we have complete control over is our attitude.  We cannot control what happens to us, but we can control how we RESPOND to what happens to us and that is the critical element.  Here’s why:

         For years the psychological experts and motivational speakers have pointed out to us that we will treat people and situations exactly the way we see those people.  Stated another way, we tend to treat people and situations based on our attitude toward those people and situations.  Based on that, here are some questions for you:

         How do you see the customers you have?  Are they idiotic interruptions in your day (I had a business owner tell me that one time) or are they one of God’s creations worthy of your respect coming to you with a problem for you to help them find the perfect solution?  You will treat them as you see them.  Do you think that will impact whether or not they become repeat customers?

         How do you see the employees you have?  Are they no good, lazy, and uneducated folks who just want to come to work to get a paycheck but have no interest in contributing?  Or are they fellow colleagues who are passionate about their work, who are worthy of your time, training, and leadership, and who have the ability to achieve amazing results.  You will treat them the way you see them.  Do you think that will impact their performance?

         What is the current economic and business climate for your industry?

Is it the worst you have ever seen, so bad that you may have to close your doors, or is it a challenging time that has caused a number of your competitors to diminish or leave, giving you even greater opportunity to go after the business that has always been there and allowing you to position yourself for greater growth in the days ahead.  You will treat each day and opportunity the way you see it.

         Let me give you a specific example.  When I joined the BBB in Southeast Texas almost a year ago, I joined a team that had built an organization with the second highest market share among all BBB’s in the USA, three times larger than the average BBB, which is fantastic.  However, conventional wisdom would say that there is not much use trying to grow that organization because the market is tapped out – better to just be happy with the status quo and try to keep what you have.  Hogwash, Hogwash I say! 

         With the Can-Do Attitude that exists here among the amazing team at the BBB, we have turned that conventional wisdom on its head and challenge ourselves each day to find ways to leverage that tremendous market share advantage to open up new ideas and avenues for growth – and it is working!  It is all about the attitude.

         Now, if attitude is the most important key, how do we maintain the proper attitude?  Make it a habit to pour in the good, the clean, the pure, the powerful, and the positive kind of information into your head and heart on a daily basis.  Did you know that several studies have shown that the amount of TV a person watches on a weekly basis is generally inversely proportional to their level in their respective organization?

         Thus, those at the lower levels of an organization tend to watch on average 30-40 hours of television a week.  What do think would happen if they took just 10 of those hours each week and invested in themselves and their families, maybe taking a college course, reading a good motivational book, or talking more to their spouse and kids?  Do you think it would help or hurt?  Makes sense doesn’t it?

This month, let’s take a hard look at our attitudes and how they are affecting our family, our work, and those around us.

See obstacles as building blocks not roadblocks.

See challenges as opportunities not problems.

Let me know what happens.  In the meantime, we’ll continue to work on moving your BBB from #2 to #1.   Becoming the best isn’t easy but in reaching the pinnacle, my bet is that it will bring out our best.

Have a great month and keep building your better business!