The Rubber Meets The Road 15

The rubber meets the road when you, as a business leader…

1. deliver real business results to customers (not just deliver an excellent pitch with an impressive powerpoint)
2. start executing relentlessly (not just define your strategy on paper at an off site planning retreat)
3. implement improvements in your processes (not when you create that good looking document with improvement areas)
4. pick up the phone and talk to that frustrated customer (and not get into a chain of email exchange)
5. lead by example and live your values (not just pass instructions for others to follow. Not just document your values on the website)
6. act on your customer’s feedback (not just collect it through your customer feedback program!)
7. start treating your people like “humans” (and not just “resources” or “capital”)
8. “do” equal to or more than what you “say” (and not the reverse)
9. start thinking about “preventing” problems (not just “correcting” them after they happen)
10. work “on” your business (not just “in” it – easy to get consumed working “in” the business)
11. communicate and share feedbacks often with your people (not just in their quarterly performance review)
12. start looking at ways to solve problems (rather than finding someone else to blame)
13. stay lean, flat and accountable (and not let your growth turn you into a bureaucratic, heavy top-down structure)
14. understand that excellence is everybody’s job (not just a single department or a few people in the team)
15. only speak when you completely, totally mean it (and not just throw clichés to please them now)

P.S: “Where the rubber meets the road” is an idiom that refers to the tyre of a vehicle on the surface of a road, meaning “where it really counts.” It is used to represent the defining moments or focus on real actions.

Bonus: My post “15 ideas To Ensure That Trainings Effectively Deliver Value” was featured in HR Carnival over at  i4cp PRoductivity Blog – along with a host of other brilliant posts on talent management, general HR, managerial advice and career advice. If you are a people manager or HR professional, this carnival edition is a MUST READ!

Also download (PDF) 100 fantastic insights that will help you become “BRILLIANT At The Basics of Business” – from none other than NICHOLAS BATE. Visit him for this and tonnes of other great resources – I am sure you will admire his generosity as much as I do.