6 Deadly Business Diseases - Treatable if Diagnosed Early

I’ve seen a lot of diseases in companies, usually undiagnosed. It’s hard not to have a couple and some are more pernicious than others. Here are some of my favorites. Most are even treatable!

Shiny Object Chasers Syndrome (Your business has ADHD)

Nobody can sit still and finish a task because there are rainbows to chase! A bunch of visionaries in ecstasy about the easy part of a new idea: the beginning part…it’s so novel and exciting during that part! But no one is hot for the hard work after the honeymoon phase — so there’s no follow through — on to the next thing. 

Employees here are spores in the wind, changing direction constantly.  The overflowing cemetery of half-baked and half-built ideas grows daily.  No worries because — Glitter! Squirrel!

Firefighter-itis (Your business has Chronic Anxiety & Panic Attacks)

“We don’t deal with problems around here until they’re on fire.  Heavy smoke is a problem for tomorrow!” These people spend their time rushing from one emergency to the next, leaving embers in their wake.  So, the fires keep multiplying.  The quick-fix band-aid solutions usually employed (because they’re “quick”) don’t do anything to cure the underlying issue - so it’s just kicking the can down the road. 

You’re apt to hear things like “hey drop everything you’re doing (you know…that life-or-death emergency from yesterday) and do this instead, all hands on deck!!”

It feels high stakes.  Your hair is on fire all the time.  But somebody’s gotta keep all those plates spinning.  Cortisol pulses through you from the unending fight-or-flight response.  It’s kind of exciting, but so is running from wolves.

Asleep-at-the-Wheel Malaise (Your business has Somnambulism)

Everyone is sleepwalking.  You all kind of just zone out at work – you find yourself home again later with a blurry memory of how you got there.  There’s a startling lack of innovation and initiative around here.  Your company still uses windows 95, you don’t accept credit cards, you heard somebody was working on a company website, but it’s been a few years and not totally sure if that ever happened.  Why fix something that isn’t broken…yet…somehow? Settling into the sweet slumber of contentedness.

You know when you have that fuzzy dream where you do your whole morning routine and then you wake up half-remembering it and have to get up and do it for real.  That’s what you feel like all the time.

Sometimes during a fleeting moment of lucidity you’ll wonder “how the hell does this company even exist?”  Nobody really knows.  When you think about it, which nobody likes to, you’re not sure how this plane is flying, but here we are.  Couldn’t tell you how the engine works, is there one?

It's like that one restaurant, it’s been empty every time you’ve been there but they’re still in business – maybe it’s a drug front?  Or like how RadioShack felt in its final years.  Sh sh sh, back to sleep it’s better this way.

Pollyanna Complex (Your business has a nasty bout of an Optimism Bias)

Positivity can be toxic too in large doses. 

Everything is rose colored.  Bright-eyed bushy-tailed smiling psychopaths focusing on the positive, looking on the bright side, and choosing to see the beauty even (especially) where there’s none…so much so that they disregard the negative entirely.  I’ve seen companies do this at difficult meetings where they excuse failures, minimize bad things (like negative ROI), while focusing on how good of a job everyone did at trying hard.

You’re too positive!

You sweet inspiring superior fools.  Mostly I’m jealous.  But also, you’re about to drive off a cliff - or you just did and now you’re in active free-fall, will you just admit it already! Engage the parachute and please stop saying how it’s an opportunity merely disguised as the fast-approaching ground.  Yes, and also - splat.

Decapitated Leadership Poisoning (Your business is Delusional)

It’s a dissociative disorder of a company where the head is severed from the body, i.e., the deluded leadership is detached from the reality of the trench workers. 

The leaders are inhabitants of fantasy land — out of touch with the product; out of touch with who their client is and what they want; out of touch with their competition.  They believe in numbers on spreadsheets (divorced from the world) and tell themselves tales of how great their stuff is.  Maybe it used to be.  Riding their laurels.

The headless body parts, left leaderless, devolve into a Lord of the Flies free-for-all.  Every person for themselves or warring factions fighting to fill the power vacuum. 

Magical thinkers at the top prattle on “yeah we can triple Q1 revenue year-over-year…that sounds great out loud.” Led by armchair generals who never went to battle or just don’t remember what it’s like.  Sales slipping.  Product waning.  A private equity firm is probably involved.

The Plague of the Over-Engineers (Your business is Hallucinating)

Locust clouds of experts each capable of spending days working on different ways of “saving time” by automating some one-time 20-minute task.  They’d much rather “reimagine” how a task could be done than actually do it.   “All I need is a few hours (week tops), a Gantt chart, any spare developers you have lying around, a roll of duct tape and…wait why are we going out of business?”

They overcomplicate everything (I’ve definitely been guilty of this).  Also great at getting distracted from the original project and maximizing scope creep. 

“Hey Chuck check it out I invented scissor sharpeners, only 4 payments of 19.99, look at ‘em they’re sweet.  Took me 2-years.”  

“Jerry, I asked you to pick me up a pencil sharpener before Covid started, this is what you did instead? You know, scissors cost like $3.  AND don’t they have knife sharpeners already - what’s the difference? AND are you really using your scissors so frequently that you need to sharpen them regularly!? My pencil is very dull.”

Process over results.  Activity instead of productivity. 

All vision, no traction — in the EOS world we like to say that vision without traction is hallucination. 

How long do I got Doc, is there a cure to these business diseases?

Awareness is a good start, but I’ve been told it’s not enough, you have to do something too.  I have a habit of reveling in my awareness and leaving it at that, proud of myself for being so enlightened and then not changing…

Good news is that these diseases are often just symptoms of some underlying core issues.  If you solve those, the symptoms disappear.  The common culprits are:

  • Lack of Clarity: the vision is cloudy or scattered instead of focused, maybe you’re trying to do be everything to everybody instead of doing what you’re best at.

  • Lack of Traction: You’re spinning your wheels, not getting anywhere. Maybe you’re trying to go in opposite directions at the same time, no wonder you’re not getting anywhere.

  • Lack of Health/Harmony: People have questions: who reports to whom, do we even have similar values around here, can I trust anybody but myself, who is accountable, how do we work together as a team, why do we even get out of bed in the morning as a business why are we here?

You want a prescription to be healthier human: eat well, sleep well, exercise.

You want a prescription for a disease-free business: consider EOS, a complete proven system of simple tools to help you get more clarity, more traction, and a healthier business.  Consider hiring an EOS implementer (like me) to be your company’s guide.

How can EOS help cure the underlying sickness?

Most of these diseases can’t stand up to the shiny disinfecting sunlight of a crystal-clear vision.  A routine (or program of execution) brings your lofty ideas down to the ground and you start building traction.  A new healthy atmosphere is just the happy byproduct of your new just-say-it culture of transparency where people say what they actually mean.  What would it be like if your business weren’t riddled with business diseases?  Sounds nice.

Disclaimer: EOS is not a panacea, it works best for these types of companies.

Mindlessly Raising Money - It’s a Trap!

Everybody and their mom wants to raise $10 million. “Once I get funding then I’m going to really blow up this business, I’m going to scale, I’m gonna exploit my first-movers advantage, I’m going to capture a bunch of market share, I’ll become the de facto leader in the space, I’m gonna finally be able to invest in research and development and make that key hire, I’m going to have economies of scale…” etc. etc.

Most of that is bullshit.  It’s words you came up with to rationalize a feeling.  Really, you have a business that doesn’t quite work and you’re looking to outside funding as your messiah, savior, and salvation.  You’re after instant validation, you’ll be successful overnight, “If I raise $10M then I will have made it, then I’m worthy, I really will have arrived, my Dad will be proud of me, no matter what happens after that I will always be able to say that I’m a big deal and I finally will be!”

What if you just had a really great business instead?

Boring, I know.  But what if you had regular uninspiring organic profitable 20% or 30% growth year-over-year for a few years, slowly and steadily mastering your niche and nailing your product-market fit?  “No, it’s not fast enough, what about twitter they never make money…no I have to have an IPO everybody’s doing it!  Faster faster faster there’s no time!!”  Don’t worry, that’s just the normal spewings of an unchecked id -- that myopic child’s voice inside that wants now! more! better! saying “I want it I want it I want it!”

“No, no but I’m different!”

Maybe.  Here’s some ideas to slow it down for a minute – a quick breath for some checks and balances.  Let’s do a reality check/stress test before you just go out mindlessly following the crowd like a lemming over a cliff.

Rule of 40

It’s common in the tech/SaaS industry as a rule of thumb to have a total of 40% when you add growth + profit. You could have 20% growth + 20% profit.  Or 40% growth + 0% profit.  Or even 100% growth with -60% profit (aka 60% loss).  And in any case…you’d be living the Rule of 40.  “Well I want 100% growth AND 100% profit because I live in world of abundance and anything is possible and my mom said I can be anything I want to be when I grow up!”  Simmer down. 

Point is, does your business have the Rule of 40 going for it? 

If you do, you pass a test and investors generally want to invest or at least listen to your pitch.  And if your business isn’t even close but you do have a whole bunch of stories…nobody wants to listen to your story-time.

Which brings us to…

Paradox of Needing Funding vs. Getting Funding

It’s a Catch 22. 

The businesses who need money struggle mightily to raise money.  There’s a reek of desperation, a neediness, their numbers aren’t quite compelling.  And they often spend a lot of time and resources seeking funding instead of focusing on making their business great.  Lots of meetings, no firm commitments.  They often end up getting a raw deal (if they get a deal at all) and they’re apt to over-promise and under-deliver…which is kinda fine for the investor because they built that risk into their calculations and will now either gut your company or insanely micro-manage its leaders or both.

The businesses who don’t need money can raise ungodly sums without trying.  And a lot of times…they don’t.  They don’t need it.  And when you’re coming from a position of strength and financial independence…you would only accept an extremely compelling offer.  You’re not going to give up much control, you’re going to get great terms, and it’s going to fall in your lap without even trying.  People will be soliciting you for the privilege of vaulting money at you.

“I want that, how do I get that…I want to be a cool kid not needy/desperate.”  Well then…

Live the Be-Do-Have Principle

Most people have it backwards (Have-Do-Be).  They think: once I HAVE xyz, then I will DO the things I need to do, to BE the person I want to be.  They apply it to their business: Once we HAVE funding, then we will DO big mega sales and, and then we will finally BE a big badass killer company.

Nope.  Other way around.  BE the badass person/company you want to be now, then you will DO the things that naturally follow, to then find yourself HAVING the things you want to have.  So BE a great company first (check out EOS it can help), then DO things consistent with that great vision-driven, high-traction, super-healthy company you are, and you’ll find yourself HAVING a company that’s the talk of the town.

I don’t know who originally invented the concept, but Steven Covey talks about it in “7 Habits of Highly Effective People.”  It’s a lot easier said than done, I struggle with BE-DO-HAVE on a daily basis…so easy to fall back into thinking “Once I have X, then…”  You gotta have an internal locus of control (master of your own fate) not an external locus of control (waiting like a victim for the world to deal you a better hand).

How You Do Anything is How You Do Everything

One of my favorite sayings to live your life by (thx T. Harv Eker’s “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind”).  Idea is: if you can be successful on a small scale, you can be successful on a large scale.  If you can handle an ice cream cone with 1 scoop, you can handle 2 scoops.  If you can’t handle 1 scoop, you sure as hell don’t deserve 2 …you’re just going to drop it and cry and later reflect how that kid was setup for failure.

If you make a habit of doing great work without cutting corners or sacrificing your soul in small decisions, you’ll keep doing that on larger and larger decisions.  And the reverse is true: if you make a habit of doing shoddy work on small jobs, that’s what you’ll do on big jobs.

Upshot is that your big actions are a reflection of the small actions you’ve been practicing.  So a greater stage will reveal you for who you really are.  So have a great business now with your current business on its current scale…and if you can’t do that, why the hell does your company deserve more money!?  Money by itself will just make you more of what you already are.  So a somewhat successful struggling company without funding…you’ll likely end up a somewhat successful struggling company on a higher level with funding.  Then you’re broke at a higher level; what a waste.

Enable Defense Mechanism: Crucify the Messenger

And you can say “oh Jake you are naïve, you have no idea, my circumstances are different, you’re talking theory and it’s different in the real world, actually everyone knows that tons of successful businesses in fact do need fundraising, most successful companies have raised truckloads of capital, so you’re full of it, what the hell do you know, you’re just wrong and out of touch and so off-base!”

Maybe.  You might be totally right.  Maybe you are special.  You know best and make your choice.  I would just challenge you to get real, think deep, and be honest: do you actually NEED money, or do you WANT money?

I don’t want to shatter your illusions (well maybe a little) but I like to think that I exist to challenge (productively I hope).

5 Tips How to Have a Great Meeting (and Eradicate Bad Meetings Forever)

I hate bad meetings (said everyone).

Is “hate” too strong? Loathe, despise, abhor…doesn’t capture it. I’d rather be in traffic or do my taxes. If you can’t relate, then you’re probably the perpetrator! Up there, listening to yourself talk and loving it, not reading the room.

Here’s what everyone is secretly thinking at your bad meeting (or at least I am). Why are we here, what are we talking about, what the hell is the point, do I really need to hear this, are we complaining or are we fixing, I don’t care, does this matter, does anything!…every meeting a mini existential crisis.

To combat bad meetings, I tried Nihilism: nothing matters anyway who cares? Tried Stoicism: doesn’t bother me, could be worse. Hedonism: nothing a nice latte, a little chocolate, and some mindless internet browsing in the background won’t fix… Radical Candor: easy to complain, but better to bring solutions (read on).

Some people say you just need a great moderator to fix bad meetings. That wouldn’t hurt but you know what’s more important? Have a meeting worth having in the first place! You could go cancel half your meetings right now…I promise they won’t be missed. Go do that now, and improve the the other half with these 5 tips to make the few meetings you do have worthwhile and productive:

1) Ask Why

You better have a purpose for meeting otherwise cancel it. Have a clear written agenda.

2) Ask Why Again

Are you really sure you want to do this, are you sure you need a meeting? Could an email solve this? Could you solve this by yourself? What’s your goal and how else could you get that…what if a meeting weren’t possible, what would you do instead…consider doing that instead. Avoid unnecessary meetings at all costs. Guard your people’s time - shelter them from pointlessness!

3) Who’s There?

Meetings don't need spectators! You could save a lot of people a lot of time by inviting a few crucial people to make a decision and then share that decision with the rest. Are you inviting everyone in the company to help you make a decision, why are you possibly doing that, get a good leader instead or become one. It's leadership's job to make decisions, stop passing the buck. Send out a poll/survey if you're curious what people think.

4) Designated Driver

Assign somebody/anybody to be the moderator - which is simply the person imbued with the power of interruption for the greater good - to keep the meeting on track. If you're not sure who, consider rotating the moderator responsibility---choose a new volunteer each week to take a crack at leading the meeting/being moderator. Their job: start on time, follow agenda, squash tangents, end on time.

5) Holistic System

Consider a holistic system to run your business on. The health of your meetings is often a proxy for the health of your overall business. Bad meetings could be a symptom of some withering roots leading to some withering fruits. I like EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System). Of course I'm biased because I help companies implement EOS into their businesses and run their quarterly meetings until they don't need me anymore---so maybe that's just my hammer and I see nails everywhere. But there's a reason I chose EOS, because it works and I wish I had it for all my previous businesses. Frankly, any system is better than the typical fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants and make-it-up-as-you-go system most businesses are running on.

Implement these tips and your next meeting will be universally heralded and acclaimed as a “good meeting,” maybe even great.