Vision

Vision

My vision is to develop economic leaders throughout the country, and strengthen the business community.

When it comes to “advantages” in life we usually think of strength, knowledge, capital, tools, technology, people, and military prowess. Although we can’t personally deliver an advantage of military prowess in our training and coaching systems, we do deliver on the other areas of having a vision of forward thinking in business.

We leave the military strength to be developed by our soldiers who fight for our liberties and freedom that we enjoy. I am proud to support GO*VETS Foundation in training and educating our veterans in launching and growing their small business.

Call them advantages or call them benefits, here is we should expect from our mentors, coaches, and leaders:

Wisdom – The first thing we want to establish is becoming a Trusted Mentor. When you work with a coach in sports, and that coach has a vested interest in your success, you find that success if you follow their counsel. They should want to earn your trust.

Experience – The management team should have many years of combined business and leadership skills. Your business coach or mentor should have proven business experience and a mentoring mentality that has driven many businesses to incredible heights of success. More importantly, they should have already seen the good, the bad and the ugly of business, and their job is to pass on their experience to steer you through the maze of business.

Clarity – We all should be more interested in helping others achieve positive results in your business, even when it might not be what you want to hear. The mentors job is to help you succeed, and not win a popularity contest.

Seeking Out Opportunities – Together, we should be constantly on the look for opportunities that will benefit our colleagues and strategic partners. When you attend a seminar or workshop, it should be about the power of looking for opportunities to do business with others. The workshops should be full of proven ways to find incredible opportunities, and an excellent source for networking.

Strategic Alliances – Any company needs to have multiple alliances to help them succeed in business. The mentor should have a network of companies and corporate contacts, and want to introduce their clients and strategic partners to others. Basically, they should be all about networking and increasing theirs, and your reach through strategic partnerships, and pass these relationships on to the network.

Solid Communication – If we can’t clearly communicate what our corporate vision is, then how can we expect others to know what we do; or to buy from us. Communication has to start with telling the truth, even when it’s painful. Communication is the foundation in which we build from. A lack of communication; dishonest or sugar-coated communication with details conveniently left out creates cracks in that foundation, and cracks create weakness. Your empire must be strong and cannot afford any cracks in the foundation.

Integrity – If there is one key principle to remember in building a successful empire, it is in keep­ing agreements, which allows us to honor our commitments and maintain a high level of trust with our colleagues and associates.

Common Sense – All too often leaders take the path of least resistance, which in most cases leads to destruction. Common sense is hanging by a thread in so many companies today, and it usually comes down to self-interests promoted by individuals, instead of the good of the organization. We must bring common sense back into the order of running a successful enterprise.

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Solomon’s Wisdom…con’t.

Why is Solomon perceived to be so wise? What did he do that made him the topic of discussion in First Kings where he was touted by philosophers and prophets of his day as the wisest man in the region…in all the earth? For one thing, he found out who the true mother of a child was by offering to cut the child in two pieces and give both mothers half. The “counterfeit” mother out of jealously and selfishness said that would be fine, whereas the real mother pleaded with Solomon to spare the child’s life, and give it to the other woman.

It took a little wisdom to figure out who was telling the truth, and who only wanted a selfish gain for herself no matter who would be hurt in the process. Solomon called them out and made them face a difficult decision that would affect all three of them in a dramatic way.

Solomon built a vast empire. His rule and reign was so immense that it encompassed millions of acres of land; very powerful cities; trade routes that created wealth so vast that he was a billionaire by today’s standards in a time when no one came close to the enormous amount of wealth that he had attained.

Solomon’s empire included strategic alliances that kept his enemies at bay, and yet allowed him to freely trade with any country he wished. He controlled food sources and had enough allies in the surrounding countries, that if there were to be a famine, his people would not suffer.

This “empire” that Solomon built was the envy of all kings of the world in his day. And, this empire is the example that I wish to turn to in the study of how this king used wisdom to build his empire.

Solomon of course was human, and he had his faults and shortcomings. He was by no means a perfect little angel all of his life. No one is perfect and we all have faults. We can still learn from the imperfection of others, as well as in ourselves…I hope. But if we ever say we have learned it all, and there is nothing more to improve on, well then there is a problem, and maybe if we reach that point it’s time to go on vacation. If we can’t learn, and dream and hope and be curious then what is the point in going on…even living?

I am much wiser today after raising six children—all with different personalities, wants and desires. I learn each and every day that each child is different and wants to do or achieve different things in life. There are times when I wish I could just fit them into the perfect little life that my wife and I would like them to experience and achieve, but that defeats the purpose of learning and growing. We provide them with the necessities of life, a good example, and the “track to run on”. Some choose to run in the fast lane, while others may hold back and wish to see how the rest of us roll out life.

Let’s get back to the wisdom that we need today. Achieving business wisdom is also knowing that you have a short term tactical plan with immediate, measurable results that will roll up to a long term strategy.

The long term strategy must fit with the short term plan. The tactics plug into a cohesive, tight action plan that make up the successful overall plan. It’s like a mathematics equation…8 X 3 = 24; and 3 X 8 = 24; and 24 ÷ 8 = 3. They fit together so that the answer is the same no matter how you change it up. Tactics and strategies need to work in the same fashion.

To know instruction then is to listen to experts in their field and mold their tutoring in to your set of circumstances and solutions. We are constantly learning (at least I’m assuming you are still interested in the concept of learning) and applying the valuable tidbits of information into our own set of circumstances.

I am still learning from my children and many situations in business each day. I learn things from my wife each day that makes me a better person. I learn from business colleagues and situations in business that all serve to provide volumes of information and processes to follow. I learn from catching up on the news that people will do just about anything to move ahead as they exercise selfish dominion.

The 12 Principles of Building a Successful Empire included in my book Everlasting Wisdom are simple, yet powerful reminders of what will help us find success in business and in our personal lives.

Principle #1 – Seek Wisdom

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Wisdom of Solomon

For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. King Solomon

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Everlasting Wisdom Principle #12 Exercise Common Sense

You can’t be an effective leader if you don’t have Common Sense. Period. This is a basic principle of leadership that sadly eludes many otherwise talented leaders.

Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It’s easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory, or tell other how to run things, or even to instruct students how to start and run a business when you’ve never been on the business battlefield yourself.

Running a business Does require ingenuity, passion, marketing street smarts, innovation, finance/funding and a competent management
team that exercises common sense for the good of the enterprise, and about 3,000 other things that we don’t have room to go into.
It’s another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down and you need to figure out a positive outcome right now because your 140 employees and your banker are depending on you to solve the problem. Theory doesn’t teach that.

Remember that the only thing you’ve got going for you as a human being is your ability to reason and exercise common sense in times of crises. If you don’t know a dip of cow manure from a dip of vanilla ice cream, you’ll never make it as a leader.