664: 4 Blind Spots Preventing Owners From Retaining Talent and Growing Profit

I’ve heard it said that 96% of businesses will not see their tenth birthday. A study conducted by the Exit Planning Institute reveals 30% of those businesses that survive will make it through their 2nd generation. Of what little remains, only 12% of the very limited 2nd generation businesses will make it through the 3rd generation. Business is hard.  Regardless of product, regardless of industry, regardless of market, leadership, and sustainability; business is hard. A modern refrain among owners and leaders is that “nobody wants to work anymore”. Older generations look down the pathway of a younger lineage and sense a mood of apathy and lack of resolve. We then begin to conjecture as to why “nobody wants to work anymore” and begin unwrapping and applying the band-aids of bygone solutions that worked in the past hoping desperately for the tried-and-true to spur renewed action into the future.  And then they don’t. In a culture of significant fluctuation and innovation, it is the older generation (this author being one) that will need to confess modern blind spots and inspire adjustments in our leadership to begin mobilizing a younger into their own accountability and leadership. There are four blind spots in particular that paralyze a business in the posture of a hail-mary-like hope; fingers crossed that the next silver bullet is just around the corner. The “Purpose” Blind Spot Culturally, a business will pay enthusiastic lip service to the needed purpose directions of any business (written vision story, mission statement, and unique core values).   We host workshops to identify purpose and statistically take the beautifully captured binders that we have created and sit them on the shelves for years while lamenting that “we have no aim”.   A common blind spot for most business falls under a common myth,  “If we can nail the right brand then everything will be alright.” We confuse brand (the perception of what exists) as purpose (the reason for which a thing exists). For a business to have clarity, arguably the number one retainage tool for both employees and customers, it must first radically commit to writing out three elements of purpose. First, a clarifying vision story is a detailed snapshot of the future of the business in at least seven categories (term of the vision, family & freedom, financial, product, team, customer, and culture). Second, a power-packed, less than 10-word, memorizable mission statement tells the rest of us why (not how) you are headed towards the vision you articulated. Third, a unique set of 3 to 5 core values (not respect, integrity, excellence…those are common values) that serve as our lone filters for cordless decision-making. The “People” Blind Spot Global sports are obsessed with superstars.  If you research the organizations that are at the top tiers of any sport you will not just find the one or two superstars that garner network highlights. Instead, you will consistently find tens or hundreds of others who help to set the stage for the superstars to perform. Take away the laundry person within the sports team and even Lebron James looks silly walking out on the court in smelly, unkept clothes. The second blind spot says, “If we can just hire the right person, then everything will be alright.”   Pinning your hopes on one talent has historically led to an arrogance-fueled downfall. Counteracting the people's blind spot requires a system that trains every single person in the organization rather than one talent coming from the outside.  No one person can ever carry an organization; when it does it typically marks the beginning of the end.  History is not in favor. The “Process” Blind Spot With the millennial sunrise of the internet, an entire new world of snake-oil sales people were hatched. Every industry in the world is now graced with the opportunity to find new marketing specialist in their field where for just a few thousand a month you will be ushered into a hidden world of magic leads and effortless sales. Equally as full are the graves of those marketing ideas that never formed. The third blind spot that stimies opportunities for new business is the exasperated myth declaring, “If we can just find the silver bullet for marketing, then everything will be alright.” Marketing is not magic or aspiration.  Marketing is a process. Marketing only works when the process of finding new audiences and new customers is written, followed, tracked, reviewed, adjusted, and repeated…over and over and over again. Marketing is more about repetition than hope. The “Profit” Blind Spot Finally, we’ve been conditioned to believe that “sales solves everything.” Without sales, there is no fuel, but without marketing, administration, and operations there is no spine to hold the weight of sales. The fourth myth naively insists, “If we can just make more sales then everything will be alright.” Sales doesn’t equal profit; healthy systems equal profit. You want to find and retain talent?  You want to grow profit without having to skyrocket revenue?   Stop subscribing to the ultimate blind spot thinking that your product is not your product. Your PROCESS is your product. Scott Beebe is the founder of Business On Purpose (mybusinessonpurpose.com) and speaker for the AEC industry and author of the book Let Your Business Burn: Stop Putting Out Fires, Discover Purpose, and Build a Business That Matters.  Business On Purpose works with business owners to articulate purpose, people, process, and profit to liberate owners from chaos and make time for what matters most.