Nitty gritty

Two extremely successful business owners told me the same thing: “Francis, I am so tired. I need your advice and your services. I cannot handle this growing business anymore.”

This is such a familiar scene. An entrepreneur discovers brilliance. Sees an opportunity others ignore. Scrape up some money, boldly opens a business, and grows it. Then grows it some more. The growth continues with an unbelievable streak of success and expansion. The company grows so much, becomes rich and yet, the owner could not enjoy the wealth gained.

Why is this so?

Life is funny. Business owners often invite me to do trainings for their organizations. I usually do an exhaustive Training Need Analysis to find out what their needs and challenges are before I do the actual training. Prescription without diagnosis is malpractice.

The same principle applies to consultancy work. I cannot just go into a setting with canned programs. I need to know what my clients’ needs are and how to meet them. Training or speaking is not a magic wand that solves all the businessperson’s business challenges and problems. 

Take this for example. I politely turned down many lucrative offers for my services after I concluded that the company does not need it.

After interview, I conclude what clients really need and if my service is best suited to it, it is either that or they simply need to have someone fix their organizational development.

Usually, a good HR person would do the trick, by simply implementing strategic moves facilitated by the HR person. When strategy is in place, when objectives are apparent and expectations are clear, then comes the training. Many appreciate the effort, but others label it as offending. “Is my money not good enough for you, Francis? That you are turning me down?” If the attitude is like this, then the more I realize that the businessperson is not yet ready for training.

The nitty-gritty details of business are what wear the business owner’s energy.

The owner started the business as a one-man-show. And now that the business has grown, has become more complex, every single decision is still centralized and has to go through the owner’s decision-making process.

The nitty-gritty of business stresses the owner. As the owner grows older, the energy level decreases and is not as vibrant as during the days of the youth. The money is there, but there is no opportunity to enjoy it. This should not be the case.

As a business owner myself, I have come to the conclusion that I may be in charge, but I do not always know what to do. When the leader wants to do everything, the leader may turn out not doing everything well. The leader is in-charge, but he does not have all the answers and the punch line is this; everybody in the organization knows.

The bigger the organization grows, the more it increases in terms of complexities. This can suffocate the real genius of the business owner and that’s the business owner’s ability to cast vision, spot opportunities and spend time-consulting conversations with the top 20 clientele and to build new ones.

As business owners, we may be in charge but we may not always know what to do. We may be the top honchos, but we may not have all the answers. We may be the leader, but we may not be the smartest person in the room.

One of the worst things a leader can do is to pretend to know something they don’t. The constant pressure to pretend is not healthy.

Hire good talents, train your leaders and let them do what they do best while you continue to do what you do best. It may be a humbling thing to do, but it must be done.

Enjoy the fruit of your labor by sharing it with those who do it better. Prepare a succession plan and of course, this one is important, pay your good people well for they grow the business for you.

You cannot succeed alone. Even Batman has Robin and Lone Ranger has Tonto and you are no super hero either.

(Spend two inspiring days with Francis Kong learning leadership and life skills as he present Level Up Leadership on July 22-23 at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel. For further inquiries contact Inspire at 09158055910 or call 632-6310912 for details.)