Andy Lykens

Innovating and operating through growth

Posts

Balance

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It’s surprising how often people look at only costs or revenue and make a decision. That’s a little like sitting on a teeter-totter by yourself and then proclaiming that it isn’t fun. Similarly, you can set out to provide the best handwoven tablecloths, but if you can’t make money, it won’t last long.

There are many pieces of the value puzzle beyond cost and revenue. Similarly it’s hard to measure whether you make the best cheeseburger in town without an income statement.

The trick is to set a vision, and do both.

Ask “how much does it cost?” when you have a meaningful goal in mind. When you crack the code to that cheeseburger, make sure your financial projections are reasonable.

The numbers are useful, and so is your intuition, just make sure you’re not relying too much on one or the other.

Little things

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In marketing, there’s a concept called ‘positioning’ which is how consumers perceive a brand. It also informs how the brand is marketed by the company. It’s the difference in your mind between BMW and Mercedes, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, Nike and Golden Goose. Each of those brands holds some position in your mind, and those brands work hard to make sure they maintain that position.

Positioning can also apply to how we’re perceived in relation to others. Are we trusted and judicious? Speedy and efficient? Methodical and engaged?

Whether you like it or not, everything little thing you do builds on how you’re positioned in the minds of those you interact with. Taking the call, making the time, sharing the win. Even choosing not to interact with people affects your positioning.

I’m not suggesting you be everything to everyone – what kind of position would that be anyway? But if everything we do can make a difference in how we’re perceived by others, it’s worth being judicious with even the little things.

How hard is it really?

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That thing you’re avoiding, how hard is it really? What is the actual activity that you need to undertake?

Sending an email? Having a conversation? Raising your hand? Doing a little math?

Certainly these things aren’t hard. No one is asking you to push a boulder up a hill.

And even if they did, could you find a way to start? A lever and fulcrum. A group of allies and a meeting time.

It’s easier to predict an outcome of failure so that we have an excuse not to act than it is to actually act. And slowly, over time, the action we’re not taking slips away. And we wonder how we wound up like this.

It’s unlikely that what you’re avoiding is actually that difficult. And it’s equally unlikely that whatever outcome you’re imagining will be accurate.

If you do nothing but make excuses, you can be sure of an outcome that won’t be your idea (unless you’re very lucky).

So what are you waiting for?