Manage-Wise

The secret of a look in the mirror

Socrates is recorded by Plato in the Apology as saying, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” While his statement may sound extreme, it certainly holds true that life must be examined and reflected upon if one is seeking happiness and success.

Those who do not make the effort to examine their lives are typically the same ones who don’t make the right plans or take the necessary actions to bring greater happiness and success to their lives. In contrast, GEMs (Great Entrepreneurial Masters) are masters at the necessary, indepth examination required for them to reach their dreams.

During “a look in the mirror”, you will achieve a genuine self-knowledge that will allow you to determine if you personally have what is required to attain each part of your personal vision statement, and whether what you desire for your future is, in fact, a realistic dream. What you uncover in this self-analysis will likely result in the modification, or even the eliminating, of some factors in your personal vision statement.

Understanding and accepting who you are

One business owner told me that even after he achieved a level of material success that was beyond his own needs, he continued to work in a way that was, in the opinion of his family members, obsessive. He sometimes struggled with guilt due to the time he spent at work. He rationalised that he continued to work in this manner for the material benefit of his children and grandchildren. But after applying the “secret of a look in the mirror”, he understood that the reason he continued to spend so much time on business deals was that he enjoyed doing so. He accepted that this was just who he was and that it was okay.

In order to do a true self-examination, you need to understand and accept who you are. You also need to distinguish between your own desires and the expectations of others. If people regard you as a highly successful and driven business owner or executive, it is difficult not to deliver that reality to those who watch and admire your life. It takes courage to see yourself for who you really are. The key is remembering that success comes in many different forms.

SWOT analysis

Your look in the mirror will help you determine your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This process is referred to as your “SWOT analysis”. The results of your SWOT analysis will help you clearly identify—in writing—exactly who you are and what the “real” world in which you exist is like. TAB facilitator-coach Darrell Crawford refers to the SWOT process as a “WOTS up” analysis for self-examination.

While most business owners I have coached have felt at ease while doing their SWOT analysis, there have been those who have felt resistance to getting to know their true selves. Naturally, people don’t want to see bad things about themselves. However, they realise that the self-awareness brought on by the SWOT introspection brings with it an opportunity to manage problematic personal characteristics. Forge through any discomfort you may experience in working through your SWOT analysis by reminding yourself that only when you are aware of the traits that have the potential to thwart your success can you implement the necessary actions to neutralise or overcome these traits.

During your look in the mirror, don’t try to address any of the SWOT factors you identify. Later in the book you will learn how GEMs use the information garnered from their SWOT analysis to develop personal plans and to make those plans happen.

Your competitive edge strengths

I have a friend, Eduardo, who had only a high school education when he started his restaurant and catering business. He sold the business a number of years later for over $5 million.

Despite the lack of any formal management or business education, Eduardo’s company was successful because he took advantage of his competitive edge strengths.

Unquestionably, Eduardo has a positive passion for interacting with people and a knack for making them want to do business with his restaurant. I suspect he would have been equally successful as an actor or comedian as he loves being the center of attention.

It is amazing how people gravitate to him. Eduardo recognised where his competitive edge strengths were (and they weren’t in accounting or operation matters), and he used those strengths to create outstanding success.

Utilising their competitive edge strengths, as Eduardo did, has been a key element behind the success of every GEM I know who has become a multimillionaire through owning his or her own business.

The strengths GEMs identify in their written strengths statements go beyond merely stating something like “I am great with numbers”. GEMs PAVE their way to success by accessing strengths for which they have Passion and Aptitude and a Vision of the Big Picture Potential and an Empathetic Personality March (PAVE). Only when a strength fits all four PAVE criteria can it be considered a competitive edge strength.

These strengths are the engine that will propel you to success.

Most business owners spend less than 25 percent of their time on business activities involving their competitive edge strengths. In contrast, GEMS, who more than coincidentally are the owners of the most successful privately owned businesses, typically spend at least 75 percent of their time in business pursuits that make use of their competitive edge strengths.

If you focus 75 percent of the time you spend working on your company in areas that use your competitive edge and keep all other activities to 25 percent or less, your company will make great strides forward and you will get more satisfaction from your involvement in the business.

Look first for passion

My wife and I attended a large party soon after we moved to the Aspen, Colorado, area. Many of the attendees at the party owned very successful businesses. One women, who knew nearly everyone at the party, commented to me that all the business owners at the party had one thing in common: “Every one of them, regardless of what it is they really enjoy, goes after it passionately”.

Without passion, you can have all the ability in the world but still be unable to achieve your dreams. Using the strengths for which they feel passion is a major factor that separates GEMs from less successful business owners. Many years ago my father told me, “People who dread going to work usually fail, so pick a profession, or business, that makes you excited to get up and go to work.” His advice zeroed in on the need for passion.

When I was still an undergraduate, I worked in a local accounting firm. The partners told me that I had an outstanding aptitude for accounting, and they offered me an early partnership if I would go with them after graduating. The only problem was that I hated doing accounting work. I was good at it, but I had no passion for it. Consequently, I dreaded going to that job.

Often we excel doing the things we enjoy. However, there may be areas in which we excel but for which we have no passion.

If this is the case, performing these functions can often feel like torture. Such negative feelings are a clear sign that these abilities are not competitive edge strengths.

Going to work each day can be anything but enjoyable if you do not have passion for the kind of work you are doing. You will also find increasing stress in your work responsibilities if your work involves doing things for which you feel no passion.

Consequently, you will not give your maximum effort to achieve results. At best, you will be bored and unhappy. At worst, you will fall into a depression and be unsuccessful.

Regardless of how great you are sometimes or how much ability you have, if you don’t enjoy doing it, you will not put your heart into it, and the results will not be your best.

Excerpt from ‘7 Secrets of Great Entrepreneurial Masters’ by Allen E Fishman. Reproduced with permission © 2006, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited. E-mail: vishwanath_mum@tatamcgraw-hill.com