Leading the Organization that Survives

September 22, 2009

We are pleased to have guest blogger Rick Meekins, CEO Aepiphanni Business Solutions, talking about Leading the Organization that Survives. Enjoy!

How do you know you’re a leader? “Well, if you look behind you, you will find people following you!” says author and Dean at Regent University, Bruce Winston, PhD in his CD “Table talk”. He goes on to say, ” if nobody is following you, then you aren’t a leader. It’s as simple as that.”

Anyone can get into business – or so they say. Staying in business, however, is the challenge. The Small Business Administration provides figures that suggest that roughly 20% of business last more than 10 years. Of course, some of these businesses merge with or acquired by other firms. Others, still, might be franchises that are assumed by other companies. Natural, economic and personal events impact even more. None the less, most businesses that start never thrive as functional profitable businesses, and a functional, profitable business is often the product of its leadership.

If you want people to follow you, they need to know that you can make GREAT DECISIONS! Does that mean that all of them will be right? No! Must they all make sense? Yes! Does this apply to every leader? Yes! Running a business, no matter the size, requires a great number of decisions to be made, every day, such as:

Do we start a new marketing campaign
Has this product reached the end of its life cycle?
Should we consider offering this customer a discount?
Should we spin off this business unit?

As a business leader, you are the one who must make those decisions. To be successful as a leader, you need to be able to make a lot of decisions, effectively – which means that while every single decision may not be the right one, you’ve got plausible tools to be able to make that decision. Four tools that we believe will have the greatest impact on decision-making are:

A passion for what is possible
A commitment to managing priorities
Reliable information or a reliable information source
Courage to assume risk

Having these tools in the right perspective will increase your ability to make good decisions for your company. You will look behind you and see that people are not only following you; they are committed to the same goals and vision you have! The ability to drive your company’s vision is what it takes to lead the organization that survives.

CEO, Aepiphanni Business Solutions is a Strategy Consulting Firm dedicated to serving the needs of business leaders and executives. We specialize in helping people get into business, and stay there. We welcome clients in the personal and professional services industries, including restaurants, catering and event planning. As always, we welcome your comments, thoughts, questions and suggestions. If you are seeking a business assessment, or have further questions about creating your strategy or developing your vision, please give Rick Meekins a call at 678-265-3908, or email us at info@aepiphanni.com.

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