Who Is Standing Next to You When Things Get Difficult?

Interesting fact, most people pick a wedding party based on who looks good in a suit or dress. I spoke with a future bride and groom this week who did something very different: they picked the people who actually support the marriage.

What does that have to do with you, your business, market center, and your life? Because the WHO matters more than anything else. More than the WHAT, HOW, and WHEN. If you've ever read the book by Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy, Who Not How, you'll recognize the principle. How good are you at asking "who can help with this"? Is it the first question you ask? Or is the first one "How am I or we going to do this"?

It's really a mindset, first. In the CEO Genome Project, a ten-year study of over 2,600 top executives published in the Harvard Business Review, researchers found that CEOs are twice as likely to be fired for failing to manage and select the right team as they are for their own personal incompetence or flaws in operational strategy. We see it in sports teams, as well. In fact, in baseball analytics (sabermetrics), front office research shows that the selection and management of individual talent determines over 85% of a team's total season performance.

We say it all the time "who you're in business with matters". If you're struggling right now in your business, here are a few things to think about and to implement. A great leader taught me once "information without implementation is just entertainment" ~ Aubrey Bailey. So, let's implement.

1. The Agent Strategy: Stop Trapping Yourself in the "How"

When your tasks pile up and overwhelm you, is your instinct to ask: "How do I fix this, how do I market this, how do I find time for this?"

That thinking keeps you working into your valued personal time on low dollar tasks. Successful business owners build their businesses by bringing others along to spread out the tasks over time. They solve them with talent and leverage. This is how businesses get sold at top value when it's time to exit. The people and the systems they build, can sometimes go with the business.

Where are you stuck playing the hero when you should be finding a partner, a vendor, an admin, or a leverage tool? Stop asking how to execute every detail yourself. Start asking who already has the skill set to handle it for you so you can focus on dollar-productive activities. If you're concerned about HOW you're going to pay them, go back to the WHO question. Good leverage MAKES more money for you.

2. The Leadership Insight: Talent Selection IS Your Strategy

Market Center Team Leaders and CEOs, your market center's growth will never outpace the quality of the talent in your room. Read that again because we're not superhuman!

If your leadership strategy relies on you pushing harder, holding more meetings, or running faster, you're missing the lesson of the CEO Genome Project. Your primary job isn't operational perfection, it's talent acquisition.

In your coaching and recruiting conversations this week, stop trying to be the answer to every agent's problem. Instead, help them build their own ecosystem of support, and evaluate your own leadership circle. Are you surrounded by people who elevate your standard, or are you carrying the weight alone? Talented "whos" build systems that support your vision and implement on a high level.

The Weekly Challenge

Think outside of your DIY (do it yourself) box and ask yourself:

"Am I asking 'How am I going to do this?' or am I asking 'Who can help me do this?'"

Who in your world, market center, community has the talent that would replace the grind in your life? The things you hate to do? Your grind is probably their cruise control. Find them.