Arnold Business Advisors

At Truth@Work, an organization with which I am involved, we often ask the question: “What’s the value of one good idea?”

Recently, in listening to a CD coming off my monthly LIFE subscription, I was reminded of a story from Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich which illustrates the “value of one good idea”.

In the early 1900′s, Ivy Lee, called on Charles Schwab of the Bethlehem Steel Company. Lee briefly outlined his firm’s services, ending with the statement: “With our service, you’ll know how to manage better.”

The indignant Schwab said, “I’m not managing as well now as I know how. What we need around here is not more ’knowing’ but more doing; not ’knowledge’, but action; if you can give us something to pep us up to do the things we ALREADY KNOW we ought to do, I’ll gladly listen to you and pay you anything you ask.”

“Fine,” said Lee. “I can give you something in twenty minutes that will step up your action and doing at least fifty percent.”

“Okay,” said Schwab. “I have just about that much time before I must leave to catch a train. What’s your idea?”

Lee pulled a blank 3 x 5 note sheet out of his pocket, handed it to Schwab and said: “Write on this sheet the five most important tasks you have to do tomorrow.” That took about three minutes.

“Now,” said Lee, “Number them in the order of their importance.” Five more minutes passed.

“Now,” said Lee, “Put this sheet in your pocket and the first thing tomorrow morning, look at item one and start working on it. Pull the sheet out of your pocket every fifteen minutes and look at item one until it is finished. Then tackle item two in the same way, then item three. Do this until quitting time. Don’t be concerned if you only finished two or three, or even if you only finish one item. You’ll be working on the important ones. The others can wait. If you can’t finish them all by this method, you couldn’t with another method either, and without some system you’d probably not even decide which are most important.”

He went on, ”Spend the last five minutes of every working day making out a ’must do’ list for the next day’s tasks. After you’ve convinced yourself of the worth of this system, have your people try it. Try it out as long as you wish and then send me a check for what YOU think it’s worth.”

The whole interview lasted about 25 minutes. In two weeks, Schwab sent Lee a check for $25,000-a thousand dollars a minute. He added a note saying the lesson was the most profitable he had ever learned. Did it work? In five years it turned the unknown Bethlehem Steel Company into the biggest independent steel producer in the world, and made Schwab a hundred-million-dollar fortune, and the best known steel man alive at that time.

Source: Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich

While this story may be one you have not heard before, the concept of a “must do” list is likely nothing new to you.  We consistently observe that people are more effective and value daily priority list when they use them. So, why highlight “when they use them”?  We’ll let you ponder that question a bit.

So, what’s the value of one good idea?  Is it worth 25 minutes of your time to explore possibilities?  Contact us to set-up a phone call or schedule an appointment where we’ll test the waters.  Like Schwab and Lee, “After you’ve convinced yourself of the worth…send me a check for what YOU think it’s worth.”   Who knows, this brief conversation may be a pivotal time for you and your business.

Have a FANTASTIC day!

Arnold Business Advisors LLC prides itself in aiding businesses and individuals in truly defining what “success” looks like and building strategies to achieve this “success”.

With this being our mission, it’s not uncommon for us to engage in discussions with those sharing our beliefs on how biblical principles apply to “success” in the business.  These generally are some enlightening conversations.

“John D. Beckett, chairman of the privately held R. W. Beckett Corporation in North Ridgefield, Ohio, wrote one of the leading books on living out Christian faith in the marketplace, Loving Monday (InterVarsity, 1998). Now Beckett, 68, has written a sequel, Mastering Monday: A Guide to Integrating Faith and Work (InterVarsity, 2006). Senior associate editor Stan Guthrie recently sat down with him.” Click here to read Guthrie and Beckett’s article.

Once you review, we’d love to hear your prospective.

“The Cause”, “Our Mission”, “What Matters”, “Making a Difference” — Is it important that your organization have a “mission statement”?

Some tend to dismiss the importance of “mission statements”; however, we have been reminded over the past month of their importance.  We believe that deep rooted in all of us is a desire to “make a difference” and “do something that matters“.  Being able to see how our daily work ties to a greater purpose brings an increased level of energy, excitement, and passion to our lives.

An example we would offer is the story of ELANCO.  It’s at the point when their organization made the connection to “The Cause – Feeding the World” that they started experiencing one of the most impressive cultural transformations we’ve seen in an organization.  We encourage you to read more of their story.

While the mission, or purpose, of each of our businesses may not seem to be as significant as solving world hunger, we challenge you to pause and ask yourself, what is “The Cause” and start to connect with it daily.

Walking into my son’s basketball game this past week, John Wooden Pyramid of Success caught my eye.  Great words of wisdom from a man we all love and honor.

Click here to view in pdf format.

As we don’t sell a particular product or service, it’s often that people have difficulty understanding what we do.

While we have a wide range of capabilities, our core business is in the following areas:

• Strategy
• Leadership Development
• High Performance Team Alignments
• Succession Planning

To watch a brief video overview of our business,
Click Here

This past week, I attended the ACG Indiana & The Alliance Group Joint Luncheon. Panel discussion speakers were John Aplin, Managing Director of CID Capital, Private Equity Group; Chuck Williams Dean of Butler College of Business; and John Platek, Managing Director with PNC Capital Markets. The overall economic outlook of the panel was very positive with the number of deals and lending dramatically improving over the past six months. While all of the speakers comments were good and appreciated, Chuck Williams comments hit home with our business. Chuck mentioned that when meeting with businesses today, his question is “Are you ready for the recovery?” Paraphrasing, I had the following takeaways from Chuck and the panel’s discussions:

Strategic Plan/Vision: Most have been in survival mode over the past couple of years. Now is a great time to pull out the strategic plan and refocus on where your team is headed. The things that have made your business successful during the past couple of years are likely not the same ones which will make it successful in the next few years.

Take care of your employees: It’s been a difficult couple of years for employees who have survived the economic downturn with your business. Moral may be, in some cases, at an all time low. Now is the time to refocus on your employees and their contribution such that you don’t find yourself losing employees who simply need a fresh start.

It’s a great time for a strategic buy: For those who have been considering making strategic acquisitions, now is the time to seriously consider. Buyers are encouraged to be careful of overvalued businesses in this time; however, for the right strategic reasons, now is likely one of the best times to consider moving forward.

Likely one of the reasons these areas stood out to us is that they are completely inline with what our business does to assist others. Getting your team in a room and in alignment with a future direction is a process we greatly enjoy doing for those we serve.

We hope you are equally encourage about 2011 and look forward to your comments.

Have a FANTASTIC day!

Intention + Mechanism = Results

First, let’s understand the definition of both of these terms:

Intention an act or instance of determining mentally upon some action or result; the end or object intended; purpose.

Mechanism the agency or means by which an effect is produced or a purpose is accomplished.

Or,

Intention – “an already decided future”

Mechanism – “method”

What’s more important in this formula?

Experts studies support that 90%+ of all results are driven from intention.  There are multiple “methods” to get from “A to B” and what’s most important is that getting to “B” is already a “done deal”.

Would you like to learn more?  We can help.

Vision:

• What is “success”?
• What are your “three wishes”?
• Where is your “pain”?
• Are we willing to pay the prices for “success”?

Goals/Metrics:

• How will we know we are successful?
• Do our goals and metrics truly support the vision?

Strategic Analysis:

• Business Diagnostics Assessment
• DISCoverY Behaviors Assessment
• SWOT Analysis – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
• Other Proprietary Assessment Tools offered through affiliates

Initiatives:

• What is The Plan?
• Who, What, When, Where, How?
• Are we committed “whatever it takes”?

Assess:

• Are you willing to be held accountable?
• What is working well?
• What is not working as planned?
• What do we need to modify?

Systems:

• How will we be insure we don’t lose our gains?

“Your Success Catalyst Process” is continuous and multiple strategies come together to achieve an overall vision!