Which Is It? Control Or Profits?

Learn How To Properly Hand Over The Steering Wheel!

I love the male ego.  I have one.  I make sure it runs well.  In fact, I protect it like I have nothing better to do with my life than make sure my male ego gets all of the attention it deserves.  I work hard to get it placed on center stage.  What's more, I will disguise that kind of effort.  I will deny that my male ego is a dominate force in my decision-making ways.  True, true and all true.

Furthermore, I have worked with women business leaders who have produced ego's larger than any man could ever generate.  That is also true.  They can be the worst when it comes to protecting a strong ego, at "all" costs.  I have met women business leaders that can make the male ego look like child's play.

Control is a very funny business to practice.  I have witnessed the high desire to control absolutely destroy the ability for a small business to churn out a consistent profit.  Although strong ego's are often necessary to help the business leader carry tough business loads, they can destroy the efforts to profit well.  Control can become a serious issue of mounted wrongs.  The strong desire to be in control can upset the smooth process needed for making healthy and consistent profits.  Ego's must be monitored well.

(First of all, before we move on to more business sharing...I want to thank every reader for their support.  This blog hit a milestone today.  It has crossed the 20,000 mark of posts read.  Thank you.  Twenty thousand business thoughts have been shared to offer business leaders some kind of insight to help them develop into better leaders.  Thank you.  I hope my thoughts have made a difference to someone out there who can sometimes get lost in the confusing forest of business leadership.  I hope my years of bloody noses can be shared enough to help someone else prevent at least one bad turn.  Turning wrong in a business model is a very easy thing to do.  Often times, we do not see the wrong turn until it is too late.  I hope by sharing my experiences with other business leaders together we can help prevent too many unnecessary business losses.  Losing is not very much fun.  I hate it.  I love winning much better.  Thanks for the great comments and the readership.  It is much appreciated...now on to 100,000.)


Ego's must be monitored well.  They can easily get out of control if they are not harnessed with some respect and attention.  Watch your control issues very tightly.  Having a strong need to control everything is not always a good thing to practice.  It can become the food your ego is looking to consume.  Be careful.

I have watched many good business leaders get lost in the ego forest.  They place their compass of balance down on the tough business trail somewhere and try to navigate the trees in that forest with their own way of being completely in control.  I have watched some very smart people do this kind of business leadership with some unfortunate and terrible results.  Their high desire to be in control cost them the brains they needed to allow to perform.  They placed unwanted limits on their staff and support system when the going got tough and those who could help them, did not.  As a result, some of those very smart business leaders took on some unwanted and unnecessary losses.  They did it to themselves.  I see it happen often.  Sometimes more often than is necessary.  Ego's and control can be become a serious issue of placing rotten limitations on the art of producing nicely arranged business profits.  Which is it?  Control or profits?

One of the more difficult things to do as a business leader is to 'catch' ourselves protecting our egos.  We are good at it.  We are serious about protecting it and we can develop the most amazing ways to justify it.  Business leaders who have a seriously strong desire to control things are the most vulnerable ego protectors. They are the ones with the strongest levels of deceitfulness.  They can go bust making sure their way is on the top of the ladder of the doing trail.  Controlling their environment is the only thing they see when stuff begins to challenge profit production cycles.  Controlling all things, with their methods only...becomes the duty of the day.  Collaboration is thrown out of the window and dictatorship begins driving their thoughts.  As you might expect, long term profit production becomes a secondary issue.  Producing long term profit methods no longer runs the top of the pile of priorities.  Long term profits become compromised at the expense of protecting the ego.  Control sets in, profits play second fiddle.  Which is it?  Control or profits?

It Is Time To Share The Steering Wheel?

I once read a small piece that asked which instrument is the most difficult instrument to play.  Since I used to play the trumpet very well, I read the rest of that piece.  It asked, "What is the most difficult instrument to play?"  The answer:  "Second Fiddle."  Those who learn how to lead by example, by collaboration and by the art of producing long term profit systems are the ones who will also learn how to play a lot of second fiddle.  They are the best business musicians.  They will lead their business models down a healthy and prosperous business path.  Their way is the right way, especially when it sounds a lot like second fiddle.

The really good business leaders will not arrange their work to end up in the spot light.  Instead, they will solo out many other good players on their team.  Great leaders are not threatened by this kind of leadership.  Great business leaders are very comfortable allowing their staff and employees get all of the good attention.  That is one of their best traits.  The credit to success is usually found away from their personal doings.  They do not get caught up in the "me" game.  It is not usually all about themselves.  It is usually all about the people they help develop.  Control comes from the growth of the organization, not from the actions of the attention the leader needs to expose for their own benefit.  You all know exactly what I mean.  Self-centered ways is a very disturbing and boring thing to witness.  Unfortunately, a lot of business leaders get easily trapped inside the workings of this kind of wrong leadership.  It is usually disturbing to watch.

Control issues are a challenge if the business leader is not confident, secure and intelligent enough to manage people in the right ways.  If a business leader struggles with control issues, so does the profit of their business leadership.  Profits are compromised every single time a business leader works the wrong kind of control methods.  Profits suffer first.  The kind of wrong stuff a business leader practices when they try to control their good people too much and in the wrong ways can be easily found in the lost profits they usually produce.  The pure laws of compensation will always make sure the business works against itself when the wrong kind of leadership is applied.  Unfortunately, most business leaders who practice the wrong kinds of leadership methods are also the ones who do not easily see how badly they interrupt the profit process.  They become blind to the damage they create.  It is a rotten thing to witness.  It is much more difficult to describe.  It is nearly impossible to convince.  Some business leaders just need to grow up a little bit.

I have noticed how badly a wrong business leader can disturb the profit picture of a business model.  I have also noticed how much those bad leaders can work overtime on justifying their bad leadership ways.  They can spend an inordinate amount of useless time on building their 'case' to support why they need to lead the way they do.  It is very interesting to witness.  They seem to be the only ones not seeing this process, too.  Even some of their lower staff employees can easily identify how badly their leadership control is hurting the profit picture of the business model.  It seems at times that the only one who is blind to that fact is the one who is producing the control errors.  Sometimes it is quite comical.  Learn how to ask yourself this question...which is it, control or profits?  Get comfortable with working the profits long before you feel the need to harness control.  Also know that not everything a business leader performs needs to make a profit.  This is an important part of learning how to develop a great leadership way.  All things do not always produce an immediate profit.

I urge all of you business leaders to go study how to become better business leaders.  Your business models are waiting for you to grow up and improve how you lead.  Your staff will perform better when they are given a great leader to follow.  That leader should always be you.  However, it should also never be about you.  It should always be about them.  They should be in the center of the light.  You should function in the shadows much better than you do in the light.  Get good at this trait.  Get good at making sure they get the credit when it is comfortably due.  Never steal their hard work, their good ideas and their wonderful efforts to be loyal to how they produce.  Do not become a tacky business leader.  Your profit patterns will notice the difference long before you discover them.  Trust me.  Those money laws are working overtime without your knowledge or permission.  They are immutable laws and can only be confirmed, never ratified.  When you violate them with your control issues, the payments come accordingly.  You cannot avoid the results.  They arrive with or without your approval.  Learn how to figure this stuff out.  Learn how to get away from the controls once in awhile.  If you are too insecure, that will be a tall order.

Work smart.  Work intelligently.  Develop better leadership ways.  Allow your best people to gain proper control.  Let them steer the ship.  Teach them how to navigate the world of profits.  Help them help you to win.  Get good at this kind of leadership.  Know that you will make mistakes as you learn how to manage from this kind of position.  So what.  Mistakes are a large part of the winning curve.  That should be good news.  Which is it?  Control or profits?

Until next time...