Denial, Who Does Your Business Thinking?

Who Quietly Governs Your Decisions?

Who does your business thinking?

Did you know there is a wide scale that measures how others do our business thinking for us?  There is.  What's more, it is an invisible scale.  We do not see that scale.  We cannot see our own reflection on where we stand on that scale.  The amount of decisions we make in our daily trek that are made by others is an amazing amount.  Our liberties and freedoms are very limited.  Business owners need to consider so many variables before they make a decision that most decisions are not the ones they would typical decide to do.  Too many other people weigh in heavily on how that final decision comes to being.  That's just the way it is.

Therefore, let's ask that question again, who does our business thinking?

I might make a simple list.  The government would be included on that list of being one of those who makes some of our decisions for us.  They make laws we must follow, regardless of what we believe.  For example, in floor covering it is illegal in some states to finish a medical commercial building floor using anything less than a six inch base-shoe trim.  The government code does not allow less than a six inches for the finished height.  Why?  Because that's the rules.  That happens to be the code for some particular states, that's why.  If an installer wants an inspection approval on that kind of contracted job he will make that decision easily.  Someone made it for him.  The government is on that list.  Family gets on that list, as well.  My wife used to get so irritated with me when I never called to let her know I was running late coming home from my business work.  The only way I could calm that irritation down was to begin the decision to call when I had something come up that would delay me.  I now have that habit of calling her to and fro when I go to my place of work.  She needs and wants that kind of relay completed.  That decision was made for me.  It helped me to remove an irritation.  Family members guide many of our decisions.  They are on that list.

Employees get on that list as well.  They demand certain levels of attention and respect so the boss often modifies how decisions are made because of the pressures that come from those influential employees.  Certain aspects of scheduling, parking, types of duties and subtle benefits are formulated by how some employees manipulate the working environment.  Many times this does in fact affect how a business owner makes the decisions they do.  Employees get on that list, easily.  What about customers?  They get on that list, too.  In fact, they should be on that list.  Customers should be the main reason why business owners decided to do what they do.  Customers should be the key reason why many decisions come down the way they do.  Business owners make many decisions based upon how the customers will feel about what has been decided.  In most cases, this is a very good influence.

With all of this in mind, let's ask that question again, who does our business thinking?  It is fairly obvious that our business thinking is heavily guided.  Anyone who denies this truth is not being honest.  Business owners have a ton of governance they must use to help them make the decisions they make.  To sweep this truth under the rug is not a very becoming thing.

I love it when I counsel a male business owner who tries to 'hot shot' me with their egotistical embellishments.  I have worked with some supervisors in the past who practiced this kind of leadership management.  They did not notice how often their egos got in the way of the decisions they made.  It would occasionally become kind of comical.  Fortunately for them, I have some fairly large shoulders.  I just considered the source of the abuse and know the truth about how they were trying hard to protect some of their weaker leadership characteristics.  I do not have the right to damage their tender ways.  However, I will work carefully to try and strategically expose themselves to their own view.  I will try to help them discover their rough edges, carefully.

One time I remember one of those supervisors tell me that he does not permit his wife to control any of his business decisions.  He was adamant about how he ignores her influence.  I sat quietly for a brief moment.  I asked him if he enjoyed going to the regional business trade-shows in the past.  He described how he loved to attend them.  We began talking about how much fun they are and how he always learned so much from attending them.  Then I reminded him that one of those trade-shows was happening right now in a city 2,000 miles away and I have already made arrangements for his staff cover his business while he was at that trade-show.  I also informed him that I have already paid for the attendance tickets, the flights and motel rooms for the trip.  I said, "Let's go.  Our flight leaves in three hours."  He stared at me.  I then asked, "You want to go, right?"  He said sheepishly, "Well....(paused)...yes."  I asked, "What's the matter?  You seem to be delaying the decision to go?"  He quietly said, "I need to call my wife."  My response, "Let's not tell her we are going and break that news into her when we get back four days from now, O.K.?'  He said, "O.K., O.K., you win."

Denial, who does our business thinking?

Obviously, there is a wide scale that measures how others do our business thinking for us?  It is also an invisible scale.  We do not see that scale.  We cannot see our own reflection on that scale when we make the business decisions we make.  We pack too much denial along with us.  The amount of decisions we make in our daily trek that are made and influenced by others is an amazing amount.  Our liberties and freedoms are very limited.  Business owners need to truthfully recognize all of the variables they use to make the decisions they decide to do.  The truth is, many other people weigh in heavily on how our final decisions come to being.  That's just the way it is.

So, how do we manage this truth?  How do we separate what needs to be honored versus what we want to have honored?  How do we produce this kind of balance in our decision-making ways?
       

Don't Deny It...Your Decisions Are Governed.

When we learn how to properly balance our needs and wants into one single pile we can begin to use our limitations to our best advantage.  How do we make the decisions we need to make and still remain near the place where we know we need to go?  How do we blend our pressures together and remain close to the decisions we prefer to make?  Keeping our control is one thing, keeping harmony is another.  Our decisions become filtered by the amount of pressure we face in the complicated worlds we manage.  One of the best ways to help us manage this balance more effectively is to make sure we trim out some of the unnecessary stuff in our lives.  Some of the stuff we spend time doing does not particularly add value to the quality of our lives.  We need to discover what those wasteful things are and immediately remove them.  They grow up strong enough to eventually bog down our decision-making skills.  Get rid of the useless stuff we do in our daily lives.  All of us have some of these things hanging around.  They are not part of freedom.  They are, in fact, part of what limits freedom.  Identify them.  Get rid of them.

Another weird problem comes from being too much of a bull.  At one extreme end of the decision-making scale is where a leader refuses to allow anyone, any other thoughts or any simple suggestions to come into play with the business decisions they make.  Those kinds of leaders are extremely bull-headed.  They are brash and direct.  They make their own decisions without regard to how anyone else weights in.  They can even be caught often ignoring how customers feel about the business decisions made.  I know some of these people.  I also have some of these tendencies.  I work hard on curbing some of the more ugly ones.  This kind of decision-making pattern will eventually limit success.  It also promotes others to sabotage, subvert and counter-act in ways that can be costly to the business model.  Leaders who practice the extreme on this scale are leaders who often do not win long term in the business world.  We have all seen these examples.

On the other deep side of that scale are those leaders who cannot decide for themselves what decisions they need to make.  Those kinds of leaders are wishy, washy.  They pretend their decisions are their own but usually do what others do.  They speak about subjects as they repeat what they heard and they offer up most of their decisions from the habit patterns they developed over a long period of time.  They will constantly find themselves contradicting their work patterns on the business decisions they recently made.  They vacillate a lot.  They allow the wind of change to dominate how they think, even though they rarely change how they operate their final decisions.  They lack clarity within their business decisions and as a result, move along with some dysfunctional patterns.  They develop patterns of inconsistency that appear as though they practice today to do things this way and tomorrow they may actually do it a completely different way.  Consistency is absent.  This is also a killer to business success.

Somewhere between these two extremes are the best characteristics to possess.  I have noticed that the one consistent pattern I can count on when I meet a business owner who possess one of these two extremes is that they both practice a lot of denial.  These kinds of components are not good for feeding long term success.  The art of denial can ruin a good business model.  It certainly ruins the work a business leader needs to perform.  The leaders who operate at the end of one of these two extremes are usually very creative about how they practice their rooted levels of denial.  Their denial becomes so good that even their closest associates cannot easily detect it.  Denial is a fascinating subject.  It operates with so much creative stealth.  It is an amazing monster.

Learn the art of managing limited control within the decisions you make.  Learn how and who influences what you eventually decide.  This kind of understanding will go a long way in helping your business model work more profitably...and above all, try to limit denial.

Until next time...