The New HEART of Business Success

It’s time for a heart to HEART about business success!

Business these days is not for the faint of heart.  Nobody believes in the role of heart in a business more than I do.  Purpose, passion, courage, composure and even love – loving the work, loving the team, loving the brand.  Central to success, heart is a crucial thing in business.  Some people believe it’s the main thing.  I don’t.

Heart alone is not enough.  It has to be focused by some other elements at the HEART of a business these days, crucial for sustained success.  So let’s have a heart to HEART:

Higher Order Strengths                                We have to master new complexities …                               

Execution                                           … for which the core is execution …

Agility                                   … but these days it has to be agile execution …

Responsibility                                   … which takes full responsibility, with no excuses …

Traction                                               … for being in traction, avoiding not wheel$pin.

That’s the new HEART of business success these days.  Let’s look at each in turn

Higher Order Strengths

The new realities of business these days are challenging us by asking new questions of our executive skills and strengths, for which we need new answers – higher order answers capable of mastering the higher order complexities we face.  These higher order strengths are Execution Excellence; Executive Intelligence, Intuition and Resilience; Path-Finding.  We must have the intelligence, intuition and resilience to find pathways through challenging circumstances and execute them well.

• Question:  What new realities, complexities and challenges are you facing is business these days?

Execution. 

The core is execution excellence, which is a lot easier said than done.  In my experience, the majority of managers, executives and CEOs over simplify execution, failing to realize that it requires the discipline of a system which is well integrated, aligned and attuned with the changing nature of our challenge.

• Question:  What are your biggest struggles with Execution?

Agility.

And, just when you think you have mastered execution, think again!  These days we have to achieve agile execution, which is not too loose and not too tight, not too structured and not too unstructured, not too hands-on and not too hands-off.  Finding the agile middle is essential to sustained success.  Anything else is fragility not agility.

• Question:  What are your challenges in finding the agile middle?

Responsibility

One of the biggest challenges is in excusing ourselves from taking full responsibility.  We tend to externalize, deflect and project all kinds of reasons for a lack of performance, often unconsciously, blaming “it” or “them” in some way shape of form.  Look in the mirror!  You are simultaneously the solution and the problem all at the same time!  If we are honest with ourselves, we allow deficit disorders to exist.  Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD – we are not dividing our attention span as we should), Intention Deficit Disorder (IDD – in particular we are not as intentional as we should be) and Responsibility-for-Results Deficit Disorder (R4RDD – it is clear from our results, what is working and what is not working, the only question is, are we taking full responsibility?).

• Question:  What deficit disorders are you allowing?

Traction

If we are taking full responsibility for agile execution and the higher order executive strengths required we get traction on our desired trajectory of profitability and growth.  If we aren’t, we get wheel$pin, which can cost us a fortune.

• Question:  What wheel$pin are you experiencing and what is it costing you?

What to find out how to develop HEART for sustained business success?

1. See:    “Wheel$pin:  The Agile Executives Manifesto – Accelerate Your Growth;  Leverage Your Value;  Beat Your Competition“.
2. 2.       Join in the conversation in a Twitter Party on Valentines Day at:  https://www.facebook.com/events/108056499319385/ 

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