Learning – Page 6 – Geoffrey Graham

“What do you think we should do?”

Years ago, I used to work with my oldest brother. He was the general manger of our real estate development company, and I was our project manager. We no longer work together on a daily basis, but we’re still partners in a couple of ventures. I learned a lot about leadership while working with him, and still do to this day.

One of my earliest lessons came when I brought my brother a problem that I was struggling with, seeking his input on what we should do. I can’t remember what the problem was, but I clearly remember his answer. He said,

Don’t bring me problems; bring me solutions.

He was essentially asking me to come to him with a solution already in mind for whatever problem it was that we faced. He would gladly offer input on my proposed course of action, but to come to him before formulating anything was lazy. He was right!

Saul Bellow put it a little more pessimistically when he wrote,

When we ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice.

I was reminded of both my brother’s and Bellow’s sayings when I overheard a member of our leadership team, in response to a request for direction, asking,

What do you think we should do?

What a wonderful question! It carries all the intent of the “Bring me solutions” directive, with none of the pessimism of Bellow’s accomplice theory, and with all the optimistic empowerment that I like to see in our company culture.

On a related note, here’s a great story about empowering leadership and empowered heroes.

Courage vs Risk Tolerance

I recently received a survey from Entrepreneurs Organization, asking me to indicate my level of agreement (from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree) with a number of statements about courage in business:

Courage is taking meaningful action deliberately after careful consideration of the risk involved.

Courage involves taking an action that is for the greater good, despite short-term adverse consequences.

Courage is the ability to seize opportunities, even when fearful of the future.

None of these statements quite nailed it for me. To me, courage is the strength one needs to make a moral decision in the face of adversity. I tell my children that courage is doing the right thing even when it scares you.

Investing in new products or services is risky, but not courageous. Expanding a sales and marketing team is risky but not courageous. Modifying pricing that seems to work just fine as-is is risky but not courageous. In business, we do lots of things to increase the prospect for greater future gain by sacrificing the certainty of significant near term stability. This is the essence of risk.

Courageous business actions include things that a leader deems to be the morally right thing to do, but that could jeopardize near- or long-term profits. Some actions that strike me as courageous:

Speaking openly about your values in the hopes of positively influencing your customers and employees, despite the risk of alienating those who don’t agree with you.
Trusting employees to do the right thing, knowing that that means some will occasionally abuse that trust or make mistakes.
Telling your employees, when you really need them to focus on executing, that you only have a few months of cash left.
Refusing to work with a customer or partner that could bring you game-changing income but requires that you compromise your values.

What are some of the most courageous business actions that you’ve come across?

Some entrepreneurship studies I’d like to read

I have searched for these sorts of studies and been unable to find anything. If anyone knows anyone who might help me uncover these answers, please let me know:

1) Is there a correlation between starting your career with a large business vs a small business and ultimately going on to start your own business?

2) Are people who start their own companies after working at small businesses more or less likely to achieve success than those who start their own companies after working at large businesses?

3) Are software companies started by software developers more likely to be in business in ten years than those started by non-technical founders?

4) Are companies started by MBAs more likely to be in business after ten years than those started by non-MBAs?

5) Are companies started by 18 year olds more likely to be in business after ten years than those started by 50 year olds?