Got A System?!

If I had a dime (heck, let's only make it a paltry little penny) for every gung-ho entrepreneur that lacks a tangible, trustworthy system - I'd be Google-like rich. Now, when I say system, I mean that they don't have a "stratical" (for those keeping score at home, that's a hybridization of strategic and tactical) system to help them effectively establish, define, operate, grow, and keep score.

Sure - they might have a phenomenal concept/product, unbridled energy, guts like Rocky, and passion up the wazzo - but without clear direction ... guided, managed, and measured by an accountable and trustworthy system ... then it's set to fail, or at the very least, frustrate and imperil due to a lack of traction.

If this sounds like you, or someone you know - the good news is there's help. And its relatively easy, and incredibly cheap. For my money - and having read dozens of "how-to" books - I'm a raving fan of Gino Wickman's book Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business, and his Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). Wickmans got a practical system for companies to clarify, simplify, unify and achieve their vision. More important - their success. The system is built around the idea that every issue goes back to one of six fundamental components: People, Vision, Data, Issues, Process, and Traction. As no-duh as that sounds, check back to my opening sentence. As the expression goes: easier said, then done.

Here's the deal: while I may not agree with everything Wickman thinks (what's new, right), he's got the best "pre-fabe system" that I've ever seen, especially for early/growth-stage entrepreneur-led companies. It's simple, yet powerful. Comprehensive, yet concise. Big, yet small. I dig it. But lest you think I'm just gonna write about it - think again. I'm going to implement his EOS in our next investment. In fact, it's already in motion. And I'll bet you this: its gonna work - or I'll eat a bug: a big, hairy, nasty, ugly bug. Yuck!

Good Systems Are Good. (Eating Yucky Bugs Are Bad.)

Lessons From The Underdog

Unless you've been living under a really big rock, you know that (my hometown) Butler Bulldogs are playing (in my hometown) for the NCAA Championship. Talk about crazy fun! But more than just being an awesome experience for me and my family, Butler University, their fans and the residents of Indianapolis - this is also an awesome learning experience for the proverbial underdog/David versus Goliath morality thing.

For proof, check out this stat: Duke University, who Butler plays tonight for the championship, is the No. 1 in the nation with a basketball budget of almost $14M. Butler is No. 142 at $1.7M. (BTW: Butler's total budget is less than half of what Duke's coach K makes in annual salary; go figure). That statistic alone, is staggering - let alone all of the other empiricals that separate the big dog Blue Devils, from the underdog Bulldogs. And don't forget that before Butler got here - it won 25 games in a row, and beat other big dogs Syracuse, Kansas State and Michigan State.

So just what exactly is it that Butler does, and what do they have, to make itself the underdog that can? Simply put, they have those important "fundamentals" that most people (and businesses) take for granted, like: genuine passion, sincere teamwork, absolute commitment, good manners, calm temperament, exceptional work ethic, positive pragmatism, effective execution, gracious attitudes, forward thinking, mindful preparation, intestinal fortitude, gritty determination, and humble confidence.

Granted, I like my Dawgs. I dig their game, and their style. It's what they call, "The Butler Way." And I'd argue that if more people and companies subscribed to the same fundamentals that make Butler the underdog that can - than more underdog people and companies CAN, and will, succeed as well.

They say luck is when preparation meets opportunity.

You prepared?

Preparation is Good.

(PS: While the above blog was written hours before the championship game, this post script is written the morning after. WOW - what a game. And although Butler came up just short, two points and one possession to be exact, they are winners. In this case, close counts. Big time. Regardless of the score, they taught us some real lessons from the underdog. Thanks Butler.)

If You Think This Sentence is Long ...

Last night, like many nights, after putting the kids to bed, I was mindlessly watching TV, while reading in my head, attention toward the tele, fading in and out, cared some, didn't care more, when the news made a startling, yet matter of fact statement, in that there are over 24 million kids, in the United States of America, living in homes without knowing a dad, which me sad, and mad, and feel really really bad, for the kids who had no dads, couldn't be very glad, for dads are good, at least the dads that are good, so why are there so many bad dads, that wont hang with, let alone ever know, their kids, seems almost criminal, at the very least immoral, inhuman, and unconscionable, because dad-less kids, in a way, serve a very long life sentence, that without any doubt, is a gazillion times longer, and more unfair, and sad, and bad than this pathetic excuse of a long sentence that I wrote here, to try to make a point, that the sentence, don't fit the crime, and we all know, that this written sentence, is almost criminal, so how's that compare, in comparison, to the sentence kids live out, without having a dad, so if you choose to be a father, then be sure to be a dad, because dads are good, if they're good.