Wheeling and Dealing in the Office

Like any entertainment, cartoons have their own tropes to be revisited and reinterpreted. Psychiatry couches, sales graphs, desert islands, etc…

One of my personal favorites is the In/Out basket. There’s lots of room to play there.

Maybe you remove a basket, maybe you add some more. How much paper is in each and why? Maybe one basket is inside other. For such a simple idea, there’s a world of possibility.

So when one day I saw a local car dealer on TV yelling“We’re wheelin’ and dealin’!”the old In/Out baskets popped into my head for the above cartoon.

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Is It a Bird? Is It a Plane? No, It’s an Entrepreneur

When it comes to the economy, it seems the news hasn’t changed for quite a while: Business spending is down, jobs are nowhere to be had and the housing market’s slump continues.

“Economic activity in the United States has continued to expand at a modest pace, although some areas, including housing, construction and the labor market, remain weak,”the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday, Oct. 20.

This is a sobering reality check for millions of Americans who continue to hope the economy will soon turn around.

What’s to be done?

With Americans becoming increasingly concerned about the economy and the government stepping in with short-term solutions designed to stimulate the economy, the answer is clear: We must support and encourage entrepreneurship and new entrepreneurial initiatives.

Why? Because it’s entrepreneurs who will create the new jobs millions of Americans sorely need.

3 Things for Entrepreneurs to Keep in Mind

1.Don’t indulge in delusional thinking.
In this changing economy where unemployment is stuck at 9.6 percent, it’s a mistake to think that we’re going to return to the way things were anytime soon. And who would want to? Things weren’t all that economically great before the recession began.

Let’s face it folks, we’re not going to see real estate skyrocket any time soon or lost jobs come back overnight. What we are seeing and will continue to see are entrepreneurs stepping to the plate to create new jobs. This is what will save the U.S. economy. Not the government. Not big business. It will be the U.S. small business sector expanding and creating new jobs that will get us out of this recession.

2.Be realistic.
As an entrepreneur myself, I love the concept of dreaming big and going beyond where anyone has gone before. At present, however, if you’re thinking about starting up a business, it’s more important to focus on getting up and going now than it is to get qualified for the future.

For that reason, the one thing I caution my clients against is starting up a new business that is more than two degrees different from anything else they’ve done before in their life or career. That’s because if you extend beyond two degrees it is likely that you’ll end up feeling overwhelmed with all that you’ll need to learn and do just to get up-to-speed.

So, stick close to what you know. Capitalize on your existing skills and experience when starting up. This will not only help you get your business up and going very quickly, it will also save your time and money.

3.Expect more and less from your bank.
While the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act– signed into law by President Obama last month – offers a fresh source of financing for small businesses (including a $30 billion lending fund to be distributed by the Treasury Department to qualified small banks that promise to extend new loans to small business), it’s still extremely difficult for small businesses to get their hands on that cash.

Now, more than ever, you must make sure that when you go ask lenders for money that your business plan isa“cogent, practical document that lays out where the business has been from a historical perspective and where it’s going and why,”so says Christine Reilly, President of CIT Small Business Lending Corporation.

The days when a small business owner could walk into their hometown bank and borrow money to tide over their struggling business are long gone.  Nowadays, banks are askingyouto front them money by asking you put up your personal residence as collateral to secure your loan. Expect this and be prepared with a solid business plan.

While the news on the economy may sound bleak, most economists agree that the economy will turn around. What is needed the most is creation of new jobs. And that’s where entrepreneurship and new entrepreneurial initiatives come in. If you are an entrepreneur, your time has come to do your part in creating new jobs. Start by making sure you keep in mind the above three things and get things rolling in the U.S.

Editor’s Note: This article was previously published atOPENForum.comunder the title:“Entrepreneurs to the Rescue.”It is republished here with permission.

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Small Business Book Awards: Now Open for Voting!

The 3rd Annual Small Business Book Awards are now open for voting through December 15, 2010.  We invite you to head on over andvote on your favorite business books!

The Awards celebrate the best books of 2010 for small business owners, managers, entrepreneurs and the self-employed.This year the Book Awards are bigger and better than ever.  The nomination and voting experience is more engaging and interactive:

• We’ve built a new and improved voting platform
• In case we’ve forgotten your favorite book, this year you are able to submit it online.

We encourage you to vote early and often— one vote per IP address, per book, per day.  So tell your colleagues, friends and followers.  And vote for as many books as you like. Read the Rules for more information.

DEADLINE

Deadline for voting is December 15, 2010, at 11:59 pm Los Angeles time.  Winners will be announced within 7 days  thereafter.

WHAT DOES THE WINNER GET?

The top 10 vote getters at the conclusion of voting, will each be named to the 2010 winners’ list.  Winners get recognition, publicity and the right to display Winner insignias on books, websites, brochures and elsewhere.

HISTORY OF THE BOOK AWARDS

Back in 2007 we noticed that most business books being reviewed or winning awards were books of interest to the enterprise or corporate audience.  No sites consistently reviewed or recognized booksspecificallyfor small business people and entrepreneurs.

Thus began the weekendbusiness book reviewshere atSmall Business Trends. Since starting the book reviews, our book reviewing team under the leadership of Book Editor Ivana Taylor along with the help of Assistant Editors Pierre DeBois and Margie Zable Fisher, has reviewed hundreds of small business books, writing unbiased in-depth reviews.

Then in 2008 we started the Book Awards. After publishing reviews, we frequently are asked for advice about which books to read. Rather than giving our personal favorites, we decided to get more input— from YOU.

Last year, during the 2009 Awards, over 4,000 votes were cast by the community, resulting in the2009 Readers’ Choice Book Awards.  Our Editors also chose 10 books for the2009 Editor’s Choice version of the Book Awards.

This year, with our new voting platform making it easier to vote, we expect even more voting. Many thanks to the folks atIkon Marketing Groupwhich built the 2010 Book Awards platform in record time.

GO VOTE!

So what are you waiting for? Go vote!

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Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work: Making Employee Engagement Easy

What do Aretha Franklin and your employees have in common? They both need a littleR-E-S-P-E-C-Tto get the job done.

Come to think of it, handing out a little respect to employees, customers, suppliers, spouses and friends just seems like something that we all should have learned in kindergarten. But apparently, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

That’s where Paul Marciano’sCarrots and Sticks Don’t Work: Build a Culture of Employee Engagement With the Principles of RESPECTcomes in.

A word of warning: You’re about to read a rather passionate book review.  Reading the book, I was struck not so much by what the book saystous, but what the book saysaboutus as small business owners and the impressions that we create.

Who This Book Is Written For— and Who Will Read It

I had one major frustration with this book: The people whoneedto read it probably won’t. And the people whowillread it might be mistaken for bobble-head dolls because they will agree with everything it says–but may not be in a position to actuallydoanything about it.

Is that cynical of me?  It might be.  But when you think about the image CEOs have created for themselves recently with the Wall Street and BP debacles, you might also think that the board of any organization large or small should makeCarrots and Sticks Don’t Workrequired reading and a condition of employment.

Did We Really Need All This Research to Find Out That RESPECT Works?

Carrots and Stickswas the result of a couple of defining moments in Paul Marciano’s life (websiteand Twitter@drpaulmarciano).  The first was an early job experience where a fresh-faced, energized and enthusiastic Marciano showed up for his first day and was practically ignored by everyone there.  In fact, the owners who hired him never bothered to show up, the receptionist didn’t know who he was, and when he asked where he should sit, someone said, “The last guy sat over there.”

The second defining moment came when a group of executives asked him to speak about employee motivation.  As Marciano started pulling all the theories and research behind what motivates employees, he found something so obvious and so profound that it had been overlooked –RESPECT!

What Mom Taught Us and We Forgot

One of the great features of this book is that Marciano quickly takes us on a review of all the motivational theories we’ve used and abused over the last hundred or so years.  Reading through “A Brief History of Human Motivation” almost felt like going through my management undergrad and MBA in 15 minutes.  That’s a good thing.  Instead of beating Frederick Taylor’s scientific management or B.F. Skinner’s reinforcement and punishment theories to death, Marciano gives them context.  He explains the ways these well-documented theories contributed to our industrial revolution and ultimately detracted from what we’vealways known as human beings: Motivation is short-lived, but full engagement is everlasting.

About a third of the book is dedicated to getting managers/business owners to review what they learned in school and assumed was true.  At first I found myself wondering why Marciano didn’t just get to the point and talk about his RESPECT  model.  Then I realized that there was a real benefit to Marciano’s method of walking you through the theories, then explaining the reasons motivation doesn’t work in the long term.  By the time I got to page 79, where he finally launches into the RESPECT  model,  I was ready to listen.

The Seven Drivers of the RESPECT  Model

1. Recognition
2. Empowerment
3. Supportive Feedback
4. Partnering
5. Expectation
6. Consideration
7. Trust

I thought about explaining each one– but I think you already know exactly what each one means.   Here is where Marciano digs into the details that many miss.  He includes a self-assessment early in the chapter that gets you thinking about what specifics look like.  Here are just a few examples from the “Empowerment” chapter:

• I regularly ask employees how I can help them be more successful.
• I delegate as much decision-making responsibility as possible to employees.
• I insist that employees receive continued training to expand their skills.
• I actively encourage employees to take educated risks.
• I ask employees for suggestions on eliminating or changing policies they find restrictive.

These are a fantastic barometer of actual behaviors you can practice in your business. You no longer have to treat employee engagement as some mystical, nebulous thing.  You don’t have to wonder how to create a more engaging environment after an employee survey.  It’s all right here inCarrots and Sticks Don’t Work.Get a copy for yourself and your employees and start putting these theories into practice for 2011.

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