Extraordinary Business

On December 1, I attended "A Christmas Carol" at the Overture Center for the Arts in Madison thanks to the generosity of Ron Phelps, my financial advisor. Not only did I get to see a great play (one of my favorites) but I noticed something that plagues many leaders and businesses alike.

If you are familiar with the story, you know the first ghost to visit Scrooge was his old partner Marley. Jacob came to warn Scrooge to change his ways or face the consequences of his actions and wear the heavy chains like Marley had to carry on him for eternity.

What's the comparison you ask? We as leaders and business people walk a fine balance. We do what we need to do to grow our business and strengthen our leadership. Yet we often take shortcuts that add up over time. For example, have you ever dealt with an employee who did something that was not to your level of satisfaction, and your way to correct the problem was to do it yourself? OR, you choose to do it yourself because nobody else can do it as good as you?

Each time we take the easy way out, we add another link to the chain. True, the first few times there is little burden. In fact, its actually faster just to take care of it yourself sometimes. However over time that changes. Each time you fail to act as a leader adds another link to the chain. What was a simple quick fix, now becomes a burden that prevents you from doing your primary goals. Soon after the burden leads to being overwhelmed. Then when you need others to do the job, they still aren't trained properly. The cycle continues.

Here is a good exercise for you to do. Write down the 5 most important tasks or responsibilities you have. These should be the very reasons why you are employed. Next, write down the 5 tasks or responsibilities you are doing. Match the two lists. If list 1 is significantly different from list 2, you may wish to review your priorities. Either you haven't clearly defined your job, or you are doing things that should be delegated to others.

Like Scrooge, you too can change your path. The best part is you can do it while avoiding visits from four ghosts on Christmas Eve. If you are feeling the burden, please contact me. I'm a lot less scary.