Why You Need To Divorce Your Friends Today

How was your weekend? Really, did you cry with laughter? Get to spend time with your favorite people? Have deep, provoking conversations that made hours fly by? Were you inspired by new ideas, people with unusual perspectives who have a genuine curiosity in your life and success? That’s a great way to top up your energy levels before Monday rolls around again.

It’s time to evaluate whether you’re holding onto some old friends out of sheer habit and allowing them to drain your energy and hold you back. They may not be negative people (though some probably are,) but they might be living life at a different speed than you and inadvertently getting in the way of your success.

Many of us are not ruthless enough to ditch those who blatantly or inadvertently doubt, criticize, or fail to delight in your success. While some ruthlessness is commonly accepted in your business circles, it can be more difficult to do what needs to be done in personal relationships.

When you are on a rapid success trajectory, you need to look forward to, not dread your social time. It is important to quickly evaluate your social relationships. While you don’t want to abandon every previous friend that you have ever had, you do want to ask yourself if your friends are truly your friends. I was sharing this idea with an executive from an entertainment studio last month and she said “I couldn’t agree more, but please can you talk to my husband?!” If you aren’t in control of your social calendar it needs to be a joint effort deciding which engagements, events, and people you decide to spend your precious time with.

If you want to know more, let me know and I can send you my Five Friendship Flags that are warning signs it is time to sever relationships fast.

Does this sound too ruthless for you? It shouldn’t. The only one who can prioritize your time and energy is you. Look at your social circle and divorce the ones who don’t make the cut. Do that and you will find yourself re-energized for reaching your goals—fast.

Dedicated to growing your business,

Val

When Did You Last Burst Out Of Your Circle?

On Friday I was at Harvest Summit. An innovation field trip for innovators, executives, and entrepreneurs. 

We had a preview of a remarkable new possibility that will change life as we know it.  

We got to hear from Ryan Leslie on the transformative way you create followers. 

Small groups of executives got to meet by wishing wells, fountains, and in the middle of the vegetable gardens of Chalk Hill Winery. 

When did you last burst out of your circle?

Dedicated to growing your business,

Val

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How To Create A Leapfrog Organization For Rapid Growth

Amazon is now using its customers to deliver packages and has launched Amazon-Now, a service that guarantees customers’ orders within an hour by tapping into its 244 million customers to deliver packages. Amazon is proving that big companies can out-share the start-ups in the sharing economy, disrupting their current business models and building on the strengths they already have. With crowd-funding that allows for new and unexpected competition in unexpected places, explosive growth is expected. What are you doing to generate your own explosive growth?

I tell my executive clients that they need to create a leapfrog organization and hire for the size and scale they envision for their future business. Here’s how to do it:

Step 1: Pick a Time Horizon
When I used to work at Land Rover, our strategy sessions focused on ten years out, so we would start with a five-year leap. When I worked with rapidly growing consumer electronics companies, we focused on a two-year leap. Pick the right time horizon for your business.

Step 2: Know Your Current and Future Business
Consider what markets you are currently in, which industries, and what products and services you offer; also note your current profit, revenue, and employees. Now skip ahead to your first leap and paint the picture for each category. What will be different?

Step 3: Live in Your Future World
Next, ask yourself, does your current executive team have the capability and capacity to run that future business with the scale, complexity, industry, and services you will offer in the future?

Step 4: Develop a Plan to Leapfrog to Your Future World
Do this by addressing the various situations you find yourself in with your executives, starting with your CEO. Evaluate which ones can grow where they are, which ones need support, and which ones are mismatched. Then make a plan to move, grow, and support your team.

Step 5: Redefine Today’s Roles for Tomorrow
Finally, scope your roles on your executive team so they are targeted for the size and scale of your future company. That is the fastest way to catapult your growth.  

This is one of the ways I work with executive teams and boards to create a new trajectory of rapid growth, where are you on your journey? Dedicated to growing your business,

Val