I’ve heard it said over and over again, “Business is complex. Business success isn’t easy. Operating a business is difficult.”
NOT!
We make business complicated by poor (or no) plans and planning, by ineffectual execution, by bad staffing decisions and by faulty positioning.
I, for one, believe business can be a relative simple, one-dimensional thing.
My advice
My first parcel of advice is “There are only two basic activities in all business… selling and supporting the selling.”
If you’re the chairman of the board, your role and primary activity is to “support the selling.” You should be gathering resources, hiring thoroughbred leaders, building factories, funding technical services and developing sales incentives designed to drive the sales effort and “support the selling.”
Whether you’re a receptionist, a loading dock foreman, secretary, head of human resources, a manufacturing director or controller… your primary activity is to “support the selling.”
NOTHING… absolutely nothing happens until something is sold. That’s not a complicated business concept.
In the early years of TV comedy show, “Saturday Night Live,” in 1978, there was a regular on-screen character who portrayed a cerebral, philosophical priest, “Father Guido Sarducci” (played by comedian Don Novello). One of his skits supported the notion that business is NOT complex. He called it “The Five Minute University.”
His contention was that everything we learned in college to become a successful business person could have been compressed, delivered and effectivelyl presented by a savvy professor in a focused five minutes… as opposed to four-plus long, drawn-out years and 120, or so, credits. He ran through a complete curriculum in less than two-minutes. For example, a course in business, paraphrased, went something like this.
“Okay class. It’s time for BUSINESS 101. It’s really simple… it’s a three-word class… ‘Make a profit!’ Class dismissed.”
His brief class in “Purchasing” simply put, was a two-word class, namely, “Buy cheap!” His class in Marketing… “Find or create a need.”
His class in Salesmanship? No surpise. “Get the order, get the order… sell something!”
It’s all really very simple. We complicate it all. Bernard Baruch, a world-class capitalist once described a sure way to make a million dollars in business as, “Simple… all you need to do is to purchase a million bags of flour at one dollar a bag… and then sell them for two dollars a bag.”
It’s simple. “Make a profit!”
When attacking all business challenges in a logical manner, solutions are not hard to find. Don’t overthink it. When Academy Award winning actor, Spencer Tracy, was interviewed by a reporter who asked, “Mr. Tracy, acting seems very difficult and complex. What do you think makes for accomplished acting?” Tracy responded, “It’s actually very simple. Know your lines and don’t bump into the furniture.”
Yes. Simple. Don’t bump into the furniture.
Principles to simplify
I have found that there are a handful of principles a business might consider when implementing a move from what seems to be complexity to simplicity.
- It may seem obvious but “simplify” your operations. Work to make as many processes as you can simple, easy and smooth.
- Dedicate yourself to “elimination.” Yes, toss out products, programs, processes and activities that are tired and that will not be missed if you trash them.
- Working to craft policies, procedures and practices that can be “standardized” will make life easier, simpler and more palatable to all concern.
- “Combining” job functions, procedures and activities so as to make them streamlined and efficient takes the complexity out of a business endeavor.
- Another strategy is simply defined as “cleaning house.” Get rid of the junk, the cumbersome, the irrelevant.
- “Collaborate” whenever and however you can. Make building efficiency and clearing up complexity a team effort.
Two of my favorite quotes are, “Focus on being productive instead of busy.” (Tom Ferriss) and “Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.” (Unknown)
And so, viewing business as complex is a major myth. It’s only complex if we let it be.
Winston Churchill wrote, “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.”
Address what seems to be business complexity with a pragmatic viewpoint and a commitment to simplify, simplify and simplify.
Ira Blumenthal is a business consultant, a Georgia resident, a best-selling author, a globally renowned public speaker, a university educator and a college Lacrosse coach. Ira welcomes inquiries and can be reached at Ira@Iraspeak.com. His web site is www.IraSpeak.com
