Short vs. Long-Term Results: How Do You Prioritize?

Whichever you are more focused on means you are likely neglecting the other.

I am suggesting that an appropriate balance needs to exist between the two. It is not easy to balance, and once balance is achieved it will be fragile, sometimes swinging back forth on the pendulum several times daily.

Example: If you are losing money today, focused on how all of those losses are an amazing investment into your long-term future success, then you are likely neglecting some things you could do to improve your short-term performance and results over the next 3-6 months. How quick we can be to rationalize our long-term aspirations and neglect short-term "wins".

Example: If you are dialed-in on hitting your target this quarter with a laser-like focus, you are likely neglecting and potentially compromising your long-term prospects to maximize success.

What behavior does your corporate culture reward the most? Do you even try to maintain a balance between the two?

Here is a quick gut check. Make an honest, transparent investigation into your recent track record. If you always miss (or even fail to establish) short-term goals with the excuse that you will make up for it in the long-term, then you are likely a little too visionary and not tactically addressing short-term opportunities adequately. On the other hand, if you are always hitting your short-term goals but complain that you can never get to or complete your long-term projects, you are possibly sacrificing your future.

The key is to find the right balance and then discipline your organization to constantly evaluate and make adjustments as you go throughout each day, week, and month to stay on track with both. A good leader will sense when short and long term focus is out of balance and get things back on track. No easy solution; just hard work, discipline, and leadership to create the best overall result.

Integrity & Keeping Promises to Yourself

Last week one of the members of #tmfit, a group of individuals that hold each other accountable in quest of various health and fitness goals, posted an article titled: Check the Boxes. The author of this post explains how he has great ideas and sets goals for himself, but then he allows himself to be distracted by other things, ultimately keeping him from achieving his most important aspirations. He writes:

I know I can be a better rider. But to be that, I have to check all the boxes. And I don’t always do that. In fact, I usually only check the boxes that are easily checked. Riding a lot is fun. But it isn’t really training. It’s playing. Playing is easy, and although it’s often mistaken for training, it’s not the same thing. Training hurts. A lot. It’s often tedious, boring, and nothing at all like playing. But it’s the only way to get better, faster. Training is also eating right, being lean and light, and getting adequate rest. Empty box. Empty box. Empty box.

I like the analogy of boxes that need to be checked, with empty boxes representing failure to accomplish the task at hand or neglecting to push ourselves to do the hardest things. I started thinking about the empty boxes in my life. This prompted a train of thoughts about different goals I have set and various promises I have made to myself. I questioned how many boxes are unchecked, and how many excuses, distractions, and acts of laziness I have offered to myself to try and explain why some of the boxes are unchecked.

Upon inspection, some of my unchecked boxes exist because I have been more focused on keeping promises I've made to others, not the ones I've made to just myself. As humans we often value public accountability over private accountability. If I make a promise to someone else and don't keep it, I could face a loss of credibility, embarrassment, or other uncomfortable consequences. If I make a promise only to myself, that promise is easier to break, right? Without disappointing others, I only disappoint myself, and I can easily brush that aside, right? Or, if I have boxes unchecked in my life, am I lying to myself? What negative consequences would come from that? Oprah Winfrey had this to say on the subject:

Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not. 

I think this is the very core question of integrity...keeping the promises I make to myself (because it is the right thing to do), especially when there is no one else to hold me accountable to that promise except myself. In his article 5 Ways to Train Yourself to Be a Great Leader, Marc Sanborn says this:

Sometimes keeping promises can be challenging, if not downright painful. This commitment will develop discipline and integrity.

So, keeping promises develops integrity. We have also established that promises made privately to ourselves are harder to keep since they lack any external accountability and associated consequences for failing to keep them. I would suggest that those who possess the highest and most meaningful level of integrity are those who are honest with themselves and keep the promises they make to themselves. Public integrity may not be enough if private integrity doesn't exist.

So what does private integrity look like? This is a person who is completely honest with themselves. They do not tell themselves they will run a marathon in the summer, and then start making excuses every day they fall behind their training schedule, ultimately dropping out of the race before it even starts. However, they don't just sit on the couch and refuse to ever make promises to improve themselves. People with integrity know they need to improve and get better to add value to their professions, become more meaningful to their families, and deliver more relevant service to others.

It is possible to appear to have integrity by keeping public promises only, but lacking honesty and accountability with ourselves would be a difficult "mis-alignment" to hide from others, especially those who know us well. Lying to ourselves undermines our integrity and our ability to keep promises to others.

I have had many unchecked boxes in my life, so I'm certainly not perfect at this. Yet the point remains the same: people with the highest level of integrity are those who place the highest priority on keeping the promises they make to themselves. We should aspire to this and seek to surround ourselves with others in the same pursuit.

Know Your Channel

In an effort to keep entrepreneurs and founders as focused on their customers as their product or service, I have written a lot on the need for founders and entrepreneurs to know their customers intimately. Business models differ by industry and business, and, quite often, knowing your customer is not often enough. Sometimes there are several layers between you and the final user of what you make and/or sell. This is called a sales or distribution channel.

Here are a few of examples of sales/distribution channels:

• A manufacturer of consumer goods sells their product to retail, big box stores through sales reps who call on those stores. Then those stores resell the products to their customers, the end users of the manufacturer's products.
• A manufacturer in the United States sells their products to an importer in an international country. The importer then sells the products to dealers using their in-house sales reps, then the sales reps of those dealers sell the products to their customers, the end-users of the products. 
• A manufacturer "white labels" their product, meaning they put the name of another company or brand on their products, and they sell them to this other company. The other company then sells the products to their customers, usually people loyal to or very aware of the quality and reputation of this brand.
• You make components that are just a part of a final product. You sell the components to a manufacturer who then sells his finished products to online resellers who then sell to their customers, the end-users of the final product.
• You manufacture products that you sell directly to your customers, the end-users, who buy from various websites that you own and operate.

So, what is the structure of your sales/distribution channels? How many "layers" are there between you and the final end-users of your products?

Here are a few quick observations about channels:

• The more layers in your channel, the more "hands in the pot". This means that each layer needs to add value to the process and expects to make money in return. The economics of your channel are critical to making sure your goods or services can be priced competitively based on your overall strategy. 
• If your business model does not clearly flesh-out your sales/distribution channel, then your business model is incomplete. This also applies to your business plan...a weakly defined channel strategy is a weak business plan.
• You can execute more than one sales/distribution channel, but that adds a lot of complexity to your business. You will likely need to carefully maneuver through the politics of several industries as well as hire leadership to run each channel separately. 
• For startups, trying to launch more than one channel in the early days is nearly impossible. Analyze all of your channel options, find the one that you think is the best, and put all of your money and focus on that. Unless you have clearly selected the wrong channel strategy, this will afford you the most significant results.

Accountability - The More Personal & Public The Better

INTRODUCTION
My high school football coach was great at motivating young men. One of his consistent messages that deeply resonated with me had to do with accountability on a public and personal level. I'm paraphrasing, but his message went something like this:

Each of you are having a different educational experience than your classmates. You see, they all get to study, take their exams, and receive their grades privately. But not you. You have chosen to take the class of football. That means you study (practice, game films, etc.) in public, and you take your exam every Friday night in front of the entire community. Your performance, whether good or bad, will be scrutinized publicly. You put yourself on the line in this way, making yourself personally (you can't hide on that football field; your name is on the back of your jersey and everybody knows who you are) and publicly accountable. That takes guts. That takes courage. And the very experience will generate better results in you than any other high school activity with which I'm familiar. You'll be better men for it, especially if you seek to hold yourself personally accountable throughout your life and you never shy away from being held accountable publicly.

I held myself to a higher standard because of this message, and my performance was better as a result.

ACCOUNTABILITY
In business, in our families, and in our communities, how often do we choose to not be accountable, preferring to ignore performance and results, or lack thereof, out of sheer laziness and fear. I have been guilty of this, and I am a personal witness that the results are never as good when I ignore performance and don't hold myself accountable. A favorite quote of mine on this topic comes from religious leader Thomas S. Monson:

Accountability is not for the intention but the deed.You must continue to choose the harder right, instead of the easier wrong. (New Era, August 2008)

Choosing to not hold oneself accountable is always going to be the easier wrong. Accountability is the harder right. And I was reminded of this by a group of motivated people who want to hold themselves publicly accountable because they're not happy with where not holding themselves accountable has gotten them.

#TMFIT
Understanding my background and propensity for personal and public accountability, you might understand a little better why I got involved as soon as I heard about #TMFIT (See the Twitter hashtag feed under #tmfit). Let me tell you about it.

About a week ago Alex Lawrence wrote a blog post titled: Don't Wait Until January. In it he describes how he was not happy with his slip into inactivity, poor eating, and an overall decline in health (in large part due to an injury). He decided to do something about it and has been on a mission to get fit, exercise more, and eat healthy. He has found that public accountability has helped him to obtain his goals, and this blog post was his effort to get a group together that would push each other and hold each other accountable.

Specifically, Alex proposed the following general guidelines for the #TMFIT group (see the Facebook Group #TmFit):

• No Fad Diets or Crazy Stuff
• Exercise a LOT
• Do Not Wait!
• Do Not Give Up!
• Hold Yourself and Each Other Accountable Every Day

MAKING IT PERSONAL AND PUBLIC

So, I decided to jump onto the #TMFIT ship, hoping it would help me meet some of my exercise, eating, weight, and overall fitness goals. And it already has. I started by making a public statement about my goals and plans to achieve those goals. Here is what I posted on Alex's blog:

Just posting this publicly has helped me stay motivated to do what I say I'm going to do. Then, on New Year's Day, I found out my gym was closed and I figured I would have to miss my exercise goal for the day...until a fellow #tmfit member, Nicole Bullock (@cuteculturechic on Twitter), defied all odds and went to Walmart to make sure she got her exercise done (Read her blog post here: #TmFit and the Walmart Workout). After reading about her commitment, my excuse was no longer acceptable. So I found a gym that was open, convinced my wife to join me, and paid the day fee get a workout in on New Year's Day.

Then, just last night, Alex Lawrence was interviewed by Fox 13 News about #TmFit and this group of people making public accountability personally effective. This morning another #TmFit member, Dustin Davis (@DustinDavis on Twitter), cranked out this blog post: The Fitness Revolution I Didn't Plan On #TmFit. All of the openness and transparency is refreshing and real, and flat-out motivating. 

I'M IN, AND YOU SHOULD BE, TOO!

I'm sure there will be more blog posts from participants to come. The Twitter and Facebook chatter will continue every hour. Everything a person needs to succeed in the form of a support group is in place. That leaves only one question...when are you going to join? Are you serious enough about making a change that you will put yourself out there, feel a little vulnerable, and then reap the rewards? I think you should.

CONCLUSION

Whether you decide to join #tmfit or not, the lesson is the same...accountability is an important element of being an effective leader (even if you are just leading yourself to better health) and achieving success. One of the best parts of accountability is answering when you've failed, when you've let yourself or others down. Facing failure is the only way to learn from it, grow from it, and allow it to propel you to your next success. When you make the accountability deeply personal and your hold yourself publicly accountable for the results, you have a winning combination of transparency, motivation, honesty, and commitment, which will almost always lead to far better outcomes.

As an FYI, this needs to get to and remain at 45 lbs for me to reach and maintain my weight goal. 

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