Mastering Rockerfeller*s Habits
from the Book by Verne Harnish, enhanced by Peter/CXO Wiz4biz 5/13
* Who was Rockerfeller? John D. Rockefeller was the founder of the Standard Oil Company and, later, a Philanthropist whose wealth bankrolled the Rockefeller Foundation. Hard-working & meticulous, Rockefeller started out with a small operation, then made his fortune via hard-nosed, and sometimes controversial business tactics, which have since made him an entrepreneurial “hero” to some, a “greedy fiend” to others. He started in the Oil Refinery & distribution business, and by the end of the century the Standard Oil Trust controlled so many other interests that it fell afoul of anti-trust laws. In 1911, the U.S. Supreme Court declared Standard Oil a monopoly and forced the Trust to separate into competing companies. By that time, John D himself, was no longer involved in running the business, having devoted himself completely to Philanthropy since 1896 until he died in 1937 (almost 40 years). He gave away millions to schools, health organizations & civic projects through the Rockefeller Foundation, which endures today
#1. Setting Priorities. We need to identify what our #1 priority should be (in terms of business performance improvement) and focus on that one: The challenge normally fits into one of the following 7 categories:
1 – we’re not big enough
2 – we’re lacking key player/s
3 – our economic engine is broken
4 – someone else is controlling our destiny
5 – we need a war chest to compete
6 – we can’t raise money until we grow
7 – we’ve got to scale back, or we won’t survive.
#2. Measure your Results.
a) Critical numbers (are focused on your short-term goal)
b) Smart numbers (are focused on our long-term goal)
#3. What can we do? There is not much point targeting priorities, unless we have a way to execute them. Here’s how.
a) Have regular Strategic Planning sessions. For a stable company that has been around for awhile, this might be Annual meetings, but for fast-growing these sessions should at least be Quarterly.
b) Break the targets down and then have Weekly meetings to focus on how we’re implementing the plan for the current year (or quarter) – with a focus on a different single issue each week.
Comments: Do you think anything should be added to this list?