Mistakes happen but it’s good to learn from them and even avoid them if possible.
There is a great benefit to working with a wide variety of clients for many years. You start to recognize patterns; seeing what works and what gets organizations in trouble. I have compiled the following list of common business mistakes (many of which I have made myself):
- Hoping for different results using the same strategy and/or tactic that isn’t working
- Ignoring your business and/or marketing plan once it is completed; even worse, not having a plan to begin with
- Not developing and managing to key performance indicators (KPIs) and failing to make sure that everyone in the organization is on the same page as to what success looks like
- Not planning and managing to multiple financial scenarios (and knowing which way you are trending): best case, expected case and worst-case scenarios
- Not realizing that there are no real expense reduction strategies that will properly address a sales issue; you can’t just cut your way out of a business development problem
- Not fully respecting the fact that “CASH IS KING” and that it will often erode more quickly than you can replace it; cash reserves are a requirement not a luxury if you want to be able to weather any storm or embrace any major opportunity
- Treating your profit center(s) like a cost center; spending money faster than you earn it (both personally and professionally)
- Failing to understand that debt responsibly managed creates leverage and that debt improperly managed creates a burden that only compounds as time goes on
- Viewing business development as an expense rather than investment; reaching new customers and/or markets requires $$$
- Hiring and/or keeping substandard talent that plays a key role in the business; forgetting that “you are your people”
- Failing to become knowledgeable about the competition (including your competitive advantage) and staying that way; market ignorance is never bliss
- Failing to measure and understand the importance and interrelationship of both employee and customer satisfaction; happy employees and customers aren’t mutually exclusive, in fact, the opposite is usually true
- That the leaders(s) of the organization don’t see it as part of their responsibility to get smarter and better at their job every day; thinking and learning is more important than just doing as you grow the business and take on more responsibility
- Explaining away poor results rather than taking them seriously and/or responding aggressively enough; the performance improvement curve only ever gets steeper over time
- Not appreciating the fact that the answer isn’t always to work harder and longer; a long-term lack of work-life balance will affect everyone in our lives negatively and will tend to lead us to less than optimal decision making
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- Common Leadership Mistakes, part 2 (ascendbusinessstrategies.wordpress.com)
- Not All Businessmen Are Smart, You Know (baselinescenario.com)
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