Any CEO, president or business owner is not going to be right all of the time. Successful business leaders are right more often than they are wrong. If they weren’t they couldn’t stay in business. But on any given day, at any given hour, at any given moment, business people can make a decision that is counterproductive to what they were trying to accomplish. The key is to be open to success.
True success means that if you make a wrong business decision; and you are able to see the decision was wrong, correct your mistake and bounce back from it as quickly as possible so you will see even better business results in the future. Why? Because in business, if your mind isn’t open to success, nothing happens.
- Do you remember back… whether it was last week, last year, ten years ago or even twenty years ago?
- Do you remember when you started your business?
You were absolutely sure that you were right. You knew exactly where you wanted to go with your business. You knew exactly what you wanted to do. It was the power of your mind. It was the focus that you had that made you so successful. You weren’t going to let anyone stop you. You weren’t going to let anyone talk you out of it. You knew just the right thing to do and it’s what made you successful. You were open to success.
Ah, but here’s what’s interesting. What makes you successful at some point can help you or hurt you. It can also make you fail. Because you were so determined, so strong-minded, you didn’t listen to anybody, you just moved forward and you built a business.
Now that you’ve built a business, you have to be in a situation where you’re saying to yourself:
- I don’t have all the answers. I need to be more flexible. I need to have an open mind. I need to be more open to success. I need to listen to people for valued input – employees, customers. I need to see where my business is going, where the economy may be going, where our customers are going… What needs to be changed?
If, as a CEO, president or business owner, you have the mindset that you had in the beginning when you were so self-assured, so determined, knew that you were so right, that doesn’t leave you now open to listening enough; to be open to success. It doesn’t leave you open to hear what’s going on around you in your business. It doesn’t leave you open to see, for example, when an employee is really unhappy. Just with a conversation or an understanding of what they need you might be able to keep them on board rather than find another job at another company. The same example can happen with a customer going to the competition.
To be a successful CEO, president or business owner, you always need to be changing, thinking, evolving, understanding, leaving your ego behind, understanding that there will be people that are better at any particular position in your company than you are. There’s nothing wrong with that. You hired them. You engaged them. You had the vision to see them in their particular role. To be open to success, you still need to have the vision and the focus with your business. Surround yourself with other successful people that share your vision and are motivated to succeed.
One of the essential elements you need with your business vision is an open mind. You need to see what’s going on in the economy, in your industry, the city your company is located in, the nation and perhaps even, globally. You need to understand how sales and marketing has vastly changed over the last few years – and how it hasn’t changed. If you don’t do these things, then you and your business will be left behind.
There are many business people who can’t see or choose not to see the changes happening in the marketplace. When that happens, competition will just pass you by. The competition will take away your business.
So I want you to listen to other people. I want you to think about what you need to do today. I want you to engage your employees, your vendors and your customers. I want you to engage them in thought not just idle, pleasant small talk or conversation. I want you to engage them in a real conversation so you can get an understanding of what you need to do next. This is what being open to success means every business day.
It’s always about saying to yourself:
- What do I need to do next?
It’s not about yesterday, the day before, last year or when you started your business.
To be open to success, it’s about asking yourself:
- What is necessary in now? What will be necessary in the future?
An open mind to success is the way to go in leading a business.
That doesn’t mean you have to do what everyone says. You need to maintain vision. You have to able to see where you are going; where the company is going. Be aware of whether business associates are telling you the right things.
- Are these same business associates guiding you in the right way along the pathway to more business success and profit? Or are you just getting more and more stuck in the same old routine?
If you are stuck, as I mentioned before in this article, the competition will pass you by and you won’t even know what happened. It will happen that quickly.
Let’s not have that happen to you and your business. Keep moving the business forward.
Remember:
Keep your mind open to success.
Otherwise, the things you want to have happen in your business won’t happen.
To your success!
Business expert and strategist, Howard Lewinter, guides – focuses – advises CEOs, presidents and business owners throughout the United States across a wide range of industries, to MORE success – MORE profit – less stress. Business people trust Howard’s vast business knowledge, practical advice, intuitive insight and objective perspective to solve business problems and issues. Get MORE from your business! Talk business with Howard: 888-738-1855.