Is This Your Team?, SBM Conference Returns, and Making Numbers Count

FEATURED ARTICLE

What are Your Team's Chances of Winning This Year?

by Tim Fulton

Imagine you are coaching 11 people on a soccer team, and only four of your players know which goal they are aiming toward. Only two of your players care about which goal is yours. Only two players know their position and how it relates to the team overall. Only two players really trust the coaches and team owners. Only two players think they have enough support to play their position as well as they know they can. Most of your players will be aimlessly kicking a ball around the field.

What are your team’s chances of winning this game?

I took this example from best-selling author Stephen Covey’s book The 8th Habit. I recognize this scenario in two ways:

First, when both of my sons played little league soccer at the ages of five-six. It was almost comedic. None of the kids knew what they were doing or why. They all chased the ball endlessly until it ended up in one of two nets. Often their own. The coach would get increasingly frustrated with the kids and the parents would all be shouting advice to their kids, which often differed from what the coach was telling them. It was chaos!

Second, I see this in small businesses today. Many workers with the best intentions produce very few concrete results because of poor management and leadership.

SBM CONFERENCE RETURNS

The Small Business Matters Conference is BACK! Save the Date for May 20, 2022, and join 200+ small business leaders for a TED-like event focused on new ideas, reflection, and collaboration. Visit the SBM website for more details and to see our world-class speaker lineup.

MEET OUR SPEAKERS

SMALL BUSINESS MATTERS - THE PODCAST

In the first episode of the new year, Tim and Taylor welcome Aventure Aviation CEO, Zaheer Faruqui to the podcast. Founded in 2001, Aventure Aviation is the “Auto Zone of Aviation”, a world-class, award-winning commercial and military aviation parts supplier and provider of component repair management services.

What began as a small business in Zaheer’s garage in Peachtree City, was recently awarded the President’s “E” Award for Exports at the Department of Commerce in Washington, DC, the highest recognition any U.S. entity can receive for making a significant contribution to the expansion of U.S. exports.

LISTEN TO PODCAST >>

DID YOU KNOW?

In the 18th century, French economist Jean-Baptiste Say coined the word “entrepreneur”. “The entrepreneur shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher productivity and greater yield.”

BOOK OF THE MONTH

Making Numbers Count, by Chip Heath

I have always enjoyed numbers. I liked all of my math classes in school and typically got A's in them. Learning math always seemed to come easier to me than other classes like English (Ugh), History (Ugh), or the Sciences (2xUgh).

When I got into the business world, it was the same way. I enjoyed looking at financial statements. Calculating financial ratios. Looking at charts and graphs. Using spreadsheets.

I also noticed when I got older that not everyone seemed to enjoy nor understand numbers as much as I did. Particularly many of my small business owner clients. Their eyes would often glaze over whenever we examined their financial statements. It was almost painful for them to translate their numbers into something that made sense to them.

Bestselling author Chip Heath's new book, Making Numbers Count, is all about helping people both communicate and understand numbers better. This book could not have come soon enough for many small business owners and their constituents.