Our mission is to spark new thinking and ideas for creating a thriving business and rewarding life.

We continue the question and answer format this month. Please send your questions to me at [email protected].

Poor Client Responsiveness

“My buyers often don’t enforce what’s needed to accomplish the project objectives: their people don’t show up, or provide the needed information, or do much outside of attending meetings. What can I do to correct this?”

——Peter LeMott

You’re the commonality here. The good news is that you know that these things occur. The bad news is that you’ve not developed any proper preventive action. I suggest you do the following:

• At the proposal stage, insist that the buyer respond you your inquiries within 24 hours, whether phone or email, at the latest.
• Emphasize that while you have accountability, only the buyer has authority. That authority will be needed and should be rapidly forthcoming.
• Preventive action is always less expensive and time consuming that contingent action. “No smoking” signs are far less costly than the sprinkler systems being activated. Stress that the client will be far better served with people doing the right thing the first time rather than the buyer or you doing the “failure work” to try to put out the fire.

Take the time and effort to pound this home. Don’t be afraid of losing the business. Bad business is worse than no business.

Meetings Upon Meetings

“My clients insist that I attend their meetings to be ‘part of the team’ and their meetings are excessive. Complicating this is the fact that they’re on site, and I have to make the trip to them, and this impacts my ability to work with other clients. I feel as if I’m in a whirlpool.”

——Susan Tredgoe

Family therapists will often tell the couple they’re counseling, “Look, I’m happy to advise you but I’m not going to become a part of your marriage or family.” Similarly, you can’t become a part of the client’s business.

First, take a position that their own best interest is to have fewer meetings. Meetings should only take place to make decisions with the relevant people in the room, but never to simply exchange information, which email can easily take care of. Second, point out that you’ll be happy to attend when your presence is important for a decision to be made, but not otherwise.

Don’t enable poor client behavior by conceding to demands that make no sense. You’re not going to be fired or disliked, and many of the client’s people will be happy you took such a stand. But it’s your stand to take, so prepare the buyer early for the fact that you’re not going to attend meetings unless your presence there is vital to a decision being made there.

I’m pleased to bring three unique experiences to your attention.

How to Consult with, Serve on, and Lead Boards of Directors in the For-Profit and Non-Profit Worlds

More and more people are asking how to do this.

For the record, I’ve served on seven boards, two for-profit, five non-profit (including one at Harvard), have chaired two, and have consulted with over two dozen, private and public. My wife has served on six boards and has raised, literally, tens of millions for non-profits. I’ve turned around organizations as a board leader from poverty to wealth, from aimlessness to strategic leaders.

The program will be three hours on Zoom on July 22. with prep work that will include a book on board membership. The fee is $2,500. As an option, I will work one-on-one with any participant who seeks active coaching to either attain a board membership or to become an officer on an existing board. That will be $2,500 for 30 days which can start when you are ready, but with payment made at the outset. That offer is good for up to a year post-program.

While board membership has helped my business directly, it has more powerfully helped me indirectly to gain business because of governance expertise and to sell strategy work to boards. Most boards are not run well because of fine people elected to the board or as leaders who don’t understand the distinctions and requirements of those positions.

You can write to me to enroll or go here:

Ferocious Time Management

This was a huge hit “live” in San Diego, but so many people globally couldn’t make it, and I was unable to simultaneously do it remotely, that I’m conducting two half-day sessions to duplicate the full day, and it will be recorded.

In this six-hour, two-part Zoom session, we’ll:

• Create greater output in a 20-hour week
• Focus on simple, highly effective priority systems
• Convert from sequential activities to concurrent activities
• Eliminate time-suckers (non-human and human)
• Transfer as much work as possible to the client
• Stop doing failure work
• Stop doing others’ failure work
• Create effective calendars and planners
• Learn how to effectively say “No”
• Achieve a truly blended life

July 6-7, 6-9 am US eastern time. I want to accommodate my global community time zones.

Beyond Thought Leadership

Six “stars” from my community from five countries will be interviewed by me in this live, 2.5 day experience. I’ll be introducing new IP, case studies, and role-plays. And the final interview will be with me. This is one-time only, it was very difficult to organize, and there’s no one else, anywhere, who can bring this talent together in one place at one time. Limited participation, in Miami in November, register now, this will not occur again.

Miami, November 8-10.