Every company has them.  Most CEOs don’t know who they are.  In fact most companies miss the diamonds sitting right in front of them.

Instead of going outside your company and recruiting people, companies need to really get to know their own people first.  Every company has diamonds in the rough.

The other day I met with an employee from a well known Vancouver company.  The employee is fantastic.  Yet due to some internal politics they are being kept in ‘their box’ and aren’t getting any visibility with the CEO and leadership.  Shame.  Because if the leaders don’t quickly see what this person has to offer a) they’ll leave and b) someone else will ‘hire a superstar’ from outside.

I coach CEOs that they should be spending time each week getting to know the talent they have 2-3 levels beneath them on the Org Chart.  CEOs should be figuring out who they have on their bench that are not being challenged yet by their VPs & Directors.

Years ago I found numerous employees who were diamond in the rough but worked in completely different business areas than they do now.  By spending time with them on the floor, going for coffee with them, getting to know their personal dreams, and as Tom Peters challenged us to do in his book In Search of Excellence with MBWA (Management By Walking Around), I uncovered the diamonds.

Who are your company’s diamonds?  Who will find them first?  You or the competition?

For more information on this topic, check out: Building a World Class Culture and Leadership at 100MPH.

Here is the third step in getting free PR:

Step 3.  Pick Up The Phone

Years after working with an Olympic coach, I realized that the process of visualization was a lot like building a dream home.  If you can visualize what the dream house–or your designer kitchen–looks like, then you can talk to an architect and explain the vision you have in your mind.  You can even tear photos out of magazines to help explain what you see in your mind.  Once the architect can ‘see’ the same vision as you, he or she can create the blueprints for your dream home.

When you have a blueprint for success, you are more likely to achieve your desired goal, whether it’s building a house, winning a sports competition, or growing a business. That’s why as a business coach and mentor, I believe that it’s essential that you communicate what your business is going to look like at every stage of its growth, but most importantly, what it’s going to look like in three years. I like this timetable because people will have a better idea of how to incorporate over-arching goals into their day to day work, since it doesn’t seem as far away, but isn’t in the same category as other daily tasks.

Just so we’re crystal clear: This blueprint or ‘Painted Picture’ isn’t a to-do list, a five-year plan, or a vision statement.  Vision statements are when everyone gets in a room and you pull together the words that best describe your business, and you create a one sentence vision or mission statement for your company that no-one reads and no-one cares about ever again.  This is different. This is when an entrepreneur, CEO or whatever you are plants one foot in the present, and then dips the other into the future, into what ‘could be.’

When you peer into the future, what do you see? What do you want to be there? What materializes in front of you as the epitome of success? Don’t worry about how you’re going to build it, just focus on describing what you see over the next three years. One exercise that can be helpful is to imagine you’re filming every aspect of your business: your employees, customers, supplier relationships and so on. Once you’ve completed this exercise in its entirety, you’ve created a ‘Painted Picture.’  Scroll down here to read the Painted Picture.  This is where I start my CEO Coaching of all the Entrepreneurs I mentor.

For more information on this topic, check out: Building a World Class Culture and Leadership at 100MPH.

A few years ago one of my mentors was telling me about a story at Starbucks.  He was a Senior VP at Starbucks reporting into Howard Schultz.

Years earlier, Howard had called my mentor on his cell phone and asked ‘Why is the letter B not working on the signage at the 50th & Wallingford location’ in Seattle.

My mentor laughed out loud and responded ‘Really?, Howard is that really the question you should be asking me when you’re CEO?’

Howard frustrated replied ‘Yes, why isn’t the sign working?’  And my mentor replied ‘I don’t know. I’ll check. And I’ll get it fixed. However, if we’re really going to grow this brand our leadership team needs to ask leadership questions.’

‘Howard, instead of asking why isn’t the letter B working we need to be asking questions like this instead…’

‘I noticed the letter B on a sign at 50th & Wallingford isn’t working.  What systems do we have in place to ensure that all letters, on all signs, at all locations, in all countries, are always working?’

My mentor was right.

Entrepreneurs all too often ‘Major in the Minors’ and get stuck asking questions about the details.  And yes, the details matter.  And the details will always get fixed.  However, instead of just asking the question about something specific like a letter on a sign not working, try using the details as specific examples to ask larger more systemic questions. People don’t fail, systems do.  Look deeper in the systems that need to be fixed or created.

As a business coach and mentor, I suggest that you start asking the right questions and you’ll grow your company too.

For more information on this topic, check out: Building a World Class Culture and Leadership at 100MPH.

As a Business Mentor & CEO Coach to growing companies I recommend that companies that want ot grow quickly should have Board Of Advisor meetings at least four to six times a year.  Each meeting should be three to four hours in length.  Meetings should cover questions sent out at least a week in advance to board members.

After roughly one hour, effective board meetings should shift into creative discussion, insight gathering and debate around two to three critical areas the company is working on. If the meeting is run properly, it should be less like a presentation and more like a group discussion. Challenge each other in a constructive way in order to gain the best possible insights and a sound consensus.

As a business mentor, I teach CEOs that reviewing financial statements are also worthwhile at these meetings as board members tend to ask stuff that employees do not.  Reviewing financial statements with your board WILL save and make you money long term.

Lastly, each member should be adding to all topics and not just giving advice from their area of specialty.  Desire everyone’s experiences and questions on all topics being discussed.  If the marketing person only chimes in during marketing discussions then you will miss out.  Encourage people to speak beyond their area of specialty to maximize their perspective.

Even if you have a CEO Coach or Business Mentor like me helping you grow – you absolutely should be building out a proper Advisory Board too.

For more information on this topic, check out: Leadership at 100MPH.

Two years ago I was speaking at the 20^th anniversary of Entrepreneurs Organization (EO) in Las Vegas. It is not unusual for people to come up after I present to say hello, ask questions, or ask for my contact info. Not a big deal and it usually doesn’t result in much more than a couple second interactions. And ya, this time was different.

A young EO guy I’d never met before named John Ruhlin engaged me in conversation and asked if it was me who was coming to Cleveland to speak at their EO Chapter the following week. He also asked what my plans were the night before. I answered yes that in fact I was going to be coming to his city and that I would more than likely be taking advantage of the dollar being weak and shopping at my favorite store, Brooks Brothers.

We made plans to grab dinner and see a Cavs basketball game after I was done shopping. Someone offering to grab dinner and a sporting event is a nice gesture in business, but not a big deal or out of the ordinary, right??

Well, as it would turn out, coming in that day was a traveler’s nightmare. I had multiple delays and had to beg my way onto a flight that was pulling away from the jet way. I had to text John and let him know that I was coming in 5 hours later than expected and that I understood if he wanted to cancel. He casually reassured me that it was no problem, that he was waiting at the bar in my hotel and that I should get checked in, take my bags upstairs and come down refreshed for a great night. I thought, even though I didn’t get to go shopping I can still enjoy a great meal and take in a little Lebron James. All in all not a bad way to spend an evening in Cleveland. That is what I was expecting…

I got to the hotel and when I went to walk into my room, my jaw dropped. Spread out folded and hanging across my entire room were dozens of suit jackets, pants, shirts, and sweaters…and not just any dress clothes, they were Brooks Brothers dress clothes. My entire room looked like I had walked into a Brooks Brothers retail store. And it was all in my size.

Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. John, the EO guy had casually asked me what size I wore in an email that week because he said he wanted to send me his company T-shirt.

He’d just pulled off this amazing, mind-altering experience of service (what he calls “strategic appreciation”) and we weren’t even at dinner yet. I took as many pictures on my phone as I could, texted them to my wife, and realized I needed to call John DiJulius to change the example I gave him for his book on the best customer service I had ever experienced.

When I walked into the bar, John looked up with a grin and said, “You enjoyed your Brooks Brothers store?”

Over dinner and the game John explained how using ultra high-end gifts helps him land meetings with CEOs or keep top client relationships amazing.

One of John’s companies, Ruhlin Promotion Group, specialized in doing crazy things like sending a $500 Cutco knife set in 5 consecutive packages to a CEO asking them to “carve out time” for a meeting.

After the Brooks Brothers experience and yes the awesome Cutco knives he sent me engraved with my company BackPocket COO logo, I will meet John Ruhlin anytime, anyplace, and refer him to anybody because I can only hope more and more people get to experience the Ruhlin Promotion Group treatment first hand.

For more information on this topic, check out: Building a World Class Culture and Generating Free PR.

I walked into my friend Kimbal’s company in Boulder, Colorado. He was an employee of mine 15 years ago and he’s been quite successful at building and selling companies since then.

Upon arriving at Kimbal’s office, I couldn’t help but notice the plethora of Herman Miller Aeron chairs—which used to go for about $800 USD. When I saw Kimbal, I remarked, “Wow, you’re really burning through cash on this new business of yours!”

Kimbal said, perplexed. “Why do you say that?”

“I saw your Herman Millar Aeron chairs everywhere!” I said. I was convinced he was already spending the millions he’d made in business.  I love Herman Miller chairs—I even have one—but I couldn’t imagine buying one for every employee.

So then Kimball asked, “You didn’t see the desks did you?”

I hesitated. “No, I didn’t see the desks.”

“Go take a look,” he said knowingly.  So I walked outside, took a look, and noticed he had all these white plastic fold-up tables pulled up to those fantastic $800 Herman Miller chairs. So I walked back to Kimball and said, “What’s with all of the fold-up tables?”

Kimbal paused for a moment. “Well, everyone wants to have an amazing chair.  You want to attract amazing people and keep them happy? Don’t give them a $200 chair.  Everybody out there buys $1,000-$2,000-$3,000 workstations or desks and they buy crumby $250 chairs.  So I buy $100 desks from Costco and Ikea, and $800 chairs.

My employees love me, never quit, and everybody walks in and sees we’re successful, but they don’t realize we spent $850 on each desk and chair while other companies spend $3,000 on their desk and chair – do the math!”

Expensive desks won’t support your back and make you more productive, expensive chairs will.

For more information on this topic, check out: Building a World Class Culture and Leadership at 100MPH.

I’ve had a wireless headset for my office phone for about eleven years now. LOVE it.  I’ve updated my model a few times now from a great resource, Headsets.com, and my favorites have all been the Plantronics brand.

I think best on my feet, and hate being chained to a desk.  A wireless headset for my desk phone is awesome because I can pace around while talking.  I can even use it three floors down from my office and walk out to the car with it.  When I’m coaching and mentoring CEOs I can pace around while I do the two hour coaching calls.

Whenever I’m talking to my lawyer on the phone I flush the toilet just to make him think I wasn’t paying attention!

My lawyer Scott: “Did you just flush the toilet?”
Me: “Yeah, that was the invoice you just sent me!”

Are you chained to your desk…

Pretty excited to get all these five brands on my laptop.  The first company’s stickers Media Temple arrived today.

Here is the 5th (and final company) sponsoring my laptop in 2010.  Their clients know that the most substantial advantage over the competition is employees.  Hire Better Solutions helps exceptional companies distinguish themselves through the execution of the best hiring practices from the top business thinkers of our time like Jim Collins, Brad Smart and Verne Harnish.

Empowers Leading Companies to Easily & Confidently Make Great Hiring Decisions

The other four brands to take laptop spots are:

Outsourcing Things Done , Maverick Business Adventures , Media Temple and Grasshopper.com Check them out.  I introduced them on earlier blogs too.

If anyone asks about their stickers, I’ll be sending them to whatever website/email address they want.

Another company is sponsoring the back of my iPhone too…

The logos will be in front of thousands of entrepreneurs and business people throughout North America.  And they’ll get tons of exposure on my Blog, Twitter, FaceBook & LinkedIn.

For more information on this topic, check out: Generating Free PR.