Risk versus risky

I am building a woodworking shop next to my house. Last week I was shingling the roof, stepped on the felt and the staples gave way. I fell off the roof.

I claim I’m a coward, my son claims I don’t take risks. He says I do risky things (like working on a roof) but do all the things to reduce the risk. I was not hurt because I was wearing a safety harness clipped to a well anchored rope.

The harness and rope are left over from my rock climbing days and I use them whenever I need to climb around high enough off the ground that I could be hurt if I fell. That’s doing risky things (climbing on the roof) but not taking risks (working without a safety harness).

I try to apply the same thinking to my business life. I have and use the correct equipment or procedure to take as much risk as possible out of the task I am trying to accomplish.

Hardly worth mentioning

Today I started my term of office as president of the Pondorosa Park Association. This is a neighborhood group promoting a sense of community for this little (200) home enclave in the middle of the national forest. The large tract was granted by act of congress in 1884 and subdivided in the mid 1950. Not a big deal, but it should be fun and I'll get to meet my neighbors.

Business failures are management failures

All business failures are management failures. Don’t believe me? Think about it this way;

All poor results can be traced to poor motivation, poor training, poor tools/equipment and/or poor planning.

The manager’s job is to motivate, train, equip and plan. Whose fault is poor employee performance (employee motivation, training, equipment and planning)?

I repeat: “All failures are management failures.”

Are you a good manager? Answer these questions then you decide:

1. What have you done to make your employees passionate about their work?
(Motivate)

2. What new skills have you helped your employees learn?
(Train)

3. What have you done to get your workers the best tools and most efficient equipment?
(Equip)

4. What planning have you done to make the work go faster or with fewer problems?
(Plan)