Smart Business Magazine, December 2019

8 Smart Business Cleveland December 2019 Find your superhero power Ask the tough questions that can help you rise above the competition But what if you could turn whats often considered the villain in your companys story into a superhero Being smart about managing the bottom line is really just about hard core management of all the lines that come before it And if information is indeed power then being smart enough to ask questions that get you out of your own head is the switch that lights it all up Employees What else do they need from the organization to be the best What do they think could be done better to leverage their strengths or maximize effectiveness and efficiency Consumers Why would they go anywhere else and what can we do about it What else can we provide that will ensure we continue to be the best provider for them Vendors and professional partners What value add can we provide that will make their work with us even stronger Whats their backstory and whats the takeaway for our organization Competitors What can we learn from them about what to do and what not to do What could we accomplish together Its about marshalling all the resources within your reach in a way that releases every bit of value you know or have only guessed they have Once youve braved the answers to the above questions give your resources the flex they need by grounding them in the following Mission Youre here to save the day accept nothing less Strikes hero pose at desk Desperation On a bad day it might feel like it but desperation with a little swagger looks and more importantly acts like conviction Communication Setting expectations that enable stakeholders to be realistic while being optimistic will get you the buy in needed for your organization to narrate its own success story Risk Risk sounds great when you think of it as rolling the dice and coming up big But real risk is factoring in mistakes as an essential and dynamic part of the process Resilience Have faith with a solid game plan for bouncing back after youve gotten the stuffing knocked out of you Recalculate and re engage Creativity Move past the challenge the flaw or the failure and parlay it into the next right thing for you your staff and your organization Youre a Clevelander which means you come from a long line of business giants for whom working smart is core to their DNA The cape may be optional but the superpower isnt about to be denied The cost of doing smart business is not optional The mandate the deliverable the fiat that every organization must factor in as the cost of doing business keep more than a few of us up at night Big business sole practitioner nonprofit or for profit a win typically resides between a rock and a hard place A win is often is represented by single digit percentage points of the bottom line and is largely determined by how smart we are navigating the cost of doing business TEEING IT UP TERRY DAVIS TERRY DAVIS President and CEO Our Lady of the Wayside a regional leader in residential respite transportation and adult day programming for children and adults with developmental disabilities Terry is an avid golfer www thewayside org