To Change Your Mind: Change Your Environment

Hi,

A good friend and colleague, Jay W., marvels at the percentage of college graduates who enter sales as a profession sometime during their careers. He’s done some research and even though the percentage of graduates who get into sales is surprisingly high, he was unable to find many college-level programs that provide specialized degrees in sales: AA, BA, B.S. or otherwise. He concludes that even though, “Nothing happens in business until someone makes a sale,” we seem to train salespeople on-the-job, by trial-and-error, or by some form of self-study.

I was talking with a young lady, let’s call her Jessica, who has been in the work force for about three years. She was telling me about her success in school but how much difficulty she’s been having making the transition to the workaday world. Jessica has an artistic, creative side but so far most of her jobs have been in “business.” As a liberal arts major that kind of surprises her. She has no lack of drive, character, or intelligence. Nonetheless, Jessica, while recognizing her mastery at school, worries that she’s, “Failing at life.” I reminded her that she spent sixteen years practicing her school skills in an environment that was designed to create incremental improvement and, essentially, force like-minded students onward and upward.

How many small business owners study business in college or other structured environment? How many of these amazing risk takers, with ambition and vision, now find themselves in an environment where they are exposed to new ideas, supported as they learn, and have a circle of colleagues they can bounce ideas off as they learn from one another?

Inherent in the nature of small business, I often see owners facing at least three challenges—which sometimes they recognize and sometimes they don’t:

1.  Isolation. Not really knowing what’s going on outside their immediate daily routine.

2.  Stagnation. Continuing to do the same things they have done in the past.

3.  Choosing to be busy instead of being effective.

One of the benefits of working with Lucavìa is we create an environment where small business owners overcome these three obstacles. We bring in fresh perspective and collaboration to rekindle innovation. We help our clients choose the future over the past in order to start growing again. And, we help our clients discover where to spend their time to make a real impact—ignoring busywork, systematizing routine tasks, and making things, that hold them back as executives, part of someone else’s job.


Jim

Lucavia
gojimlucas@lucavia.com
www.lucavia.com
(925) 980-7871

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