Three PROFOUND Questions
Contractors toil long and hard at their jobs. Sometimes the thankless, hurry-up, “what have you done for me lately?” nature of construction causes people to become myopic: “I just want to get through this week, Wayne! I’ll worry about next week and next month when they get here!” That sentiment is perfectly understandable, but it’s also incredibly limiting in the long run.
Please tune in this week as Wayne poses three profound, challenging questions to help spur you on to big picture, big impact thinking. What questions have you confronted that have helped drive your success? Please share with us in the comments section.
We are down to the last few seats for our upcoming Contractor Business Boot Camp class starting on Feb 9-10, 2023 in Raleigh. Please contact Charlotte at ckopp@familybusinessinstitute.com to enroll your rising NextGen leaders to the program.
Hi. This is Wayne Rivers at FBI where We Build Better Contractors.
This week I want to give you three profound questions. Before I get into it, Boot Camp, February 9 and 10, 2023, get your
folks signed up. And I have to have a hat tip to my friend Arlin Sorenson, this comes from his daily blog. I can't imagine
doing a daily blog, that is so much work, but I owe this blog entirely to Arlin. So, what about this is important to you? Well,
this bounces off the Tribe of Millionaires book that I talked about last week, and we talked about the purpose effect. How
do entrepreneurs and business leaders find purpose for themselves and their peers, well, for the benefit of themselves
and their peers? Do you find that internally or do you find it externally? And I don't think it matters, but here are three
powerful, profound questions for you to think about internally and also propose to your leadership group in your
companies, and also propose to your peers if you have them.
The first thing is, when you're thinking about your business, what's your destination? Another way to think of that, what
do you want your company to look like when you're finished with it at age 65 or 75 or 85 or whatever? When you're
finished in your tenure as a leader of your company, what do you want your company to look like? What kind of people
do you have? What services do you do? What kind of customers do you serve? How are you viewed in the trades or with
your trade partners and among your vendors, those kinds of things? What do you want your company to look like when
you're finished with it?
Second question, how will you get there? It's simple but profound, isn't it? What does the journey look like? And one hint,
I think, is that you've got to have the right people. That was one of Jim Collins things. You got to have the right people on
your bus, and you've got to help them get into the right seats, and then those people will help you drive the bus. That's
one thing that strikes me about our members is they struggle to get the right people on their teams and the right people
in the right seats on their bus. Those that are better at attracting the great people go to new heights. Those that struggle
with it, can't let go of the reins, can't trust other people, can't delegate responsibility, their jobs continue to be 80-hour
week jobs, and they keep having to pedal that bicycle harder and harder. So how are you going to get there? How are you
going to attract the kind of people that you need? And what's your plan look like?
The third question, what's your timeline? We all have a timeline. One of our members wrote earlier in an email to me that
we all have a shelf life, and that's absolutely true. We all have a shelf life, so you've got to put a timeline to this. Every
single one of your projects has a timeline. Why would you not associate a timeline with your stewardship of your company?
So, what's your destination? How will you get there? And what's your timeline? And if you think about putting those three
questions together, what Arlin is advocating is the same thing that Dennis and I always advocate, and you've got to be
planful. You've got to build out your plans going forward. Great things happen to people in life, but better things happen
to people who plan. Get your plans together. It's the right time of the year to be thinking about that as you head into 2023
and beyond.
So, I'd like to hear from you what works for you? What questions have you learned over the years that have had lasting
impact in your life and in your professional life? This is Wayne Rivers at FBI. We Build Better Contractors.
