Run a Business through Calm Excitability
30 Mar 2017Sound like a contradiction in terms? You bet it is!
No one said running a business was easy, there’s so much to keep track of in terms of the cash flow, product maintenance, personnel management, etc. You need to be organised and dedicated to do it.
But there’s also the importance of your mind-set when it comes to not only keeping your company going, but also making it successful.
Be Calm, Be Cool, Be Unflappable
When you run a business, you need to be able to keep your head when everyone around you is losing theirs (to paraphrase Kipling).
Your employees should be able to come to you with a problem that you can then rationally unpick to find the actual heart of the issue and start to come up with a plan of action for solving it.
Looking at things with an unshakeable calm will give your employees’ and customers’ confidence in your abilities, as well as ensure that no major decisions are made without due consideration.
Get Excited about Innovation and Experimentation
Running a business is equally about trying new things and listening to new ideas.
Anyone who has a good idea should WANT to come to you. You will listen and get excited about the possibilities. Encouraging them to refine the concept and push themselves even harder.
You need to be your company’s biggest cheerleader. Otherwise your business will stagnant and get left behind.
Striking a Balance
So how do you combine the two? How do you keep your cool while still getting excited about new ideas?
If there was a trick to it, I promise that I would tell you. But in reality it’s an hour-by-hour balancing act.
Each hour of your day will bring you dozens of situations you will need to react to and come up with the best course of action. Some of these will need your calming influence, others will need you to get excited about them.
Sadly this is one of those lessons that you learn through experience. Trust me, the first time you react with enthusiasm when you should have been the calm one will certainly stick in your memory.
The important thing to take away from this is not HOW to strike this balance but to remember that your business needs it.
How you strike the balance is up to you, but never forget that it is the responsibility of all managers to be calm and enthusiastic in the right situations.
Before I got my start in the tech industry as part of Apple’s UK Mac launch team, I was a professional drummer (notice I didn’t say musician). But once I got in, I was hooked and I’ve been involved in the tech industry, primarily software development, for over 35 years. I founded this company and I now have the enviable title of System Architect (as well as Managing Director) here at OpenCRM.