A Professional Approach towards your Accounting Management
Every one of us knows that accounting is similar to mitochondria for a business firm. It is one area that decides the profits and loss, success and failure, and the development and progress of the company. One cannot neglect it in any case. Most of the big firms have large accounting departments set up to manage and control the accounting tasks. Tough this is an expensive way of handling accounting work yet being a crucial function, business firms are bent towards hiring CPAs, accountants, and bookkeepers to work out things in an efficient manner. But, what if you are a small business firm? Can it be possible for you to invest this much into accounting? The fact is no! No small firm can have huge expense done on accounting department so it would be better to hire the services of accountant New York services which perform your companies accounting work in a more expert and diligent way. Accounting is a demanding work and has lots of crucial calculations and bookkeeping work involved in it. One cannot take risks by assigning this task to any unprofessional newbie accountant. Accountant New York professionals are experts in handling huge amounts of accounting workload and are trained in managing the data confidentially. You can easily bank upon them for the kind of professionalism which is required in the business industry. Accountant New York professionals are trained in handling accounting books, journals and ledgers entry, archiving previous data and files, bookkeeping, drawing profit and loss sheet, and taxation. The marketplace is full of lots of accounting firms, now it depends on your acute discerning prowess to decide which one fits your bill. Accounting professionals scrutinize your all accounting and bookkeeping data so that they can prepare flawless accounting records and balance sheets. Even a slight error may result into huge loss for the business. Now, if you are really looking to carve a niche in the industry and have an edge over your competitors then do hire the services of professional accountant New York firms and ease off scruples in the way of success. Once you have assigned your work to professional accountants, you can divert your attention towards other important tasks related to business development. These accountants are skilled to turn your losses into profits with their expert management and analysis of the accounting data. Two of the important factors you need to consider before hiring accountant New York service include:- Make sure that your data and accounting records are kept confidential and no breach of trust happens. You can include this clause in the contract. – Ensure yourself about the potential of accounting services delivered beforehand by doing background research of the firm, its professionals, and its previous successful projects – Read the contract, terms and conditions carefully before signing the deal – Negotiate on the prices asked so that you may not get into an hassles later on You can easily find professional accountant services on internet ads, local yellow pages without any inconvenience. Just keep in mind that you check with the background of the firm before handing over your accounting work.
Mindset and Wealth: How to Grow Your Wealth
Can you really ‘think yourself rich’? I’m here to tell you that it is not only possible, but that it is also actually the best chance you have of making a lot of money. Many of us dream of living in a large luxurious house in a sunny country, we imagine wearing smart suits that exude power and confidence and we wish that we didn’t have to make so many hard choices because our funds can’t support the lifestyles we want to lead. If that sounds familiar, then you need to make a change. And as with ALL things, that change starts with you and your mindset. If you want to be wealthy, then what are you doing about it? And is there any chance that you may, in fact, be going about it the wrong way? Wealth and Your Career Ask the average person in the street what they would hypothetically need to do in order to become richer and 99% of them will tell you the same thing: get a better job. Okay, fair enough. They are not wrong per say. Indeed, getting a better job won’t hurt their income and that in turn will likely mean they get richer at least a little. But in fact, this is not the whole story. And what’s more, is that this isn’t even the main part of the story. Wealth and salary are not inextricably linked. They are related sure, but only to a small degree. If you wanted to see an equation telling you how to get wealthy, then it would really look like this: Wealth = Income – Outgoings So, let’s say that your income is determined solely by the amount of money you are making at work. Even in that scenario, you still have another, equally as important factor. That is your outgoings. If you earning a cool million dollars a month but you also waste a million dollars a month of lavish holidays and on nights out and clothes, then you are ultimately not going to be very well off. Rather, you’re likely to lose money over time. But if you are earning a more normal $2500 a month but you only spend $500, then suddenly you are saving $2000 per month. In 12 months, you’ll have $24,000 saved away. That’s a decent down payment on a house! So, you now have two options. Two ways to get richer. One is that you seek to get a better job and increase your income and the other is that you save more money and spend less. How to Spend Less When I was at university, my summer job was working at a yacht club. Specifically, I was a waiter in one of the restaurants there that was actually paid for and owned by the clientele of the club. The club was located in Sandbanks, England – an area that is also sometimes referred to as ‘millionaire’s row’ because it has among the most expensive real estate in the world along the seafront. So, these are people who own yachts and who belong to a club that is situated in one of the wealthiest parts of the world. Suffice to say that they were not struggling for cash. And of course, what many people would point out to me is that this should likely result in pretty big tips! Except that’s not what happened. In fact, I received some of the worst tips I have in any job. I had a lady call me over to secretively give me 20p (around 30cents) for my hard work. She literally told me to buy myself something nice. And this is bearing in mind that it is standard practice in England to tip 10%. The meals usually cost close to $150. I told my Mum this and her response was: how do you think they got rich, dear? Makes sense Look, I’m not here to tell you you should become stingy with tips. But what I am telling you is that the wealthiest people recognize that every little bit adds up and makes a very big difference in the long run. Your aim now is not to fritter. That $3 coffee you have every morning on the way to work is actually $15 over the course of a week. $60 over a course of a month and $720 over the course of the year. That is a tiny amount and that’s before we have even considered all those other things you likely pay for that you don’t really need. Maybe your Spotify account, Netflix, 100+ TV Channels, gas for the car for all those trips you don’t really need to make. It adds up. Worse are all those larger purchases we make on an impulse. These are things like clothes that we think will make us look smart, games consoles, PCs, overly advanced phones. How much did your phone cost you? If you’re on a contract, then chances are you’ll be paying $700 or more for it. Now ask yourself how much more that phone really does than something for $300. Do you really need the fastest processor around? Considering that even an old phone can play everything in the app store? Do you really need a 30 megapixel camera? Or a 4K screen? Can you even see the difference between 4K and 1080p? The real problem here is marketing, the internet and other people. We have unfortunately been conditioned to associate these items with success and to find them highly desirable. We want to get the latest phone, car, computer etc. because it looks so sexy in those adverts. But the reality is that these things don’t really bring us happiness. Likewise, we are told that we need to buy a large house, go on lavish holidays. Is this really for us? Or is it so that we can look successful to others? I’m not telling you to cut back on all the things that make you happy here.
Focus on Results : Work Smart, Not Hard
In this article, I have occasionally challenged the notion that working hard is always a good thing. Sometimes, working hard means wasting your life on chores or wasting your life working for a company that doesn’t value you. Much better than working hard then, is to work smart. That means that you stop focusing on working for the sake of working and start working in order to get results. This is where it becomes important once again to assess your past mistakes and look at what has worked and what hasn’t. This will allow you to invest your time only where it counts and only where it matters. Freeing Up Mental Space And sometimes, this means finding ways to remove the unwanted distractions and clutter from your life. Work that does not take you closer to your goal is not work that is worth your time. Work that takes you away from the things you are passionate about is not worth your time. And so if you’re currently spending half your evening washing up and cleaning the house it’s time to stop! You worked incredibly hard in order to earn money for your family – you traded your time for resources – and now the little time you have left you’re going to spend washing up?? This is another cognitive shift you need to make in order to be truly successful – you need to start valuing your time more and be willing to spend your money to protect it. You need to recognize that Time > Money. So instead of spending your time cleaning the house, why not hire a cleaner to do it? You’ve worked hard enough to deserve one and this way you can work on more fulfilling side projects (and earn back the money you’re spending several times over), you can spend time with your family and friends, or you can spend more time enjoying the hobbies that you are truly passionate about. Likewise, you can give yourself more time by investing in a dishwasher, a robotic vacuum cleaner or maybe even a service that will deliver you readymade meals to your door for lunch and dinner! Invest in You Don’t think that this means you shouldn’t be spending time on your appearance though – you absolutely should. This takes us right back to our ‘law of attraction’ principle from the start of this book. Creating Business Models That Succeed This ‘results-focused attitude’ is also how you’re going to design your business models and choose your projects. Think about the resources you already have available to you, the contacts you already know and the skills that you already possess. If you are the editor of a magazine on a certain topic for example, then you have a huge captive audience. What business could you launch that you could aim at that audience? And as I’ve said already before: don’t think about success in terms of what others perceive as success.A lot of people will try and start businesses that they think will ‘change the world’ or ‘offer something completely unique’. But you know what? This type of business makes it much harder to find investors and much harder to market. If you want to make money quickly, if that is your goal, then you’re often much better off just using a tried and tested business model that countless people have used before. Don’t invest huge amounts of money into a business before you have verified it’.Use the ‘fail fast principle’ by creating an MVP and seeing if it is successful before spending lots of time on it. This will also let you stay lean and jump between multiple business models. If you’re willing to look for the shortcuts and if you understand the most important variables in each equation, then you can often sidestep the work and jump straight to the good part – earning lots of cash! Success really doesn’t have to be as hard as everyone makes it out to be. You just need to the right attitude and some gumption.
Doing It Right As a Team
There are several reasons why there is a need to explore and even implement periodic exercises within a team for spoken communication training. Some of the elements that should be addressed within the spoken communication training are as listed below: Ensuring that all involved learn to speak clearly and audibly is the first step to effective communication. Taking the time and effort to stop where the impact is needed for all listening to understand the importance of a particular point being made help to emphasize the point. Using “clever” or bombastic language is often more confusing than enlightening. By the constant use of such language the listeners would either lose interest in what is being said or worst still go about doing things in a way that is quite contrary to the purpose at hand, thus causing even further complications. The idea of effective communication is not to impress but to ensure the contents of what is being said is completely understood by all. When delivering important instructions, adopting a method where the listeners are asked to repeat the said instructions, ensures a complete understanding of what is required by both parties. Also giving the instruction in an orderly format helps to keeps confusion levels minimal. If the intention is to keep everyone relaxed, simple and easy-to-understand language should be used. Avoid making too many jokes especially if the connotations are ambiguous, as it can not only cause confusion but also cause misinterpretation and the feeling of being slighted. Using active rather than passive language patterns is also encouraged. There is more emphasis on the importance of the action requirement through active language patterns. Qualities of a Good Leader Supportive A good team leader should be able to encourage and support his or her team. This is what can help build a strong team. Enabling people to be the best that they can be, also improves the general performance of the team as a whole. A good team leader also listens to the grievances and requests of the team and presents this to the organization. The leader should be willing to effectively represent his team whenever the need arises. Great Interpersonal Skills and Strong Relatable Character A good leader should have good character. He should be someone that the team members can easily talk to. A good leader knows where to strike the balance between being friendly and authoritative at the same time. If a team respects their leader, they will be able to follow and work together effectively. However, a team that fears their leader will not be able to work well together. Confident A good leader should always be confident in everything that they do. A team may easily fail to follow a person who seems to be unsure about themselves or the tasks in hand. The team may also fail to respect such a leader. A confident leader can also easily inspire others to be their best and work hard at attaining their set objectives. A confident person is more likely to lead a team effectively. Committed to Excellence There are different types of teams. There is a team that may just try to complete assignments fast without paying attention to quality. There are others that can’t be bothered and normally fail to meet objectives or deadlines. These teams have weak leaders who fail to lead them in the right direction. A good team leader should always have integrity and commitment to excellence. They should seek to have the performance from the team. Such a leader ensures that the team remains productive at all times. As a leader, you have to set high standards and equally high expectation levels. This will help your team embers to aim high each time. Focused If a team leader isn’t focused then it’s very hard for the team to work together to realize their goals. A distracted team is likely to postpone assignments or even fail to work together if at all they don’t share common objectives. A focused leader will be firm at ensuring that every member of the team participates in helping achieve the set goals and objectives. He normally has his mind set of increasing productivity and the output quality of the team. Excellent Communication Skills You can’t lead people if at all you can’t express yourself effectively. Communication is about just being able to be understood. You need to watch out for small issues that may bring a communication breakdown. Learn to be polite and to talk to your teammates with respect. A leader who constantly yells doesn’t inspire his or her team. You should also not issue orders. Learn to discuss and make requests or assign roles. You should also learn to be listener. This is a very effective communication skill. You can learn a lot and get to work well with others if only you learn how to listen first. Innovative An effective leader should know how to think outside the box. Such a person will be able to make the team develop and progress well. Motivating A team will not be able to perform well if they aren’t motivated. You need to keep the team in high spirits. You don’t have to give incentives but just simple things can keep your team motivated. For instance, if someone does something good, it’s good to take not and compliment them. There are teams that acknowledge “the employee of the month/year”. This form of appreciation is also very effective as it motivates the team members to work hard. Once your team a member excels in a project you should congratulate or show them some appreciation. This will motivate them to work harder. Good at Conflict Resolution A team is normally made up of people of different personalities and ideologies. This means that from time to time, there will conflicts among members. A team leader should be able to resolve these conflicts without taking sides or making unfair judgment. He should always ensure that the team gets
A Complete Guide to Human Capital Management
Any company that wants to achieve great success needs to pay close attention to human capital management. The employees of a company are the biggest asset it has and by keeping that asset strong, the company has the best chance of success. A company that pays little attention to its employees will end up with a team of employees who are unmotivated and unproductive. Human capital management can be the difference between a company with a winning team of employees all pulling together toward a shared goal and a demoralized group who are providing little overall value. It is important that each and every member of the team is considered as an individual, each with their own set of strengths and weaknesses. Human capital management assumes that any lack of knowledge amongst the employees of a company is purely down to lack of training or teaching, rather than looking upon it as a fault of an individual or a team. Human capital management provides a strategic approach to managing staff at a company. It differs from traditional HR practices as it is concerned less with administrative tasks and procedures and focuses more on getting the most out of staff for a happy and productive team. Companies that currently do not have any type of human capital management program in place should think carefully about implementing one. The employees benefit greatly from human capital management which in turn means the company benefits greatly too. The approach to managing and organizing employees through a human capital management program is done in a number of ways. In essence, the approach should provide a fully inclusive strategy from even before a new employee is hired right through to their exit. Another important part of human capital management is succession planning and talent management. Being able to identify key members of staff as possible future managers can make the decision-making process for current senior management more straightforward, and allow for greater ease with forward planning. Employees at a company reap many benefits from having succession planning tools and strategies implemented. Being able to construct their own career path and identify future roles and responsibilities can also place them in a better position when considering their future. Helping employees with their career development is of benefit for everyone, especially the company itself. If you have a company and are interested in having a human capital management program implemented then there are a number of options available. You could either outline a program yourself and attempt to implement it, or you could outsource it to a specialist company. There are professionals in this field who can design and implement a thorough strategy for your organization. No matter how large or small an organization is, there are a host of benefits to be gained from implementing some human capital management strategies. Not only will the staff benefit as their own career paths begin to unfold, but the company benefits too as the productivity and motivation of the team increases. If you want to compete in the very tough marketplace, then investing in the employees could make all the difference. If you hire experts in human capital management then you can have that peace of mind that it is being carried out by those who know how to get the very best out of staff. With strategies such as a leadership assessment, one-to-one interviews, and even employee surveys, they can help improve the morale and productivity right across the workforce of your organization. Ensuring 360 feedback is always given and using proven way to identify talent, strategize for future success and plug knowledge gaps through training programs, a team of professionals can bring invaluable help to your team and your organization.
The True Meaning and Significance of Team Building
The term team building may not be new to us but it is not surprising that many of us still do not have a full understanding of what this term really means. More often than not, we see team building as an opportunity to get away from the humdrum of everyday work and experience a paid vacation with our colleagues. To others, it is merely a waste of corporate or organizational time and money as it does not really help build teams, but only gives employees a reason to take a long break from work. It can be quite difficult to fully define what this term really means. When used in a business context, it refers to a wide range of activities geared towards the improvement of team performance. It can be pursued through many different kinds of practices which can range from simple bonding activities or exercises to complex work and situational simulations to multiple day retreats that are all designed to help build or develop a team. The term should not be confused or interchanged with team recreation, because team recreation merely consists of different activities for teams that are purely recreational. Team building is often associated with business organizations and is generally discussed within the theory and practice of organizational behavior and development. However, it is not limited to enterprises and organizations alone – it can also be applied to school groups, civic organizations, sports teams, and many others. Many business and organizational executives, managers, leaders, and even regular employees believe that this concept plays an important role in any environment because it focuses on and specializes in bringing out the best in a team and in each of its members. With improved team performance, teams can better ensure that there are enhanced leadership skills, positive communication, and self-development within the team. This can result to an improved ability to work closely together as a team to solve problems more effectively and efficiently. While there are business enterprises and organizations that focus on specific individuals and personal goals (with rewards and recognition that single out the achievements of certain individual employees), this does not mean that teams no longer have a place in the company or organization. This tendency of focusing more on individual achievements only emphasizes the growing challenge of developing effective teams within the workplace, civic group, sports club or school organization through team-building activities.
The Future of the Workplace
Remote working has been hailed as the green option, but there are problems with it. Few of us can afford to dedicate an entire room in the house to being an office, particularly if others are at home. From an environmental perspective, being sat in home offices with lights on, boiling the kettle and having the radio on for company burns energy just for one person. The office of the future is far less likely to be in our homes than in a shared hub, where technical problems can be dealt with by a shared IT manager and people can gather around the office coffee machines. Such hubs will eliminate the need to travel. Staff walking to work will be fitter, less stressed and less likely to miss work at the first sign of snow. From companies’ perspectives, it becomes easier to know when someone is working, and from an individual’s perspective, having company and being able to clock off at the end of the day leads to a far healthier work/life balance. From a green perspective, rather than 20 kettles being boiled three times a day, single cup coffee machines offer a manageable solution, whilst office technology – which might even include and; hot desking’ (sharing desks and machines) – doesn’t need to be set up several times over and could result in better access to newer technologies. These hubs may even offer shared transport to bring in those who are further afield, offering greater job prospects to those living in remote areas. Hubs could even provide a solution for people being left behind by poor broadband access: with such a concentration of people, the economics of providing high-powered broadband become feasible. Around them will spring services – the local farmers can offer up fresh foods to take home far more easily than a trip to the supermarket, meaning that the food we take home is fresher and healthier, and supports the local economy. Our currently endangered library services could be located at the hubs, along with and; Internet cafes’ that allow access to the internet to people within local communities who might otherwise be without. Training can be shared across companies. Those who are starting their own businesses will be able to access shared services and advice, reducing the chance of business failures. The benefit to society of businesses succeeding will create a virtuous cycle, offering opportunities, help, and resources to those who might otherwise never have had the knowledge and experience to take their great idea to the outside world. Being huddled around a shared coffee machine in an office hub will offer support and community, company costs will be reduced, and the environment will benefit. The sooner we start thinking about how to deliver the benefits, the better.
The 10 Most Powerful Tips for Leaders
So with all that said and done, there is an awful lot to take on board here. Hopefully you have a much better idea now of what really makes a great leader and how you can win the respect of your team and steer them to victory almost without trying. But still, putting all this into action can be challenging and that’s why it’s useful to break this down further and to recap on some of the most potent tips we covered throughout this article. So here they are… 1. Have a Vision You Believe In This is by far the single most important point if you want to make sure your team respects you and that you are making the right decisions for your organization. 2. Focus on Your Mission Statement As a leader, you need to see the bigger picture and that means focusing on how to deliver results and how to grow the business. 3. Build Resilience and Plan for Contingencies Make sure that your business is able to handle crises and that you know what you’ll do in any of the worst case scenarios. 4. Hire the Right Team Your team should be diverse in their skills and their abilities but they should be united by the common goal that you all share and the common vision. 5. Give Your Team Autonomy and Credit This is the best way to make work intrinsically motivating for your team and to ensure they work hard and passionately. 6. Stay Calm, Be Respected This will keep your team calm and it will make you seem more confident. This is most important when you are challenged by dissidents and when you are going through tough times. By showing your passion, doing what’s best for the team and being friendly but distant, you can endeavor to be respected. This is better than being liked or feared. 7. Be One Step Ahead Use financial modelling and other techniques to stay one step ahead. 8. Take Responsibility If things go wrong, you must always take responsibility. This gives your team confidence and assurance but also wins their respect. 9. Be Knowledgeable You won’t be the best at anything and you need to know how to delegate. BUT you should also make it your business to understand the role of each team member so that you can oversea the course of your ship. 10. Take Risks It is important to take risks and be courageous as a leader. This is again what will allow you to grow and what will make your team achieve above the rest.
Entrepreneurial Success: Utilizing Your Strengths
What’s the first thing you do if you want to climb Mount Everest? While you might jokingly respond that the first thing you would do is get yourself a CAT scan the fact is that climbing Mount Everest – or any other difficult feat of physical endurance – can easily be compared with entrepreneurial success. If you’re going to scale Mount Everest the first thing that you would do is take inventory and find out if you had the tools to climb it. You would need food, climbing gear, water, medical supplies and many other things. With striving toward entrepreneurial success (which can seem as insurmountable as climbing Mount Everest) you are also going to take inventory of your assets. What are your current strengths and how can they help you reach your goals? Do You Think You’re Better than Everybody Else? The first thing that we are going to do is make a list of things that you do better than anybody else. This is not a list of things you do better than anybody else in the entire world, this is a list of things that you do better than the people that you know or the people you’re surrounded by. Also, we are not going to include things that aren’t actually going to help you on your road to success. For example, you might be the best sous chef in three counties but unless you’re planning on opening a restaurant it’s not going to help you with your entrepreneurial goals. However, it is going to include things that might not be directly related to being an entrepreneur or to being successful, but are strengths that will still help you get where you’re going. An example of this would be if you are good at inspiring people. This might not seem to directly relate to your success as an entrepreneur but if you are trying to launch a successful eCommerce website, the fact that you are good at inspiring people could be used in all kinds of ways. You can inspire people to share your products on social media. You can inspire people to participate in and spread the word about contests that you run. As you are making your list, if you come across anything that you think might even be slightly related, err on the side of caution and write it down anyway. You’re also going to be careful about adding things to your list that might be thought of as strengths at first glance but are actually reasons that you have failed in the past. One example of this might be an attribute like flying by the seat of your pants instead of planning out in advance. This could go on your list as self-starter or ready to jump in at a moment’s notice but if it hasn’t served you well in the past, it probably isn’t going to do you any favors in the future and you should avoid putting it on your list of strengths. You are also going to want to include technical or artistic skills that might not seem to directly relate but could come in handy later on. For example, you might be really great at graphic design. You might simply be a natural technical wizard. You might even be a writer. Think about some of these strengths as they relate to your goals of being successful, including the earlier example of sous chef. While culinary arts might not help you start an e-commerce website, the patience that you have cultivated as a sous chef could definitely help. What Are the Attributes of Success? The next thing that you’re going to do is determine what sort of attributes the most successful people in the world have, or especially, the people that you admire. Especially, you’re going to make a list of things the entrepreneurs have to have in order to be successful. These can be both wide and specific depending on what your particular goals are. For example, they need to be good at whatever industry they are in and they are probably also going to want to be skilled in things like social networks, choosing products, building business relationships and marketing. You’re going to want to be as specific as you possibly can because at the end were going to compare the two lists and try to find how many strengths you have already that can help you be successful. The more things you list, the more things that you’re going to discover are actually true about yourself. This exercise isn’t actually about finding all of the qualities that entrepreneurs need to succeed; it is about realizing that you already have the attributes that it takes to be successful. You do have the attributes that it takes to be successful. This is readily apparent, because you’re reading this article. People that are interested in success or aren’t motivated to better themselves and reach their goals don’t read books on success. In fact, they tend to avoid the subject as much as possible because it reminds them of their failures. Here are some of the more apparent attributes just to get you started: Determination: you have the idea or attitude that you are going to succeed no matter what, no matter who stands in your way and no matter what obstacles you encounter. A Passion for Entrepreneurship: if you aren’t passionate about working for yourself and owning your own business, it can be almost impossible for you to be successful at it. Optimism: you are optimistic about the future. You believe that good things are in store for you and your outlook is almost always a glass-half-full kind of mindset. Patience: you are willing to work over a long period of time to get the results that you want. You’re not going to give up if it doesn’t happen quickly. Reliable: you will be able to handle the responsibility of being an entrepreneur. You have a reputation for being
How to Inspire Your Team
Now you have a broad idea of what it means to be a good leader, it’s time to break this down and to examine each of these points in more detail. But the most important point we can discuss is inspiration. If you can inspire your team to work, then you can get the very best out of them no matter what else. If they believe in your vision, they will be absolutely loyal and absolutely committed to what you’re doing. They will work harder and longer hours and they will drive your business, department or startup forward faster than anyone else. Notice the word ‘vision’ here. That’s very important and we’ll come to why in a moment. What’s more, is that if you have a vision for your team, you’ll help to inspire others. That means your customers and your potential business partners. More people will want to work with you. More people will want to buy from you. And more people will want to be loyal to your brand and to think of themselves as a ‘part’ of what you do. It goes deeper too. That’s because having a vision can also help you to make the right decisions for your organization. We talked briefly about the importance of not just keeping your team afloat but of growing and avoiding catastrophe? That all comes from having the right vision. Your vision is what gives you your goal. And if you get it right, it should also be what gives you your drive to succeed and makes that passion contagious. Many of the points we talk about later in this article will stem from that vision. Introducing: The Golden Circle Perhaps the best way to illustrate what is meant by this, is to look at a concept in business known as the ‘golden circle’. What is the golden circle? Well, if you believe the highly popular TED talk by Simon Sinek (who first proposed the concept), the golden circle is the difference between innovating companies that grow and thrive and those companies that fail. Why is it that Apple is constantly creating more exciting products he asks? (This was a while ago, bear in mind). Why is it that the Wright Brothers’ succeeded where others failed, others who had more resources and more means? The answer is the golden circle. The golden circle is made of three ‘rings’ which can be seen like layers. On the outermost ring, you have the word ‘What’. Inside that, you have the word ‘How’. And on the innermost ring, is the word ‘Why’. So as a leader, you need to think about these three things: What? How? Why? For the sake of simplicity, we will start by focusing on this question from a business perspective. That means we can change these questions into: What do you do? How do you do it? Why do you do it? And the key aspect to all this is that last part – the why. The most important question you can possibly ask yourself as a business is why you do what you do. And what might surprise you is that a lot of people can’t answer this question. What they tell you is that they are in their business to make money. Other than that, what ‘why’ is there? This is where your company ‘mission statement’ comes in and this is something that all the most successful businesses in the world have in common – great mission statements. It is the company with the mission statement that actually believes in something, that has a strong brand and that other people can get behind. Some examples: Ikea At IKEA, our vision is to create a better everyday life for many people. Our business idea supports this vision by offering a wide range of well-designed functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them. Amazon It is our goal to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online. Coca-Cola To refresh the world in mind, body, and spirit. To inspire moments of optimism and happiness through our brands and actions. To create value and make a difference. Facebook Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to share make the world more open and connected. Google Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Intel Delight our customers, employees, and shareholders by relentlessly delivering the platform and technology advancements that become essential to the way we work and live. McDonald’s McDonald’s brand mission is to be our customers’ favorite place and way to eat and drink. Microsoft Our mission is to enable people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full potential. This is important because it is what makes the brand something that the audience, the employees, and the leaders themselves can believe in – and it is what sets the long-term course for the journey. And as Simon Sinek puts it: people don’t buy what you do, people buy why you do it. The objective is not to sell to people who need what you make, the objective is to sell to people who believe in what you believe. Those are the people who will be loyal to your brand. And the same goes for employees. Employees who believe in your mission statement will stay up late at night working because they believe in what they do – they’re excited by it and they want to see it happen. Heck, people on Kickstarter will even pay to see your mission statement become a reality even when there’s nothing in it for them. Oculus’ mission statement is to: deliver incredible, affordable, and ubiquitous consumer virtual reality to the world. This is a mission that people believed in so strongly, that they essentially funded the organization and allowed it to become a real-life company. A good business starts
