There’s a particular show that I like to watch on CNBC called the Profit. It’s a show that features smaller companies reaching out to a man that will hopefully come in and essentially either save the existence of their company and/or take them to the next level.
The show is centered around Marcus Anthony Lemonis who is a Lebanese-born American businessman, television personality, philanthropist and entrepreneur. Marcus will visit selected companies on the show, go through a short due diligence process with the owner and sometimes the team and if he sees an opportunity will make an offer to invest in that company. The kicker is that once he writes the check he is then in full control until he sees that he can relinquish that control back to the original owner of the company.
Now understand that this is television and there always has to be some type of drama involved. One particular episode featured an owner of a company that was hands down absolutely gifted when it can to creating designs. However, on the flip side, he was an absolute mess when it came to his leadership, management and communication style with those of the team.
Marcus observed this challenge, addressed it in whatever manner he needed to make a positive change. He placed the next in charge as of the leader, manager, and communicator of the organization and had the owner focus entirely on designing and creating of which was his god given strength. Because of these changes the company improved in many areas, grew its sales and maintained a happy and more engaged team.
At the end of the episode, Marcus talked about the success and made a statement that the owner of that company was the most talented gifted individual he ever met in all his years of business when it came to creating and designing.
I share this as I will wager a bet that somewhere down the road this man shows up again as a consultant of Marcus to create and design for other companies that Marcus ventures into partnerships with.
Marcus recognizes the value in his strengths and I’m sure plans on Leveraging them wherever he can in his other companies as to add value to them and their brands.
Leverage is an important tool when it comes to business. We have to learn to first identify then leverage certain technologies, systems and most importantly people. When you find something or someone that brings cost and time-saving advantages to your organization, you want to leverage this expertise.
Think of a superstar salesperson who consistently hits and exceeds their numbers. Don’t make the mistake of making that person a sales manager. Just ask them if he or she can share their tricks of the trade with the others on the team. Maybe write out some scripts that have been successful. Conduct some role-playing in meetings. Maybe share the books, seminars, and webinars that have helped him or her reach that expertise. Simply Leverage their strengths!
Think about the use of Leverage in outsourcing particular tasks. We have organizations like upwork, fiverr and other outsourcing models that you can actually send a task to the other side of the planet and have it done by the time you walk into your office the next morning for a very low fee.
Leverage is about getting more with less. Being more conscious and intentional about your time, what technologies, systems and people to use to have around you to leverage certain areas of your organization to deliver better results with less time, effort and money.
Think about where in your organization that you can use more leverage in your technology, systems and people to get more efficiency and results with less time, effort and money. Do that and you will have a happier more efficient staff of people and most importantly a better bottom line. And, in business isn’t that what we all really want?