How to Increase Your Company’s Revenue or Gross Income – Part 16

Welcome to LeadEtics® Consults Actionable Business Advice Series.

Today we discuss “The Mastermind Formula”; that sequence of steps that, if applied conscientiously and consistently can make one into a mastermind in whatever field one endeavors.

For one to successfully operate any endeavor, one must have the right type, right quality, and right quantity of applied knowledge. The acquisition, memorizing, and glib rendition of smart-sounding words we see in today’s business circles only leads to one having and expressing a hectic, shallow, ignorant attitude.

There are two main differences between managers with the right type, right quality, and right quantity of applied knowledge vis-à-vis those who had acquired, memorized, and glibly rendered smart-sounding words.

First, the manager with the right knowledge gets things done without shifting or shirking responsibility, while the other gets nothing worthwhile done, but blasts blame on everyone and everything but themselves.

Second, the manager with the right knowledge always speaks on behalf of their team, heaping praises and due benefits, but accepts full responsibility for any shortcomings as their failures; whereas, the other ‘manager’ blames everyone and everything for their failures, and claims successes as personally earned.

With knowledge, comes something very difficult to accept and take ownership of – Responsibility. Most people prefer that someone or something else takes the blame for failures. These types of people love to claim group successes as personally earned even when they did not contribute to even deserve a part of the claim.

If you know something, say your company, whether or not you desire it, the responsibility for that knowledge sits on your mental ‘laps’. Without taking responsibility for your knowledge (of people, vision, processes, tasks, etc.) of your business you cannot become a successful manager or business owner or even a competent person.

The subject of control is almost unknown in our culture and language, except when used in a negative light.

However, Control is the ability and willingness for one to:

1) start a thought, emotion, action, object, process, etc. to create, produce, maintain, or destroy something;

2) change the direction, form, condition, or substance of a thought, emotion, action, object, process, etc. to create, produce, maintain, or destroy something; and

3) stop the motion, direction, or condition of thought, emotion, action, object, process, etc. to create, produce, maintain, or destroy something.

Without the ability or willingness to start a process (or anything), continue it to completion, and stop it, one would not be able to achieve anything but seem to be stupid or insane.

An inability to start and deliver the product of a task lies in the unwillingness to control the task, the product, or its element.

In conclusion, a successful manager must:

1) have the correct applied knowledge (including of people, vision, process, market, organization, society, data, know-how, etc.), not mere crammed smart words;

2) have responsibility (ownership and cause of everything and everyone within their group) for the knowledge;

3) have control over the knowledge and responsibility within their sphere of influence (the organization and its larger market and operating environment); and

4) combine knowledge, responsibility, and control as a single element into a mastermind mentality with which to manage and lead every member, asset, and resource of the group to attain and deliver the product (vision, goal, task) assigned or assumed.

To advance this further, if all employees and stakeholders of your business learn, imbibe, and apply the mastermind mentality, and work towards attaining higher management and leadership ability, willingness, and capacity toward higher and smoother tasks and product delivery ability and capacity, yours will become a resilient and successful business.

Let us continue to strive to thrive!

Babatunde Odutola
LeadEtics® Consults