Evaluate Every Person
Apply the KWYNK formula to every person who works with
you and every company that you do business with on the outside.
“Is there anyone who, knowing what you now know, you
would not hire, assign, enter into an agreement with, or even
acquire as a customer?”
According to the Pareto Principle, 20 percent of your people do 80 percent of the work. This
means that 80 percent of your people are only doing 20 percent
of the work and are usually receiving full pay. Fully one
third of the people you hire will not work out over time. Is
there anyone working for or with you today that you would
not hire again today if you had it to do over?
One of the kindest things that you can do is to let a person
go if they have no long-term future with your company. It is
heartless and cruel to keep a person in a job if, in your heart,
you know that this person is not going to work out in the long
term. Have the courage and confidence to cut your losses, pull
the plug, and set the person free.
Look Inside Your Company
Is there anything that you are doing inside your company
that, knowing what you now know, you wouldn’t start up
again if you had to do it over? Is there any commitment of
people, resources, money, or time that you have made that is
not yielding the results that you expected? According to the
American Management Association, 70 percent of your decisions
will turn out to be wrong over time. Many of the things
that you are doing today are things that you would not get
into again today if you had to do them over again. What are
they?
Is there any commitment of advertising, promotion, sales, or
other dollars that you would not make again today, knowing
what you now know, based on the results that you have gotten
from these investments or expenditures? Jim Collins, in his book
From Good to Great, says that great companies and great executives
are those who are willing to ask themselves the “brutal questions”
about their businesses. You should be prepared to ask
yourself, and others, the brutal questions about anything that you
are doing and any expenditure that you are currently making.
Some of the answers that you get back may surprise you.
The “knowing what you now know” question, continually
applied to every aspect of your business, keeps you honest,
alert, and prepared to anticipate, learn, and adjust in the face
of fast-changing circumstances. Your ability to ask and answer
this question accurately is the mark of the superior thinker and
the business genius. It can be the key to victory.
