Bring Your Heart to Work... It Will Transform Your Business
Hi! I'm Mackey McNeill and in this video I want to explore how a very common idea that the sole purpose of business is to make a profit can actually damage your business. Milton Friedman, the Nobel prize winning economist, advanced this idea in an article in 1970 and while has come to be taught as gospel, I am one of many voices currently beating the drum that this is a short-sighted idea of why business exists.
As a CPA, I have great respect for the role of profit in business, and for 40 years I have worked with owners on improving their bottom line. What I have found is there are five critical ideas that if adopted allow a business not only to profit but to prosper. First, bring your head and heart to work. Two change your focus. Three, use data as a convener, a unifier. Four, stop being a fulcrum and build a circle. And five, build a better toolbox.
Today, I'm going to talk about bringing your head and heart to work. No business flourishes without embracing the truth that a business is a community of people. Often when a business isn't functioning at its optimum it's because the culture lacks heart. People have hearts and they come packed with feelings wishes hopes and dreams and if we as owners fail to address their humanity and instead just expect an outcome, we're very likely to be disappointed. There is a ton of research that tells us while people believe they are rational thinkers. They gather facts and make rational decisions. The truth is people have feelings and often those feelings flavor and often control their actions. And I would argue this is good news. It tells us that as business leaders, we need to share our hearts, our passions, our big idea. You know, that idea that was so compelling that you risk everything to go into business.
Build your team with those who want to help you. Bring your big ideas to life. You and your team will move mountains. There's nothing more powerful than a group of people connected at their heart with a common purpose and if you want to rock your business, bring your heart to work every day and make it safe for your team to do the same.
When I founded Mackey, I started with two part-time team members. I still remember our strategic planning session on my deck where we talked about my big idea to help business owners prosper, to enjoy the three freedoms of prosperity - time freedom, money freedom, and freedom from worry. My part-time team grew over the years and I purposely filled my team with those aligned with my big idea. My team loved working for me and I love working with them. Our clients were happy and revenue growth off the charts but you know, I had started my business in my 20s. As I met other business owners, I noticed they were all about profit and they treated people more like production machines. So, I began to second guess my way thinking maybe I was being young and foolish so I did a 180 and adopted their methods and I went about incentivizing my team based on attainment of key individual metrics. In the process, I destroyed my team in my service-focused culture, what a disaster. Wow, it took some rebuilding and I had a lot of crow to eat but I acknowledged the error of my ways and rebuilt trust. Today, everyone on our team gets up excited every day to bring our big idea to life, to help business owners prosper, to enjoy the three freedoms of prosperity - time freedom, money freedom, and freedom from worry.
If you're out to change the world in your business, connect with your team about your purpose and watch the magic happen. If you like this video, help us help other people prosper. Hit the like button, share with your community and please leave me a comment. I'd love to hear from you.