Lessons from Sparring

I was honored with my Orange Belt (one step above novice) in Okinawan Isshin-ryu the other night. I began studying martial arts to more closely examine the two greatest tenets of performance - Focus and Discipline. After a couple of months, I've had the chance to work closely with the essences of both. The orange came with some encouraging words from Sensei, a bit of added respect (and responsibilities) around the Dojo, and a sobering notice: Tonight we spar.

"Sparring" consisted of Sensei coolly bobbing and weaving around me, delivering effortless jabs and backfists to my face and body while I vainly attempted to apply some of my training to block his attacks.

He'd warned me about this. A 6th degree black belt against a barely-above novice wasn't really Pay-per-View material. I continued to block - and was getting better - now his strikes were mostly just knocking my own gloves into my face. Success is indeed a process.

At some point in time frustration took over and I went on the attack. Sensei easily darted, slipped and parried until I backed off and he resumed dissecting my feeble defenses, finally landing a direct hook to my mouth that caused him to say "enough".

I was counting my teeth on the drive home, and began considering his line of questioning to me after the 2 minute round; What did you see in there? How were things different?

All I'd been able to muster at the time was "It's hard to hit, you're too fast. All I could do was try to block." However, as my head was clearing on the drive, another aspect of the bout came to my mind. Near the end, perhaps prompted by my classmates, I'd stepped in and thrown those few lunges and reverses. Zero had landed as my highly skilled Sensei artfully dodged all danger, but for ten to fifteen seconds of the fight, I didn't get hit at all. For those brief moments, until fatigue set in and the clinic resumed, I'd been equally matched with a 6th degree black belt.

Next class I mentioned this to Sensei; "I attacked, and the fight changed. You had to move and parry - so you couldn't attack, and I couldn't get hit." This got a big smile out of him. He said that in defending his attacks, only, we were matched skill for skill, Black Belt versus Novice. However, when I attacked, other factors came into play that gave me an advantage including our ages, athleticism and size - little of which matters while blocking only.

I wish I could tell you our next Sparring match came to a draw, but it was nowhere close. Apparently I'd only peeled the first layer off Sensei, and Skill, though not Everything, still counts for a lot.

What I took from this, however, was a truth even simpler than the obvious "Best Defense is a Good Offense" line. It is that any opponent or challenge only has the best of you under a given set of circumstances. Often, these circumstances are adjustable. They can be modified to nullify his advantage - and even create an advantage for yourself. When I attacked, I changed the circumstances of the fight. Standing and reacting, my youth, physical shape and size played no part in the match - but when I moved and attacked, they came into play. No matter his skill level, Sensei could not ignore my attacks - he had to address them just as anyone would. Of course his skill allowed him to evade them with little trouble, but that's beside the point. I had changed the fight to one where my advantages came into play.

Final Note: We will never have much control over our opponent or challenge. However, we often have control over the circumstances in which we must engage them. Changing these circumstances can turn an uphill battle into a level, or even a downhill one. It's important to know at any time "What is my competitive advantage here?"

As for me, I'll be learning what I can from Isshin-ryu and bringing it here.

The Bonzai Business

When I arrived to my current assignment (unsupported setup of a solo law practice), I was surprised to find a plant withering away in the corner near my desk. It was simply a gnarled mess of dry leaves and vines, pining for water and light.

I'm no horticulturist, I barely manage a garden when landlords allow. But even I knew lack of N-P-K management was the least of this plant's troubles. It needed the basics. Water and Light.

Several weeks of water, scissor-snips and a move to be exposed to the morning sun later, the plant was a bright green, leafy center of the office.

Later, the attorney would say to me "You bonzai'd it. Gave it the daily dose of care it needed, however little. You removed what was dead and put it in a position to succeed. Just like my practice!" Yeah, I guess so!

That comment got me to thinking about what makes a truly healthy business. Often as "outside consultant" I have to lead my clients away from the misguided "growth for growth's sake" mantra and toward "change, with reason".

Small business should not be considered to be the quaint childhood version of some future megalithic structure. SB should be fully viable, complete with all powers and access the dinosaur corporate model provides, with the added benefit of minimal bureaucracy and scalable adaptability.

Smart-grown businesses don't need to double staff to handle double the orders, they work to understand the essentials of what their clients are requesting and implement the 3 Rules to manage the business two times better.

I'm often challenged to accept the term "low overhead" - well, yes and no. "Low" is a relative term and must be compared. Low compared to the Excess Overhead most operations feel they need to operate? Sure. "Low" in that we carve into any and all factors of safety, greatly risking our brand for the sake of minimal savings reward? Absolutely not.

Bonzai businesses are not simply planted, but planned. They are cultivated with purpose and direction. As a result, they don't sacrifice quality or value, and negate or even reverse the size factor hampering so many organizations in so many different ways. HR, IT, Accounting, Marketing, Legal, and all other unprofitables eat space, resources and energy. The notion that these departments are needed internally is a myth that keeps an organization from evolving at the rate of its chosen expertise.

Final note: Don't grow, Cultivate. Focus on the essentials of what's needed. It's not how big you are, but how much volume can you manage effectively.

The Specialist - Part 1

I have an assortment of replies when I'm asked what exactly it is that I do. Some are simple, some are elaborate, but the best, I've found, are Enigmatic. People watch a lot of television and movies, and even the dullest person you know probably has a pretty good imagination when it comes to a "Consultant", an "Advisor" or, a favorite of mine, a "Specialist".

For the near-term I've chosen to tell people my specialty is Outsourcing. Thus, I use various methods to remove redundant, inefficient, inessential components out of a system and work to find appropriate ways to have them handled effectively by experts and services Outside of the Productive Workflow.

Many small business owners believe they do an adequate job of handling the finances of their operation. They balance checkbooks, invoice clients, and resolve billing issues; they work on budgets, make forecasts and attempt to position themselves in an advantageous market position. However, very few of these owners are in any way qualified to perform these tasks either effectively or economically. Odds are they're an expert in something other than accounting and finance - And by removing themselves from the profit-generating workforce, either as teammate or a teacher, they've traded a world class talent for a mediocre support staff. They simply haven't calculated the value of their time as an expert.

I could just as well say the same for management, human resources, sales and information technology. Owners get used to the idea of wearing many hats. It gives them a sense of control in a lifestyle that is rife with stress and uncertainty. Unfortunately, it is the many hats worn that ultimately become the source of all the stress and uncertainty. The vicious cycle of business ownership quickly takes hold and success becomes intrinsically linked to the hours and energy the owner puts in. All resources in the system depend on the guidance, direction and pace of the Owner.

This business can not grow any more than an owner can find more hours or energy in his or her day. By Running the business, which sounds like an advantageous position, an owner can become Slave to the business, definitely a disadvantageous position.

The answer, then, is for the Owner to Work for the Business. If the owner is an engineer, then he should be an engineer; an accountant, an accountant; a salesman, a salesman. I work to help make this happen.

How? Before I work any technical angles I make sure the owner understands a few things. First, they must accept the reality that I've discussed above. Running the Business is Enslavement to the Business. Next I ask them to discover what is, realistically, the most profitable use of their time. This means, at which job or task are they contributing the most to revenue. The answer may differ depending on time boundaries, but to make a very important point - the answer isn't nearly as important as asking the Question. Questions make us think about the reasons for our actions, they help keep us honest with ourselves and those around us. Borrowing the classic term from the legendary David Allen, some owners realize that Widget Sales is their area of greatest contribution, Some realize that training new Widget-crankers is theirs, others realize that simply being head Widget-cranker is where they are best applied. No one, however, ever decides that they are best suited to being CEO, President or Chairman.

At this position, the working owner now generates an example $2 million in widget sales, widget-crankers, or simply widgets for his company annually. The equivalent of $1000 per hour in an 8-hour day, 5 day week, 50 week year, (though, hopefully they'll take more vacation than that). The Owner must now ask himself or herself, whenever drawn away from widget sales, widget-crankers or widgets - "am I generating $1000 an hour doing this?". Odds are they aren't. The Business needs them elsewhere.

Who, then, carries out support?

The Answer lies in 3 words I use to make every decision in my work. In order please:

1. Eliminate - Is this work/job/task necessary; can it be omitted?

2. Automate - Is it possible this work/job/task can be done by a computer or machine?

3. Delegate - Is it possible this work/job/task can be done by someone else, preferably trained, managed and paid outside this organization?

Only after answering all 3 of these questions "No" do I consider keeping the work internal.