Dear Underdog:

Starting with this title and this image…

(According to Robert Cialdini in his book Presuasion “If we want people to be more achievement oriented, we can provide them with an image of a runner winning a race.”

I am lost and cannot complete this post as originally intended…

Two points:

1. If you truly are an underdog (aka an employee), you MUST read the book Dark Horse by Todd Rose and Ogi Agas.
   • This book explains why all our Systems are Exactly Backwards, why and how you were made to believe you are an underdog.
2. My intention was to write a promotional piece for the “underdog” business owner, inviting them to ignore or explore my understanding of the core 4:

Is it impossible for your business to perform better?

If we could Double Your Profits in 12 months or less, would you resist the effort?

Do you have any objection to quietly disrupting or dominating your industry?

How do you feel about “Business as Usual?”

Do you copy others? Do you really believe the key to success is:

Doing the same thing as everyone else, just better? 

Do you consider yourself adventurous?

New thinking is often difficult to accept and understand.

Overcoming the obvious is the greatest challenge… How do I make this apparent in the fewest words possible:

What if All our Systems are Exactly Backwards? 

Is this so hard to believe?  Tell me Copernicus;

Have you ever heard a teacher blame and condemn their students for not wanting to learn? 

Are you blind to the irony? 

Aren’t learning and thinking precisely what make us human? 

Is this sufficient or do I need to elaborate. If so, where do I go?

1. Entrepreneurs do the same: Like teachers blaming students, employers blame employees Most recent example: Zuckerberg threatening to cut lowest performing 5% of Meta’s workforce. If you are not familiar with the Jack Welch school of management. Some people love it. Some hate it. Me:
   • If it is not obvious: rating and ranking is purely speculative. The best we can do is rate the effect of the system (that the employer creates and controls) on the individual. Reference material: Book by Michael J. Sandel: The Tyranny of Merit.
2. Continue with or delete the student analogy? Use my words or a more professional tone? Describe my experience? My children’s experience? Make an assumptive statement about your early educational experience and why you hate math. Create an exhaustive list or single reason?
   • Should the powerless student should be victimized for being below average in forced ranking? (50% are above. 50% are below.) This is after sacrificing their individuality and adopt one-size fits all approach to “success,” which in this case has little to do with learning, and nearly everything to do a subject grading system that destroys the student’s inclination to learn. Why the artificial scarcity? Why is learning in school based on the metric of time (learn X by this date vs learn X however long it takes the teacher to do their job?)
3. Do I inquire about the contention?  The irony – of the teacher blaming the student for their inability to teach? The contention (disagreement or issue) is us and the teacher not knowing what to do.  Yet, these answers have already been provided.  We choose to ignore them. Hint:

4. Culminate my point saying:

Wake the fuck up:  How else to disrupt an industry?

Doing the same thing everyone else does, just better? 

(This is our presumed path to success. 98% of our institutions have predetermined our path to success: Do what everyone does, only better. Example: To become a doctor, there is only ONE path. You must take the same courses that everyone else takes. To succeed however, you must get better grades than the others. Otherwise you jeopardize everything. Maybe it is different for entrepreneurs. Nonetheless, 48% of entrepreneurs had parents that we entrepreneurs. Most of them copy and do what others in their industry do. The point is:

Differentiation is how you excel in business. You need an USP. What is your unique selling proposition? If you are not unique, you become a commodity; indistinguishable from other products in the same category, except by price. In which case you are effectively driving your own profit margins into the ground…

Our brain’s default setting is designed to accept what is familiar to us. The power of the familiar is very evident in how leaders lead:  Command and control, management by results, management by objective, management by the numbers, etc. 

Deming’s approach is not familiar.  It is disruptive. It is new thinking.  New thinking is often difficult to accept and understand.

400 years ago we were battling with new mindset. It was a battle between a heliocentric and a geocentric mindset. Today, this is the battle between the two management philosophies (Taylorism vs Deming) based on the two scientific models (Newtonian vs Quantum physics). Another way to describe our times: Age of Standardization vs the Age of Personalization.

Our methods for doing things are so commonplace and widely accepted that will not, can not, tolerate indifference. The idea of the Sun circling the Earth is like the idea of doing away with grades in school. This forced competitiveness for students is no worse than the forced competitiveness for employees.

Think about it: You understand the power of cooperation. Cooperation is what allows mankind survive winters in cold regions… Capitalism is a system of cooperation. This cooperation allows us to have anything we want delivered to our door at the click of button. 100 years ago we would have called this magic… Yet,

When students cooperate we call it cheating. It is clear; work together and you will suffer. We extend this same logic in the workplace. Most evident in commissions, performance based salaries, merit pay. If you don’t get it, read Deming. If pay is based on individual performance (like most salespeople), why would they cooperate and work together. Departments are also structured the same way. Each is forced to compete for resources, time and attention. Same for each of the 50 states at the Federal level… In essence:

All our systems need to be rebuilt, restructured from the foundation up.

Deming shows the way. Since no employer will leverage my talent, I have to branch out on my own. I am craving the need for strategic foresight and meticulous planning.  Hence, the questions:

What is your company’s core, long-term purpose?

What is your management philosophy?

Do you have a merit system where you reward those at the top and punish those at the bottom. If so, how do you determine and accurately evaluate performance?

Do you take immediate action on any fault, complaint, delay or test data?

How do you balance the need for short-term results with the need to invest in long-term improvements that might not show immediate returns?

How do you create a system for capturing and sharing knowledge within your organization, so that lessons learned are not lost when employees leave or change roles?

How do you define ‘quality’ in the context of your business, and how do you ensure that everyone in the organization has a shared understanding of that definition?

Do you know the specific reasons why your customers choose you over your competitors?

How do you gather feedback from your customers, and how do you use that feedback to improve your products, services, and marketing?

How do you identify and eliminate waste in your business, and how does that impact your profitability?

Are you focused on acquiring new customers, or are you equally focused on retaining and maximizing the value of your existing customers?

Are you willing to experiment with new marketing strategies and take calculated risks to grow your business?

Do you have a clear vision for the future of your business, and do you have a plan to achieve that vision?

What are you trying to accomplish?

What are the costs of poor quality?

How do we drive out fear?

What are some of the key lessons you have learned in your career?

What are some of the things you would like to do differently?

What are some of the things that other advisors or service providers have done that you’ve found particularly valuable?

What are some of the things that are unique about your company or your approach?

How do you differentiate your company from your competitors, and what is your sustainable competitive advantage?

What emerging trends or disruptions do you see impacting your industry, and how are you preparing for them?

Can you walk me through your key financial metrics?

Can you describe your core business processes and how they contribute to your overall value chain?

How do you ensure quality control and continuous improvement across your operations?

If you could change one thing about your business to significantly improve its performance, what would it be and why?

How do you see your business evolving over the next 5-10 years, and what role do you envision playing in that evolution.

Could poor quality be costing you a fortune?

How much of your daily effort is spent firefighting crises versus improving the system that creates those crises?

A good book full of amazing questions: Power Questions by Andrew Sobel and Jerold Panas. They have other similar books.

66 questions to get to know your clients better: Harvey MacKay’s Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive.

A self diagnostic tool to see how well you understand and incorporate Deming’s 14 management points is Andrew Stotz’s book Transform Your Business.

How much of your daily effort is spent firefighting crises versus improving the system that creates those crises?

If you could perfectly predict the demand for your product/service next year, how much would that reduce your costs and improve your profitability?

If you could eliminate fear in your workplace, what untapped potential would be unleashed from your employees?

How do you measure the ‘unknown’ costs of poor quality—things like lost customer goodwill, damage to reputation, or the ripple effect of defects through your processes?

How does your organization foster continuous improvement, and how do you know that those improvements are actually leading to better outcomes?

If your company disappeared tomorrow, what would your customers miss the most, and how are you actively strengthening that unique value proposition?

How do you ensure that everyone in your organization, from the front line to senior management, understands the company’s vision and how their individual work contributes to it?

If you could map your entire production/service process from start to finish, how much waste (time, effort, materials, etc.) do you think you would find, and how do you systematically look for and eliminate that waste?

How do you use data and information to make decisions, and how do you know that the data you’re using is accurate and reliable?

How do you create a culture where employees feel comfortable suggesting improvements and taking calculated risks, even if those risks might lead to occasional failures?

How do you measure the long-term impact of your training and development programs on employee performance and business outcomes?

How do you stay focused on the needs of your customers and adapt to their changing expectations in a rapidly evolving market?

How do you ensure that your suppliers are also focused on continuous improvement and quality, and how do you collaborate with them to achieve mutual benefits?

How do you measure the effectiveness of your communication within the organization, and how do you know that your message is being understood and acted upon as intended?

How do you measure the overall health and sustainability of your organization, beyond just financial metrics, and what leading indicators do you track to anticipate potential problems?

How do we know?  (To emphasize the importance of data and evidence-based decision-making.

What parts of your job do you wish you could spend more time on, and what things do you wish you could do less of? 

Is there something else you would like to accomplish?  Is there a dream you have yet to fulfill? 

What is the most important thing we should be discussing today? 

1. If you knew you had only three years to live, what would you hope to achieve personally and professionally?
2. What difference will your footsteps make a hundred years from now?

From your perspective, what would be a valuable way for us to spend this time together?

What would be more useful for you to know about our firm?

What are your top three priorities for the next year?

What are the biggest challenges you face in achieving those priorities?

What would success look like for you in this area?

Building Deeper Relationships:

What are you most passionate about outside of work?

How do you like to communicate and work with others?

What are some of the things you’re doing that are working really well?

What are some of the biggest risks you see on the horizon?

How can I be a better partner to you?

What is your long-term vision for the company, and what are the key milestones you need to achieve to get there?

What are the biggest obstacles preventing you from achieving that vision, and how are you currently addressing them?

If you had access to additional capital or resources, what are the top three initiatives you would prioritize to accelerate growth?

How do you manage risk within your business, and what are your key risk mitigation strategies?

How do you attract, retain, and motivate top talent within your organization?

Who is your ideal customer, and what are their key needs and pain points?

How do you acquire new customers, and what is your customer acquisition cost (CAC)?

What is your customer churn rate, and how do you work to retain your existing customers?

How do you measure customer satisfaction, and what steps do you take to improve it?

I am saving my marketing questions for another day. As well as Socratic interviewing…

If you’re a business owner curious about selling—or just looking to connect with someone passionate about growth and legacy—I’d love to chat. Feel free to message me. Let’s collaborate!