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Lyle Hill offers GENE ’13 attendees suggestions for how to better their business model.
Lyle Hill, managing director of Keytech North America, offered Glass Expo Northeast™ 2013 attendees suggestions for an improved business model in his presentation “The Big Three: Most Important Things You Can Do to be Successful.”
What is the number one most important thing to be successful? “You’ve got to have a plan,” said Hill. Quoting business ideas from Peter Drucker and Benjamin Franklin, Hill said a real plan includes competitive analysis, a review of strengths and weaknesses, budgets beyond sales, a marketing plan, an equipment/operational plan, a financing plan and a human resources plan.
“I don’t care how big or small you are, you need to have a plan. You need to have in the back of your mind, a back-up plan,” said Hill. “If you can’t do these things, if you can’t plan, call somebody.”
Number two: “You’ve got to manage,” he said. “In a lot of cases, our managers are being managed by bad managers.” Hill referenced the lateral arabesque, an employee whom managers place in a lateral position where little harm can be done to avoid both firing and offering a promotion based on previous poor work quality. “One of my biggest complaints is that managers just don’t blow the whistle. They know the right call, but they ignore it.”
To manage, Hill noted that you must establish and enforce policy, say what you mean and mean what you say, set up accountability measures, leave your ego at home, make tough and unpopular calls, lead by example, exhibit signs of good character, be fair and consistent and have the ability to laugh at yourself.
The third key, Hill said, “You’ve got to ‘fix’ it.” He continued, “Things just don’t last. We need to constantly ask ourselves, ‘is that working?’” To fix problems within your company, Hill said you must admit you made a mistake, get input from others, avoid jumping at quick-fix solutions, consider the big picture, monitor the fix and adapt if needed, think long-term, remember your plans and goals, and don’t look back.
GENE ’13 will run through Friday. Stay tuned to usgnn.com™ for more information and updates on the latest seminars, companies and products available at this year’s show.
