Growth state of mind: Focus on the business

A close friend and predominant CEO recently told me that he was (and often still is) scared to death of handing over the reigns in certain areas of his business, however if there is something he has learned it’s that you have to invest as much time focusing on the business as you do in the business.

Where do you spend the predominance of your time, working in your business or on your business? The former are the management efforts often necessary to ensure business continuity; however it’s the latter activities that provide the most significant contribution to business growth and evolution.

Working in the business comes naturally for most, therefore the challenge comes in recognizing where we are investing the predominance of our time, and ensuring we strategically balance our time and efforts between working in the business, and on activities that support growth and expansion.

Here are some examples of activities focused on the business:

• Thinking about your desired future
• Investigating growth opportunities, partnerships and acquisitions
• Researching and validating technology that will support expansion and growth
• Identifying key individuals to support succession and growth plans
• Coaching to develop existing and future leaders within the organization
• Build investor relationships that will support future funding and investment needs
• Collaboration with customers who support businesses capacity and capability needs
• Invest in peer learning experiences that allow for new ideas and perspectives

It may seem counter intuitive, however the key to building a business that your customers and employees value is to invest time consistently in activities that focus on the business, which will in turn create a foundation that requires less efforts to manage in the business.

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If you are not investing time in these areas, who will?

© Shawn Casemore 2014. All rights reserved.