Leadership and Long Term Results!!!!!

Long term success in business comes from a dedication to perservere!
It comes from trial and error with a huge emphasis on learning from mistakes of the past.
Success comes from internal growth with creative cost control measures, a strong S.O.P.( standard operating procedure), a talent development plan, outside recruiting and promotion from within, good inventory control guidelines and  a fair product at a fair price with a strong lean toward customer service.
Of all these things the most effective, the most explosive, the longest lasting success comes from betting on your people.The title of this post is "Leadership and Long Term Results!!!!" The truth is that companies that are led "Bet on people." Companies that are only managed do not!

          Lets look a 2 different companies that you are very familiar with.

Before we do just let me say that I am not going to include a lot of numbers and specifics. I am only highlighting what happened to prove a point.

Best Buy (currently the #1 electronics retailer in the world) and Circuit City (once the industry leader now on the brink of disaster). If you would like to see what the investors are saying just click on the link below.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/circuit-city-stock-plunges-losses/story.aspx?guid=%7BDB3AE05B-1188-44CA-8DA6-1F0C370B5705%7D


In the early 90's Best Buy was very much a managed company. They were opening new stores and executing their version of stack em high and sell em cheap. At the time there was very little emphasis on "leadership" but very strong emphasis on "managing." Best Buy came on troubled times and their very existence was at stake.

The company C.E.O. (Brad Anderson) understood that the old ways of doing business were over. That there had to be a clear and defining moment that Best Buy would be reborn. So what did they do?
Well first they rewrote the company S.O.P. and closed any gaps that existed. They streamlined the waste that was allowed to thrive and plowed forward.

 This time however there was a new awakening to their style. It was time to bet on their people. It was time to stress leadership over managing. The company C.E.O. knew that he had to inspire his entire company to win.

Today Best Buy is a Leader in the industry with customer satisfaction growing higher and employee turnover growing smaller. Best Buy is now producing talent that is second to none in their field. A fiercely dedicated work force and a fiercely dedicated leadership team supporting them. They are creating a Best Buy family with their employees and constantly coming up with new ways to enrich the employee experiences within their company.

Now we all know that Best Buy is a huge company and certainly has their own share of problems. I do however feel that they are fortunate to have the leadership that currently exists. They should be applauded for what they have achieved.

Best Buy will be here for many more years, and I suspect that they will continue to hold their position as the #1 electronics retailer in the world.
As long as they continue to bet on their people.
Circuit City once held the place that Best Buy currently owns. Circuit City ran into their own crisis in the later 90's to early 2000's (use any search engine for exact dates). The interesting thing is what they did about it. Like Best Buy they also cut waste and found ways to streamline some of the things they were doing. Then they had an idea that they thought was going help them tremendously. They decided to dismiss all of the sales force they had that were Top Earners (the people who could sell their products to more people than anyone else). These were also the people who understood how to serve customers quicker and more efficiently than anyone else.
What did this mean for the consumer?

The people who used to be the mediocre to low performers, were now your seasoned staff.
They were and still are, the employees that now are supposed to help you. They are supposedly the experts "with all of the advice." You, however, are constantly left with the incorrect product. Better yet you may or may not get the most up to date information about the specific product you are looking for. You will leave feeling your needs are unmet and that you were serviced by someone who was less than interested in helping you.

Somehow, somewhere, there was a C.E.O.(Phil Schoonover) who thought this was a good idea............. So was it?... After they did this they did manage to keep afloat and run a few more years ............. Until just recently................They again found themselves in trouble. So what did they do about it..........That's right....., it worked so well the first time, they again decided to eliminate the top earners on their sales floor.
Look at their last stock reporting. Better yet look at their stock price. With this kind of limited vision Circuit City will be lucky to survive.

I think that the message here is simple..........You can manage through and survive the short term, but without strong leadership you will fail!!

Thanks for reading
Frosty

"You have to enable and empower people to make decisions independent of you. As I've learned, each person on a team is an extension of your leadership; if they feel empowered by you they will magnify your power to lead. Trust is a great force multiplier."

-- Tom Ridge

This post was originally written 2 years before Circuit City closed its stores....I decided to republish it because there is still value in its message....