Habits of Millionaires

In 1998, Thomas Stanley and William Danko, wrote The Millionaire Next Door, after 20 years of research into the habits, attitudes, and behaviours of millionaires.

It turns out that most millionaires reach that level of wealth not by selling a business or cashing out from a corporate stock plan, but instead through a systematic approach to building financial wealth.

They found multiple examples of people making $70,000 per year who, through using the techniques below, managed to amass over $1M in net worth prior to retirement.

Here’s a summary of the key habits:

1. Be frugal - live below your means and always be on the lookout for deals (eBay, Craigslist, sales, never paying full price). That means putting together a spending and savings plan that works within your current income, not the income you hope to have in the future. Think about how much it cost to “keep up with the Jones.” If you live in a less expensive neighbourhood the reality of keeping up with the average is significantly easier (less expensive car, less expensive clothes, less expensive jewelry, etc.).
2. Budget and track – create a budget for every dollar you spend each month and then compare to the actual. A great example I heard from Ward Hodsman at London Life, is to put money in different envelopes for what you plan to spend on. When the money’s gone, you’re done spending in that category for the month.
3. Spend time on financial planning – millionaires spent significant time each month (quadruple the time of non-millionaires) planning their spending habits.
4. Savings and RRSPs – decide how much money you want to put into savings and RRSPs each month and have that amount automatically withdrawn and transferred into those accounts.
5. Future wealth – don’t spend money you don’t have yet. That includes not spending a pending bonus. Only spend from the money you currently have.

BIV Boardroom Strategy: A selection of the best books on strategic planning

[Total read time: 4 mins]

There is no “right” strategic planning methodology that works for every company or organization. In fact, using a blended approach to create a customized methodology will likely yield the best planning framework for you and your company. The question becomes, “Where do I start?”

There have been five key books on strategy written in the past 10 years that provide perspectives on how to approach strategic planning. Here is a brief synopsis of each book, and why it’s worth reading.

Good to Great (Jim Collins): Collins refers to this book as the book he should have written first. Good to Great describes in detail the steps that good companies have taken to become great. From leadership to confronting the brutal facts, simplifying strategy, adding in discipline, understanding the role of technology and discovering what builds momentum with your business, Good to Great covers the complete strategy canvas at a high level, simplified in a way that will allow you to share your company’s strategic priorities with everyone in the business.

Built to Last (Jim Collins and Jerry Porras): Before Good to Great, Jim Collins collaborated with Jerry Porras to write Built to Last. This book is a study of 18 visionary companies and how they differ from their key competitors. The core philosophies are:
•stop reinventing the wheel and instead develop and document the core procedures that can withstand changes in personnel;
•stay focused on your core values while trying new things; and
•focus on the long-term goal – the BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) – a 10- to 30-year goal of the organization that is so large and so far in the future that it bears that moniker.

Blue Ocean Strategy (W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne): Written by two professors from INSEAD, Blue Ocean Strategy seeks to understand how companies like Cirque du Soleil, Apple and Blockbuster have changed the foundations of their business models and how they approach the market to move from the Red Ocean, bloody from the fight for market share, to the Blue Ocean, where the companies stand alone to compete for clients who don’t fit the traditional mould of their “old industry.” Their strategy canvas approach is designed to narrow down the key factors that you and your competitors use as the defining points of service in your industry. Then, by eliminating, creating or changing these key factors, a new industry is formed that appeals to a customer segment not being served by the existing industry. The short version of this would be to say that this is the story of the game-changers in their industries and how they did it.

Mastering the Rockefeller Habits (Verne Harnish): Harnish’s first book is based on the one-page strategic plan that John D. Rockefeller had each of his key executives complete at United Steel. The book details how to create a plan that summarizes your 30-year, three- to five-year, one-year and quarterly goals, along with supporting SWOT analysis, financial information (budget and actual) and accountabilities. The real magic is that all of this can fit onto one 8 1/2 x 11 page.

Execution (Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan): Execution speaks to one of the core reasons that most strategic plans fail – a lack of accountability and execution.
Many people think execution is the tactical side of business, best left to those people below the senior team in the organizational hierarchy. Bossidy and Charan argue that execution should be part of an organization’s cultural fabric, starting in the CEO’s office. The book describes a series of behaviours and techniques common within businesses that demonstrate a high level of execution of their plans.

Each of these books has a summary online that does a great job of breaking down the key points and practical applications. What the summaries won’t provide are the examples of real companies whose products and services you recognize and can relate to. Reading some or all of these books will help you relate the decisions made by other successful companies to the strategic challenges your organization is facing today.

PDF of Column BIV Boardroom Strategy – Nov 3-9, 2009

Motivation

Thank you to Mirjana Galovic for this!

Change: the right way and the wrong way

Click to enlarge

One of the mistakes I see consistently in organizations trying to create or manage change is thinking that through theoretical understanding somehow people will manage to change either a behaviour or a system. The challenge is that when we apply the Video Test to the outcome the test fails.

Change occurs in organizations when people are led through a process which helps them collect the data, push it through a process which involves them coming up with a solution to change behaviours and systems. Sound more engaging than listening to someones diatribe or theory?

The diagram on the above on the right blends a simplified methodology for how to create real change within an organization with an understanding of what the underlying learning stages that are occurring for individuals.

Boardroom Strategy: Strategic planning for business and life.

BIV Boardroom Strategy – Oct 6-12, 2009

[Total read time: 4 mins]

In the last two decades, efforts to meet the challenge of reducing the complexity of strategic planning brought about two new approaches: The Balanced Scorecard by Kaplan and Norton in 1992 and Mastering the Rockefeller Habits by Verne Harnish in 2002.

Both approaches simplify complex plans into templates that are consistent in format but different in content depending on the organization and individual position. Both have been used successfully in thousands of organizations.

Encouraged by the success of the template models used in the Balanced Scorecard and the Rockefeller Habits models, we started to research the intersection between personal and professional goals and how self-interest and motivation could be aligned with the long-term vision of an organization. We took the findings of our research and created the ViRTUS One Page Focus Plan. Its distinction lies in the alignment of personal values and passions with business and career objectives.

If you’re having problems executing your strategic plan, a one-page plan might be just what you need. If you want to create your own focus plan, here are the areas it needs to cover.

Core values: What are your business core values – the values that are evident throughout your business in interactions internally and externally? What are your personal top five core values?

Objectives for the year: Get clear on your top five financial and three non-financial objectives for the year – decide on the objective, one action you can do this quarter to get you closer to reaching it, who will do it and by when.

Helps and hindrances: Think about the people, circumstances, habits and behaviours that provide you leverage toward your goals or get in the way of achieving them. What are you already doing, and what can you start or stop doing now to clear potential potholes and bring you closer to reaching your objectives?

Intention-action statements: Having the right intention but failing to take action is simply hoping something will happen without taking steps toward creating the outcome. The easiest way to shift this is to focus yourself on the habits and behaviours that link directly to the outcomes you’re looking for.

Relationships: Make the choice to improve your connections to the key people in your life who support you toward the success you are looking for as a leader, colleague, spouse, parent, relative and friend. Who are you going to connect with this quarter, what are you going to do and when?

Sharing resources: Researchers in the field of positive psychology have long known that helping others leads to increased happiness. Sharing resources is about finding ways to use the talents that we have to support others without the expectation of monetary gain. With whom will you share your resources? What will you do for them and when?

Gratitude and appreciations: Research into the science of happiness has shown us that expressing gratitude and appreciation contribute to measured higher levels of happiness. What are the things you appreciate and are grateful for in your life?

Return on heartbeats: Heartbeats are the ultimate non-renewal resource, so how we choose to spend them should be a conscious decision. Make the conscious decision to spend time doing things that bring you joy in life. Trips, time with friends, sports, hobbies – all things that make you feel happy, energized, alive and enthusiastic. What will you do?

Celebrations: Most organizations, teams and individuals are guilty of forgetting to celebrate the wins they achieve. Celebrating success is one of the easiest ways to maintain and boost motivation toward goals that seem out of reach. What will you do to celebrate your success?

Conventional wisdom says, “Keep what happens at the boardroom table at work, and keep what happens at the kitchen table at home.” But let’s face it, the lines have been blurred for years. Let’s accept the blending and choose to plan how being successful in our organizations and at home asimultaneously leads to a better outcome for you and your company. •

Mike Desjardins is the driver (CEO) at ViRTUS (www.virtusinc.com), an organizational development consulting firm with expertise in strategic planning and implementation, leadership development, change management and succession planning for medium to large organizations. Column was co-written by Tana Heminsley, a ViRTUS mentor and executive coach specializing in strategic planning, change management, leadership development and executive coaching.

(This article from Business in Vancouver October 6-12, 2009; issue 1041)

Candor

The most straightforward piece I’ve read on candor comes from Jack Welch’s book, Winning. In Chapter Two, he refers to candor as, “the biggest dirty little secret in business,” but more specifically as people not expressing themselves in a straightforward way and withholding their comments and criticism; usually in an effort to avoid conflict.

Welch summarizes the positive effects of candor on an organization as:

1. Create better outcomes: get more people in the conversation which leads to more minds and more ideas.
2. Speed things up using the process: surface, debate, improve, decide.
3. Cut costs: replace boring meetings, pointless updates, and presentations with real conversations about the core issues.

Why aren’t we candid: we’re taught not to be at a young age. Sensitive or awkward issues are softened or avoided. Our parents scolded us for pointing out something that we thought was obvious but “wasn’t a nice thing to point out.” But the main reason we’re not candid is simple, it’s easier not to be.

So how do we reverse the trend and our learned childhood behaviours to create candor in our companies? Reward the behaviours you’d like to see more of and lead by example, no matter where you are in the hierarchy (although it is easier the higher up you are).

What steps do you take within your organization to promote and reward candor?

Business in Vancouver: Why your strategic plan failed and what you can do about it.

PDF of actual column in Business in Vancouver: Sept 15th-21st, 2009

[total read time: 4 mins]

The conversation normally begins like this, “We’ve tried strategic planning in the past but somehow it allows seems to fall by the way side. No matter what method we try, the same result occurs. What are we missing?”

From it’s military genesis to strategic planning as we know it today, the reason for it is always the same: we need to know where we want to end up, how we’re going to get there, what resources we need, and who can help us make it happen. From small entrepreneurial businesses to large public entities, strategic planning is critical in shaping the future of your business. As I say to new clients who haven’t put a planning methodology in place, “you wouldn’t go on a road trip without a destination and a map or GPS, so why are you running your business without a plan for where it will end up and how you’re going to get there?”

There are five key reasons that most strategic plans fail. The good news is that each and every one of them is avoidable.

1. Lack of accountability. Without direct accountability, more specifically the name of a person who has agreed to complete a series of actions around an initiative, strategic planning leads to great ideas for the future with no one to see them through.

2. Lack of follow-up. In as short as three months changes in the economy, industry, market, or company can render a strategic plan full of holes that no longer link to reality. The result of this is a lot of three-ringed binders being hidden on shelves. The trick to keeping a strategic plan dynamic is to schedule quarterly sessions to review, evaluate, and revise the plan.

3. Lack of execution. Once everyone leaves the strategic planning retreat the day-to-day realities of running the business start flooding into their Blackberries and iPhones. Without agreed upon actions that link each initiative to reasonable timelines, you’re left with a framework with no method to execute on it. It’s tantamount to wishing something would occur but not ever taking any steps towards making it happen. Enter into strategic planning with the following mindset – planning is not about the plan, it is about the execution.  A 10% plan executed with authority is far more valuable than a 100% plan left on the shelf.

4. Lack of buy-in. Without the buy-in of the people who can actually make the strategic plan a reality, the exercise is moot. Create buy-in through involvement in the planning process, and with clear communication about how each person on the team can contribute to the successful execution of the plan.

5. Lack of connection to operations. Without connecting how the strategic plan naturally extends from the existing operations and responsibilities internally, it’s doomed to always be just out of reach of the organization. Most people wake up each day wanting to do a good job at work and looking forward to contributing to the long term sustainability of the business – help them see how key initiatives fit into their day-to-day.

There’s a great quote from General David Petraeus, commander of the Multi-National Security Transition Command Iraq, from the book The Gamble by Thomas Rick which sums up many of these points: “there are three enormous tasks that strategic leaders have to get right” Petraeus said one night in Baghdad, “the first is to get the big ideas right. The second is to communicate the big ideas throughout the organization. The third is to ensure proper execution of the big ideas.”

So if planning is about the alignment and execution, start by asking yourself, “What is our system for planning?  How does our system drive behaviour and measurement that tells us early on about execution effectiveness? Is our strategic planning system heavy on communication, reporting, metrics, review and revision so we can’t ignore it, forget about it, or avoid accountability around it?”

Next month we’ll introduce a planning process that will allow you to match personal goals with divisional and organizational goals – all on one page. Stay tuned.

Mike Desjardins is the Driver (CEO) at ViRTUS, an organizational development consulting firm with expertise in strategic planning and implementation, leadership development, change management and succession planning for medium to large organizations.

Jeffrey Kearney is a Mentor at ViRTUS, specializing in strategic planning, leadership development, and CEO Mentoring and Coaching.

My annual reading and planning week.

The view that relaxes me.

Starting 9 years ago I have taken the last week of August off to head up to Whistler and do three things: plan for the year coming up, read some of the books that have been stacking up on my nightstand, and decompress. BBQing, motorcycle riding, watching all the movies Sabrina (my fiancé) isn’t interested in, and drinking lots of red wine are also on the program each year.

What Do I Do With My Time?
Wake up, eat, read or plan until I’m hungry, eat, go to the gym or take my dog for a walk or read/plan or ride my motorcycle, BBQ something to go with red wine (notice the order), watch movie, read until I fall asleep. Wake up and repeat.

Which Books?
1)    Personal Development/Spiritual – Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss
2)    Fiction – World Without End by Ken Follett
3)    Business – Go Put Your Strengths to Work by Marcus Buckingham

What Planning?
1)    ViRTUS Focus Plan – a 2 sided 8 ½ x 11 template which blends my goals in three areas: managing self, focusing on career/business, developing relationships, and sharing resources
2)    Rockefeller One Page Strategic Plan – this 11 x 17 one page plan is how I keep track of the quarterly, annual, 3-5 years, and 10-30 year goals for ViRTUS
3)    Lifetick.com – I discovered this tool last year. It’s an online values-based goal planning software that has an iPhone page as well. I’ve learned through personal experience and study that goals planned in absence of an understanding of a connection to values can lead me to achieving everything I plan and still not having the life I want.

What About Business Priorities That Come Up?
Every year I’ve had some pressing business issue that caused me to consider cancelling the trip. Each year I go anyway and manage to sort out the business issue while away taking far less time and energy than I expected it would. I have never regretted going but I’m sure I’d regret not going.

Why the Last Week of August?
If you’re wondering why I choose the last week of August the answer is simple. Whenever we do emails to a large number of people for marketing purposes we get the largest number of out of office replies during that week. On top of that it’s the week right before the new business year starts in September for everyone and it’s heck of a lot easier to do this uninterrupted than it is at the end of December!

Many of my friends have started doing a similar retreat on an annual basis and others have asked about the details so I thought it would be a good idea to share this. Do you do something similar? If so, let me know by leaving a comment so others can share from your experience.

Our leadership development philosophy

Over the past year I’m consistently asked to answer the question, “what is your overall leadership development philosophy?” I thought it would be helpful to put pen to paper and blog my answer. Our experience over the past 10 years working with over 1,000 senior leaders in medium to large organizations has led to some core tenets that consistently hold true. Over the past year I’ve written several posts that together sum up our leadership development philosophy. I’ve consolidated those here and added a few thoughts to round things off:

1. Why most Leadership Development initiatives fail
   
2. Interactive Business Learning Experiences™:
   
3. Theory versus reality: many “leadership development consultants” have academic backgrounds but little to no practical experience in the trenches working at an executive level. Their approach is based on case studies and teaching theories. The challenge with this is the Grand Canyon sized gap that exists between theory and application. Having leaders who can “talk” about leadership but cannot clearly demonstrate in a tangible way (and by tangible I mean a way in which others can easily understand what they are doing and learn for the approach), leads to great theorists who talk the talk but can’t walk the walk.
4. Three Core Areas of Leadership: The are actually three core areas of leadership that leaders need to become students of: leading self, leading other, leading organization. Most people only consider the second one, leading other, when considering how they can develop their core leadership skills.
5. Authentic Leadership: Bill George in his talk at Google describes Authentic Leadership in a way that resonates with what our experience at ViRTUS.  Here are the five learnings from his hour long talk: leadership is about internal development and introspection (self-awareness) not how you create a perception for the public, know your values and what’s really important to you, it’s the sweet spot at the intersection of your greatest strengths and your greatest motivation, find a support team and mentors who you can be totally honest with and who can be totally honest with you, lead an integrated life by being the same person in all areas of my life (authenticity).
6. Emotional Intelligence: The founding father of Emotional Intelligence (EI or EQ) in the workplace is Daniel Goleman. He developed the four main EI constructs as: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness (sometimes referred to as awareness of others), and relationship management. Our experience has shown us that by weaving these tenets into the background of the competencies we help leaders develop by showing them practical tools and techniques using everyday language, leaders can be coached much more rapidly into demonstrating changes in behaviour.
7. Andragogy vs Pedagogy – the old school style of having a teacher stand at the front of the room and lecture to the students about a theory has been proven not only to be inefficient in helping adults learn, it’s also incredibly boring for the learner. The new style is collaborative, engaging, interactive, focused on opportunities and challenges they’re actually facing, accountability based (instead of memorizing), and open to failing as a key part of the learning process.
8. Adult Experiential Learning Cycle
9. Entrenching Learning
10. Five Stages of Learning: There are five stages of learning that we grow through when absorbing a new concept literally from apathy to “this is just the way I do it”:  Unconscious incompetence – I don’t know what I don’t know, Conscious Incompetence – I know what I don’t know, Conscious Competence – I know what I know, Unconscious Competence – I don’t know what I know, Reflective or Enlightened Competence – I am aware that I don’t know what I know but I can shift back into conscious competence to teach someone else.
11. How do you know it’s working?: The reality of transforming a business is fairly straightforward: if you can’t change a behaviour or a system within the business then everything stays the same. The easiest way to measure changes in behaviour is to witness them using the ViRTUS Video Test.

As always I welcome your comments, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I’m interested to hear what your personal experience has been in helping develop leaders within your organization.

PS Why post this on my blog where my competitors can see it? It was an easy decision. Even though people can cut and paste the words, they can’t match the results we provide and at the end of the day, that’s what matters.

Interview with the co-author of “Sociable”