And that is… you.

Once you embrace this truth, it will forever change how you approach what and how you lead, manage and grow your business.

This is a certain reality that many leaders, owners are not tuned into or connected to. It’s the key source of literally everything that happens in your business. Everything starts with you.

Here is this truth in summary:
You are the sum total of your life experience and conditioning to date. Combined with your natural wiring, and other genetic influencers, all are sources of who you are and how you react and respond to the world.

I’m guessing if you’re an entrepreneur, it’s the origin of your dreams. And I bet, from early on in your young life, there were probable hints that you would be where you are today.

And therein lies the critical point. Anything about your business, its operations, growth…etc. originates from and with you. Therefore anything you want to change or improve, to achieve different results, must also originate with you, whether it’s marketing for new clients or how you handle employees or choose and develop a management team.

Knowing and owning this can be very powerful. In fact, it will empower your business.

Breaking It Down
To help you practically realize this truth, here is a simple formula you can use as a guide for yourself (and others) to plan or change any result.

As you view this visual, notice what produces the results – it’s your thinking and feelings that produce a certain decision expressed by what you say and do.

Your thinking, shaped by your life experience – which developed your values and beliefs and also created a body of knowledge processed through your brain wiring (personality) – is the source from which you operate and originate anything in your life and business.

So, anything you want to change – must originate someplace in this formula. For example, if you want to improve your marketing efforts, it may require new knowledge => new event, improved, more educated lens from which you’ll make a decision to plan and map actions to implement the plan.

Here’s another example: If you want to improve how your employees work. The influence, leadership, management needed to evoke a change comes from you…that is what you think, how you feel that then shapes how you interact with them. Is your interaction reactionary, passive or intentional?

And this is a bit tricky in that I’ve observed some leader/managers tend to blame team members for bad results or performance and yet there is an element of their influence that needs to be considered as well.

This is the crucial point. If this truth is not acknowledged and practically owned, the real change or sustained improvement that a leader desires will not be fully realized and they’ll be stuck in a perpetual state of mild-grade frustration and bewilderment as to why things aren’t “really” changing.

So here is a very simple coaching tip: Whatever is or isn’t happening in your business – first ask yourself – what has been my role, or contribution to it. Owning is empowering.

And, I’ll even take it one step further – owning is a profitable act.

Your level of “ownership”will dictate your level of profits and business success.

As I mentioned in the beginning, the one key factor in your business you never be able to escape is you. You make the business one way or another.