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Insightful conversations with leaders in the Arts & Crafts Retail industry

Jun 1, 2021

In Part 2, Charlie Leichtweis, founder of Experts in HOW LLC, digs into Results and Relationships in leadership (100% of both). Charlie shares the value of no longer doing what you're not getting paid for with his unique Direct Profitability Model.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • Leadership has an equal emphasis on Results and Relationships.

    • When you build the relationship you can get laser focused on results without running over people, or without being negative.

  • Set goals and metrics tied to the results you want to achieve, and when things aren’t going right look for root causes and solutions instead of blaming people. 

    • Figure out what the barriers to success are, and engage everyone on the team to mitigate the barriers. 

    • Tie compensation and bonuses to employees’ contribution to achieving results.

  • Communication from the top down and across functional areas is key - it’s important to give people hope about what you’re building and to help them understand how their role ties to the overall results.

    • An important part of the communication process is to give people a voice to share issues, concerns, and frustrations.  

    • Everyone has a right to ask questions, and everyone has a right to get answers to their questions - open communication!

  • Measure both leading and lagging indicators and understand the data that you need to help people get better at what they do - business intelligence.

  • DPM - Direct Profitability Model

    • Product level - foundational direct cost

      • Customer level - aggregate of products for that customer
      • Market level - aggregate of customers in that market

    • Identify fixed costs not directly attributed to the aggregation of product, customer, and market cost and understand who is directly responsible to measure and report on those costs to get to enterprise profitability. 

      • Goal is to stop doing what you’re not getting paid for.

  • Golf swing example - connecting the dots

    • The perfect golf swing involves multiple elements - grip, posture, club, etc. - you won’t have the perfect golf swing by focusing on each one individually, you have to relate them to one another to produce a result.

    • In business you have to avoid silos and share knowledge and data across functions in the organization to produce the results you want and execute sustainable profitable growth with your customers.  

  • Main takeaway

    • Learning “How” is not a problem - nobody knows “How” before they start doing things.  

SUGGESTED ACTIONS

  • Understand and apply the balance of relationships and results in leadership.

  • Set goals and metrics for the results you want to achieve and communicate those goals and metrics to everyone involved in achieving the results.

  • When things go wrong, look for root causes and solutions instead of blaming people.

  • Create open communication on your team where everyone has a voice and has the opportunity to ask questions and share issues.

  • Understand your direct costs and your fixed costs - make sure someone is responsible for measuring and managing the fixed costs that aren’t direct.

  • Stop doing what you’re not getting paid for!

  • Share knowledge and data across departments and functions to produce results.

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𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗟𝗜𝗘 𝗟𝗘𝗜𝗖𝗛𝗧𝗪𝗘𝗜𝗦founder of Experts in HOW LLC

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗟𝗜𝗘 𝗟𝗘𝗜𝗖𝗛𝗧𝗪𝗘𝗜𝗦 is the founder of Experts in HOW LLC, a business consultancy focused on helping businesses learn HOW to identify, prioritize, and eliminate barriers to success. Charlie is the author of top selling books including The Power of Respect in Business and Qlikview Your Business.  He is also a popular speaker, a Forbes Business Council member, and serves as a member of the Board of Directors for a number of companies.

 

You can reach Charlie Leichtweis at expertsinhow.com  or find him on LinkedIn at Charles Leichtweis.

 

𝗖𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗧 𝗢’𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗥, president and owner of Creative Sales Consulting

𝗖𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗧 𝗢’𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗥, president and owner of Creative Sales Consulting, has worked in the Retail industry since 2000. Clint and his team connect suppliers & retailers in the creative arts industries for stronger relationships and strategic sales growth, in order to bring joy to consumers through artistic creative and decorative products. 

For more insightful conversations with leaders in the Arts & Crafts Retail industry visit CreativeRetailTalks.com.

 

If you'd like to be a guest on the podcast, reach out to Clint O’Rear at Clint@CreativeRetailTalks.com.

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Music:

"Carpe Diem" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/