As an artist has a vision of how his work will come out, so does a CEO or business owner, right?
I got to thinking about that after reading the story about the kinetic sculpture “The Politician: A Toy,” which is the subject of this month’s Uniquely Cleveland. Vision is so important for an artist when he or she is trying to have artwork offer a message.
I recently interviewed a CEO who says he follows the acronym PLEASE to ensure the success of a vision:
P is for passion. Are you passionate about what you are doing? If you’re not, life is too short. Go find something you are passionate about.
L is for learning. Are you learning something every day? Do you understand that people should learn from their mistakes and their successes?
E is for enthusiasm. Are you enthusiastic? If you act that way, you will become enthusiastic.
A is for action. You have to have a penchant for action. A great plan poorly executed will never outperform a poor plan greatly executed.
S is for skills. Some say knowledge is what pays the bills but, rather, it is skills. The action piece plays into that because in order to convert your learning to a skill, you must take action.
E is for educate. Are you taking what you have learned and teaching other people?
PLEASE is actually a wheel — you can put wherever you want in the middle. Put the customer in the middle or your child in the middle. All of the concepts will apply to that situation.
For instance, put your son in the middle: Am I passionate about helping my son get ahead? Am I learning how to be a better dad? Am I enthusiastic about being his father? Am I taking action when he asks me to? Am I developing my skills to be a better father? Do I educate my son on what I have learned in my life?
Dennis Seeds is editor-at-large of Smart Business.
