“The opposite for courage is not cowardice, it is conformity. Even a dead fish can go with the flow.” Jim Hightower

The nature of leadership is courage – the courage to hear the distant drumbeat of change and run, not walk, toward it. To be sure it’s not comfortable for anyone; especially those who value the status quo.

But life isn’t about the status quo; it’s about constant and deliberate transition. Abrupt change only comes when those in charge fail to hear it coming. And by then, it’s usually too late.

Heed the beat…

Dwain – The Biker Guy

As always – These are my thoughts and I look forward to yours. And if you like what you read here, email me directly at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com or check out my other websites www.RetreatOnWheels.com or www.ThreeDNavigator.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

“The transition was difficult. It’s hard to stop something that you’ve enjoyed and that has been very rewarding.”  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

The other day when asked by an entrepreneur how to best handle his business transition from first to second generation and I said – “3-5 years…”

As CEO Coach I’ve worked with businesses in transition my entire career. Whether it’s going from start-up to established, stagnant to hyper-growth or transition of management the time needed to do it successfully is always the same.

Too often I’m called into situations where they tried to speed up the process, cramming it all into 6 – 12 months, only to fail on a massive scale. That’s abdication not transition and results in the person trying to exit back in the game, fully engaged trying desperately to stop the business from circling the bowl.

There are many moving parts to the transition process and it requires careful planning and execution, but the first step to a winning transition is to set reasonable expectations

After all, you didn’t build it over night…

Dwain – The BusinessBiker

Are you looking to crush your goals and build a winning business? Developing the right tactics is key to your success. If so follow my blog, check out my books and tools @ www.DwainDeVille.com or simply email any questions you have directly to me at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com.  I look forward to hearing from you.

It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else. Erma Bombeck

I’m 7 years into my 5 year plan to launch my CEO Retreat on Wheels and it’s finally coming together.

To be sure, I’ll be talking about it here in upcoming blogs, press releases, shouting it from the roof tops…wherever the hell I can. But that’s not the purpose of this post.

Instead this post is about my putting it out there in the first place in late 2007. Everyone I spoke to smiled and thought it a good idea but few, if any at the time, latched onto it and said “I’ll help”.

But so ingrained is this desire, strike that, NEED to put this experience together that I never let it drop. Yes, the going was slow and at times it appeared impossible, but just when I needed it, a break would come my way. I’d meet a person here and grab a contact there, eventually garnering the interest of two major sponsors who share both my passion for motorcycling and business. And like me, want to combine them for a one of a kind experience.

Now some may say that I’m lucky and that’s true…but I prefer to mash up the philosophies of Branch Rickey and Joseph Campbell – “Luck is the residue of one’s path”.

Y’see, when you have the balls to put it out there to everyone – family, friends, business associates, something changes in the atmosphere. The vibe goes everywhere and all we have to do is keep talking about it and keep on keeping on.

Then before you know it, it’s an overnight success.

Dwain – The BusinessBiker

Are you looking to crush your goals and build a winning business? Developing the right tactics is key to your success. If so follow my blog, check out my books and tools @ www.DwainDeVille.com or simply email any questions you have directly to me at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com.  I look forward to hearing from you.

“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.” Henry David Thoreau

Last week I buried a friend who by all accounts was much loved by his family and friends, successful in his business endeavors and well respected.

Prior to the funeral ceremony we watched a constant flow of pictures showing the entirety of his life. His infectious smile when with family, on the ski slopes or captaining a boat showed a man who both loved and lived life full out. However fully loving what you do does not guarantee longevity because even though this man got more out of a day than most, he’s still gone.

So there I sat, emotionally spent grieving the passing of a brother in arms. Another who loved life as much or more than I and who, in the fashion he wanted, lived it as fully and hard as I.

I mourned the fact that he’ll do that no longer and that his friends will no longer enjoy his energy. I mourned the fact that his passing left much on the table as he certainly had so much more living to do. So I guess the real lesson here is to keep on keeping on.

Sure, when passing I’d like to be missed, but that’s only for those who remain. At the end of it all, what really counts is how I lived MY life its own self. Did I get as much from each and every day that I could – did I live out loud?

Because, as the poem goes, in the end…it’s all about living and experiencing ‘The Dash’.

Dwain – The BusinessBiker

Are you looking to crush your goals and build a winning business? Developing the right tactics is key to your success. If so follow my blog, check out my books and tools @ www.DwainDeVille.com or simply email any questions you have directly to me at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com.  I look forward to hearing from you.

“The integrity of men is to be measured by their conduct, not by their professions.” Junius

There’s an animal in business that I call The Corporate Sociopath and define simply as “A person who lacks moral responsibility or social conscience.”

Consummate players of the game, they know all the buzzwords and when to use them.

Always have multiple deals going – dead, alive or emerging – to better dazzle their audience.

Lacking vision of their own, they latch onto yours, playing to your ego while looking for a way in.

Charming and charismatic, they lure talent in like moths to the flame of opportunity only to use them up and cast them aside.

Confidence in their false capabilities allows them to sell themselves for more than they really are.

They can paint a great picture of the goal, but lack the skills and ability to get there.

A code of their own…their actions are sometimes illegal, but always immoral.

Masters of SPIN, in their mind they do nothing wrong as all actions are rationalized.

So never let their smile of today fool you because they will cut your throat tomorrow if it suits their agenda.

Dwain – The BusinessBiker

Are you looking to crush your goals and build a winning business? Developing the right tactics is key to your success. If so follow my blog, check out my books and tools @ www.DwainDeVille.com or simply email any questions you have directly to me at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com.  I look forward to hearing from you.

“The only real progress lies in learning to be wrong all alone.” Albert Camus

This game we play – Entrepreneurship – can be a lonely journey so it’s natural that we look for fellow riders.

Our singular vision requires an ability to describe it in such a way so that others buy into it. But when they do, it’s usually their own version of it. What’s it going to do for them? How will they benefit from where we want to go?

Yes, their differing perspectives help to evolve and shape the vision, but we must remember that it’s always our vision and we’re the keeper of it…that as we move forward it’s up to us to maintain purity and focus.

So when we hit those sleepless nights…when 2:30 a.m. stares us in the face, it’s just our inner compass telling us to check our course.

Dwain – The BusinessBiker

Are you looking to crush your goals and build a winning business? Developing the right tactics is key to your success. If so follow my blog, check out my books and tools @ www.DwainDeVille.com or simply email any questions you have directly to me at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com.  I look forward to hearing from you.

“Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing.” Rollo May

It’s no secret that when members of your team have issues or disagreements they need to talk it out. And sometimes the best way to do that is with a drink in hand as it tends to lower inhibitions and allows connections to be formed.

Recently I witnessed two team members, one of whom had an issue with the other connect over a drink and dinner. Their conversation started out covering the business then wound its way into personal topics where they shared common interests. And on those topics it wasn’t long before they were swapping notes and agreeing.

This common ground allowed them to figure out more ways to agree than disagree when getting back to business. Can’t say that the relationship is totally ‘kumbayah’ but from this one night, a deeper understanding of each other was achieved and along with it greater respect.

So next time you’ve a team that needs to come together, find a clean well-lighted place to share a cocktail and let the conversation flow. Picking up that tab will be one of the best investments you’ll make.

D

Dwain – The BusinessBiker

Are you looking to crush your goals and build a winning business? Developing the right tactics is key to your success. If so follow my blog, check out my books and tools @ www.DwainDeVille.com or simply email any questions you have directly to me at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com.  I look forward to hearing from you.

“I’ve always found that the speed of the boss is the speed of the team.” Lee Iacocca

Recently I rode through the mountains with a group who, for the most part, had not ridden together before. And it didn’t take long for those of us in front to lose the group in back because the skill level of the 4^th rider in line didn’t match the rest of the group.

From a safety standpoint it wasn’t a big deal as he negotiated the twists and turns, but at a very slow speed. What this separate pace did was detracted from the ride as it turned our focus from the ride to him. Those in the rear could only watch and hope he caught up and those of us in the front spent as time checking our rear view mirror as we did rolling through the twisties.

It pretty much diminished everyone’s enjoyment because we weren’t able to fully apply our capabilities to the road ahead. And the same applies to business when you have a team member who can’t keep up turning their lack of performance into a distraction making things tougher for everyone.

When that occurs there are only a few things we can do to protect the integrity of the ‘ride’:

• Agree to reduce the speed at which you’re traveling.
• Put them at the back of the line, allowing the rest of the group to roll at their own pace.
• Send the slower rider to remedial training.
• Ask the slower rider to join a different ride.

In business as in biking, a successful run and the velocity of your team depends on the meshing of individual abilities into in a well-honed choreography that gets you from Point A to Point B. And yes, at the highest level, style points do count…

Dwain – The BusinessBiker

Are you looking to crush your goals and build a winning business? Developing the right tactics is key to your success. If so follow my blog, check out my books and tools @ www.DwainDeVille.com or simply email any questions you have directly to me at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com.  I look forward to hearing from you.

“If you want to conquer fear, don’t sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” Dale Carnegie

For the past few months I’ve been in a major funk. Working long and hard I desperately tried to figure out just why there was no happiness in my day to day. Well I woke up and finally realized that this wasn’t just any funk. Y’see, I’ve been scared – no check that – I’ve been paralyzed by fear.

Now for an entrepreneur that’s a strong statement to make publicly. After all, I’m the guy who faces down fear. The one who embraces it, understands it and turns it to my advantage. Fear doesn’t control me…right?

Not so fast my friend, especially when it’s masked within something so insidious as to present itself as friend; all the while slowly eating away at my soul and weakening my resolve. It’s called the Status Quo.

With all the changes in the economy and continued attacks on business today, it’s been natural to hunker down and go into full protection mode wanting to maintain my Status Quo. So I’m constantly looking over my shoulder and focusing all of my energy into saving what I now have, leaving little to build toward my goals.

But it’s time to remember why I became an entrepreneur in the first place. I left a successful career in banking to start my business and on more than one occasion nearly lost it all. It didn’t matter because what I had at the time wasn’t enough to stop me from risking it all for my dreams. I wanted more.

Now nearly 2 decades later, I’ve accomplished some of my goals and that feels good. I’ve attained some of the lifestyle I dreamed of and am enjoying it. Problem is, half way to a goal isn’t achievement because success in business and life is about crossing the right finish lines.

Truth is, having some of what I want has me so f’ing scared to lose it that if I don’t wake up and do something, I eventually will. So it’s time for me to quit standing in the corner playing not to lose. I need to saddle up with my sights set on the true horizon where it belongs or as a biker buddy of mine so eloquently put it –

                                                         “Shut up and ride!”

Dwain – The BusinessBiker

Are you looking to crush your goals and build a winning business? Developing the right tactics is key to your success. If so follow my blog, check out my books and tools @ www.DwainDeVille.com or simply email any questions you have directly to me at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com.  I look forward to hearing from you.

“Never mistake motion for action.” Ernest Hemmingway

Much like the proverbial rock thrown into the pond, the actions we took 90-120 days ago have set our world into motion. So, when we find ourselves ‘going through the motions’ are we not just working on the past?

To be sure, these motions are crucial to our business but it’s imperative for our future growth that we also find/make time to act. Each and every morning identify three items on our To Do list that are action oriented and work them so we continue to have waves to surf.

Otherwise there’ll be no motions of value to go through.

Dwain – The BusinessBiker

Are you looking to crush your goals and build a winning business? Developing the right tactics is key to your success. So follow my blog, check out my books and tools @ www.ThreeDNavigator.com or simply email any questions you have to me directly at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com.  I look forward to hearing from you.