Michael Canic is president and Chief Flag-bearer of Making Strategy Happen, a consulting firm that helps committed leaders turn ambition into strategy, and strategy into reality. He is the author of Ruthless Consistency: How Committed Leaders Execute Strategy, Implement Change, and Build Organizations That Win.
Entrepreneurial Role Models:
Momofuku Ando the inventor of instant noodles
When business started difficulties overcame:
“I don’t want to say it was without challenge or without difficulty at the front end. But I made sure I was prepared as I could be because I didn’t want to jump into something and then say okay lets figure this out now”…[Listen for More]
Favourite Books:
- The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It Book by Michael E. Gerber
- Blue Ocean Strategy, Expanded Edition: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant Book by W. Chan Kim and Renée A. Mauborgne
- Winning with People: Discover the People Principles that Work for You Every Time Book by John C. Maxwell
Favourite Quote:
“Without strategy, execution is aimless. Without execution, strategy is useless.” Morris Chang
Recommended Online Resources:
Strategy and Business ??
Best Advice to Other Entrepreneurs:
“as entrepreneurs all of us face challenges. There are going to be struggles there are going to be obstacles, there is difficulties, there is competition. We are faced with all of these things… You have to learn to suffer, learn to be able to deal with that… At the end of the day, it is not you versus those challenges, it is not you versus the competition, it is not you versus the obstacles. At the end of the day, it is you versus you. It’s what you decide to do, it’s the commitment you have, it’s your resolve, it’s your focus, it’s your discipline. It’s you versus you that is where the battle is one. So, what’s going to define success is not all those external things. It’s you. So, take heart, focus, develop yourself because in the end it is you versus you”…[Listen for More]
More About Michael Canic:
Neil’s Quote at the Beginning:
“The secret to success is good leadership, and good leadership is all about making the lives of your team members or workers better.” Tony Dungy
Other Quotes From the Chat with Michael Canic:
- “it starts with being dissatisfied. You see something that you don’t like or there is an opportunity that you can exploit it’s really that seed of entrepreneurialism. But then it’s having the inquisitiveness to ponder what if. The curiosity. What if we did this, what if we did that. Then it is having the initiative to take action and the persistence to keep at it to form that what if into a viable reality”
- “Often, we think we have to sell to clients, that we have to make them pick us. Well depending on your business, you also want to make sure that you’ve got the right clients. And even if you’ve got a product you could be enamoured with all these people want our product. Yes but is that the market you want to go after? Is that a market that is viable? Is it a market that will generate a sufficient return for you for your business? Is it a market that we can reach and get our message to in a cost-effective way? So again, making sure you are mindful about who do we truly appeal to? And just as importantly who is not our target market? Who are we not going to focus on because either they are not going to be profitable or it’s too much work or expertise doesn’t apply? So, I think that for entrepreneurs’ whatever field you are in make sure you are clear on who your target market segments are”
- “I am very big on the idea of personal commitment. And this is one of the things that I look for in clients and one of the things that I emphasise as well. So personal commitment. And when that is tested isn’t in the good times it’s really in the tough times when things are tough”
- “A someone who climbs mountains, one of the things that they talk about in mountaineering is learning how to suffer. Now that sounds strange. What Learning how to suffer is if you are going to get to the summit it is not just a nice nature walk to the summit. You’ve got to be able to deal with cold, with storms, with wind, with fatigue, with altitude. You have got to be able to deal with a lot of things and simply understand this is how it is supposed to be and this is how it’s supposed to feel. So it’s how you respond in that adversity that really determines success. So I think it’s important for entrepreneurs, any business person to really understand and come to grips with that feeling of discomfort of suffering (and I am saying that metaphorically). All those things we don’t like, we don’t want to do, we don’t feel like doing but knowing that we have to be doing to be successful. That’s really the key.”
- “You want to institute processes that are repeatable and are efficient and you can plug different people into to get results. You don’t just want to be dependent on one or two individuals who may leave the company”
- “you want to transition from a leadership icon to a leadership team. And this is something many entrepreneurs struggle with, the letting go, where they have to be involved in everything. They have to be overseeing everything. Over time you have to be able to develop a leadership team it can’t always be about you”
Leave a Reply