A box full of tools - many unused
You need tools.
Most people who run a small business have their ‘box of tools’. That is not a literal box of tools but rather a figurative one. It means that the entrepreneur has a set of people that they have available that have specific skills that they will need from time to time. You will always need a set of ‘tools’ that you will need everyday, and these are likely part of your management team or direct reports. However, there will be some tools that everyone needs to have, but are rarely used, but when you need them, it is important that they are close by. In business, it is no different to in a workshop. There are those tools that are absolutely necessary because they do only one thing and they do it perfectly. No other tool can do that and it is important that you know what it is and have it handy. You won’t need it often, but when you do it is a godsend.
Your success as a CEO will depend on your toolbox.
Having access to your tools and knowing how, and, more importantly, when, you use them is the key to being a great CEO and leader. Sometimes you will be challenged to clean out your toolbox and remove those tools you never use. Exercise caution here. Only you will know what tools you need and what you needing your toolbox. Be careful when others suggest you should clean up your tools and only keep the essential ones. They are often looking at things from a very narrow perspective and don’t have the perspective that a CEO wants or needs. It is your toolbox, and you must control it wisely. It might be in-house, outside, friends, family, or an outside firm. The toolbox is your toolbox to use as you wish. Your role as a leader is to build that toolbox and know how to use each tool. You are not having to learn the tool, but you need to know how to find it, and know how and when it should be used. The tool will do the work for you, you just need to guide it.
Those rare tools are the ones that you need to keep.
So, what are some of these tools that you may not use everyday, but you need to have in the toolbox? Here are some that I have found particularly helpful over the years that I have drawn on, or, thought about drawing on, in a time of need:
often in a crisis, you need someone who knows how to navigate Government. You have that person that might be well connected, a operative that just knows people and knows how to get things done. Its a tool that you might rarely use but it is a valuable one for many businesses.
you might also need someone that is just an awesome project manager. Not a list manager, but an actual certified project manager. These people get things done and know how to execute. If you have a moment where you need someone that absolutely needs to execute, tap that PM on the shoulder. A good PMP certified project manager will be a huge help.
As a small business, you wont likely need a full-time strategy department or someone that focuses on corporate development. That is often a big company thing. It is essential to do quarterly and to really take time out as a leader to think and be strategic. The tool you need here is someone that has real visionary thoughts. Someone that is not always great at day to day execution, but that person that has ‘all sorts of ideas’. In a normal business, they can be challenging to have because they are somewhat peripatetic, but in a strategy environment are excellent. Again, not a tool that you can use daily, but one that is used when you need to really be strategic.