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How To Unleash The Power Of The Alpha Bear In Business

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Ever been close to a bear? Felt the power of something that could rip you to shreds if it wanted to? It’s a similar feeling to being next to a great CEO or entrepreneur. The energy is intense. There is an animal vitality—one you can tap in yourself.

Hungry to lead your firm to dominance? Put down your X-Box One controller and learn to strike with your full force.

To rule you must tap into your predatory power, and stay there. And there are few better teachers than the alpha bear.

Keep It All Real. That’s what helps alpha bears survive. Bears’ sight is worse than Rocky Balboa’s eyes pounded shut by Apollo Creed, so they rely on their acute sense of smell and hearing.

Living the entrepreneur life means shifting between seeing a shiny, crackling, neon-bright Vegas-style, in-your-face "hope" sign and then the bearish brutal inspection of the facts, the numbers, the performance, and the view of who stays and who gets cut from your team.

If you only see the positive in business or have a tendency to find counsel who’ll tell you words you want to hear, hire someone bearish who will help you see things in the brutal light of day and wrestle you to think through the downside. You may be a veteran pro but if you are new to running a business, there are areas where you may have a cub’s perspective, and grizzled experience will matter.

Strike Fast. Alpha Bears have killer power, speed and strength and can run 40+ MPH. Great leaders tap similar traits in themselves. Research by Russell Reynolds Associates found that CEOs are more willing than other leaders to take calculated risks-- and have a greater bias to action.

When in a fight, bears don’t wait to pounce—nor should you. Eyeball data on your business over a few weeks or a month. Is it consistent? Then start looking at scaling—before your competitor sneaks up and tears you in shreds.

Once a week find time to dig deep on weak parts of your business—whether in compliance or leadership gaps—and make a plan to tackle them so they don’t slow you down. I needed to retool a sales process in August for one of our companies to outgrow the pack. I listened tenaciously to all the sales calls and experimented with different ways to get our conversion rates up. After 11 changes we increased conversion by 20% on closing and we expect to increase it another 10% to 20%.

I sometimes fight my own emotions when I am tempted to put off paper-laden tasks. I decided that no matter what, I would have a call with my COO to wrap up a project and bonused him and myself with a reward to wrap it. We nailed it.  Align with the pain to move forward.

Street Fight with Ferocity.  Bears fight with a relentless intensity. Great leaders stay in the fight and don’t let up.

In a legal battle, pound hard and heavy, no matter the cost, and make it clear you’ve come to win.  If I feel I’ve been messed with or taken advantage of, I don’t care what I have to spend on legal or investigators to counterpunch, even if it’s my last dime. To me it’s a matter of respect. I was once involved in a business dispute where I felt I had been taken advantage of and inappropriately mischaracterized because the other side was a little paranoid. Once it became clear they were messing with me, I overwhelmed them by marshalling three teams of lawyers and a team of investigators and refused to settle to make a point.

During a long distance negotiation, another business owner threatened that he would get in the way of a deal if I didn’t do what he wanted. My intense, grab-you-by-the-throat, MMA side came out (I fought full contact when I was younger). “Threaten all you want,” I told him. “Make a move. This is what’s going to happen.” He backed off when I took his head off.

Outsmart Traps. Strategy is ultimately about winning, making specific choices to win in the marketplace. It’s really about the best choices to win at every level, macro and micro. A great book on how to do that is Play to Win by A. G. Lafley, former chairman and CEO of Procter & Gamble , and Roger L. Martin, dean of the Rotman School of Management at University of Toronto.

Have Their Back. Bears care about their families and will scrap to the death to protect a cub. A business isn’t 100 percent like a family, but loyalty goes a long way. As long as my team members give me their best and get traction, I’ll do anything for them.

I had a client who had an anger management issue. He began to rip my staff and demean them. He was using them to avoid going to AA meetings. We tried to work with him because we care about service. I finally had enough when he used every version of the word f--- you could come up with on a call. “As service oriented as we are,” I told him, “our service with him has now expired.”

But loyalty is a two-way street. If team members don’t step up and bring their best, I don’t normally keep the relationship. This works in personal relationships as well. Walk your talk, back your intentions with action, and prepare for big hugs in return.

Hibernate. Sometimes, the market isn’t ready for what you’re selling and you’ve got to hunker down. When we wanted to launch our online reputation management firm in 2005, there was no market for our services. We had to wait a years until clients needed that kind of help. When the moment was right to launch, we ran hard.

Feed off your environment. Bears eat anything—snowmobile seats, rubber boots. You should be just as resourceful in fueling your business. Even if you’re broke, resources you need are around you--an old 2007 computer, the semi-retired entrepreneur down the hall who’s willing to help or the persuadable landlord who’ll rent you space at half price for a while.

Sleep It Off. This comes natural to bears, whose heart rates slow when they hibernate. You’ve got to do this more consciously in business. When things go well, resist your urge to loosen up on spending and let it ride. Don’t hire more than three to six months ahead of where you are.

Not sticking to your budget—or not keeping one at all—can bite you later, if you face a surprise threat. A recent IBM survey found that 41% of CEOs expect competition to come from companies outside their own industries. Keeping cash on hand will help you fight off brand new rivals—or strike first.

Bring The Love. When bears aren’t fighting, they can be affectionate and playful. When leading your company, you’ll have better relationships with your team if you show your heart, too, and let your employees know who you really are. High standards should be the norm, but let team members know you have their interests in mind, too. You’ll awaken their discretionary energy that way—and even more, make genuine friends that last for life. Many of my employees have been with me for more than a decade. It wasn’t just a great opportunity for them. They know I care.

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