The average 6th grader should be able to read 200-300 words per minute, but by the college years, the average person should be able to read 350-450 words per minute. Now, if I were to tell you that this blog post falls into the latter range, I am making a bet that you now feel challenged to read the remainder of this post in one minute or less. After all, you are a business owner, and you have seen a challenge or two.

Ironically, most business challenges are people problems. Loss of sales? You might suffer from ineffective training, lack of staff, or disengaged team members. Ineffective leadership? Your company might be lacking personnel structure, expectations and/or consequences. Retention issues? Your people might not trust their leaders nor provided with consistent and effective feedback or even not have an opportunity to learn and earn more.

So, what can be done? Is this the problem that “ all other company owners” suffer from? Is it this new generation ? Is it your industry? In this one minute, take a long, hard look into the mirror. Most business problems start with the company owner . No company structure? The company owner might struggle with providing vision to the team. No expectations and consequences? The company owner probably does not hold the leadership accountable. Continual loss of team members? The company owner has not created a culture of trust with opportunity to engage and learn and earn more.

The glance in the mirror is painful enough, but when you are willing, gaze graciously and purposefully. You do not need to be “everything” to the company. You do not have to have the “perfect” solution. But if you desire to lead an enduring organization, you must be the catalyst for most of the change. Find your vision. Tell it and re-tell it in your organization. Create a structure to support the current sales and future growth of the company. Set expectations for each position, ensuring skills and resources are available, and always have consequences- positive or negative in light of achievement or loss. And for the love of all things wonderful and successful, set expectations for that person in the mirror. You.

Here is an expectation: did you read this in one minute? Congratulations, you are on your way to building an enduring organization, one expectation at a time.

Welcome to the One Minute Mirror!