I attended a networking event this evening and ran into a great friend there. As we observed the crowds at the networking event it stimulated a conversation between the two of us about people and leadership.

If you have not heard the story of the blue crabs I will give you a quick recap. When you go fishing for blue crabs and you bring a bucket you have to bring a lid for the first crab. The reason is, they will attempt to crawl out of the bucket and will most likely succeed. Once you catch a second crab, you no longer have to keep the crab covered because the other crabs in the bucket will keep each other from crawling out.

I continued to ask him, why when you try to help people out of the bucket do they resist so heavily? He put his hand out and asked me to put my hand out. I began pushing on my hand and I immediately, out of instinct, pushed right back. He then put his hand out again, face up. I put my hand out, he grabbed it and began to walk away. I immediately began to follow. Very similar action but two completely different reactions.

When you lead people you cannot force them to follow, but you can lead by example and they will, in turn, follow you.

Noodlehead Studios offers a consulting service to bring our innovation and "out of the box" thinking from our business to theirs. While it continues to amaze me how most businesses ventures are executed fairly blindly I have to remember what I was like when I first started and how, more experienced entrepreneurs, see me.

I wanted to ask you, how are you thinking outside the box for your business? In today's economy there is huge opportunity, more so than in a good economy. The difference is the gold is hidden and difficult to find. 

I met with one of our clients today to talk about some strategies and ideas for their marketing and came across an idea, planted by one of our employees, on marketing a business park.

We talked about creating a marketing campaign and getting the tenants of the business park to not only participate but to put in their marketing dollars for the campaign. If we get 18 tenants, soon to be 50, to work together and pool their money they can drive more traffic and success to their business.

We are still in the concept stage, but as it comes to fruition we can create a well oiled machine that will help their companies grow.

Business relationships come and go. We meet new people and work with new clients. With all the actions and interactions bad situations will arise out of them. In those situations how do we know what to do? When a situation requires quick controversial action, how do we know what is ethical? How can we be so sure our action is the right one?

We must weigh the pros and cons of the situation. Ask ourselves, does my decision exemplify my personal and company code of honor?

How about switching shoes with the other party? Does that make us think it out differently?

There is no clear answer, but remember strong leaders make decisions they can live with and don't look back.

Noodlehead Studios has been around since 2003 and, no matter how long you are in business, many of the issues that come up are the same. As you grow, those issues become much bigger and effect more people. As business owners, we are problem solvers. That is what it comes down to. Our clients have a problem, we provide a solution. Knowing that intellectually why is it we forget to apply the same principals, that we execute for our clients, to ourselves?

How many web design companies have terrible websites?

How many business planners have no business plan?

We have to remember to keep focused on what we are going after and always remember the things we did as a company that resulted in our highest levels of success.  Stay focused and targeted on your goals and, like a targeted magnifying glass, we can burn through any obstacle.