Working On, Not In Your Business*
Greg Fisher
Larry and Barbara Sharpf Professor of Entrepreneurship at Indiana University
One of the biggest traps for leaders, managers, entrepreneurs, and executives is getting consumed by the day-to-day grind. The emails, meetings, processes, and operations can make you feel productive, but are you actually advancing your business strategically? To compete, scale, and succeed, you must deliberately shift from working in your business to working on it. The higher up you are in the organization, the more you need to shift your time allocation from "working in" to "working" on the business.
When you work in your business, you handle tasks that keep things running—payroll, invoicing, customer service, managing employees. Important, yes, but are these activities helping your business grow long-term?
Working on your business means stepping back to focus on strategy, innovation, and future-proofing. It’s about seeing the big picture and driving vision, not just solving today's problems but planning to solve future problems and seize upcoming opportunities.
Ask yourself:
Here’s a suggestion: Schedule a non-negotiable “strategy hour” each week. Use this time to read about trends, brainstorm new opportunities, analyze market trends, or map out a growth plan. Outsource or delegate more of the daily tasks that consume your focus.
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Your business’s success reflects how often you step out of the operational grind to guide its strategic direction.
Remember, you can’t lead if you’re stuck in the weeds.
* The phrase “work on your business, not just in it” was coined by Michael E. Gerber - Beyond The E-Myth in his book The E-Myth Revisited.
Product Validation Team Leader @ Cummins Inc. | Six Sigma Green Belt, PhD, MBA
4 个月A work calendar filled with meetings satisfies one's ego and gives a sense of accomplishment although they are rarely that productive in reality. I have started doing this and have also asked my folks to consider doing the same. For every meeting I go to, I deliberately note down: 1. What I specifically contributed that helped advance understanding AND/OR 2. What did I learn from the meeting? Then I go back to the drawing board and lay out a mindtree on how these help the company's vision/mission/ strategy! Needless to say, I had no more than a line or a few words after some meetings and I stopped attending those! :D
Tech Start-up | GenAI Enthusiast | Advisory Board Member | Insurance Executive | Mentor | Strategy | Execution
4 个月Excellent post and very timely as well. Thanks, Greg Fisher for sharing the post.
Empowering Future Technologies for Sustainable Growth. "Integrity in business, mutual success as the goal. Open to collaboration beyond backgrounds, because great partnerships transcend differences."
4 个月Yes, I think that's true about us having to think about business opportunities for the businesses we lead rather than getting caught up in day-to-day operations.
Founder | Coach | US Army Veteran | Kelley MBA Candidate | President-Kelley Direct Student Leadership Association
4 个月Saw the title and knew this one would speak to me. I've known this is an important concept for years. The KD MBA has increased knowledge barriers and motivated me to get completely out of production. This alone will free up an incredible amount of my resources, which is so exciting! Also, had no idea who coined that phrase. So interesting!
Founding Partner, medical director and veterinarian @ Fox Creek Veterinary Hospital | Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and MBA
4 个月Great comments. Thank you!