You need the commitment and courage of a Momma Grizzly bear protecting hungry cubs.

The secret is tracking performance to goals with boundaries of performance AND create a story line that others want to be a part of and tune in to. The last emotion you want is people to get the befuddled look of confusion when asked about goal performance…and an agonizing answer “what goal?”

The idyllic leaders of many large corporations simply ran the table focused solely on numbers. Critical mass, ROI, efficiency…all the statistically relevant measurements…mostly gained without an engaged workforce. The corporations didn’t need to. The only measure was profit and efficiency. No need to engage employees.

That’s why the Gallup survey shows disengaged employees cost about 1 in 3 payroll dollars.

There was no need to engage employees, as too often employees were merely pawns on a huge chess board…and the result is American business has failed to balance their focus on profits and people.

The catastrophic collapse of the financial system hinged on the boundaries of arrogant, dismissive and greedy behavior. If you’re one of those organizations…get honest, be vulnerable and soak up truth…quickly.

The heart of leading, tracking and engaging is the individual who understands what makes humans tick.

As you track your goals…check out these money shots.

…Most won’t pay to prevent a problem, but will do everything possible to fix the leaks when you spring a hole in your stately business ship. The smoker keeps smoking but will move heaven and earth and spare no amount of money to cure his cancer.

You’ve got to adjust this behavior so that you prevent problems if possible.

…The quickest way to connect with someone is to share a common bond. Semper Fi, Hooah and Hoorah…all powerful bonds of connection among our nation’s brightest soldiers. Create a common bond with employees.

…Stop the arguing. You’re likely raising your blood pressure and irritating them. We’ve suffered too long under the delusion that business must kill the competition as it seems in politics as well.

…We will focus harder on protecting what we have than acquiring more, so give employees a reason to protect what they have. Engage with honest dialog; embrace their worries and personal concerns.

It is time for new memories if you haven’t engaged in the company goals and direction. You’ll love to protect that sense of ownership and personal accountability.

That dog will hunt if you have the courage to put the collar and leash in the bag.

Let’s take a moment to analyse this statement.

But before we do, let’s consider the fact Carnegie wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth, travelled to America as an immigrant from Scotland and became one of America’s wealthiest men.

So the guy knows a thing or two you or I don’t.

One of the things I have found over the years is the most successful business owners I know take the time to read and continually grow mentally.

And every real growth in my business has come as a result of reading something.

I read about how to write emails. I changed my approach and this added at least $50,000 to my bottom line.

I read a section in the book, Good to Great about getting the right people on your bus, and this has changed my approach to business and leverage forever.

I read an excerpt in the book, The Breakthrough Company, which has made me more aggressive and forward thinking.

I learnt how to speed read which saves me hours of time and allows me to chew through more.

I first got into business as a result of attending a Brad Sugars seminar many moons ago.

I credit Gary Halbert for his advice on how to become a great copywriter by writing out the great letters in ones own handwriting. I did that for an hour every morning for over a year.

I did that as a result of something I read.

So when I hear those words come out of Carenegie’s mouth I can’t help but agree with him.

Do I follow it?

Not as well as I should.

Sure, I am always carrying a book with me wherever I go.

But I don’t schedule in time like I should.

However when I reflect back on all the changes reading and learning has made to my life over the past few years, it certainly makes sense to.

After all, how can we grow mentally unless we are learning. And how can we learn unless we read books, attend courses, interview interesting people, jump on seminars and webinars, etc.

Most people (and many business owners) stopped growing years ago. Some as soon as they finished school.

Don’t let that happen to you.

Implement a reading program into your life today.

If it’s good enough for one of the world’s richest men, isn’t it good enough for you?

Now if you are someone who has not attempted on doing a business plan yet, do not be afraid because even if everything at this point sounds intimidating, there are some things that you can do to make it a bit easier. If want to know what they are, then stick on as we provide you a list of things that you should do prior to making a new business plan.

1. Before attempting to do anything else you must first work on identifying who you are as a company. This is important because once you have established your business identity, you can start working on developing your products or services.

2. Know the specific market that you want to focus on. Do not try to capture more than two markets at once. Why? Because it is risky. When you try to do this, you may be compelled to produce items that may or may not be sold – in turn you may end up having more expenses than profit.

3. Next, identify your competitors. Find out which specific companies offer the same goods that you make and gives the services that you offer. Observing your established competitors will give you a basis on how to develop your products and how you can train your people in a way that will give your competitors a run for their money.

4. Do research. Do not just start and end with listing and observing. For you to be able to learn the trade better, you would need to do some research, gather some data and maybe catch up on reading some business books. All these would give you the secrets of the trade that you absolutely should know.

5. Compile and organize all the data you have gathered so that you can come up with a business plan with a factual basis.

6. If you do not have any experience in business plan writing, try to find a template that you can work on over the Internet. If you get lucky, you may also find samples that can help you provide all the information that you have to fill in a specific part of the plan.

7. Start writing. You do not have to attempt to be trivial nor should you try to sound scholarly this is because a business plan should first and foremost be understandable. Consider this, if you and your business partner cannot understand the plan you made, then what is the use of making it in the first place?

These are the things that you should do prior to creating a new business plan. Again if you are new at this, everything may seem quite scary, but once you get started, you will get to realize that writing a business plan is something that everybody can do.