What Does it Take to Rebound? Event coming up in Toronto

What does it take to rebound?
This question will be unpacked by one of my favourite private equity hires - Tricor Pacific's pick for CEO of one of their portfolio companies - CPI Card Group. The CEO is Anna Rossetti and she has experience in card solutions, microprocessor cards and chips - she will talk about Canadian Tire and other companies too.
Loewen & Partners is putting on this event with Rotman's Womens Programs at Miller Thomson's offices, 5:30, Tuesday 13th. John Turner may be there to open the talk.
Come by to learn more about Rotman's prgrams for women and to talk about private equity with Anna. Rossinni and Jacoline Loewen. The Miller Thomson team will be there and they are helping a wide range of companies. One of the IBK Ivey business plan winners told us that their patent lawyer was Miller Thomson.
Hope to see you.
Jacoline Loewen, author of Money Magnet, Attracting Investors to Your Business

Ron Close is Canada's Larry King

Larry King said that being a great interviewer was very difficult and when the CNN "talent" was in the same room with the "suits", you could see why talent was paid the big bucks. Ron Close, entrepreneur and star professor at Ivey, is one of those rare "suits" who also is talented at bringing out the real lessons of how much it takes to be an entrepreneur. He has inspired me to keep pushing the rock up the hill and did so again when he interviewed Anton Rabie, founder of Spin Masters, at IBK Ivey Business Plan competition.

Ron asked, "What book works for you?"

When Anton replied, "Richard Bransom's Screw It, Let's Do It," Ron insisted on going deeper.

"Yeah, the 9 Rules that are great to turn back to but which one is the top rule for you, Anton?"

And here we got to learn that this entrepreneur how much he spends understanding himself, working to develop his strengths and deal with his weaknesses. Anton told us he writes down his mistakes he makes and looks at these to remind himself. 

I really dug that because we have such a culture of "think you are great and you WILL be great." 

Taking the time to write down your mistakes and go back and review these does make you grow. It gives you something to do with your issues and let's these become valuable lessons learnt.

In my creative writing sessions at Humber, I write down what people have said are problems with my story. When I read these points months later, only then do I get the lessons. Applying it to business makes sense.

Anton also does 360's with his staff which is bold, brave and builds a high trust culture. He will not have The Emporer's Clothes syndrome where he is surrounded by "yes" men, telling him what he wants to hear. I would find Anton scary to work for but also incredibly stimulating. Ron Close gave us the opportunity of hearing the inside workings of building a business, warts and all.

Why Mission Statements can miss so badly

I want to show you quickly how to avoid writing a weak Mission Statement. Too many of them are so look-alike which is what makes them OK but not likely to attract the talent you want or give a potential client an impressive snapshot of what you company actually does.
Let's say you have a business you started at the kitchen table making bread and it has now grown into a growing concern with employees, a proper office, professional kitchen and --the big dream that makes you breathless--Lablaws as a client. You may decide your mission statement could go like this: "We aim to delight the families of Ontario with our awesome bread inspired by true Italian baking." That's not bad and your employees could get enthusiastic about it. Now here's where things go bad.

You gather your team and Board around the table to get their input on the wording. Captain Picard always made this gathering of the team look easy but it never turns out that way. Your team, who you think is better than sliced bread, turn into your eighth grade English teacher - you know, the one who nitpicked over every word you wrote. Suddenly, even the finance people have a opinion and are piping up to let you know their view:
"We should not limit ourselves to Ontario and by the way, I don't like the word delight. It seems flaky and frilly, way too girly." 

Thanks, Pierre.

"And saying 'families' may offend, what about people who live by themselves or who are divorced? That could upset them." Indeed. They could run crying from the room at reruns of the Cosby Show too, but point taken. 

As you go around the room, the babble of voices gets higher and higher.

"Why limit ourselves to Italian?" 

"It's weird but when I see the word "Awesome", I think of my kids. It's such an overused word. Isn't the main feature our freshness--we should say fresh, not awesome."

"But everyone expects freshness. It should be crusty or light--our crusty, fluffy bread."

"Hang on! Why limit ourselves to bread? We are doing rolls too. In fact, our rolls are moving up to fast selling category."

"Good point--we don't want to limit ourselves to bread. What if we move into frozen dough or pizza? We've also been toying with  flat breads. That's a very attractive business."

"Let's sum it up - what are we doing? We are providing a solution. A family eating solution."

"Hey, didn't you hear what I said about families? But solutions is exactly what we offer. Make it solutions."

Then Winnie says, "What about green? We are an environmentally aware company?"

"And we care for our employees."

"We really care."

How can you argue against hugging your employees, trying to respect the environment and having amazing values? So, there you go. It's added into the statement. There you have it: solutions for mealtimes and we care for our employees very much and also the environemnt. We are very green.

Maybe the team is happy but you know it is trying to be too many things to too many people.

Better keep your statement simple, you can put the list of values into a whole separate statement. That will help you avoid the trap here--getting so vague and fancy with the language that it just becomes meaningless. Here are 2 ways to avoid it:

1. Use concrete language. 

My favorite Mission Statement is done by Spin Master. Their vision is to be the world's most innovative, most fun children's entertainment company. There's their big, bold vision that has driven them from zero to $900 million dollars in just fifteen years. They take all the rest of the details and put it under values. Spin Master values - entrepreneural spirit, ideas (no matter where they come from), integrity (always, no fooling).
Wow. It gives you a picture of what they do and tells you why it's worth doing AND, after reading that, I want to work there.

2. Talk about the why.

Most mission statements are all statement and no mission. The whole point is to say why you're doing what you're doing. What makes you care? Look at the start of Johnson & Johson's famous credo: "Our first responsibility is to the doctors, nurses, and patients, mothers and fathers and all others who use our products and services." That is very clear about their priorities.

So you've seen why bad mission statements happen and two tips for making yours different. At our home Web site, I've put together some other resources for you to check out, if you're interested. And in the meantime, let me challenge you to do the impossible: Write a mission statement that means something. And I'll give you a hint: keep it real.

Jacoline Loewen, author Money Magnet, attract private equity to your business. Get in touch to talk about your Mission Statement.

Top 2 Reasons a Family Business will survive

Family businesses are often thought of as ma and pop stores, but this is far from the facts. I remember my surprise at learning the true number of family businesses in Canada and America.
McKinsey has released the results of family business research and it is well worth a read. According to McKinsey, the two top reasons for family business being able to survive is first of all - bringing in professional management and, second, having family stay committed to the concept of family legacy. No surprise there but bringing in professional management is still such a difficult barrier to pass for too many family businesses.
Here is the McKinsey article summary:

Definition of family businesses: a family owns a significant share and can influence important decisions, particularly the election of the chairman and CEO.

As family businesses expand from their entrepreneurial beginnings, they face unique performance and governance challenges. The generations that follow the founder, for example, may insist on running the company even though they are not suited for the job. And as the number of family shareholders increases exponentially generation by generation, with few actually working in the business, the commitment to carry on as owners can’t be taken for granted. Indeed, less than 30 percent of family businesses survive into the third generation of family ownership. Those that do, however, tend to perform well over time compared with their corporate peers, according to recent McKinsey research. Their performance suggests that they have a story of interest not only to family businesses around the world, of various sizes and in various stages of development, but also to companies with other forms of ownership.

Read more.
Jacoline Loewen, author of Money Magnet, How to attract private equity to your business

Toronto Entrepreneurs will share their secrets

THE EVENT: Courage to Lead
What to Expect

Wouldn't you like to pick up the phone and ask Warren Buffet his secrets to running a business? The next best thing is getting inspired by some home grown entrepreneurs, not in Buffet's league by any means, but who are building businesses to last. Three amazing Toronto business entrepreneurs are speaking in Toronto tomorrow night downtown, and you can pick up a few ideas as well as share a glass of wine. 

• Brenda Bot, of Salad Creations Canada; 
• Jacoline Loewen, of Loewen and Partners, Private Equity; and 
• Susan Hodkinson, of Soberman LLP. 

Join these owners to discuss what it takes to run a business and what you can expect when you are your own boss. Womens Post is running Courage to Lead and its a great opportunity to meet the people behind the magazine. Tickets are only $10, and that includes wine and appetizers and a great take away tote.

Wed 24th, evening

Tickets: $10 and include wine and food and a takeaway. 

Location: McNally's Bookstore, Bay Street, Toronto, across from The Bay, between Richmond and Adelaide.