Chapter 2. The First Step to Competency
There is a god I am ready to pray to: the god of competency. Competence is a mixture of knowledge, practical abilities, and creative goals. If one of these elements is lacking, competence does not exist. One can tell whether a person is competent simply by looking at the results of what he has undertaken. If a man is a competent husband and father, his family thrives, his wife is happy, and he is proud of his kids’ achievements. If a business owner is competent, his company prospers and grows larger without any headaches. If you are interested in knowing just how competent you are as a business owner, look at your results in this area. If you are always busy with urgent problems, if the company drains your energy and time, then you will never have harmonious operations and growth. Therefore you are currently not competent as a business owner.
You could argue that your company works just fine—better than many others do—and that people even have good reason to be jealous of your achievements. But do not fool yourself. Quite simply, we all have different standards. It doesn't matter what others dream about or what their level of competency is. If instead of working on strategic planning you work on day-to-day problems, and the company’s expansion only creates an extra workload for you, then you are not a competent business owner. You may be very good at day-to-day things, but you are not a competent business owner. If you are starting to realize that this is how things are for you, congratulations! You have taken the first step on the path to competence. The first step to competence—although not the easiest—is to admit that there are things you do not understand and that you lack the needed skills and experience. One must admit to a problem before it can be fixed. If a person does not take this step, he will forever be stuck in the mind-set of a know-it-all.
As the result of a merger between two manufacturing companies in 2000, I became a co-owner and CEO of the Geroldmaster Manufacturing Company.>2 Although at first the company was not the most experienced and well-equipped, by 2004 it had left all of its competitors behind, thanks to the implementation of the management tools discussed in this book. I had no choice but to start this implementation. As the company's production volume had grown larger, the organizational chaos had torn my company apart. Interestingly enough, in spite of all our problems, we were manufacturing the best products. This saved us from alienating and losing customers, even though we were consistently behind schedule.