2023 Annual Meeting Speaker Program Highlights
FEBRUARY 2023
An End to Firefighting and a Start to Successful Business Scaling
Keynote speaker Josh Klenoff provided an extremely engaging multi-part presentation on his approach to successfully scaling small and medium businesses through a method called "The System.
Klenoff started with a well-received small group breakout session on key problems pallet business operators face in 2023. After several problems were identified, attendees could join the breakout group of their choice to share ideas about the challenge that resonated most with them. Afterward, a member of each group summarized and shared thoughts with the primary audience.
Klenoff and his team focus on helping small and medium companies scale. The System is a set of management tools and disciplines developed by Klenoff designed to transform the results of employees. The outcome is creating an ultra-high-performance organization that multiplies profit and gets owners out of the "weeds" of daily firefighting in the business.
"What we have found is that your ability to grow is only as big as your ability to solve your biggest problems," he said. "Most companies tackle their problems
like firefighters. They're just putting the fire out when the next fire out. And the same problems keep coming back over and over. Because they're not getting to the root of the problem."
He started a discussion of visionary leadership with an analogy about flees. Flees, he commented, are the highest jumping creatures on earth. They can jump up to 100 times their height. In an experiment, fleas were put in a mason jar with a lid. After jumping up and
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striking the bottom of the top for some time, they got the message and stopped jumping. They had become conditioned not to jump. Even after removing the lid, they didn't jump. And then they had babies, who could have easily jumped, but they didn't because they were watching their parents.
"You guys are the parents," Klenoff said, bringing the analogy back home. "Maybe your people are watching you," he said. "So are you keeping the lid on, or are you taking the lid off? I'm going to encourage you, as we start crafting your vision and crystalizing it, to take the lid off. Give your people a bold vision that they can really get themselves into, that they care about."
Goal alignment is a crucial component of The System. Kenoff encouraged a systematic approach to cascade those bold measurable two or 5-year goals down to annual and quarterly goals, with weekly KPIs (key performance indicators) for functional groups within the organization to give them measurable targets that support the organizational goals.
While Kenoff only had time to elaborate on specific aspects of The System, his inexpensive book, The System, is available from Amazon in print or Kindle download. As an additional value, he offered WPA attendees a free consultation.
If you're stuck in the weeds of your business and want to be less involved in "fighting fires," email [email protected] with the subject "Session" to receive your free session with Klenoff. He'll contact you to set a time when you can learn how to implement the tools from "The System" and share his helpful perspective.