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The first few years of Bill Clinton’s presidency was marked by stumble after stumble in terms of execution. It was only after a team of experienced professionals came to the White House to assist him did things turn around.

This is a lesson for a business owner. At some point you will outgrow the advisors that brought you to the next level and you will need to find new ones that can help you achieve even more. This concept is documented in the book “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There.”

The night of April 14, 1912, the captain of Titanic had a single advisor on board, the chief builder. The fact that Captain Smith could not turn to anyone else to ask for advice was a severe handicap. He needed help in safety management, crisis management, leadership and execution of an emergency plan.

This is another lesson for every business owner. It may be lonely at the top, but even if you have been in business for many years, you still need the wisdom and perspective of people that you do not possess. Captain Smith sailed the oceans of the world for more than four decades and still ran into an avoidable disaster.

Every business owner needs advisors. The reason is clear: there are areas of business management that the owner cannot possibly know enough to do a passable job. Human resources and tax issues, as examples, have become so complex and subject to litigation that specialized assistance is needed to stay in compliance. Who should be advising you?
The first person on the list is a tax professional. This advisor performs tasks other than tax preparation during the year, such as payroll, financial analysis and tax savings calculations such as enterprise tax credits. The essential function is to serve as a financial advisor throughout the year, not just during tax season.

A business attorney is second on the list. An owner needs to have the confidence of a reliable and knowledgeable business attorney providing input on legal matters specifically contracts of all types.

The third advisor is a commercial and property insurance agent. A business enterprise entertains multiple insurance issues.

A banker should be the fourth advisor. They can provide guidance on what their own bank and other lenders seek regarding capital and management of the same.

The fifth source of advice should come from consultants providing knowledge in areas that are unfamiliar, including design, web marketing, research, pricing, sales, marketing, and public relations.

The sixth source of advice is a health benefits insurance agent. Like law and taxes, health insurance is serious business and getting the right advice is essential.

The seventh source of advice is an attorney specializing in human resources and labor law. Employment law is a complex area that cannot be ignored.

Solid advice is going to come from fellow business owners. For that reason alone it is wise to seek out others to serve formally as a “Board of Advisors.”

It can help most when the owner is trying to make a decision in unfamiliar areas and does not want to do it in a vacuum. It never hurts and almost always helps to have people around to run ideas and thoughts by for validation. That kind of “what if” thinking saves an organization from expensive mistakes.

Used properly, an advisory board can be invaluable. However, it cannot be a “paper tiger.” The owner has to be open to advice and counsel given. It does not have to be followed, but it should be considered.

Integrity, experience and open communication are critical to whomever advice and counsel is received from. Those that serve must be willing to provide candid and honest advice at the risk of losing revenue. Advisors have to be ready, willing, and able to tell the truth, even if the owner does not want to hear it.

The advisors also have to grow just as they recommend the owner continue to learn. When a trusted advisor does not stay current, when the advisor becomes stale, there is a reasonable risk that the person they are advising will outgrow them.

On the bridge of the Titanic that cold April night, if the Captain had the right advisors around him, not only might have he avoided the crisis, he would have, at a minimum, been much better prepared for what happened. That he did not have the right advisors speaks to his arrogance, isolation and perceived invincibility. Captain Smith died along with 1,516 others.

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A common perception in the rest of the business community is that “everyone who works at a bank is a vice president.”

Titles are inexpensive and often do not represent the authority or responsibility level of the position. So, setting title aside, ask yourself if you are a leader, are you truly leading? What is it that leaders do? What should you be doing if you are leading?

Here are fifteen areas that a leader should be demonstrating by doing that are, in fact, leading.

Leaders set a vision. All organizations are on a path to somewhere. That vision has to be articulated to those involved. Does a vision exist? Is it shared often enough so that everyone is clear as to what it is?

Leaders determine the mission. A mission is what sets the organization apart and states what the organization does. When was the last time the mission was reviewed? It is being communicated every single day?

Leaders control their attitudes. Success in life is based more on mental attitude than mental capability. Attitude is demonstrated in tone of voice, facial expressions, handwriting, posture, eye contact, dress, handshake, voicemail message, decision-making, delegating, and management style. The leader’s attitude always seeps through.

Leaders are tenacious. They keep going until something stops them, and then they still keep going. Accomplishing anything takes time but people want to be lead by determined leaders.

Leaders continuously improve themselves. A leader has to be in a state of continuous improvement. Leaders listen to the advice of others. They devote ample time to learning and talk to a wide variety of people. How much time is spent learning?

Leaders are honest and ethical. Honesty is truth, integrity, being genuine, equitable, and frank. It implies an absence of fraud, deceit, and deception. Most important, it is demonstrated in daily actions.

Leaders think before they talk. Leaders pause and think through what they are going to say. Leaders tend to act quickly but they think slowly. The best leaders listen far more than they speak.

Originality is critical. Imagination is important. A leader asks: “Is it a change? Does it improve things? How can we adapt that and take it one step farther?” Are questions asked to stimulate thinking or, discouraged because the answers are already known?

Leaders are publicly modest. Secure people can be modest. Insecure people are not. Leaders graciously accept nice things people have said about them, but they don’t always believe it. Leaders give and share credit.

Leaders are decisive. Leaders ask: “How do you like to have things happen? How would you approach this? What do think would work best here? What have you seen that works well in this situation?”

Leaders are gutsy and a little wild. Leaders take risks. They believe “No guts, no glory”. Leaders aren’t the same as owners. Leaders invest; owners see most everything as an expense.

Leaders have a sense of humor. The typical child laughs 400 times a day but adults laugh only about 15. Leaders do their best to make people smile and laugh; it builds a better workplace.

Leaders are competitive. Business is a constant competition. Leaders understand that competition is a good thing for personal and professional growth because it sharpens skills and gets the blood flowing. Business is war, waged on a daily battlefield.

Leaders are detail oriented. Leaders know the details of what matters. They take full responsibility for the outcome. They know that the higher the position, the more important details become.

Finally, leaders lead by example in all they do. Are you?

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Many best selling books have been written that chronicle the organizations that research suggests business leaders should look if they want to improve their companies. This list includes “Built to Last,” “The Breakthrough Company,” and “Good to Great.”

The problem is that most companies don’t last, don’t breakthrough and don’t make the leap from “okay to fair” let alone “good to great” because these organizations maintain a focus and culture that insures mediocrity.

If you believe your company is better than mediocre, put your ego aside and read on. Most companies are vastly capable of more than their current results. What stands in the way is a mere five words: a culture of status quo. Organizations do at least ten things that will guarantee they will remain “mediocre.”

The first is a lack of a single, simple strategic focus. The governor of Indiana said in a recent interview that the focus of his administration is “to raise the net disposable income” of citizens. Everything else “is just a means to that end.” Who couldn’t get behind that?

Too many companies have a strategic focus to “raise the net disposable income of the owner.” There is no argument that profit is important, it is. In fact, mediocre companies focus too much on revenue and not enough on profit.

But what the mediocre companies fail to do is to energize and rally employees, vendors, clients and community around a short and focused reason to support the company for the long haul.

The second is that while many people in an organization who can say “no” to initiatives, changes and improvements, there is only one person, the man or woman at the top who can say “yes” even if the change costs little or nothing. With every decision resting on just one or perhaps two at the top, it is clear that no one else really has any authority.

The third is that the organization hires down, not up. Hiring managers shun bringing in new people with more education, more experience and impressive backgrounds simply because new employees of this caliber is threatening to the status quo.

The fourth is ideas for improvement come only from the top. Ideas from anyone else are dismissed because they come from people who don’t see the “big picture.” This is because the so-called big picture was never shared with those who have a responsibility to turn it into reality through daily activities.

The fifth is that few people step up to new responsibilities and initiatives. In a culture that believes “this is the way we have always done it,” those who step up are agents of change, vilified by those who desire to preserve the status quo.

Nodding heads is the sixth. In meetings, only the few, the brave, and some would argue, the stupid, say anything of substance. The rest simply nod their heads in compliance; after all, who wants to risk a job saying anything that could be construed as being disloyal? Staff meetings become just one more thing to do. There is no serious discussion on how to have a better business.

The seventh is that resistance to change thrives. This virus, manifested in meetings filled with people who simply nod their heads, moves to the department level once the meeting ends. Any hope of meaningful progress is over when managers simply say to themselves “I am not going to do this.” In a mediocre organization no one is penalized for this attitude.

The eighth is that leaders practice the “mushroom theory of management” keeping employees in the dark, under a layer of fertilizer. If anyone pops up to see what is really going on, the response is “off with their heads” (punish them). The slave ship scene from the movie “Ben Hur” says it all: “Row well and live.” Now it has been updated to “when we want you to know something we will tell you.”

The ninth is that education is feared. The mediocre company believes that it knows everything it needs to survive and thrive, and sees no need for continuing education for anyone.

The tenth is that the company ignores the need for pay-for-performance. Mediocre firms believe that if it offers a nice place to work, without too much pressure and a steady paycheck with solid benefits that it is serving all the needs of those who work there. What this fails to take into account is that the best people, continually look for opportunities to be compensated for doing their best regardless of what others in the company are doing.

Companies that are trying to improve have a certain characteristic to them. People arrive early and stay late; when present the employees are focused and work hard.

The mediocre organizations are pretty easy to spot as well: you won’t find anyone coming in early or staying late at a place because there is no benefit to doing so, no rewards for success and the effort that goes with it.

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