(Time to read this Blog is about 4 minutes)

Before we get to the main topic, here are a few things to get you thinking or smiling:

1. My Biz Quote of the week:
   “Whatever product or service you sell, your industry and your market are changing quickly. When it comes to ‘change’, there are only three positions open and available:
   1. You can be the architect of change.  You can create ‘the next’,
   2. You can embrace the change created by others…or,
   3. You can be the victim of change.
      It’s your choice…choose wisely” 
      …Donald Cooper.
       
2. Quick Biz Tip:
   The BIG Margin Squeeze.  Profit margins are getting squeezed in every industry…including yours.  For example, Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes and Canadian Tire all recently reported higher sales, but lower profits, for 2025.  And these are the ‘big guys’ with lots of negotiating leverage on the buying side.
    
   In this challenging economic environment, there are two things that you need to get right:
   1. Create compelling customer value and experiences that ‘grab’ your target customers, clearly differentiate you from your competitors, make you ‘famous’…and grow your bottom line.
   2. Create world-class operating efficiency in every part of your business.
       
      For this you’ll need to attract, challenge and retain a world-class, top-performing Team.
       
3. Fun Fact: While business-class passengers make up only 12% of all airline customers, business class seats account for 75% of total airline profits on many routes. How might you create a curated, up-market, special ‘high-touch’ experience that will increase your bottom line?
4. Check your email Junk Mail Box once a day. I know many people who don’t check their email Junk Email Box for days or weeks at a time.
    
   By then, it’s full of hundreds of emails, it’s overwhelming and they just delete all of them without checking any of them.
    
   By checking daily, the Junk List is much more manageable, and you can quickly glance through it to see if there’s anything important that got put there accidently.
    
5. Meanwhile, south of the border.  The U.S. economy lost 92,000 jobs in February. Hiring slowed across healthcare, manufacturing, construction, transportation and hospitality. 
    
6. The ‘Cranky Corner’. It might be my age, or a strong concern for where our society is headed, but some things make me cranky.  We hear so much talk about doing ‘what’s in our national interest’…but very little talk about doing ‘what’s right’.
    
   Slavery was in the national economic interest…but certainly wasn’t right. Russia invading Ukraine was in Russia’s national interest…but it wasn’t right.  In business, deceptive practices, false advertising, fake discounts or cutting corners to produce products that put customers at risk might be in the company’s best short-term interest…bit it isn’t right.
    
   Let’s get back to doing what’s right!

Now, to this week’s important topic:

 Process ain’t sexy, but your business is in big trouble without it: 

Creativity, innovation and AI are ‘hot topics’ these days…and so they should be. But, in the end, it’s boring, unsexy ‘process’ that actually gets things done efficiently, consistently and effectively. Even ‘creativity’ is often a process. Sometimes it’s just dumb luck or a sudden flash of brilliance …but, often, it’s a process.

In fact, most successful companies have developed a disciplined ‘creative process’ that delivers a stream of innovative products, more efficient operations, consistent quality, employee safety, increased sales and an amazing customer experience.

‘Process’ is what keeps airplanes from falling out of the sky. It’s what makes a Big Mac exactly the same in Montreal as it is in Frankfurt. Process is what gets cars designed, engineered and produced. Process is what allows a hotel chain to know that you want a non-smoking room on a low floor, near the elevator, with a king size bed, foam pillows and a USA Today at your door.

In fact, everything that happens between ‘intent’ and ‘delivery’ is process. As a business, you can have the best intentions in the world for your customers, your staff, for the environment and for your bottom line. But without clear, effective and well-communicated processes, these wonderful intentions will be just that…‘intentions’.
To quote the late W. E. Deming, the internationally renowned authority on quality and efficiency, “If you can’t describe what you’re doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing.”
So, exactly what is a process, anyway? Simply put, a process is…

1. An effectively communicated sequence of activities,

2. Supported by the necessary resources and training,

3. Designed to deliver a consistent, efficient and effective result,

4. To a clear and specific standard.

OK, so it’s not so simple.  But that’s what a process is…and there are no shortcuts. Re-read the 4-point definition above and, while you’re at it, honestly rate your businesses performance, on a scale of 1 to 10, on each of the four key elements.  Then, using that info, determine what needs to be done to improve the processes in every part of your business.

That’s it for this week…

Live brilliantly and be kind to each other!       

Donald Cooper 

Donald Cooper speaks and coaches internationally on management, marketing, and profitability.  He can be reached by email at donald@donaldcooper.com in Toronto, Canada.