Intro by Toastmaster: Adam spoke in a recent Table Topics session about a “Secret Sauce to Success,” which he learned nearly 10 years ago from a former CEO at a local company where he worked. The CEO’s “Secret Sauce to Success” included 3 simple principles: vision, focus, and accountability. Now Adam is his own CEO at Beacon Rock Investment Consulting. Today he will present Beacon Rock’s 3 Simple Steps to Success, which he has adapted for use in his own company.
Note from FeikSpeak: credit for the 3 steps to success goes to Roger Doughty, former CEO of IEC Group and AmeriBen Solutions, which was one of the first places I worked after my undergrad, and also while I earned my MBA. Roger's wife, Joyce, is a chef, and Roger called these 3 elements the "Secret Sauce to Success."
Introduction
What is the most useful success advice you have ever heard? Can you think of a single piece of advice or a single principle that has proven most effective and actionable over many years to you? Hopefully, you can, and if so, I would love to hear your speech on that subject sometime! Today, I will give you the 3 simple steps to success that I have remembered and used as a guide in my business endeavors since I first heard these steps nearly 10 years ago. I hope these 3 words will prove as memorable, as powerful, and as useful to you as they have to me. The 3 words are VISION, FOCUS, AND ACCOUNTABILITY.
Vision
First, vision. What is vision, and why is it so important as to be the first simple step to success? A clear business vision allows you to rise above the day-to-day and see where you intend to go, where you are in relation to that destination, and even where you have come from. It answers the questions, “why am I here and what am I working to achieve?” It is beginning with the end in mind, and living intentionally.
Let me illustrate with a personal example. This is a photo of Beacon Rock, which is a beautiful place on the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge, near where I grew up. I named my investment consulting practice after this place because it serves as a constant reminder to me of vision. I’ll explain. Beacon Rock was given its name in 1805 by none other than Lewis & Clark. As Lewis & Clark navigated their way through the Columbia River Gorge, the Native Americans living there pointed out that at this point, the current of the Columbia River begins to be influenced for the first time by the waves of the Pacific Ocean, which is still 150 miles downriver. This was the explorers’ first indication that they were getting close to their destination. Remember, Lewis & Clark were explorers – they had never been to their destination. I think they must have had some mental image of what their destination would look like, but they could not yet know exactly what success would look like for them.I love this picture. It’s beautiful, it reminds me of great memories from years ago, and I always love driving by this place & enjoying the views. But this picture has a limitation. You can see where you are if you’re at Beacon Rock, but it doesn’t show where you have been or where you are going. To get that, here’s a higher perspective of the Gorge and Beacon Rock. This is Crown Point, which is situated about 20 miles east of the Portland airport.
What you do when you create a vision is to rise above the daily tasks of navigating your way through your normal business operations – through your Gorge – at ground level. You rise to a higher perspective so you can see where you’ve come from and where you’re going. In my business, I call it my Beacon Rock viewpoint – or even my Crown Point viewpoint – of what’s important, and I have my clients go through the same exercise of creating a vision so they & I both know what we will be trying to achieve together. In business, having a clear vision from this vantage point clarifies which strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats are important, which priorities require focus, which distractions do not deserve any of your time, and which goals and values you will never compromise.
A vision should be big and bold so you have something to strive for. You should be passionate about it, and it should be specific and measurable so you know when you have achieved success. Take, for a classic example, John F. Kennedy’s vision for our country, which he delivered in 1961.
“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”.
Very specific, very big, very bold. NASA now had something to shoot for. They knew exactly when they must do it, and exactly what would constitute success – landing a man on the Moon, and returning him safely to Earth. Kennedy also articulated the reason for having such a big, bold vision, which helps us understand the importance of working toward a vision in any of life’s pursuits:“We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win….”
President Kennedy’s vision was so effectively conveyed and so thoroughly bought into by the country that his vision transcended even his own life, as NASA fulfilled Kennedy’s vision in 1969… six years after his own assassination.
Your business success must also begin with a transcendent, clear vision.
Focus
Once the right vision is in place, success requires laser focus on achieving that vision. For Lewis & Clark, focus meant using their navigation skills and tools like a compass, the oars of their canoe, maybe a hiking stick, and all the day-to-day work involved in exploring and surviving. For NASA, focus meant organizing many of the best and brightest engineering minds in the world towards one common vision, and it meant “working the plan” for several years until the Apollo 11 mission was complete.
The task of focusing is not rocket science. Focus simply requires hard, consistent work on a manageable list of the weekly, monthly, and quarterly things you need to do in order to achieve the vision for your business. In my business, I achieve laser focus by having written goals for each year, quarter, month, and week. I know what these goals are, and they rarely change because they are carefully targeted toward achieving my mission. I even take it one step further into a daily schedule of activities that will lead me to be productive at all times – as long as I stick with it!
Focus, for me, is hard. I must often remind myself of my vision in order to avoid being distracted by things that do NOT really require focus. But remembering two quotes from Thomas Edison often help me stay focused.
First, when Edison was trying to invent the light bulb, although he had a fairly clear vision of what his success would look like, he had to experiment with 10,000 different filaments before he found the one that would accomplish his purpose. At the moment before he found the solution, when his funds were depleted and his staff demoralized, Edison said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” And he continued working until he found success.
Second, in business, we have to be constantly aware of new opportunities. I appreciate Edison’s example and perspective from his quote, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
To succeed, you must have a laser focus on the activities that will result in achieving your vision.
Accountability
Finally, accountability. How are you accountable for delivering on your focuses and your vision? To whom are you accountable? Without accountability to someone, you are unlikely to ever totally focus on the right activities or fully achieve your vision.
Think about it. When you created your vision, you made it big, bold, and measurable. When you identified your focuses, you made them specific, time-based, and measurable. Now, you need to measure your actual performance and be accountable for the results! As Thomas Monson put it, “When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported back, the rate of improvement accelerates.”
When I started my independent financial advisory practice after working for a boss my whole career, I wondered, “I know what my vision is and where my focus needs to be, but where will the accountability come from?” I soon realized the glorious answer. I am accountable directly to my clients for serving them – and even for achieving my business goals so that I will be around to continue serving them! I am also accountable to myself for measuring and achieving my specific goals. Sometimes for added accountability, I share my vision, focus, and goals with my wife or one of my business colleagues so someone else can hold me accountable as well. But either way, each week, I sit down and review my goals for the week, as well as my progress to date on monthly and quarterly goals. “When performance is measured, performance improves.”
Conclusion
So remember the 3 Beacon Rock Simple Steps to Success: start with the right vision from a Crown Point vantage point, focus on the right activities to keep your paddle in the water moving in the right direction, and be accountable for measuring and achieving the results you set out to achieve. Always remember vision, focus, and accountability, and you will succeed.
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