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Sustaining Your Business through Self Leadership

Written by: Wayne J.R. Bowser

Article Overview: We must rely on Self Governance when it comes to business sustainability and when the desired results are achieved go ahead and tell the world that success came without government regulation or assistance.

Sustaining Your Business through Self Leadership

Government has been promoted to incompetence and we can no longer rely on the system to get us where we need to be as Nation. We must rely on Self Governance when it comes to business sustainability. If we want less government, then we have to act as if it has already happened.

Reducing our energy demand, is just a part of what a company can do to reduce overhead and to continue to be sustainable. We are in the business to make money and when government imposes more and more regulations on business owners to save energy it's neither sustainable nor healthy for business growth. Government must encourage, inspire and get out of the way. Getting out the way will ultimately mean less assistance, also, and this in turn will lead to less taxes.

Businesses can begin to show by example how to lead by encouraging and inspiring it's staff to be more energy efficient and then getting out of the way. First, management must have a plan. Bring together the key players and layout the facts; be transparent. Identify the problem, for example; the cost of energy is too high. Establish goals to reduce energy consumption by 60% in 3 months and show what kind of dollars can be saved in one year after implementation. This money is now the incentive that must be passed on to your team if the goal is reached within that period of time.

One can easily see where staff will now be encouraged to save, and most likely go beyond the established goals. They will take ownership and have pride in the company knowing they now have a steak in it's success. Funding must be set aside, but only as an investment tool in the implementation of cost saving measures. These investments will need to be amortized into the program and determined whether this is an investment into the business or deducted from the savings in energy. An investment in new energy saving windows, for example, may far exceed the savings in energy but will bring added value to the appearance of the building never to realized until the business is sold. A budget must therefore be established and in most cases, a matter of adjusting behavior such as shutting down computers at night.

Self Governance must begin to be encouraged and promoted with the results being advertised and touted. Competition among businesses will prompt increased pressure to save even more. It is contagious, and this not only benefits the bottom line, but it inspires the entrepreneurial spirit within us all to go beyond what is required. Government can longer do this when it's primary objective is to regulate us to complacency. It creates apathy and we no longer care, for there is no encouragement to succeed.

When company owners and business executives treat employees like they don't matter, like when government treats it's citizens with disregard, things begin to collapse and the perceptive leaders will pay attention and make the necessary adjustments. New leadership will come from business owners who recognize the value in their people; who can get out of the way, but still inspire them to succeed beyond expectations. Sustainability within your business will come as a result of good leadership and Self Governance.

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Article Tags: desired results, government regulation, self governance, sustainability



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