Thursday, March 26, 1998

Honing only your best skills makes good business sense

By NANCY MICHAELS

and MARK MAGNACCA

Scripps Howard News Service

How often in school did you receive a report card with a comment from the teacher that said you were a little weak in math, or perhaps spelling, and needed to work on these areas.

Good advice, we're sure, but we've graduated to a world where the stakes are higher.

Business coach Dan Sullivan of Toronto has made a career of telling people to forget about their weaknesses and concentrate on building their strengths.

Sullivan, known as The Strategic Coach, has coined the term "ceiling of complexity" to describe how far a person can grow, based on his or her skills.

"All the growth in an individual's life occurs in stages. Within each stage the individual comes to a point where it's not possible to base further growth upon his or her existing knowledge or skills: the individual has reached a 'ceiling of complexity,' " he writes.

Most entrepreneurs are good at only one or two things, yet so many spend a lot of time and energy on tasks for which they're not suited. By concentrating on what they are best at, they will improve their skills and become even better.

After a decade of focusing on your unique ability, Sullivan says you begin to act, think and speak like a genius in that area. If you're really good at playing the guitar and you're really bad at filling out your annual tax return it doesn't make sense to spend 10 years studying the tax code so you can become mediocre at figuring your taxes. But if you devote that 10 years to studying and practicing guitar, you might become the next Eric Clapton.

As our economy evolves, the most successful people will be those who have honed their skills to a point where they are among the best in their field.

In order to be able to focus on what you're uniquely qualified to do, you must be willing to let go of the tasks and activities for which you are not uniquely qualified.

Sullivan recommends thinking of a series of concentric circles. The first ring includes those things you're pretty much incompetent at. As you move closer to the center, the circles increasingly come to represent those areas where you're competent, until you reach the circle in the middle, which encompasses those things you can do easily and well.

The trick is to find others whose circles of expertise complement yours. So many small-business owners subscribe to the notion of what Sullivan calls, "rugged individualism," the lone entrepreneur making that solitary climb to the top. But in order to break through the ceiling of complexity, you need to develop those skills that will set you apart from the rest. And the only way to do that is to hand off the tasks you don't do well to people who excel in those areas. You should form a team of people who will help grow your business.

The ideal team would be comprised of people who are all uniquely qualified to do something different. Until people understand this, they are stuck achieving less than they're capable of.

About 25 years ago while enlisted in the armed forces, Sullivan was in charge of a USO concert featuring Frank Sinatra. Sullivan recalls being amazed by the team of people who preceded Sinatra. There were people to set up the sound system, the light system, to organize the stage and to prepare Sinatra's dressing room. All Sinatra had to do was show up, sing and go home.

That should be the goal of all entrepreneurs. To do what they do best, and leave the rest to the experts.

(Nancy Michaels, a small-business marketing consultant, is owner of Impression Impact, based in Concord, Mass. Your questions may be addressed to her at 369 Lindsay Pond Road, Concord, MA, 01742. Mark Magnacca is a small-business marketing expert. His company Insight Development Group, is based in Upton, Mass. He can be reached at mark(at)insightdevelopment.com.)