Model Me This

We took a look at business models last week:

• Revamping your Business Model? Enjoy the Study
• How Alaka‘i Managers get work to Make Sense

” and I got an email asking,

“Mission, vision, or goals Rosa, which is more important? I think I’ve got too much in my model, and I want to make it simpler. I know all three can be important, but which one will be my trump card?”

Which one sets your heart on fire? That’ll likely be your trump card.

There’s little use having a model you’d get an “A” for in some business course — including one of mine, because those are get-your-training-wheels places that at best, will steady you in your seat. The models you study get your thoughts somewhat less random when you’re wondering where to start, or what to kick-start next. The truly good stuff will be in the detail peculiar to you that you never edit out because you want it so badly.

I’m a fan of models because they keep me organized once I’ve already identified what the one thing is I want to build: They’re directional. They point me in the right direction, but in my heart of hearts, I know what I want to find once I arrive there: I want to arrive at a supremely productive, deliriously happy and healthy workplace culture.

So you can use one of my models if you want the same thing, but ultimately, the true goodness of using it will be in the details that you are most passionate about. You will work on what you want to work on because it lights up your business life. You will ignore the rest, and that’s actually a good thing.

Great business stories don’t happen because of models, they happen because of the part of the model you worked on the most, devoting all your dreaming and doing energies to.

When we were kids, those Revell plastic replica kits were the rage of the toy stores. When my kids were young, Lego took over those same toy store shelves, but the sales technique was the same: A glossy box cover with a tantalizing photo of what the result would be once we put the model together.

It was that box cover that got us to choose the one we wanted.

My dad was the one who cared about the number of pieces in the box, and about how much glue he’d have to buy to go with it, and if we could handle the level of difficulty it would present to us, but us kids? We didn’t care, we wanted that box cover to come alive in our hands. We wanted that feeling knowing that we made it, and that all those things my dad cared about didn’t really matter — we’d get through them.

So model me this:

Model me your box cover.

But if you’re an Alaka‘i Manager, don’t stop there.

Model me “that feeling knowing that we made it, and that all those things [organizational obsessives and business gurus cared about] didn’t really matter.”

You’ll have the best model you can possibly have.

And you know what? Those other things you asked about? Mission, vision, goals… they’ll come with your box. Your team of model-makers may not identify them with those words exactly, but they’ll be there.

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My mana‘o [The Backstory of this posting]
Each Tuesday I write a leadership posting for Say “Alaka‘i” at Hawai‘i’s newspaper The Honolulu Advertiser. If this is the first you have caught sight of my Say “Alaka‘i” tagline, you can learn more on this Talking Story page: About Say “Alaka‘i”.

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Talking Story connections [Learning the 9 Keys of MWA]
If you have now Become an Alaka‘i Manager, how would you connect this post to your ongoing learning of MWA Key 6?

6. The ‘Ohana in Business:

The best form for your life can be the best form for your ‘Ohana in Business ® as well, where the goals of each will support the other. A business can be more than self-sustainable and profitable: It can thrive. We learn a value-based business model and organizational structure simultaneous to learning productivity practices which drive ROI (return on investment) and ROA (return on your attentions).

Talking Story Category Page: Key 6—The ‘Ohana in Business