3 Business Lessons from Rod Blagojevich
Posted by Emily Brooks
I wasn't quite sure to shake my head in dismay or fall over with side-splitting laughter when watching the Celebrity Apprentice this week!
I'm sure that you remember that Rod Blagojevich was the sixteenth governor in the United States, and the first Illinois governor, to be impeached in 2009. While he had been under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation since 2005 for corruption, it was his "selling" of Obama's open senate seat to the highest bidder that made Rod a famous household name.
But enough of the past! Now, Rod Blagojevich is reinventing his identity as the biggest buffoon in reality TV on the Celebrity Apprentice! He's a viewership GOLDMINE, and Trump is no fool! You had better believe I'll tune in again!!!!
But stepping away from purely unadulterated and comical Sunday entertainment, there are 3 very serious business lessons we need to take home as we guffaw at Blago - our new favorite reality TV goober.
Lesson #1: If you can't, don't!
Watching Rod try to help his team was frightening. This brief moment in time will officially and forever reign as Computer Illiteracy Gate!
If you can't do something get out of the way before you slow down efficiency, bog down the system, hurt your team, waste time and rack up extra expense to cover your ineptitude. Stop everything that you're doing and learn it, or perhaps you need to get back out there and get a new job.
According to Blago, "When you have nearly 60 thousand people work for you, they do all of the work for you. I never had to learn it." COP OUT! I wonder how many thousands of dollars Illinois tax payers spent every month for the additional staff and support Rod needed because he chose - and deliberately continues to choose to this day - to be technologically illiterate. You'd have thought that with the opportunity to go on Trump's reality TV show, Rod would have said to himself "Golly gee, we have to know how to use a computer, or a camera, or a cell phone, or a digital alarm clock on the show. I had better learn that." Uh huh. You'd have thunk.
Lesson #2: Master it first, THEN delegate!
Blago's immediate pass-the-buck response to his lack of computer skills spoke unintentional volumes about his skills as a business man.
There are some really important management techniques to delegating responsibility for a part of a business organization's roles or tasks. But before you even consider delegating or outsourcing, you must first be the MASTER every element of what you'd like someone else to help you with.
Do not outsource or delegate the needs of your business the same way you would hire a plumber. You don't necessarily need to understand how a vent pipe works to hire someone to fix your toilet - and there are millions of people out there who could do that for you. Having said, if you know a little something about plumbing you're probably going to be able to hire the best expert more quickly and save yourself both time and money in the long run.
Servicing your entrepreneurial business needs are not as simple as hiring someone else to fix your toilet.
For example, don't hire someone to launch a Social Media campaign if you don't know the industry best practices for utilizing social media to grow your business. Most businesses can figure out how log onto Twitter and create a free account, and yet most don't understand how to use Twitter for brand awareness.
Without a MASTERY FIRST - DELEGATE SECOND approach to business, how can you know if you're hiring the right person? How will you know if you're investment is working? How can you set goals? Measure results? Adapt your strategy? If you can't answer these questions, you're throwing your money away.
Your business can only grow as your own knowledge base grows. Invest in Entrepreneurial Training Programs, scan the web for the free webinars, white papers, and other training opportunities available.
Lesson #3: There is no such thing as ENTITLEMENT.
If you want something, EARN IT. In business, you pay to play. You pay with your time, your self-invesment, and your dedication to learning, growing, and operational mastery. Yet Blagojevich believes that that rule doesn't apply to him. "They're not willing to give me anything except appreciation, so f*** them." Who's the joke on, sweetie?
It appears as if Rod hasn't learned from any of his business mistakes from the past. Perhaps Sharon Osbourne is right. "They pulled him out of the oven too soon. He wasn't properly formed."
If that is NOT what you want people to say about your company, perhaps you had better take these business lessons to heart. Learn from Blago!