How to Build a Billion-Dollar Business

CHAPTER 25CIRCLES OF INFLUENCE

During this stressful time I always came back to the mantra that had served me so well: ‘control the controllables’. It's all anyone can do. To stress about events, people and circumstances over which we have no control is a waste of time and energy.

Controlling the controllables at work

After much collaboration and consultation with the team, we gathered our collective energies and got to work to create a swathe of new strategies that would set us on a new path. We:

• improved our communications: Using new and improved communications channels, we dialled up the frequency and depth of our company updates and meetings. We used these meetings to honestly share with the team where things were at, what had gone wrong, and what we had done to demonstrate that we'd learned from our experiences. Our regular 360-degree feedback sessions, where everyone got to give feedback about everyone, led by Cath and Steph Brown, our Performance Manager, were confronting, but exceptionally useful. They helped us optimise our communication and gave us the tools we needed to become a better-connected team.
• reviewed our labelling: When we carefully examined the $15 million worth of unsold stock sitting in those US warehouses, we discovered that with some small changes to the product label, we could easily repackage the stock up and re-sell it back in Australia. What we couldn't sell, we could give away as bonus stock to incentivise our retailers to buy more, or offer ...