“Henry Ford’s reaction to a consultant who questioned why he paid {note, this was in the 1930s} $50,000 a year to someone who spent most of his time with his feet on his desk. “Because a few years ago that man came up with something that saved me $2,000,000,” he replied. “And when he had that idea his feet were exactly where they are now.”
Rory Sutherland from his glorious audiobook reading of “Alchemy“
As you look ahead to “what comes in the future”, a tip os for you to pay someone to put their feet up and think about opportunities for you and your business.
Yes, you could to it yourself, but, in my experience, even with all the best intentions to carve out this time, it won’t happen as you also have to manage and operate your business.
In a normal world, this gap in time not spent looking at strategic value is already a major omission. However, in the VUCA post-Covid world we will emerge into, this gap will be bigger than ever.
Time to fill that gap. As you won’t have time to do it yourself, pay someone to put their feet on the desk.
Now, please allow me to share a few more thoughts on this and then make an offer to you.
What does Rory do?
First, Rory Sutherland himself is paid by Ogilvy to put his feet on the desk. As it says in his bio, he is: “the Vice Chairman of Ogilvy in the UK, an attractively vague job title which has allowed him to co-found a behavioral science practice within the agency.“
I’m sure Rory also runs that practice, but he also spends much time reading, writing, speaking at conferences etc, plus he is an insatiably curious person who listens a lot. For a snapshot of sources of his wisdom, visit here. Ogilvy is a massive business with creativity at the heart. Rory is, I am sure, worth countless millions to them and therefore their clients. The less he “does” and the more he “puts his feet up”, the more valuable he is!
The value of “feet up on the desk” time – a personal reflection
When I look back on my career from my mid-20s up to my mid-40s, I had responsibilities for businesses and people and spent the vast majority of my time “doing”, working with an operational focus, clearing countless emails, writing and marking off “To Do” lists etc.
However, in my mid-30s my role changed to have me “see everything, but do nothing” for a year, to “put my feet on the desk” I moved to an office away from all the action. I would reading and research, then when visiting our key businesses, and with no operational responsibilities, I was able to view everything through the lens of opportunities.
A few months in, a crazy idea came to me. It would cost a few million, but with the opportunity to pay off massively. As soon as I voiced it, we all knew that it would work. That one idea added more to the value of the business than all my work there in the years before or after.
In fact, as I look back over that roughly 20-year span, the most memorable and fulfilling parts were the handful of moments where something sparked in me that ultimately generated $millions from an unexpected idea.
Intellect over Effort
Let me put this into classic investment language, where the classic “PE ratio” formula can be restated as V=PxM, or:
Value = Profit x Multiple
Ask almost any business leader what they need to increase in order to build value in their company and they will say “increase the Profit”.
Assuming they are already running the business well, to raise revenues and trim costs more will only have a marginal increase. Instead, fare easier to increase the multiple.
Whenever I have put this to people, they always ask: “How do I do that?”. Yes, there are technical models and methods to increase the multiple but, in short, It is the ideas of the person with the feet on the desk that does it, so make sure you invest enough in intellect whilst you also invest in effort.
Profit = Effort, Multiple = Intellect
My offer to you (with my feet up on the desk).
Over the last number of years, my professional work has evolved into being a Sounding Board for Leaders. I’ve moved from the “effort” to the “intellect” side of adding value. Yes, I spend much time metaphorically with my “feet up on the desk”, writing daily, reading, listening, meeting people all over the world and in eclectically varied areas of interest.
I then spend time with my clients as their Sounding Board, listening to understand them, their leadership style, their business needs, their strategic priorities. In the first year or so this can be quite involved, yet as time goes by, in most relationships I am kept on retainer to, yes, keep my “feet on the desk” and have their business in mind, always looking for the ideas, the opportunities, to see what they may not see.
So, my offer to you is to provide you a “micro” version of this, to offer you a free 30 minute Zoom meeting. Come bringing a snapshot of what you feel may be an opportunity for you to add value to your business as we emerge from lockdown, let’s see what value we can create together!
Let’s talk
Book your 30-minute meeting here.