Every once in a while, I come across a really good book for small business owners and decide to recommend it. Of course, there are many good books but, this is one worth reading. The jacket says it all.
“As thorough as a textbook and as lively as a news magazine, The Big Book of Small Business: You Don’t Have to Fly By the Seat of Your Pants,’ by Tom Gegax is the most comprehensive and practical book on how to take a small business to the next level, an indispensible slingshot for the millions of David’s taking on corporate Goliaths”. While the book is a virtual blueprint for making your entrepreneurial dreams come true, it is anything but a fairy tale. In fact, long before Tom’s dreams came true, he had to live through a nightmare.
“Your shoes are charred from stomping out brush fires. You have nightmares about UFOs-Unreachable Financial Objectives. All star interviewees turn into duds. Meetings cause more problems than they solve. The office is a ghost town at 5:01 PM. Does this sound familiar?
“Tom Gegax knows what that is like. Years after running his Tires Plus company by the seat of his pants, blissfully unaware of how little he knew about getting the most out of people and managing a world-class organization, Tom was faced with a cancer diagnosis and a business at the brink of disaster. Resolved to change things around, he improved his mental clarity, health, and relationships and noticed that the more profited on a personal level, the more his company profited. Tires Plus grew into a $200 million business with 140 locations. He had learned his first lesson in Enlightened Leadership 101: Focus on the well-being of your employees and customers-as well as your own-and success will follow naturally.
“In The Big Book of Small Business, Tom shares his hard-earned lessons on how to become an enlightened, effective leader, and how to do the small things right so the big decisions work. This all-in-one toolbox for small business is jammed with warm-hearted, tough-minded practices and street-smart tips, covering every aspect of growing a business:
Starting, funding, and getting your new business off the ground- Crafting a mission and growing a corporate culture that works
- Hiring the best people and maximizing their potential
- Communicating/negotiating with employees/customers/suppliers
- Creating processes for continuous innovation and growth
- Protecting your business from unforeseen dangers
- Planning for growth
- And much more…”
As co-founder and former Head Coach (aka, CEO) of Tires Plus, Tom grew the company into a multinational corporation with 2000 employees and 150 stores. After selling the company to Bridgestone, Tom wants to share the insights he gained with small business owners to help them increase profits and reduce stress. In “The Big Book of Small Business”, Tom humbly describes his journey from being “clueless to cashing out”.
What I like most about Tom’s book is his authenticity. Tom openly discloses the correlation between his own personal transformation and his company’s success. He admits that one of the keys to his success is to understand, not just the business, but the people who work in it.
According to Tom, leaders need to objectively observe and grade themselves; both their strengths and their weaknesses. In his presentations, workshops and coaching sessions, he often asks if the leader knows what those grades are.
Tom often asks clients, “When is the last time you evaluated your own performance? How did it look? What did you do about it? It sure isn’t easy to get good evaluations. We beat up on ourselves too much or ignore faults altogether because that’s less painful. Denial and rationalization can rush in when we turn inward.”
Tom believes in the practice of self-coaching as much as he believes in coaching employees. He still chuckles about the reaction he got from people a few years ago at the American Management Association’s CEO Conference in Quebec when he mentioned feedback he got from an employee review. Other CEOs in attendance were appalled that he had allowed his employees to talk about him like that. Ignorance is not bliss, Tom told them. He would rather know what employees are thinking and saying and make corrections based on valid criticism. That’s how you avoid the Emperor-has-no-clothes syndrome.
I realized that Tom was the real deal when he flew to Arizona to be with my late husband who was given a terminal diagnosis of cancer. My husband had been supportive of Tom during a tough period in his life and Tom was duty-bound to reciprocate. I don’t know of many CEOs of multinational corporations who have demonstrated that kind of character.
But, I digress. I would not suggest you read Tom’s book because he has character. You should read “The Big Book of Small Business” because it has the kind of help you need to build a successful business.
If you would like more information, you can contact Tom at tom.gegax@gegax.com or 612-920-5114. www.gegax.com
If you would like to contact me, you can do so by visiting my LinkedIn page or emailing me at susan.fronk@bestbizpractices.org.
Posted by: Susan Fronk
