Herding catsHerding cats
This one is my second favorite term, after green weenie. Herding cats is a tough chore. In business, it translates as managing a group of people that are hard to control or direct. Imagine trying to keep dozens of cats all headed in the same direction focused on the same results. I first heard it applied during a discussion of a consolidation of a bunch of mom-and-pop salvage yards. The owners stayed on. They all had their own ideas of how to run the consolidated business.

Though not technically wrong, as most of them had been successful managers, they held sharply different ideas on running the business. Following the consolidation, each previous owner continued running his operation as a freestanding unit and resisted standard practices and directives issued from headquarters. Now that would be a CEO's herding nightmare!

The term can also mean trying to direct employees who don't work well together. My favorite use of the term, however, came in a memo about private stock placements. A decision was needed on whether to offer $1 million either in $250,000 shares to four investors or in $10,000 shares to 100 investors. Investors always have their own ideas about how things should be done, what went wrong and how you could have done better. Each will want to have his or her hand held and get regular progress reports. The business decided that if you're going to herd cats, four is much easier, so he turned down all the small investors. Herding 100 shareholders is impractical, if not impossible, and will definitely drive one crazy.

Herding cats

an illustration by Gahan Wilson from Ron's Book "Green Weenies and Due Diligence"
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Welcome To Business Jargon 101

The business world has a jargon all its own, one that can seem incomprehensible to ordinary mortals. We've taken some of the most common terms and tried to translate them into plain English.

That's one of the things Ron Sturgeon, Mr. Mission Possible, is best at-putting the guiding principles of successful entrepreneurship into simple, plainspoken language. Ron has a way of cutting through the B.S. and getting directly to the point. That's because he knows what he's talking about-when you take several companies and build them into multimillion-dollar operations, you know you're doing something right!

Worth Taking A Look

There's more to some of the phrases we've collected than meets the eye. Take business success, for example. For some, that means making as much money as possible as quickly as possible. For others, it means above-average results over an extended period. And for others, it might mean having the chance to do the sort of things they've always wanted to do. See? Not as simple as it might seem at first.

There's a common element in all the definitions. No matter whether you're just starting a business, expanding a business or simply working to grow it over the long term, it's always a good idea to make sure your plans and ideas are vetted by a seasoned entrepreneur who can offer business mentoring. And it never hurts to have someone from outside the organization offer a different perspective, either.

Sometimes that can be done in something as simple as a speaking engagement. On other occasions, it might call for some consulting. And others might call for a mix of a veteran entrepreneur and the people who know your business best-owners just like you. That's what peer benchmarking groups are all about. Ron can help you find the solution that works for your business!

Some Of The Definitions You'll See

We've put together more than 30 definitions, covering areas such as: