In a recent episode of the EntreLeadership podcast, Dave Ramsey opened up about a pivotal moment in his business journey that completely changed how he operated and led his company. At first, he didn’t comprehend or value the gutsy move made by one of his senior executives. In fact, he even pushed back against it.
However, as Ramsey tells it, the results proved him wrong in the best way possible.
Chaos in the Trailblazer Stage
Ramsey describes this time in his business as one of growth and chaos.
"We were probably 200 people and making a lot of money," he says. "But we had like 9 million different things going on in the business. It was like all these chaotic silos all over the place, but buddy, we were getting it done."
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At this point, Ramsey admits his approach to leadership was more reactive than strategic, as they were just “leaving the cave, killing something and dragging it back home. That's how we operated."
The Bold Move That Sparked Change
One of Ramsey's top executives approached him with an idea that seemed completely foreign to his hands-on, scrappy leadership style.
"She came to me and said, ‘Hey, you're going to see an expense item hit my P&L and I don't want you to freak out. I hired a guy to come in and run a StratOp for us.'"
Ramsey's reaction was, “Okay, there's a whole lot of things in that sentence I don't like. You hired someone from the outside to show us how to run a business that's already successful? That's money wasted.” He was unsure what a StratOp is, too.
His executive explained that a StratOp was a strategic operations planning meeting, but Ramsey wasn't convinced.
So he asked her why they didn't just work. If they had worked instead of coming up with things like StratOp and giving other people the money, they wouldn't have to worry about any of this.
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But his executive held her ground, arguing for the value of strategic planning. Ramsey reluctantly let her proceed and what happened next changed everything. The StratOp session brought clarity to the chaos and dramatically increased revenue and productivity over the next six months.
"They came out of that thing and our stinking productivity and revenue went through the roof," Ramsey admits. His executive's response was, "Na na na na na! I love it when you're wrong and you get more money."
Lessons for Business Owners
Ramsey's key takeaway from this experience is simple but powerful: businesses thrive with a clear plan.
"You've got to sit down and make an effective, detailed strategic plan," he explains. A blueprint with a budget and a schedule in which you lay out where your company is going, step by step and assign ownership for each part of the plan. Don’t be like, “Two rednecks leaning over the hood of a truck with a yellow pad drawing a sketch.”
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