business relationships

Do We Reap What We Sow? Some Notes on Trust
photo shows rows of corn with the sun rising behind them

I’m reflecting on an experience a friend had recently, one of those unexpected and painful situations that leave you reeling. This may sound “personal” and not “business,” but you already know there is only one integrated Mark. And this bears on our work with you.

There is an element of trust in all of our doings. Whether I’m working with you or with another business owner in beautiful downtown Louisville, we have to trust that each of us is going to work to get on the same page and stay on the same page. We’re all in this together, after all.

Our historic building here at 228 Main—once headquarters to The Louisville Courier—is in its second century. When repairs are needed, I have to trust the person I hire to do what they say they will do. They have to trust that I will pay as agreed.

It gets a little stickier when it’s not clear what is being bought and sold. A service you’ve never sought out before, a sales professional you’ve never worked with… These can feel like uncharted waters. And it can feel adversarial with one party on one side, one on the other.

When we feel like we have to defend our own interests, it is harder to remember that both sides usually want the same thing—an agreement.

That agreement may be richer if we can rely upon each other for perspective and guidance. But to do so, we have to accept that we’re working together, each seeking to understand the other. We can formulate a better agreement if we’re not on two warring teams.

In high-trust situations, we end up not only with a good deal that’s mutually beneficial. We can sometimes also end up with a warm relationship with another human being, in all their interesting particularities.

“Business at the speed of trust” is a thing. The price of not trusting is a cynical, legalistic approach to everything. It’s defensive and less collaborative in spirit.

And sometimes, when we come across a hurting human, we pay the price for trust. It’s getting sucker-punched! It’s finding that the topping on the coffee is shaving cream, not whipping cream.

I’m sorry that my friend had to pay that price recently. The hurt is real. Real and worth it, in my opinion, as the price of trusting in general. A lot like the price of loving, or the price of friendship, or any other human interaction where we are vulnerable.

If there are two ways of being, we try to practice the one that opens us to more trust, more love, more connections—a better happier life and once in a long while, a punch in the nose. It’s not okay to lash out of course, but we don’t control the emotions and actions of others. We put ourselves out there and see what happens. We help ourselves recover and get whole, then we try again.

Clients, I will strive to be conscious of the blessings of our mutual trust, and I strive to be worthy of yours. Thank you for engaging with us—and reach out when there is anything you need to acquaint us with.

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Play the audio version of this post below:

Do We Reap What We Sow? Some Notes on Trust – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services

This text is available at https://www.228Main.com/.

Warm and Fuzzy Productivity

© Can Stock Photo / arosoft

The last fifty years in business have seen the transformation from pencil and ledger to spreadsheet, the secretarial pool typing letters to email, research in the library replaced by internet services. Every process can be done exponentially better, faster, and cheaper than half a century ago.

With the incredible increase in productivity over this period, it is a wonder some believe that more increases in office productivity will fix the central issues we face. In our business, as in every business, cost pressures continually push us to do more with less.

It is the conceit of every industry that margin pressure is something that uniquely affects it. In fact, the whole history of human enterprise can be summed up in two words: shrinking margins. The first supermarkets had lower margins than the butcher, the baker and the dairy they replaced. The Sears catalogue had lower margins than the general store. Charles Schwab had lower margins than E.F. Hutton.

The way we see our work, honesty and competence are the entry requirements to the business arena. Beyond that, the productivity issues do not center around software and systems, but people and connections:

1. Do we have the empathy to put ourselves in your shoes and understand your heartfelt objectives, to learn what you can tell us about your needs and situation?

2. Do we have the creativity to collaborate with you on strategies and tactics that may get you closer to where you want to go, in light of all factors: market, economic, tax, everything?

3. Do we have the ability to communicate what you need to know in order to work effectively toward your goals?

‘Relationship’ is the word that sums up these points. Relationships are at the heart of whatever past success we’ve had with you, and whatever exciting future we may build. You, the best clients in the world, play a starring role.

In this view, the key technologies are not how fast some back-office process gets done nor the colors in the pie chart nor pages of dense calculations of statistical history. The key technologies are those things that enable you and us to communicate. When we get basic information to all of you at once, our one-on-one talks can start at a higher level and go farther.

Blog posts at 228Main.com, social media, videos, and our email newsletter are the ways we talk to everybody at once. (None of these existed fifty years ago!) Emails, phone calls, and meetings let us go one-on-one to work on your issues. We have worked diligently to master the technology that most matters to our mutual success: communications.

Clients, if you would like to talk about this or anything else, please email us or call.

Content in this material is for general information only and not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

All investing involves risk including loss of principal. No strategy assures success or protects against loss.

The Meaning of Life

© Can Stock Photo / Toniflap

If you ask Google “What is the meaning of life?” you’ll have more than 25 million search results from which to choose. We cannot answer the question for you, but the question and its answer influence your plans and planning.

Whether we think about “the meaning of life” or not, each one of us has fundamental values and principles that shape our words and deeds and lives. If we are to rely on one another, we probably need some common ground on these values and principles.

We say this because strategy and tactics in planning and investing arise out of our values and principles. If there is some agreement on values and principles, then our strategies and tactics will likely make sense to everyone involved. But if we have completely different ways of looking at the world, then we would probably have different ideas about strategies to deal with opportunities and risks as they arise.

We work with a diverse clientele, people from all walks of life in every kind of circumstance, across the country. You have your hopes and dreams; our object is to understand them, and figure out what role we might play in making them more likely to happen. You may understand ‘the meaning of life,’ or perhaps like us you’ve concluded that life is a journey on the road to understanding. Either way, aren’t we all trying to make sense of it?

Whatever one might think about the meaning of life, it is certain to be better if we listen to one another, respect the intentions and plans of the thoughtful people around us, and help each other get where we are trying to go.

Although it may not look like it, that last sentence is our business plan. It isn’t like the ones you might find in a business school textbook. There aren’t any numbers or growth objectives or profit goals. Simply put, the better off our clients are, the better off we are likely to be.

That has meaning in terms of the resources we need to serve you, personnel and training and equipment and facilities. It shapes how we spend our time, researching markets and managing portfolios and talking to you and communicating in other ways. And it is a big factor in making our practice sustainable.

What is your fondest wish? What are your major objectives? What is the meaning of life? If you’d like someone to listen to your answers, please write or call. It’s what we do.