Interview: Leander Jackie Grogan, Author of What’s Wrong With Your Small Business Team?

Book Title:
What’s Wrong With Your Small Business Team?

Website URL:
http://antheadsystem.com

Social Media Links:
Twitter: @adgrogan007
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/leanderjackie.grogan?ref=tn_tnmn#!/pages/Leander-Jackie-Grogan/106318216131317

What is your book about?
“What’s Wrong With Your Small Business Team?” is an insightful, purposefully simple, all-in-one small business reference book addressing the Generation X quandary of selecting an effective management system to replacement America’s old top-down, command-structure system currently dying on the vine.

What inspired you to write your book?
I wrote the book in response to a critical need in the marketplace. From the Death of Management: Restoring Value to the U.S. Economy by J. Buffington to the Wall Street Journal’s Essential Guide To Management by Alan Murray, the ominous warning has hounded executives for over a decade. The system is broken. After years of driving companies into the ground, the old drill sergeant management structure was dying a slow death, taking a slew of promising young businesses with it. The new crop of Generation X and Millennial small business owners were in need of a replacement model, one that valued people over short-term paper shell profits and facilitated genuine growth.

But people were having trouble trying to figure out what this new model would look like.

You must recall that three decades had passed since a selfish breed of “instant-profit” Machiavellian Wall Street maniacs universally adopted policies that dehumanized employees and made job instability a primary tool to enhance productivity. Except for GE, Southwest Airlines, FedEx and a few astute visionary companies, GenX owners, seeking viable examples of long-term teambuilding, have nowhere to turn, no viable examples into which they could sink their entrepreneurial  teeth.

In response to this crisis, I created the Anthead Syndrome, a groundbreaking system that stretches the traditional entrepreneur into a nimble sky-walker with an array of leadership styles and expansive knowledge of managing ambiguities, personal preferences and case by case scenarios that inspire team members to excel as partners rather than fearful prey.

I believe the new breed of GenX small business owners hold the greatest hope for restoring a sense of dignity and pride among team operatives and re-establishing the true value of human capital that made this country great.

How did you come to do what you’re doing today?
I’m a 30 year business veteran with hands-on experience in the trenches, former CEO of a successful advertising/marketing company and frequent speaker a business forums. More importantly, I’m an ole-school pundit who enjoys a unique perspective of the value of analytics and even greater value of motivated people. No one wants to leave places like Goggle and Southwest Airlines. There’s a reason, and it has to do with knowing how to treat “people”. This is the core message of What’s Wrong With Your Small Business Team?; Transforming small businesses from owner-employee relationships to full-blown partnerships.

Can you describe a typical day in your life?
Mostly researching and writing. I try my best to weasel out of consultant assignments because they take time from what I love to do … write. Some people write management books in hopes of landing high-paying consultant assignments. I write books as a way to pass on the knowledge we ole timers would otherwise end up taking to out graves; simplistic knowledge that seems counter-intuitive to a new generation caught up in complex analytics and the latest electronic toys.

What do you most enjoy about what you do?
Exploiting the power of the written word. And ultimately hearing about the successes I might’ve played a role in bringing about.

Are there any people and/or books that have inspired you along your journey?
People like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Michael Dell. I worked with creative guru Roy Spence at GSDM in Austin who had a huge influence on my perspective. There are so many other unknown mentors who showed me how to think outside the box. Appreciative Inquiry by Sue Annis Hammond and Marketing Management by Phillip Kotler are two books I highly reccomend.

Can you share some business tips for our readers?
I have a zillion free tips here:
http://antheadsystem.com

Can you share something that people might be surprised to learn about you?
I cut my own hair. I voted for George Bush the first time around because of evangelical beliefs. I love “Gold Rush”

Is there anything else you would like to add?
To young GenX owners, the road is not straight. There will be many bumps. But to be successful you must learn to persevere.