The Six factors of Enterprise
Over 25 years ago, a friend shared with me his thinking on business development and demonstrated AEIOU over M. He held up his hand and pointed to each finger and labeling each finger, said:
- A for adminstration - the financial and legal stuff
- E for entrepreneurial activities - marketing, promotion
- I for integration - planning, visions and missions
- O for operations - staffing, equipment, doing stuff
- U for understanding - the environment that the business sits in
and then grasped his wrist and shook his hand and said - M for Management which loosely and tightly holds it altogether.
AEIOU over M.
A few years ago I read some of the works of Henry Mintzberg. His training for executives of large corporations focuses on understanding yourself; relationships, organisation, context and change. All encompassing the six factors, I think. I cannot stress enough to micro and small business operators/managers/owners the necessity of being very clear about what it is you want out of the enterprise, what you want the enterprise to return to you. Echoing another influential writer, Michael Gerber, it is important for you to work 'on' the business not just 'in' it.
These are the models I have found very useful in my thinking, training, coaching, advising and mentoring. I look forward to sharing them with you.
