Is Your Practise Failing?

Just 7 days ago, Carlos Ghosn stepped down as CEO of Nissan.

He had a remarkable run, from 1999 turning around an iconic company that was about to crash; then going on to produce a series of "zero-emission" electric cars for developing countries to protect our environment. He is doing good in the world.

In Japan they nicknamed him "7/11" in tribute to his prodigious working ethic.

In his account of the turnaround - Shift - he identified four reasons why Nissan was failing, and these reasons equally apply to your own practise…

FIRST REASON

"Nissan wasn't really engaged in the pursuit of profit. … They were selling cars without knowing if they were taking losses or making profits."

I've written about this a lot when it comes to teachers and instructors of any passion motivated activity. (Alexander, Yoga, Music) People get teary-eyed and ideological, then promptly forget that:

Profit is the fuel for spreading your passion.

When I first started saying this in BodyChance back in 2005, I immediately became a pariah amongst the lovers of the work. I was "selling out", I was a "capitalist pig", I had turned people into objects.

Except "people" is how we measure "profit" at BodyChance.

Our targets are not income, they are "numbers of new trainees" or "numbers of new members" in our public education program. Every week, we have a "Numbers Call" and all the full-time staff gather together on an electronic call to share how many students are studying with us this week.

We celebrate the increases, and figure out the losses.

We care about profit because we care about people.

There two are symbiotic, not contrary.

Our accountant, Akio, then converts our people numbers into bottom line income. How clear are you about your student numbers? Are you focusing on acquisition of students? Do you know when you break-even, when you can grow?

Were you Nissan pre-99 in another life?

Without students coming in the door, there is no income coming in the bank.

It's simple, and yet so many teachers seem to have an aversion to this reality of life. Today I can proudly say that 128 individuals are currently pursing Alexander's discovery in BodyChance, and another 73 have graduated. All of them, and the people they touch, have had their lives benefit in immeasurable ways.

Was being a capitalist pig such a bad thing?

TOMORROW: The second reason Carlos identified that was crippling Nissan, and may be crippling you too. Stay tuned. If you haven't already, join my free 12 Step seminar on how to build a successful practise.

Picture credit: Carlos Ghosn, ex-CEO of NISSAN.