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How efficient is your business? 

Here is an exercise that can help you understand the question better. 

How effective would one employee be doing a different role for the day? Are their systems in place to produce successful outcomes? If not, why not?

Consider that millions of businesses were turned upside down during the COVID pandemic. Is it possible that some people did more than one job for an extended period?

On the latest episode of the Inner Edison Podcast, we spoke about how the pandemic changed businesses and the importance of being strategic about the efficiency of your business. 

We spoke with Marty Strong, an author, speaker, Leadership Consultant, CEO, Chief Strategy Officer, and retired Navy SEAL. His new book, Be Nimble, is a conversational read that talks directly to business leaders. 

In it, he strategically guides business leaders through the murky waters of handling the chaos, confusion, and craziness of the modern-day business world.

Managing COVID

At the beginning of the pandemic, Marty was responsible for two businesses. 

He was the CEO of a management holding company within an employee-owned structure that deals with contracting and training and another business in the healthcare space.

He attributes his success in managing the COVID lockdown to leveraging cloud-based technologies with efficient, effective, and cost-saving platforms.

Additionally, he decreased his physical office space from 21,000 square feet to 6,000 square feet. 

At the same time, he had adopted a model of working remotely, having employees in 29 different states and in Japan. However, it was an adjustment for the 54 people working in the office.

THE BIG WIN: by lowering the cost of office space, he doubled the number of employees within both companies. 

So while others were reducing, if not letting go of workers, he doubled the size of his companies.

Edison Moments

No one tells you after 20 years as a Navy SEAL, you might have more to learn.

Storm recalls he had to endure an “apprenticeship period” before the skills and training he learned as a Navy SEAL could pay off. 

He gravitated toward Finance. The one skill he had to learn was “how to sell.” It took two years and a thousand failures before he learned correctly. 

Leadership in Changing Times

In Be Nimble, Strong has created a book that can help business leaders navigate the challenges of modern-day problems. 

Specifically, he mentions three main stressors that affect employees and leaders alike: 

• Volume – the rate and pace at which work is done. 
• Velocity – the speed at which you receive individual tasks. 
• Complexity – the difficulty of the skill or task being asked to complete. 

To be an effective leader in today’s business world requires insight and decisive action. 

Understanding what is reasonable regarding volume, velocity, and complexity is imperative for leadership success.

In a fast-paced business world that’s constantly changing due to markets, innovation, and technology, leaders need to become nimble and make decisions to affect future outcomes.

Be Nimble

Modern-day business is drowning in data, key performance indicators, and other terms of measurement. With all this data, it’s easy for leaders to feel trapped in a reactionary loop of putting out fires. 

Be Nimble provides actionable knowledge to tackle the real-world problems you’re facing today. 

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For more great interviews about business, entrepreneurship, and more, please follow the Inner Edison Podcast with Ed Parcaut. 

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