Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building and GOLAJV. This
Speaker 1: is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul Fellavaledo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode six twenty eight. Today we're talking about something
Speaker 2: every leader thinks they understand until they don't, and that's
Speaker 2: finding profits in hidden corners. Most leaders chase big wins,
Speaker 2: big contracts, big hires, big ideas, even big expansions. But
Speaker 2: after twenty eight years on the front lines, I can
Speaker 2: tell you something with absolute confidence. Most organizations are leaking
Speaker 2: money in places that no one is even looking, and
Speaker 2: it is rarely it is quiet. Let me give you
Speaker 2: a picture. When I was learning to fly, one of
Speaker 2: the first lessons drilled into me was this, and I've
Speaker 2: mentioned this probably in twenty podcasts. Small adjustments matter. If
Speaker 2: you're one degree off course and you don't correct it,
Speaker 2: you will not notice it. At first. The sky still
Speaker 2: looks blue, the gauges look fine, the engine sounds smooth.
Speaker 2: But over distance, that one degree turns into miles. Businesses
Speaker 2: drift the same way. Hidden corners are where drift lives
Speaker 2: let's talk about where those corners actually are. Corner number
Speaker 2: one is unused capacity in ems that could be idle units,
Speaker 2: underutilized staff skills, equipment sitting in cabinets that never gets deployed.
Speaker 2: In your business, it might be empty meeting rooms, subscription software.
Speaker 2: No one uses talent on your team that you never
Speaker 2: fully deploy. There are people on your payroll right now
Speaker 2: who could create revenue if you actually ask them what
Speaker 2: they know how to do. Instead, we leave them in
Speaker 2: a narrow lane and complain about margins. So here's a
Speaker 2: tactical move. Audit your people, sit down and ask what
Speaker 2: skills are we not using here? And you will be shocked.
Speaker 2: Corner number two is pricing blind spots. Leaders hate talking
Speaker 2: about money. They think it feels uncomfortable. That discomfort costs you.
Speaker 2: When was the last time you truly evaluated your pricing model,
Speaker 2: not raised prices out of panic, but evaluated them strategically.
Speaker 2: Restaurants know their break even per plate. Airlines know their
Speaker 2: load factors down to the decimal, Yet small businesses guess
Speaker 2: profit hides and clarity. If you do not know your
Speaker 2: exact cost per unit, per hour, per service, you are
Speaker 2: flying blind and leaders who fly blind eventually crash. Corner
Speaker 2: Number three, micro inefficiencies. I once reviewed a process that
Speaker 2: cost an organization about twelve dollars per transaction in wasted labor.
Speaker 2: It seemed harmless until we did the math thousands of
Speaker 2: transactions later. That was real money. Leaders overlook small friction
Speaker 2: because it feels petty. To address it is not petty.
Speaker 2: It is discipline. Look at your workflows. Where are people
Speaker 2: duplicating efforts? Where are they waiting on approvals that do
Speaker 2: not matter? Where are you requiring three signatures when one
Speaker 2: would do? Those are all hidden corners. Corner number four
Speaker 2: Cultural drag. Now this one hurts. Every toxic employee costs
Speaker 2: you money. Every disengaged manager costs you money. Every meeting
Speaker 2: that produces nothing costs you money. You may not see
Speaker 2: it on a spreadsheet, you will feel it in your margins.
Speaker 2: Culture is not a poster on a wall. It's either
Speaker 2: accelerating performance or draining it. If you tolerate mediocrity, you're
Speaker 2: paying for it twice, once in payroll and once in
Speaker 2: lost performance. Red key moment here when you know someone
Speaker 2: is underperforming and you delay action, That is not kindness.
Speaker 2: That is leakage. Corner. Number five, reputation leverage. This is
Speaker 2: the one most leaders never tap. Your brand has value
Speaker 2: beyond your product. If you have trust in your market,
Speaker 2: you can expand into services that align with that trust.
Speaker 2: Think about it. Why do certain companies get to launch
Speaker 2: new product and instantly win customers. It's not magic, It
Speaker 2: is reputation equity. What adjacent service could you offer right
Speaker 2: now that your customers already assume you are capable of delivering? Profit?
Speaker 2: Hides in adjacency. Now, let me bring this back to
Speaker 2: something bigger. Finding hidden profits is not about greed. It
Speaker 2: is about stewardship. If you are leading a nonprofit, tighter
Speaker 2: margins mean more mission delivered. If you're leading a private company,
Speaker 2: stronger margins mean stability, growth, opportunity for your people. Money
Speaker 2: is oxygen. You do not worship oxygen. You respect it
Speaker 2: because without it, nothing else survives. So here's your seven
Speaker 2: minute drill for this week. Number one, identify one unused
Speaker 2: asset in your organization. Number two. Identify one process that
Speaker 2: feels inefficient. Number three, identify one pricing assumption you have
Speaker 2: not challenged in the last twelve months. Write them down,
Speaker 2: act on one of them within the next seven days.
Speaker 2: Do not delegate the thinking. Own it because here's the truth.
Speaker 2: Most organizations do not fail from one catastrophic event. They
Speaker 2: bleed slowly from one hundred small leaks, and strong leaders
Speaker 2: patch leaks before they become emergencies. I have seen it
Speaker 2: in disaster response. I've seen it in aviation. I've seen
Speaker 2: it in business. The leaders who win are not always
Speaker 2: the flashiest. They are the ones who pay attention to
Speaker 2: the corners. They look behind the curtain, they open the closet,
Speaker 2: They ask uncomfortable financial questions, They respect the math, and
Speaker 2: they refuse to tolerate drift. So hidden profits are not
Speaker 2: found by accident. They are found by leaders who are curious, disciplined,
Speaker 2: and willing to look where others ignore. Spend seven intentional
Speaker 2: minutes this week examining the corners of your organization. Tighten
Speaker 2: what is loose, Clarify what is fuzzy, fix what is leaking.
Speaker 2: That is leadership, That is stewardship, and that is how
Speaker 2: you turn small adjustments into major gains. This has been
Speaker 2: the seven minute Leadership Podcast, and I thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: For more, Paul Fell of Alito Podcasts, visit Paulfellowalito dot
Speaker 1: com