Wobbling Wall Street and your business

Wall Street has been playing yo-yo with the financial markets the past few months. It certainly plays on my nerves, and I doubt it's gone unnoticed by many of you. It calls to mind a very personal take on the simple theory of The Hedge.

For entrepreneurs like us, redoubling our efforts to build value in our own businesses serves as the single biggest hedge against our securities holdings that we can control. It's our way to thrust out our hand and stabilize the vicissitudes of everything from our retirement accounts to bond holdings.

Make your security blanket out of sound business principles. What does that mean? It means carving out a mission, or purpose, along with a vision of where you’re going. It means recognizing your operating values, the set of behaviors that you value and that your team understands and reaps inspiration from. I means being warm-hearted and tough-minded—sensitive and nurturing while holding people accountable.

These are the soft skills of leadership, yet they're the hard skills to build on top of disciplined system. There is no single magic bullet. But there are a lot of magic bullets, and you can get your hands on them. Do that and you'll build your business on sound financial footing that can weather the kind of yo-yo times we're seeing on Wall Street.