Chapter 15
The Principle of Keys
At every stage of human progress, in every area of life, including small business (especially small business), there are invisible barriers that must be unlocked in order for us to pass through to the next stage. Until we can identify and obtain the specific key to each barrier, and identify and master the specific actions that will turn each key, our progress will be stalled.
Most people don’t recognise the barriers, let alone the locks or the need for keys. As often as not, we stumble upon them by accident, or follow someone else through when they manage to find the right key. Then we struggle to make it up the stairs to the next stage. It’s an example of The Peter Principle at work: “In any organisation, the individual rises to his or her level of incompetence.”
In other words, we progress until we reach the stage where we lack the necessary leverage (knowledge, attitudes, skills, gifts, talents or abilities) to rise any higher. So we stay at that level, muddling along, being busy because we lack the resources to be truly productive.
The Peter Principle explains why incompetence is rife in most bureaucracies, whether government departments or private enterprise organisations.
When you understand the Principle of Keys, you enjoy an incisive perspective that can make a world of difference to the results you achieve and the time and effort you have to invest to obtain those results. It can speed up the process significantly.
Throughout this book you’ll find references to the keys that apply to each stage of your progress. Many of them will apply in your personal life as well as business. Nowhere is this more clearly illustrated than in the Freedom Path in Chapter 14.
Keys are actually a form of leverage. A small action — turning the key in the lock — opens the way to exponentially greater results and rewards. Try turning the wrong key in the wrong lock, however, and you’ll find yourself working hard for no worthwhile result. It has to be the appropriate key.
There’s even a key to the Principle of Keys! Here it is.…
- If you feel that you’re “treading water”, “spinning your wheels” or “running on the spot” — in other words, you’re busy being busy, but getting nowhere fast — you’ve come up against a barrier for which you’re going to need the relevant key if you want to pass through it. To find that key, you’ll need to pull back and find the right perspective on your situation, so that you can recognise it for what it really is (the Bow and Arrow Principle at work — link opens in a new window).
Once you can identify the barrier, you’ll know which key is required. But, whatever you do, don't allow yourself to fall into the seductive trap of using Blowfly Logic!Here’s a short Key Register that identifies most of the keys that relate to the contents of this book.
Key Register
Locked Item Key Required
Motives, Knowledge, Thoughts Accurate Perspective*
Attitudes, Emotions, Feelings, Policies, Values Balance*
Behaviour, Skills, Procedures, Activities Purpose*
Control Definition
Independence Mastery
Interdependence Synergy
Freedom Integrity
Relationships Win-Win Perspective
* When you find the correct perspective that gives you effective control of your motives, you’ll also have the balance that gives you control over your attitudes and the purpose that allows you to control your behaviour. They flow automatically from that correct perspective in a natural, cause-and-effect chain reaction.
Accurate perspective is the nearest thing we have to a master key in life — and small business — because it enables us to do the right things for the right reasons, every time.
Taken from
“Don’t Go Into Small Business
Until You Read This Book!”
by John Counsel
Small Business Books 1996
© 1996, 1997 by John Counsel
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