Eduardo Castro-Wright is the vice-chairman of Wal-Mart Stores. He was interviewed recently by the New York Times. In that interview he said:

"I think all of us read far too many business books."

Seriously? Let's consider a few of the published statistics:

42% of college graduates never read another book after college

70% of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.

80% of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.

Doesn't seem to me that reading is the problem.

While reading The Breakthrough Company yesterday I came across this quote from Tom Golisano, founder of Paychex:

"Paychex hires attitude and trains aptitude."

I hear that a lot. At first blush, it makes sense. Unfortunately, it's misleading and potentially damaging. To begin with, I'm not sure we know what the optimal attitude is or how to spot it. But even if we did, hire attitude – train aptitude leads us down the primrose path.

Here's why: In most endeavors (including every job in your company and my company) the foundation of great achievement is great ability. If I'm not wired with great ability in accounting, I'm not going to be a great accountant – it's just that simple. And that's true no matter how fabulous my attitude might be.

Mr. Golisano built a spectacularly successful company. That doesn't mean he knows everything. (Keep in mind, at one time, Bill Gates didn't seem too sure this internet thing was going to take off.) Hiring great performers isn't simple and it isn't easy. Cliches like hire attitude – train aptitude minimize the effort and rigor required to identify great talent. Let's not fool ourselves.

Growth requires an developing the capability to sell more and the capability to produce more. But there are two other questions to consider:

It takes cash to grow – where does the cash come from?

It takes people to grow – how do we recruit, train, manage and stay in legal compliance as we add people?

Are these the organizing principles for a growth plan?

I have the privilege of interacting with a lot of business owners. Almost without exception, the number one topic of conversation is growth. The question most business owners wake up with every morning is:

How do I grow my business?

But that's the wrong question. How do I grow my business? is an end-game question. Asking it too early in the process produces confusion, frustration and often, unproductive activity. Asking it at the wrong time can even sink the ship. What we need is a stepping-stone question. What we need to ask is, which of the following is most important right now?

a) Develop the capability to sell more

b) Develop the capability to produce more

I can here the chorus now, I need both! That's true, you do need both to grow. But, how to sell more? and how to produce more? are radically different questions with radically different answers. And virtually no one has the time, resources and brain power to answer both at the same time.

So, which one is most important to your business right now? Which one comes first?

This might seem patently obvious, but I'll say it anyway:

People don't want to waste their lives.

Full time employees spend around 40 hours at work every week. Virtually none of them spend that much time in any other single endeavor, maybe not in all their other endeavors put together. So if all they're doing is trading time for a paycheck and waiting for the weekend – well, that sucks out loud.

In the Art of the Start, Guy Kawasaki counsels would-be entrepreneurs to ask themselves, "Do I want to make meaning?" He suggests a few meanings of "meanings":

Make the world a better place.

Prevent the end of something good.

Chances are, your business makes meaning in one of these ways. Or in some other important way. But often, the true meaning of the business gets buried under the crush and stress of daily operations.

When our people are focused on their own individual tasks and responsibilities, it's easy for them to get disconnected from the meaning they help make, easy for them to forget their work really matters, easy for them to feel like they're wasting their lives. But leaders can intervene. More later.

Right now, I can think of 25 or 30 things I COULD be doing. Every one of those 25 or 30 things would likely be of some value to our business. Some would add a little value, some would add a lot of value. But only ONE of them, would add the MOST value. Only ONE of them is MOST important, the TOP priority. Here's a truth that's hard for most of us to get our arms around, and even harder to act on:

If two things are most important, neither one really is.

The most productive people decide every morning what their top priority is for the day. They say to themselves: "If I don't get anything else accomplished today, I am absolutely, positively going to get (X) done." And in most cases, (X) is a result, not an activity. Peter Drucker suggests this question:

"What can I and no one else do, which if done really well, would make a real difference to this company?"

That's a good question for anyone who regularly picks up a paycheck, but it is a profound question for leaders. Every moment brings the choice of either/or. How we choose defines our companies and our lives.

Rajesh Setty of Life Beyond Code has written a marvelous little book entitled, Upbeat - Cultivating the right attitude to thrive in tough times. Here are a couple of my favorite excerpts:

"The paradox in life is that shortcuts always take longer and/or cost more."

"If there is one metric that makes sense, it is the extra capacity you add in the life of another person in your network. With you being in their life, their life should be significantly better than without you being in their life."

Now here's the kicker – I'm giving away a copy of this terrific book to the first 25 people who email me with UPBEAT in the subject line of the email. So, don't wait. Send me an email and get a book that could just change your life.

UPDATE on UPBEAT: I should have been more specific in my post – this offer is for a traditional printed copy of the book. If you would like to receive a copy, please respond with UPBEAT in the subject line of your email AND include your snail mail address in the body of your email. This offer is limited to mailing addresses in the United States. Thanks.

I spent three days in Chicago for SOBCon 09 last weekend. I had made a spur of the moment decision to attend, not really knowing what to expect. I knew Liz Strauss was a power blogger with a strong following, and I was familiar with a couple of the presenters (Brian Clark of copyblogger and Chris Brogan).

But I really wasn't prepared for the vast amount of great information and the welcoming, supportive community I discoverd at SOBCon. It was truly an inspiration. And even better, it was FUN. I have to give a special shoutout to the Make It Great Guy, Phil Gerbyshak for introducing me to so many great people, and to Rajesh Setty, author of the Life Beyond Code blog for his amazing kindness and stunning insight.

Of course, there were other wonderful folks too numerous to mention. I'm looking forward to SOBCon 2010 – hope to see you there.