Everyone is a CEO

Regardless of whether you are single or married, employed or retired, every single person in this country is a CEO.

For example, I am the CEO (together with my wife, of course -- and above or below on the org chart, depending on who you ask) of the Morris Family Household Corporation.

I say this because managing a household is absolutely no different than managing a multinational corporation or the federal government, the numbers just have fewer zeroes. Of course, absolute digits really don't matter a whole lot anyway, because in the end it's looking at the numbers in relative percentage terms that shows where the truth lies.

Furthermore, one can draw the conclusion that the majority of businesses and governments must be poorly managed, as so too are the financial affairs of most families -- the same average household with 150%+ of their disposable income in debt represents the same average household that contains the same average people in many top managerial and political roles...

How can you get ahead if you don't even track what's going on?

The Morris Family Household Corporation has been a highly successful business venture thus far; this has been primarily due to a lot of hard work (as it should be).

Over the last few years, the corporation has been through a merger (the marriage of my wife and I), a year of capital intensive research and development leading to the introduction of a new product line (our 5 month old son), and ongoing capital investment.

The majority of our success has stemmed from how we do business.

We have an annual capital and operating budget, we establish goals, and we are always aware of exactly where every cent of our income goes (the majority, of course, is to taxes).

We also produce income statements and maintain a balance sheet, which allow for the easy analysis of our state of affairs.

We track expenditures by cost center and can make comparisons over time.

Most importantly, we use this information to make strategic management decisions.

Our last decision of such resulted in the relocation of our corporate headquarters to capitalize on an opportunity that will significantly increase our total revenue in 2011 over 2010, while at the same time halving our actively employed staff (my wife doesn't need to work), eliminating the expense, time, and risk of a work commute, and significantly reducing our fixed expenses.

So, fellow CEO, are you aware of how your business is performing?

I will follow this up on a later date with a lesson on budgeting.

Lastly, on an entirely unrelated note, have a watch: