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Today\\u2019s topic comes courtesy of a very unlikely source for great business advice for entrepreneurs \\u2013 the movie Moneyball.\\xa0 It\\u2019s the real life story of Billy Beane, the general manager of a major league baseball team that finds itself at the bottom of the ladder \\u2013 the Oakland A\\u2019s. \\xa0

Crushed by the big budgets and big name players of teams like the New York Yankees and the Cleveland Indians, Beane is forced to take a risk and do something no team has done before \\u2013 abandon traditional recruiting methods and employ computer-generated analysis to acquire and trade players.\\xa0 You see, they didn\\u2019t have money to attract the MVPs who could hit home runs so they created a formula to predict which players would just be able to consistently hit the ball and get to first base.

And in doing so, Beane changed the face and landscape of the game forever.

One of the quotes from the movie that really summarizes just how big this shift in perspective was is when Beane says to one of his special assistants:\\xa0

\\u201cYou\\u2019re not solving the problem. You\\u2019re not even looking at the problem.\\u201d

Beane understood that in baseball (which is not that different from dealing with your financial issues), it\\u2019s easy to get distracted by all the issues and rhetoric swirling around the actual problem. \\xa0 The more you have personally invested in the status quo, the more you will be prevented from seeing the real problem for what it truly is. That\\u2019s why it\\u2019s vital to seek advice and perspective from people outside your industry \\u2014 those inside will be emotionally attached to the way things have always been done and thus, they have become part of the problem.

Which brings me to why I have invited my good friend Dr Reginald Tomas Lee to the program today...

Reginald Tomas Lee, PhD, is an educator, author, international and TEDx speaker, and corporate advisor in the areas of generating and managing cash, and capacity management. He is the author of four books, including Lies, Damned Lies, and Cost Accounting and Strategic Cost Transformation with three more, including Project Profitability, and Engagement Economics, under contract. He is a feature writer for the Journal of Corporate Accounting and Finance. Reginald has advised many major companies, including as Bristol Myers Squibb, Dell, Disney, DuPont, Lockheed-Martin, and Toyota.

Professionally, Reginald has worked for GM, IBM, EY, has been a professor of both engineering and business, and currently teaches in the business analytics dept at Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH. Reginald has a PhD in mechanical engineering from the University of Dayton.

Financial Foreplay Highlights:

1.\\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 Focus on cash \\u2013 your prime objective is to bring in more cash

2.\\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0Are the tools you are using giving you the information and insights you need? Or are the tools leading to sub-optimization of cash flow?

3.\\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0Three vital questions that should be asked to ascertain whether a decision will improve cash flow - How much did I spend? What did I create? How much demand is there for what I created?