When you have customers lined up out the door, counting cash (and making change) is a pain compared to a zippy point-of-sale system. Refusing to take paper money seems outright hip: more than 40% of Americans only use cards or phones to buy stuff now, up from 25% in 2015.

But cashless businesses are banned in cities such as New York City and San Francisco — along with entire states like Colorado, Massachusetts, and New Jersey — and Los Angeles might be next. Lawmakers are concerned that going cashless discriminates against populations who lack bank accounts or are “underbanked,” which could total 27% of Californians.

While there’s no national law requiring business to accept cash, entrepenuers will need to monitor state and local regulations. Hey, if your goal is to make money, why not take it in every form?

Today’s Edition...

Navy SEAL: Trainer explains why Leadership Is Overrated.

The C-Note: How to change the world with Impact Goals.

Navy SEAL Trainer Explains Why Leadership Is Overrated

Retired U.S. Navy SEAL trainer Kyle Buckett originally wanted to title his new book Kill the Leader.

That’s because the name of an exercise Buckett used to run with SEAL teams where they had to react to the simulated battlefield death of their commanding officer. “You get to watch how the unit reacts when the guy in charge is done,” Buckett tells b.

Mainly, you get to see if the leader equipped his or her team to adapt, which is the major theme of Leadership Is Overrated: How the Navy SEALs (and Successful Businesses) Create Self-Leading Teams That Win. Buckett co-wrote the book with leadership expert Chris Mefford.

“[Managers] don't want to train someone else to replace them because they are so worried about making themselves irrelevant,” Buckett says.

That’s why Buckett and Mefford decided to “pick a fight” with the $166 billion leadership industry. In the book, Mefford and Buckett argue that the long-standing tradition of top-heavy businesses is a broken system. “We think the future is in self-led teams that you empower,” Buckett says.

Give Your Team More Trust and Authority

Part of the problem with top-heavy leadership, according to the authors, is that it gives employees responsibility without authority. But when leaders give their team that trust, they’re often pleasantly surprised.

One notable example that Buckett and Mefford cite: Waterstones bookstore in the U.K. When James Daunt came onboard as CEO in 2011, he empowered store managers to run their own franchises and hire their own teams of book lovers who could give customers personalized recommendations. This helped return the business to profitability after struggling with competition from Amazon. (Barnes & Noble was so impressed, they hired Daunt as its CEO in 2019 for another successful turnaround story.)

The Mission Determines the Leader

Civilians might assume that the Navy SEAL chain of command is top-heavy, but Buckett says a “leadership-at-all-levels” mentality prevails, meaning that SEALs are trained to understand that “leadership might shift depending on the dynamics of the mission.”

The leader should be the person who is best-suited for a particular mission, not necessarily the person with the top rank. That’s a lesson for business managers as well.

Top Leaders Should Focus on Top Strategy

Micromanagement stems from insecurity, which is the opposite of good leadership, according to Buckett and Mefford. If a team is demotivated from too much oversight, leaders “need to take a hard look at themselves and say, ‘Maybe I’m the problem,’” Mefford says.

By letting teams take charge of the (relatively) small stuff, leaders can focus on innovation and expansion, making themselves indispensable. That kind of leader is true Navy SEAL material.

🤿 DIVE DEEPER

How Kyle Buckett and Chris Mefford Start Their Day

Kyle Buckett: “My morning is pretty regimented. I get up around 4:30-4:45 a.m. I’m a big pour-over coffee guy. I love my Chemex, so I’ll start that while simultaneously pursuing my email while I’m waking up. Then after the coffee is ready, I take it up to a special place in my house where I open my Bible… I read every morning. Sometimes, but not always, my wife [joins] me for this time. She owns and operates a business and has 60 employees, so sometimes she can’t always join me.

“After that, I work out. I have a home gym and I’m a big believer in the home gym. I spend about an hour there every morning. And then the rest of the family starts waking up, and if I’m working from home, I’m able to help and get the kids out of the house.”

Chris Mefford: “I get up at 5:30 a.m. I am not a Navy SEAL so I am not wired quite like Kyle. I make a protein shake and do some reading. Then I write my goals I want to try and achieve for the day: three things I want to try to get done today.

“I find that generally if I get one of those things knocked out, I feel pretty successful. … If I don’t do the most important things in the morning, it generally doesn't get done.”

How to Change the World (a Little Bit) With Impact Goals

The C-Note series is presented with our partners at Silver Lining, offering tips on what it takes to launch, run and grow a successful business.

The small business owner is a phenomenal agent for social change and helping people. This opportunity can also keep you in the entrepreneurial game when the going gets tough because working toward something bigger than yourself is one of life's best motivators.

While purpose and mission statements are an excellent way to summarize the impact businesses hope to have on their communities, they rarely contain a way to actualize and measure such an impact. This makes them forgettable even by the company's employees. Instead, we believe in creating an Impact Goal. Like any good goal, an Impact Goal is SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.

Specific

What issues gain your attention? Do you care about mental health for young people? Racial inequality? Climate change?

Write them down and rank them from "I'll go out and march today!" to "this is something that I think about sometimes." Suppose you aren't politically outspoken; what about helping at a local soup kitchen or even just being a more attentive parent? Remember, if it matters to you, it matters.

Measurable

Now that we have your cause solidified, let's plan for tangible impact. How do you want to help young people struggling with depression? Would you like to build a skatepark in your community? Mentor two young people for six months each? Cover therapy fees for five young people? Put some numbers to your cause that inspires your commitment.

Attainable

While small business owners are change agents, we are not superheroes. Running a business is still our job, and securing sustainable profitability is our primary goal. A smart Impact Goal is ambitious enough to leave a mark on your community while considering the time and resources necessary to maintain your business and household.

Relevant

Choose a cause with which you have a real connection. Helping teenagers struggling with depression makes sense if you’ve been there yourself (or are close with someone who has been). This will help you craft your goal in a more effective and appreciated way.

Time-Bound

A hard deadline requires urgency, commitment, and makes your Impact Goal more achievable than a vague, open-ended notion. Being a changemaking entrepreneur isn't just about feeling good; it’s about giving back tangibly to the community and environment that support you and your business daily.