The Queen Bee Role is the single essential function a business must protect to keep its core promise. For FedEx, that's logistics. For Mike Michalowicz's business, it's writing books. Identify yours by stating your biggest customer promise, then pinpointing the one activity that fulfills it most.
You're watching Under the Covers. This is some stuff that I want to share with you from within the books that I don't have a chance to share on the podcast, so we get into a little more detail on our little videocast. You know who asked the question? Kelsey Ayers. Hello, friend. She runs the show here. I should actually ask you a question. Okay, oh, this is bad. Here's the question, here's the question. Ready? Yeah. What do you wanna ask me? Ah, so good. Yeah, that was horrible. Okay, so in Clockwork, you talk about the queen bee role. Yeah. QBR, what is that and how do I figure it out? Great question. So the queen bee role is a function, and a lot of the confusion I get about the book is they think it's a person. Now, there can be a person serving this function, so let me rewind and explain in more detail what it is. The QBR came from, or derived it from, beehives. There's a singular function that a beehive's survivability, and therefore thrivability, hinges on, and what it is is the production of eggs. Beehives need to produce eggs so that the beehive can flourish. Mm-hmm. Right? You make me giggle. I don't know why, but you do. So I found in every business there is a singular function that's the most important function for that business. Your business's success is contingent upon this. And it's always a singular function. The example I've been using, you've probably heard me do it on interviews and so forth, is FedEx. FedEx delivered, their promise is to deliver packages on time. The function that makes that promise a reality is the logistics of the business. So the most important function of FedEx is logistics. Once you know what your beehive is, there's a singular function that a beehive's survivability, and therefore thrivability, hinges on. And what it is is the production of eggs. Beehives need to produce eggs so that the beehive can flourish. Mm-hmm. Right? You make me giggle. I don't know why, but you do. So I found in every business there is a singular function that's the most important function for that business. Your business's success is contingent upon this. And it's always a singular function. The example I've been using, you've probably heard me do it on interviews and so forth, is FedEx. FedEx delivered, their promise is deliver packages on time. The function that makes that promise a reality is the logistics of the business. So the most important function of FedEx is logistics. Once you know what your most important function is, your QBR, you have to do everything to protect it. So FedEx, every, you know, winter season, when the holidays are occurring, they get more package shipment demand than any other time of season. What happens is the managers leave the desks and they start driving the trucks. They hire extra staff at the warehouses. They staff up to support it. Know what your QBR is by first asking yourself, what's the biggest promise I make to my customer base? Like, we make entrepreneurship simple. That's our promise. Then behind it, say, what's the singular activity that most supports it? So for me, it's actually writing books. We do podcasts, we do these interviews, they all help that, but the single most important function is books, which means that can never be compromised. That's the equivalent of laying eggs for this organization. So if I stop writing books, then we start to wind down, you know, relatively quickly. If we stop doing podcasts or these interviews, we We won't be able to get as much great content out there, but the books, the mainstay of our business, will still exist. So figure out what your QBR is by asking what's the biggest promise you offer your customers, and then what's the singular activity that most delivers on that promise, and make sure that QBR is never compromised. That's what it is. Alright, I'll do that. Back under the covers? The example I've been using, you've probably heard me do it on interviews and so forth, is FedEx. FedEx delivered, their promise is to deliver packages on time. The function that makes that promise a reality is the logistics of the business. So the most important function of FedEx is logistics. Once you know what your most important function is, your QBR, you have to do everything to protect it. So FedEx, every— the mainstay of our business will still exist. So figure out what your QBR is by asking what's the biggest promise you offer your customers, and then what's the singular activity that most delivers on that promise, and make sure that QBR is never compromised. That's what it is. All right, I'll do that. Back under the covers. You know, winter season when the holidays are occurring, they get more package shipment demand than any other time of season. What happens is the managers leave the desks and they start driving the trucks. They hire extra staff at the warehouses. They, they staff up to support it. Know what your QBR is by first asking yourself, what's the biggest promise I make to my customer base? Like, we make entrepreneurship simple. That's our promise.
