Today’s economy isn’t changing tomorrow. Today’s troubles won’t be gone tomorrow. Today’s uncertainty won’t become certain tomorrow. Today we have a lot of companies that are facing their future in a state of disbelief. They have never seen storm clouds this dark, ever. They are looking up at them in horror and appear to be frozen in place. They are continuing to do what they’ve always done, only less of it. They are slowly shrinking in size, capability, and energy. Throughout history there are little to no examples of systems that have shrunk there way to long term success and survival. Companies that swallow the slowly shrinking pill most likely end up slowly dying or suddenly being swallowed up by another.
The ones that survive simply act more quickly and more decisively than those that do NOT. They get offensive and take more risks. They don’t desperately look for silver bullets. They start by stopping.
They stop doing what they’ve always done. They start with small and somewhat safe experiments. Lots of them. They choose to ACT their way forward. Often these teams are led by someone young who has not yet learned what can and can’t be done. These young leaders experiment their way forward as opposed to simply looking up at the darkness and staring back at the ground in a state of learned helplessness.
Today, you and your team are not going to survive unless you decide to change. You know this. You believe this. You are just having trouble closing the gap between what you know and what you do. You and I have some deeply ingrained habits to break.
Start breaking one, today.
John Coffee Hays at 23 led and trained the Texas Rangers into America’s first force that fought successfully in Comancheria. He stopped circling the wagons and leaving the saddle for the “security” of the circle. He practiced and trained his team to take the fight to the Comanche. He experimented and studied what worked and what did not. He midcourse corrected his way forward. He broke old Euro-centric habits and opened up the Plains by blowing up the circle.
In hindsight, I just wish we could have found another way. That, however, is for another rant.
Today, you and your team need to break some old habits. The sky is dark and will get darker soon. Your survival depends on you finding/creating the light. ACT now. Take the offensive. Stat small and build momentum. Don’t worry about what has and has not been done before.
Stop doing what you’ve always done…
BUILT TO LEAD 