………Advice from the Chairman of the Board
A Crisis is a Terrible Thing to Waste
Often our identity is wrapped up in our financial success. When the success vaporizes, so does our sense of who we are and what are our place is. We are broke and broken. We need to heal, recover and rebuild but do it differently the next time. We need to be certain that hopefully we won’t experience the disaster again. While we have no control over the economy or external circumstances, we can control our thinking, disciplines and strategies.
Questions to ask ourselves:
If I pursue this opportunity, how much time, resources, effort and investment are required?
Is this in my core competence?
What could go wrong?
What are the returns if I am right and the costs if I am wrong?
Can I live with being wrong?
Before spending cash, ask yourself this question: Do I really need this? Will this help me make more money?
New Circumstances always require new…
…skills and tools, fresh training, innovative solutions and superior team members. The alternative relying on past answers is often a prescription for failure to survive.
Questions to ask ourselves:
What is the real problem I am facing and exactly how is this problem different from the one I thought I had? Or used to have?
What are the outdated tools, processes, mindsets I have been carrying with me, that are no longer useful in helping me solve my immediate problem?
What are the tired, worn-out strategies and plans that are no longer supporting us to solve the problem we face?
What existing knowledge, training or experience needs to be abandoned?
What are the new fresh ideas and solutions we need to create to get us past this problem
Survivors and successful people are always learning, innovating and adjusting. If this statement is true, what do we need to learn and where do we need to adjust our performance to succeed?
Who around me is screaming an alternative solution, but I am ignoring them because I don’t see the problem or need to shift strategies?
The Label becomes the Experience
The single most powerful force is the words you use to describe any situation. The label becomes the experience. If money is lost on investment decisions that could have been avoided, labeling it as ‘This is a Catastrophe’, will feel like a catastrophe. If on the other hand it is labelled as ‘Now this is going to be challenging’, the experience is going to be challenging. By changing the label, the experience has changed.
How Am I going to Play the Second half?
We have all made decisions in business and life that in a hindsight was good at that time but didn’t turn out well in the long run. The question then is not ‘How will I win this game?’ It is ‘How am I going to play the second half?’
Hell on earth would be to meet the man you could have been. I want to be able to meet the person, look him into the eye and say, ‘I know you because I am you!’
Questions to ask ourselves
What is my vision of excellence?
What needs to happen for me to be one of the top ten experts in my field?
Where is my level of engagement and intensity of focus inconsistent with that vision and outcomes I desire?
If my vision of excellence is mastery, what needs to change and how would I live my life?
