What an amazing time this has been. Without question, it is one of the most confusing, nerve-racking and frustrating times in modern history. As a result, there has been a never-ending deluge of content around short term tactics like crisis management and home office efficiency. And while it is critical to get things done in the moment, this time should also offer us a chance to reflect and determine what our strategy will be for the future.
Over the past month, there has been an endless deluge of blog posts, video messages and podcasts discussing crisis management due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And while I am just as nervous about this pandemic as most, I have been thinking that there’s a bigger epidemic at play. I wonder if maybe we’ve been off track for a good long while.
Here at Conduit Inc., we are thinking of you. The anxiety each of us feels now for both our physical and economic well-being is real.
My grandfather, a Methodist minister, was a remarkable man. The son of the revolution and missionary in the Philippines, he survived the Great Depression and
If companies embrace a resource-centric strategy, business will ultimately stall. You cannot reignite growth by innovating more around those same resources. Sure, it is easy to have your operations team perform exhaustive research around equipment and production. You can even get the executive team to create a brilliant new strategy for your offering. But those decisions alone will not enable you to compete against the disruptive entities that are eating away at just about every industry.
A long time ago I was at a gathering and people started talking about political topics and people I had no clue about. At some point, the seemingly smartest guy in the room looked at me as if to make sure I understood and agreed. I pursed my lips, squinted my eyes and gave him a reassuring nod. I literally had no idea what they were talking about.
Just about every issue that crops up in business boils down to communication. Lack of communication, miscommunication and over-communication are all at the heart of any challenge that arises. So if that is the issue, why in the hell don’t we work harder on communicating?
In his new book, “Alchemy,” Rory Sutherland states that “the problem that bedevils organizations once they reach a certain size is that narrow, conventional logic is the natural mode of thinking for the risk-averse bureaucrat or executive. There is a simple reason for this: you can never be fired for being logical. If your reasoning is sound and unimaginative, even if you fail, it is unlikely you will attract much blame. It is much easier to be fired for being illogical than it is for being unimaginative. The fatal issue is that logic always gets you to exactly the same place as your competitors.”
We have a choice to make: We can put ourselves in a different perspective or we can stay trapped inside what we understand in our minds. I believe it is time to decide to either transcend our minds and look into things we do not comprehend or narrow our our world down to our own story.
Recently, I was discussing the recession of 2007 with a friend and it stirred up a few emotions for me. It was a pretty painful time for a great many of us. When the underbelly of the banks was exposed we all realized the fraudulent behavior that had existed over time. The scariest thing, at least for me, was the ability of people to turn a deaf ear to potential long-term consequences and continue to focus on their short-term gratification. In fact, the entire recession was based on short-term greed and the unwillingness to commit to the long-term.
