If each ‘New Year’ resolution we made was worth a dollar, the world would be free of poverty! Oh what a happy day that would be.
I stopped making resolutions decades ago. Those that I made just wouldn’t stick. Within weeks, if not days, I would go back to my comfort zone. And I wasn’t alone. Many of my friends were in a similar dilemma. That critical weight-loss program collapses in February. A reading habit shuts its pages with the first book of the year. The list goes on.
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Out on my regular cycling route, I had just come out of a sweet, fast descent feeling pumped!
My finger went for the gear shift in anticipation of the fast approaching climb. “Click!” Nothing! “Click, click!”Another two clicks just confirmed that I was in trouble. No matter how many times I pushed the lever, my gears weren’t changing. My rear gear cable had broken. In a flash, I was reduced from a 21-gear option to only 3 gears. And did I mention that I was only 20km into my 45km ride?
Why would anyone in their right mind hurl themselves off a 17th Floor window?
His career path seemed promising, at least for those of us on the outside. His employer is a brand of global repute. I wonder what flashed through his mind as he hurtled to his death on a concrete ledge. Were there any regrets? A witness to this tragedy talked about hearing the man scream on his way down.
I can’t seem to shake this event off my mind. And as I think about it, a very scary scenario comes to play. What if this man is a representation of many of us? An example of me? What if I am just a trigger-pull away from similar catastrophe?
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We learn best from our mistakes and failures. That is only if we take time to acknowledge, assess and move forward from them.
Over the last 12 months, my light waned on many things. I struggled to write. I hated my life. I felt under immense pressure every way I turned. Business wasn’t doing great. The resulting stress was affecting the relationship with my wife, children and friends.
Every day felt like I was a living fraud. And this was killing me! Where did I go wrong? When did I lose the plot? It took a lot of courage to reflect on where my train got off the tracks. The answer was looking me at the face all this time. It had been chipping away at the back of my mind.
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When an organization is in deep trouble, the temptation to go straight for its leadership, operations, or human resource. The organization’s culture hardly gets any consideration at this moment.
This approach portends that someone or some people isn’t getting their work done. That somewhere, a ball must have been dropped. Most often than not, a change management process is instituted that results in staff retrenchment.
However, I believe that the trouble is just the tip of the iceberg. The larger culprit lurks below the surface. Like a shark, it swims unnoticed until it strikes. The result is a narrow escape or a bloody mess.
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Drilling down to your unique value offering can be daunting. It may feel like we may close the door to other opportunities. Why? Delivering that unique offering requires a high level of dedication.
I was struggling with getting business leads for my coaching and consulting business. In frustration, I watched as my peers continued to grow their businesses day after day. It wasn’t that they had a head start or unfair advantage. We had more or less similar training and work experience. Yet I was struggling.
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The pigs are running the farm. So begins the story of Farmer Able. Everyone on his farm – people and animals alike – are downright downtrodden by him.
He’s overbearing and compulsively obsessed with profits and productivity. He’s a typical top-down, power-based manager, forever tallying production numbers in his well-worn ledgers. But the more he pushes the hoofs and horns and humans, the more they dig in their heels.
That is until one day when he hears a mysterious wind that whispers: “It’s not all about me.” Can he turn things around and begin attending to the needs of those on his farm, thus improving their attitudes and productivity?
The following is an excerpt from chapter 23 of Farmer Able…
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Team-building is a disruptive process for everyone involved. However, this does not mean that it should be a painful experience.
Over the last few months, I have agonized over why I can’t seem to get up to speed with growing my business. Despite some good business prospects, growth feels stifled. The more I think about it, I realize that it is time to build a team. To grow, something has to shift.
I read this from a friend’s story: “Two guys were walking from the farm and one of them fell into a deep pit. His friend tried to help him to come out but he failed. ‘Let me quickly go and look for a rope,’ the friend said. As he was coming back, he saw his friend already out of the pit and staring into the pit. He asked him how he managed to come out. ‘A snake fell into the pit!’ he replied.”
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After lacing up my soccer boots I took my headphones off to get focused for the match. We were playing our rivals and one thing was on my mind: Winning!
It was time to step onto the pitch. It was a big day. I needed to get the best warm up possible and my teammates had better be as focused as me.
I made sure I stretched properly and warmed up with the ball, all the while thinking about what I was going to do in the game. Picturing the saves I was going to make, the plays I was going to be highlighted in, and how the fans would roar afterwards.
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Consider this. You are a dominant market leader worth millions of dollars. There are opportunities to grow – and diversify – your market.
However, there is one major blot on your otherwise dominance in the market. Customers desperately cry out to you to deliver your promise.
I have been a customer of a leading telecom for over a decade. The last 3 years have been the worst in terms of quality; from their products to customer service.
Don’t get me started on dropped and static-laden calls that are the order of the day. I have to go upstairs to get a decent signal. On countless occasions, I have had to tell my callers, “Please let me text you!”
With the call quality worse than a two-way radio, I could only hear half of what they were trying to communicate to me.
A quick common-sense check: it is time to move from the ice-age.
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