GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF THE BOAT
GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF THE BOAT
Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from a disturbing dream. He found himself changed into a grotesque cockroach; on his back and stiff with monstrous looking arch-shaped ribs, and multiple tiny legs. Like Kafka’s hapless protagonist has experienced a metamorphosis. Leaders and companies can also wake up one morning and see themselves transformed into an inferior and immobile entity; beginning their journey toward a demise. Positive evolutions are purposeful, intelligent, and planned.
DON’T LEAVE CHANGE TO CHANCE
“Get your head out of the boat” is a reminder to sailors that they need to pay attention to more than sail trim and the various instruments showing boat speed, compass heading, etc. Go beyond the analysis of facts and numbers to focus on what is actually behind the progress (or regress). Learn to measure the strategy and not necessarily the outcome. Once you get your head out of the boat, you can win in a future where disruption is an expected norm, and all people and things are connected.
Recognize that friction is natural. We have tried it before, we are too big or too small, and our business is just different. We are the dominant player with a lot of cash or an early stage company with limited funding. We don’t have the right technology, people, culture, data, leadership team, customers, and sales channels. These are all good excuses not to change. But they are also excellent reasons to evolve.
You are not making a change if you are not facing an opposition. The laws of physics make friction the counter force. Shifting your mind and actions to win is no different. The defenders of the status quo offer common push-backs. Some naysayers are adamant that strategy cannot be dynamic: we cannot change our focus constantly and execution requires consensus building and time. Others push back because they don’t see the need to change and the urgency to evolve: we are the market leader, we have been doing this for a long time and know the industry, we have a complex supply chain, our brand is trusted and we have a cost advantage, etc. In other words, we are “It” and our past success is the proof. There is no need to panic, strategize more rapidly or change—we have the advantage and we are sustaining it! The opposition (or the addicted, the of change, those comfortable with the way things are—however you wish to brand them) can invent a million obstacles to transformation.
Friction is the unavoidable side effect of the fear of change. Change is the law of life and inevitable. Your job is to push through the frictions, overcome the fears and embrace its constant nature. You must not leave change to chance.
This is an excerpt from chapter 7 of The Caterpillars Edge <CLICKHERE> to see more of the book.
Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from a disturbing dream. He found himself changed into a grotesque cockroach; on his back and stiff with monstrous looking arch-shaped ribs, and multiple tiny legs. Like Kafka’s hapless protagonist has experienced a metamorphosis. Leaders and companies can also wake up one morning and see themselves transformed into an inferior and immobile entity; beginning their journey toward a demise. Positive evolutions are purposeful, intelligent, and planned.
DON’T LEAVE CHANGE TO CHANCE
“Get your head out of the boat” is a reminder to sailors that they need to pay attention to more than sail trim and the various instruments showing boat speed, compass heading, etc. Go beyond the analysis of facts and numbers to focus on what is actually behind the progress (or regress). Learn to measure the strategy and not necessarily the outcome. Once you get your head out of the boat, you can win in a future where disruption is an expected norm, and all people and things are connected.
Recognize that friction is natural. We have tried it before, we are too big or too small, and our business is just different. We are the dominant player with a lot of cash or an early stage company with limited funding. We don’t have the right technology, people, culture, data, leadership team, customers, and sales channels. These are all good excuses not to change. But they are also excellent reasons to evolve.
You are not making a change if you are not facing an opposition. The laws of physics make friction the counter force. Shifting your mind and actions to win is no different. The defenders of the status quo offer common push-backs. Some naysayers are adamant that strategy cannot be dynamic: we cannot change our focus constantly and execution requires consensus building and time. Others push back because they don’t see the need to change and the urgency to evolve: we are the market leader, we have been doing this for a long time and know the industry, we have a complex supply chain, our brand is trusted and we have a cost advantage, etc. In other words, we are “It” and our past success is the proof. There is no need to panic, strategize more rapidly or change—we have the advantage and we are sustaining it! The opposition (or the addicted, the of change, those comfortable with the way things are—however you wish to brand them) can invent a million obstacles to transformation.
Friction is the unavoidable side effect of the fear of change. Change is the law of life and inevitable. Your job is to push through the frictions, overcome the fears and embrace its constant nature. You must not leave change to chance.
This is an excerpt from chapter 7 of The Caterpillars Edge <CLICKHERE> to see more of the book.
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