seize or let pass unless you have a context for understanding whether it fits into your goals. Developing a plan gives you a framework for decision making.
Get out of your “comfort zone.” Sure you’re comfortable doing what you’re doing, but if it’s not bringing you the results you want, you’re going to have to change. And change is always uncomfortable.
Make a commitment. Get used to saying no. Get used to saying yes. But whatever you do, do it with commitment and conviction.
Like Joe, we have to learn how to recognize opportunities and then grab on.
4
Embracing Change
Things Are About to Change
You’ve finally got it right. Your product is almost perfect. You’ve got loyal customers, and your sales are clicking. Your employees show up enthusiastically and do their jobs well. Your suppliers are steady. Everything’s great! Know what this means? It’s time to start worrying.
It’s not that I’m a pessimist, not at all. It’s just that the one certainty I have about business life (as in all life) is that things change.
Knowing that things will change is good to remember in the midst of bad times, but you’ve got to keep it in mind during good times, too. If you’re overly complacent, happily believing you’ve figured everything out, then you’re unprepared for the changes that are inevitably just around the corner.
Some companies, especially those dealing with technology, have change at the very core of their existence. But even if your business is selling something as apparently unchanging as chocolate chip cookies, change is inevitable.
Take Levi’s. The basic Levi’s jean has hardly altered in over 150 years (except for the removal of a metal rivet from the crotch, which caused unpleasant side effects for miners warming themselves next to camp fires. Ouch!). But Levi Strauss & Company changed dramatically during that time. Its market went from miners to minors in the 1950s, and expanded to the entire world by the 1970s. Levi’s went from being a purveyor of work clothes to the world’s largest fashion manufacturer, and when the business world adopted “Dress Down Friday,” they went back to providing work clothes through their Dockers division.
It’s even more important for a small company to be able to embrace change. After all, one of the key advantages a smaller business has over a huge corporation is its ability to quickly respond to new opportunities. But you have to prepare your company for a world of constant change.
The first challenge is to understand what kinds of change improve your company’s ability to survive, and what types of change threaten its very identity. In one of my favorite business books, Built to Last, authors James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras show how the best companies identify their “core ideologies,” which remain constant over the years. They differentiate those ideologies from “noncore practices” which can adapt, evolve, or disappear over time.
Collins and Porras cite the department store Nordstrom as an example. Nordstrom’s core ideology is “Service to the customer above all else.” If they lose sight of that ideology, Nordstrom would cease to be Nordstrom.
But the fact that they have a piano player in each store is a “noncore practice” which they could change if times demanded.
For change to be effective, you have to encourage a change-oriented attitude at every level of your company. People are generally more comfortable with old problems than with new solutions, and it’s natural for employees to be threatened by change. But you can help reduce those fears.
The best way to create a change-welcoming workplace is to start by hiring people who seem flexible. Look for attitude, not just skills, as part of your hiring process. Next, get everyone thinking about change all the time, and make it a normal part of business conversation. Informally, and in scheduled meetings, ask employees to discuss the kinds of changes they anticipate facing in their specific areas of responsibility. Remember, employees are often in a better position to foresee changes than you are.
To help get a focus on change, I recommend delineating the specific types of change your company may face and addressing each separately.
Just remember what someone once said, “Even if you’re on the right track, if you just sit there, you’ll get run over.”
Types of Changes Your Company May Face
Market changes. Nature and number of customers, customers’ buying habits and patterns, demographic and sociological shifts
Industry changes. Distribution channels, vendors, availability of capital, key economic concerns
Competitive changes. Nature and number of competitors, new entries, new types of competition for your category
Technological changes. Hardware and software products and services that could positively or negatively affect your product or service’s marketability, as well as technology you could adopt to improve operations
Sales and marketing changes. Marketing approaches and vehicles, sales channels, sales force, advertising and promotion
Management changes. Availability of adequate staff, management patterns, pay schemes and levels, benefits, recognition programs
Operations changes. Production/manufacturing or delivery/fulfillment methods
Is It Time to Throw in the Towel?
Every time one of my projects flops, I ask myself: “What did I learn? What should I do differently next time?” This helps me snatch a bit of victory from defeat. And, I hope, it keeps me from repeating the same blunder over and over.
When something is going badly—really badly—it’s a good idea to throw in the towel sooner rather than later. I’m not a card player, but I’ve heard that if you’re dealt a bad hand in poker, you should toss it in early. The more you put in the pot, the harder it will be for you to fold and the more you’ll likely lose.
Every undertaking needs a reasonable chance to develop, of course. New businesses, for instance, usually take from two to five years to become profitable. If we’re too quick to quit, we’ll never make a go of anything. But there’s a difference between prudent patience and being unwilling to face unpleasant facts. Next time you’re having one of those 3 a.m. heart-to-heart sessions with yourself, wondering whether it’s time to get out of something, ask yourself these questions:
What direction
