Leader's Compass 39 - Only the Adaptable Survive

The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend how several retailers are closing all of their brick and mortar stores. Online is the name of the game and many long term retailers are making the switch. Several other companies are closing a significant number of stores.

As shopping habits have changed over time many retailers are finding they have not adapted quickly enough to the change and are losing market share in a scramble to retain and gain customers. The pain points of this new reality are felt in lost profits, restructuring in corporate structures and several lost jobs.

This last week "restructuring" hit home for us as the company my wife works for failed to plan well and adapt to it's own market pressures. The company decided to make sweeping cuts and closed down her office laying off some 150 or so people.

Although we say that hindsight is 20/20 and we can't know the future I believe there is a way to look at predictors of success and failure and identify both positive and negative trends before they overwhelm.

Forecasting isn't just an essential skill for the meteorologist. Businessmen and businesswomen need to be able to forecast as well. One important thing I've learned over the years is that your forecast, just like the meteorologist's forecast, doesn't need to be 100% accurate. Is it going to rain? Most likely. Should I take an umbrella? Yes, to be safe. Do I care if it rains at 1PM or 4PM if I have my raincoat or umbrella? I shouldn't. And, if it doesn't rain...at least I was slightly over-prepared.

Darwin's theory of evolution was not predicated on the concept of the survival of the fittest. It was predicated on the survival of the most adaptable. One important skill set to adaptation is the ability to forecast.

Forecasting in business and our personal lives is about looking at what is, what has been and predicting, based on the current culture and conditions what the future could bring. Although you don't need to be a rocket scientist, a seer or some kind of mind reader to forecast well you do need to know, observe and develop a few things.

1. Past behavior can predict future behavior. We are habitual creatures. What we have done in the past can be a predictor of what the future holds. This is a tricky concept though. The past certainly does not equal the future, but it certainly does tell us a good idea of what is to come. Unless we act with careful and thoughtful intention on a regular basis the current status quo of winning or losing will continue.
2. Culture trumps strategy - always. In the first few months of my wife working for this organization she recently left I expressed my concerns to her over their long-term prospects. Although they promoted the technology they sold and the size of the company as two of their strengths I could see very early on that they did not have a culture set up for strong long-term growth. The technology was not user friendly compared to competitors. The service model was focused solely on acquisition of new clients with no true strategy for the service of clients to prevent attrition. Your company culture, your personal culture, the habits that are ingrained in each individual need to be rooted in long-term growth, otherwise failure is inevitable.
3. Confront the brutal facts. Ever wake up one day and "realize" you are 50 pounds overweight? We hear this all the time in my business. "I didn't realize how much I had gained until I saw a picture of myself" is a common tome in my line of work. The ability to confront the facts and address issues head on is crucial to accurate forecasting. You have a habit of eating that bowl of ice cream before bed because you need something sweet...you can forecast that your health will decline. Your team is self-centered and not client focused? You can forecast a decrease in business will come shortly. 
4. Life is about trends. You can only coast when you are going downhill. Getting up the hill requires significant effort. Do you, your company, your team have a habit and trend of hard work and dedicated effort? If so, you can forecast better. I've found over the years that those who are best at forecasting life and business tend to be not only the most observant, but also the hardest working. They move with the speed of life and don't just sit on the couch playing armchair quarterback. A few years ago my wife and I went to the Olympics and watched the bobsled race. What we learned very quickly is that in order to watch a bobsled race in person you must turn your head as soon as you hear the sound of the sled, otherwise you miss the sled entirely. Life is the same. When you hear of a trend you must already be moving or you will miss it.
5. Finally, you have to take personal accountability. No excuses. It's me. I am accountable. That's it. If you look to blame anyone else you will not be able to forecast effectively. The blame game takes you off your game and puts you in a world where you don't see things as they are, but as you need them to be. The ability to forecast well requires personal accountability to be a hallmark of character. Not sure where to start? Read QBQ by John Miller. It's the best, most simple solution.

Those that have the ability to adapt will be those that survive and thrive in life and in business. Your skill sets to adapt and change in life are paramount to your success. As disappointed as we were this last week at the shutdown of my wife's location I can't say I was surprised.

Forecasting and foreseeing is an essential skill and one that I hope you will look into to improve your life and leadership. Forecasting won't prevent all problems, nor will it keep us from making mistakes along the way. Developing the skills necessary to properly forecast can lead us on the path to better, more intentional planning and work as a hedge against failure and major loss. Here's to your development of your forecasting skills! Lead on!

Leader's Compass 38 - Mindset and Daily Flow

In her book Mindset Dr. Carol Dweck shares her research about what she calls a "Fixed Mindset" and a "Growth Mindset." Dr. Dweck shows through the book how those who adopt a fixed mindset struggle more in life. When depressed the fixed mindset group feel worse than the growth mindset group. The growth mindset group become more focused, more determined to use the state of depression for it's purpose - to slow life down, evaluate and re-create our future.

Those that adopt a growth mindset have a paradigm of change and believe that talent, skill, ability are, at the very core changeable. Those that adopt a fixed mindset, however feel like they can not change who they are, what talent or ability they have and are only happy when they are validated and things come easy.

In the quintessential book on personal development Stephen R. Covey taught that the problems we face are, at the very core problems with paradigms, beliefs or frames of reference. Working on our mindset is as the saying goes hacking at the root of evil, rather than the branches.

Recently in our book club we have been studying and discussing the book Flow by Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (chick-sent-me-hi). Dubbed "The Father of Flow" Dr. Csikszentmihalyi discusses and lays out the conditions for getting into the flow or optimal state. Unfortunately for most they feel that this state is elusive and/or it only happens by chance. In the book Dr Csikszentmihalyi talks about how there are three areas of life where we spend our time and that in each of the three areas we can develop patterns and habits to get into the flow state.

• Work. We spend much of our day in work. Students work is their studies, professionals work is their job. Finding flow in the work time is important because we spent so much of life here. 
• Maintenance. Maintenance time is the time spent in basic maintenance activity - brushing your teeth, preparing food, etc.
• Leisure. Leisure time is the time where we read, exercise, watch TV etc. Anything that we choose to do when not working or maintaining our life. 

Creating flow in each area can lead to a fulfilling and very liberating life. Far too many of us however "work for the weekend" because we have not created flow opportunities in work. Leisure, on the other hand escapes some because they don't know how to have an engrossing and flow experience and find themselves diving completely into the day to day of work. These people tend to be very flat, one dimensional individuals who have much more of a fixed mindset.

Growth mindset individuals work to create flow in each area of life. They know the power of creating an optimal experience and are conscious and intentional about how they plan and execute their life. They are the true architects and engineers of their lives.

So how do they do it? How do the growth mindset individuals create flow in all three areas of life. Let's explore a few ideas.

• Work Flow. Growth mindset individuals carefully assess the tasks, responsibilities and projects in their work that get them into a flow state and work to do them more often. they find that the challenge of the flow state is rewarding and gives them growth. The growth mindset individual also challenges the mundane by making a game of it. Need to make 50 sales calls? The growth mindset seeks to make a fun game out of it and rewards herself when the goal has been accomplished. 
• Maintenance Flow. Growth mindset looks at the maintenance times of life as great opportunities to create a life of meaning in even the smallest things. One of the requirements of flow is the need for goals and challenge. "How do I challenge myself in the basic, mundane and routine things in life?" you may ask. Set goals. When getting dressed in the morning a growth mindset lays the clothes out and carefully, and with great elegance and dexterity dresses himself. He understands that careful attention in this small area can provide great feedback that will help his overall quality of life. 
• Leisure Flow. Certain activities are inherently more flow friendly. Rock climbers, artists, readers tend to get into a flow state more often that those that watch TV. This is because flow requires goals, attention and a certain amount of focus and challenge. Growth mindset individuals are very careful and selective about the activities they chose to participate in when not at work. 

The growth mindset and flow go hand in hand in the long run of life. That's not to say a fixed mindset individual can not enter in a state of flow. The fixed mindset will,  however have a more difficult time in the long run getting into consistent flow states.

Here's to developing a growth mindset and living in a more consistent flow state! Lead on!

Leader's Compass 37 - Never Give Up

Failure is an interesting concept. It's not the same as losing. Losing happens all the time. In a football game the clock runs out and there is a winning team and a losing team. Failure however has an element to it that is in our control. We don't fail when we lose. We don't fail when we stumble. We don't fail when we fall, mess up, make a mistake or even make a bad decision. We fail when we give up.

Fear is one of our most basic emotions. We all feel fear for one reason or another. Fear is what can paralyze us from action if we let it. Fear has many disguises, many false faces. Often it is fear that leads us to fail because we determine that our loses will continue to be loses and we stop trying.

A Death by a Thousand Cuts
The coward fear, rarely comes at us all at once and in bold ways. Like all cowards fear tries to get us by creating "death by a thousand cuts."

"You can't do that." "That's silly." "It's not that important anyway." "I don't need to be that bold, that strong, I can get by with just doing what I've been doing."  

Fear tries to get us to not take action when the better part of us knows that actions both big and small can eventually lead to our success. 

The Clock

Fear, the coward tries to get us to quit when we fall, make a mistake, bad decision or have an action, project or venture that falls flat. Fortunately, however life is not like a football game...it's an entire season of games and we can restart any time we need. The clock doesn't run out as often as we think it does. When the clock does run out we are empowered to begin another game. We have the ability to look at a loss and start again. Until we are six feet under we have the opportunity to get moving and try again. The season is over when we sing our last breath and our heart plays it's last beat. 

Awareness

Failure happens in life far too often because we lack awareness in one or both areas:

• Self Awareness
• Social Awareness

Lack of self awareness can cause us to ring the bell early, call it quits before our time is up or simply talk ourselves into inaction. As Polonius said in Shakespere's Hamlet:

"This above all: to thine own self be true

And it must follow, as the night the day

Thou canst not then be false to any man."

When we are self aware we understand that the constant voice of the coward fear will be in our head, yet we need not heed his hideous words. Too often we believe the self doubt, the self effacing, the self sabotaging thoughts and act in ways according to fear's false message.

Social awareness, our ability to be aware of our social settings, how people feel, what they need and how they are thinking is another essential key to quieting fear's fretful message. Lack of social awareness leads us to gauge our life off of a ghost - the ever elusive target of "others" and what they think or may think. 

Show Up

Success comes only through one way - work. Some may argue or debate this. "But what about the person that wins the lottery?" "What about the lucky?" What about those that are born with greater privilege, more money, better looks, more talent?" It's true that some come easily into perceived success - money, fame, etc. with less effort than others. Some won the "looks lottery," the "talent lottery," or a number of other lotteries. However, winning something that you didn't work for can never really been seen as success. Did you know that most people who win a financial lottery are broke within just a few short years? How is this success when the prize flees so soon and the receiver of the reward has not developed the skills necessary to replicate the results?

Showing up means doing the work, whatever the work because:

1. Doing the work develops you into a better, more skilled person
2. Doing the work forces you to face and confront your fears and doubts
3. Doing the work can, by the nature of doing it with focus can lead to a flow state, a state that is inherently self rewarding
4. Doing the work in the long run feels so much better than the lies we tell ourselves for not doing the work

The other day a good friend had a family member pass away. When we told him that he didn't need to come to a work event where he is typically the central figure he responded "Brett Farve played the day after his dad died. It's rough, but I'll be there. The group is counting on me" And he was. Not only was he there physically but he showed up mentally and delivered his best. He showed up, he worked with focus and intent and made a significant impact on those that were in attendance.

The Process is the Reward

Talk to any "successful" person and they will tell you that there is much more joy in the journey than in the actual destination. The process of work and striving is, if done consistently the reward. Anything that makes you stronger, better, more skilled and more focused becomes the inherent reward for the work we put in. 

Remember that in life you and you alone determine whether or not you have failed. Haven't achieved your goal yet...join the club. Not quite where you want to be? Good. Keep going. until you decide that the bell has rung, the clock has run out and the game is over you haven't truly failed. Refocus, reevaluate and don't retire until you win. Cheers to your journey! Lead on!