How can you deal with a world that's not too predictable?
Let's look at an example.
The toy business is full of hits and misses. Even worse,
one year's top toy usually fades into the background in the
next year.
Witness then the wonder of Barbie's durability, having been
a top toy and head of a top line of related dolls and
merchandise for many years. Although all toy makers would
like to create long-term toys, only a few have succeeded in
overcoming the irresistible force of the changing tastes of
children to create an on-going success such as Barbie and
her doll friends.
You can learn how to overcome the behavior in your
organization that keeps you from creating the kind of
continuing irresistible growth that Mattel has enjoyed with
Barbie. Irresistible forces are unstoppable events and
factors that shape our opportunities and challenges.
In a physical sense, these include things we cannot change
like the tides, winds, and powerful storms. In a human
sense, they include the emotional patterns that almost all
of us follow, such as feeling sad at the loss of a loved
one or elated by winning.
In an organizational sense, irresistible forces include
difficulties in communicating in a foreign language, lack
of knowledge among new employees about how your
organization does things, and conflicts of interest among
those who are looking out for themselves ahead of
customers' needs.
In businesses, irresistible forces include trends in the
development of technology, globalization, shifts in buying
power of consumers in local markets, and ever more
demanding customers. Interestingly, each enterprise is
subject to the irresistible forces in different ways. No
one prescription will suffice for all, as a result.
Irresistible forces can be started by us in some cases such
as when we encourage a new fad, but we usually have little
impact on them after they begin. Irresistible forces are
so powerful and so important to use as resources for
success, that you must avoid either opposing or being
buffeted by these forces.
Bad thinking habits, or stalls, of individuals in
organizational settings are the primary reason that
enterprises fall victim to irresistible forces, rather than
turning them into powerful allies and tools for faster,
more profitable growth.
The dangers from and opportunities provided by irresistible
forces are growing and will probably continue to do so in
the future. Evidence of this pattern is the rapidly
decreasing amount of time it takes for a start-up
organization to reach a billion dollars in revenues (as
measured in constant buying power). Once this task required
decades (without acquisitions). Now companies can do it in
months by making good use a rapidly growing means of
communication, the Internet. Within a few decades, the same
will be accomplished in days, or even possibly in hours.
Therefore, overcoming irresistible force stalls is one of
the most important management skills needed for
ascertaining the opportunities and responding positively to
them now and in the future in a timely way. Even an
organization that starts out in perfect alignment with
irresistible forces will need to be agile in adapting to
changes in those forces and the arrival of new forces over
time. You need to learn how to identify the most common
and dangerous stalls vis-à-vis irresistible forces.
You also need to develop skill in quickly eliminating these
stalls by changing your thinking habits through the use of
new questions, so that you and your enterprise can not only
survive, but enjoy irresistible growth.
You will probably find that overcoming stalled thinking
about irresistible forces will be easiest to understand and
apply if you focus first on one important area where
irresistible forces are proving to be head winds (retarding
your growth) or crosswinds (pushing you off target from
where you want to go) for your organization.
Then you can apply these ideas with a second irresistible
force issue in mind. And then you should continue on from
there in working on other issues until this way of dealing
with irresistible forces becomes a new habit for you.
Copyright 2008 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved
----------------------------------------------------
Donald Mitchell is chairman of Mitchell and Company, a
strategy and financial consulting firm in Weston, MA. He is
coauthor of seven books including Adventures of an
Optimist, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise, and The
Ultimate Competitive Advantage. You can find free tips for
accomplishing 20 times more by registering at:
====> http://www.2000percentsolution.com .
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