Because we are only human, stalls (bad thinking habits)
exist in both your personal life and your organization. If
you become aware of and can recognize these habits, then
you can begin to consciously challenge them to change them
into habits better suited for the irresistible growth
enterprise.
What Are Your Bad Habits When You Confront Irresistible
Forces?
You need to be aware of your own habits before you can
fully comprehend the habits that your organization has. An
organization has more bad habits than any single individual
in it because the bad habits of each person are increased
by the combined effect of the other bad habits of other
people.
For example, in the early days of Dell Computer, Michael
Dell had not yet recruited strong, experienced executives
who had dealt with large, irresistible forces in
fast-growth situations. As a result, many important issues
about irresistible forces were not addressed until they
became painfully large, as occurred when Dell first
developed an unsuccessful line of portable computers in
1993. The bad habit was that Dell Computer was relying too
much on Michael Dell at that point.
Now try some self-examination. Ask yourself the following
questions:
How do react to difficult travel delays?
Begin by listing all the emotions that you felt strongly at
one point or another in the worst delayed trip that you
have ever experienced. Then, consider how those emotions
might have affected your behavior.
For example, think about these reactions in terms of what
would have happened at your negative emotional peak. At
what point did you become irritable? At what point (if
any) did you become angry? At what point (if any) did you
become frustrated? At what point (if any) did you give up
on trying to make things better? At what point (if any)
did you become stubbornly determined with no thought of
quitting?
What irresistible forces have you encountered the past
while working in your enterprise? If you are having trouble
finding any, here are some questions that can provide clues:
(a) What is working much better than you expected? Why did
that occur?
(b) What is working very much worse than you expected? Why?
(c) Where is demand or prices for your products or services
suddenly speeding up or slowing down?
(d) When can you expect demand or prices to be more elastic
or inelastic? What causes that?
(e) How have you personally reacted to irresistible forces
that affected your organization in the past?
With regard to this question, you'll learn the most if you
pick the most painful and difficult experiences you have
had, especially the ones that you would like to forget
about. A real lesson for you will be to locate the
circumstances under which you have made the worst errors,
driven by negative or positive emotions. Be sure also to
give yourself credit for what you did well. You can build
on that success in the future.
How could you improve your ability to stay calm, to have an
open mind, and be effective in similar circumstances in the
future? One answer to this question is to give yourself
some emotional space when a situation first arises.
Then while you are suspending judgment about how you choose
to react, you can try to step outside yourself and examine
your situation as a third person would. That perspective
should help you become more objective about your situation.
You may find it especially helpful if you imagine different
types of people in that third-person role, such as an
entrepreneur in a start-up, an executive you admire, a
parent or other person you respect, or even your best
friend.
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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