Doing nothing is not an option

I was talking to a gathering of small business owners yesterday. We were talking about the current business climate, who's doing well, who's doing not so well etc etc. Most people present were quite animated, putting forward their analysis and in some cases offering the actions they were taking, based on their assessment.

One particular chap caught my attention. He wasn't really adding anything to any of the conversation points, he seemed somewhat subdued but he was generally signalling his agreement that times were tough.

I had the opportunity to talk privately with him later and I asked him about his business and his current situation. He explained that he ran a high street retail outlet. A few years ago he had two outlets but as the market has contracted he has consolidated to one. He explained that the high street was being overtaken by the internet.

I asked him if he had a plan to deal with this but that he said he had no answer and didn't really want to engage in further analysis as it made him depressed.

I moved the conversation on - talking about the need be honest and realistic about prospects in the market-place and that all businesses need to keep a weather eye on what's going on. Sometimes more of the same is just what needs to be done but if it's not working as well as it did previously, something different needs to be considered.

It's easy to get caught out. The world is constantly changing around us and for businesses to survive, we - and our business - need to constantly assess, evaluate and innovate.

I was reminded that:

"even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there!"

So,

If you find yourself in difficulties, doing nothing is not an option.

The first step though is often to acknowledge the difficulties themselves. It's not personal, it's usually not a conspiracy but it is time to face-up to the situation, seek advice and assistance, plan to make some changes and take decisive action.

A moment in time

I had a moment the other day.

It was Saturday. I spent a couple of hours in the office in the morning but spent the afternoon playing golf.

A rare treat on a Saturday for a guy like me. I have been playing golf for about three years now. I’m not very good yet because I don’t practise enough.

However, that day I was playing on a championship course at Dale Hill. The par three 5th hole is a tricky little thing. A large green with fierce undulations, surrounded by sand traps and deep rough. You don’t want to be short. You don’t want to be wide. Too long would be out-of-bounds. Landing the tee shot on the green is no guarantee of par.

So - what's going to happen next ?

As it turns out, on that day, all of this was completely irrelevant.

I struck my tee-shot sweetly. It pitched 2 metres from the pin and the ball rolled, guided by the undulating green, straight into the cup.

A HOLE IN ONE  !!!

So, the question is ………………………. was it a fluke ?

I suppose you could say that. I have only been playing a relatively short time. I play off a high handicap and to be fair, the chances of me ever doing this again, I must admit, are slim.

Slim …… but not non-existent.

Was I lucky ?

Well yes, I guess so. But, I did actually do, exactly what I was aiming to do.

A rare moment, when intention was followed by perfect execution.

If it can happen to me on a golf course. There is hope for us all.

Plenty of jargon to make you feel important

Just a quick thought; why do so many people use so much jargon ?

I’m personally not a great fan of jargon. It has it’s place of course, as a short-hand to move on conversations that would otherwise be unnecessarily tedious. But even so, I believe jargon is too readily over-used – and not always for the most honest of reasons.

How often have you felt as though you were listening to someone who was trying to ‘baffle you with bull‘  or ‘blind you with science‘ ?

Doesn’t it make you suspicious ?

I encountered a guy today who, whilst trying to pitch himself for an opportunity mentioned that he had an IQ of 140 and an MBA from a fancy business school but admitted that he “had been working on his fruition abilities“.

What ?

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Are you a jargon user ?

What do you think ?    Leave a comment. I’d be really interested to hear your views.