Three quotes from popular literature will help answer these questions.
The first quote is from Lord of the Rings, Gandalf and Frodo have the following exchange… “I wish it need not have happened in my time” said Frodo. “So do I” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”
As lockdowns drag on and uncertainty builds it is easy to fall into a kind of ‘Ground Hog Day’ state of mind where every day feels like a repeat of the day before. However, those who will cope best will be the ones that are making the most of the extra time given to them by all the things that have been taken from them. Not only will it help their mental wellbeing, if their efforts are directed toward the future, but it will also help them to position themselves and their businesses for what is ahead.
This will also involve embracing uncertainty. Exploring the numerous possibilities and accepting the current reality as it is, despite its previous improbability. Dismissing it as group psychosis, a conspiracy, idiocy, etc. does not change that it is the reality today. The inbuilt uncertainty of tomorrow is also a source of hope as it provides for new possibilities. Searching for certainty is counterproductive at the best of times and is a waste of time in times like this.
The second quote is from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Dumbledore says “It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be.”
Most new business fail within the first five years and despite their size, few listed companies last fifty years. The relevance of the Dumbledore quote to these figures is that all too often businesses stick too rigidly to their past, rather than focus on what they could be. This is particularly true in times of significant transition. It is the difference between being a failed sailing fleet in the steam age or a successful freight company. Between being a failed manufacturer of international business machines or a successful provider of business solutions in the computer age.
In these times it is more important to understand your client’s problems than your company’s solutions. A business that recognises that they solve clients’ freight problems or improve clients’ administrative capability, is more likely to reinvent itself than one that prides itself on the skills of their sailors or the quality of their typewriters. So, ask yourself how your client’s needs are changing, and how can you change your business to serve them better.
One of the reasons for the natural atrophy of businesses is that as businesses grow, they put more resources into business operations and less into growing the capability of the business. Often motivated by margin, this shift increases today’s profits at the expense of tomorrow’s possibilities. The irony is that in times of economic retraction it is often projects and marketing that are cut the hardest – the two areas of the business with the strongest emphasis on tomorrow. In times of uncertainty, it is worth reverting a dedicated part of the business to start-up mode where building capability for the future has a greater focus than day-to-day operations.
The third quote is from Jurassic Park, the visiting professor says, “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should”.
Many business owners have made similar mistakes, getting so engrossed in how to achieve something that they forget to consider whether they should be attempting it. The most common source of this is when businesses take on new work that is outside their core. Do enough of this and you have inadvertently changed the business. This is because a business is defined by what it sells, not what it hopes to sell.
This preoccupation with could ahead of should, can come in many forms but it is particularly relevant when businesses are proactively trying to reinvent themselves. There will be numerous statements that start with “we could…”, and they are usually followed by considerable thought and discussion on the company’s capability to do that. The more important statement to start the discussion is “should we…”. Simon Sineks “Why, What, How Framework” is another way of focusing on what the business should do ahead of what the business could do. It is also a good way of checking your moral compass.
There are no easy answers to today’s challenges but there are processes and principals that can help you find the right answers, when others do not. History has shown that social change can be faster than technical change. Hats were universal at Melbourne football crowds for many generations leading into the early sixties and almost unsighted before the end of the decade. We have been forced to live and work differently through Covid restrictions; some aspects of these changes will stay, others will become unwanted reminders of a painful time in our lives. The challenge for each of us and for businesses, is to prepare for tomorrow as best we can.
As you consider your future and the future of your business: make the most of the time you have; don’t be defined by your past; and stop and think about what you should do, rather than what you could do. The answers might surprise and delight you.