Prepare For Turbulence

In the last few weeks I’ve completed short trips to Monaco, Nice, Barcelona, and Marrakech. Along the way, I ended up spending time in London and Madrid as well, due to weather delays. Tel Aviv, Dakar, and Accra are in my immediate future. Not surprisingly, all of this travel exposes me to a wide spectrum of ways of thinking and acting.   It also sheds light on the variety of ways people deal with the unexpected, specifically the trauma of suddenly being one of thousands of disrupted flyers clamoring for help…or being one of hundreds of airline employees tasked with helping them.

Suffice it to say, most people think the way they do things is the best way…until they are challenged by the stress of unexpected disruption and change.

I spent some of my recent travel delays musing on the implications of the failure to gracefully navigate the unexpected for senior people in the business, political, and other arenas. Two wise sayings came to mind:

The map is not the territory

Being passed by is a failure of imagination

Two sayings offering different takes on the same idea: no matter how well you’ve laid out your plans you need to be watching for that which will disrupt them. Failure comes from not noticing conditions are changing and not rapidly modifying your actions to accommodate these changing conditions. Success comes from always watching for the first indications that conditions are changing and being proactive about getting ahead of what is to come. Which leads me to consider the well-known military saying:

No plan survives contact with the enemy

All of these sayings have been around for years and for years business leaders have discussed them, and yet, most are still caught unprepared and are incapable of responding effectively to changing situations. They’re too busy affirming all their prior research and planning to imagine what could go wrong and what they would do about it…or to worry about all those out there competing with them. FYI, the competition is not the least worried about your plans because they’re too busy changing the paradigm in ways designed to overcome you. Think Circuit City or Blockbuster Video.

There are many fallen organizations that got caught stuck in their beliefs and the surety that their plans were correct in spite of what was happening to and around them. Ultimately, their map didn’t do them any good as the enemy attacked.

Those at the top get caught up watching and dealing with inside issues, and the immediate future, paying little mind to the terrain farther ahead. When it gets rocky or slippery, they’re simply not equipped to overcome it and prevail.

Success comes from building an organization led by people watching for the outliers, the random events, the big changes. People who not only observe but also consider the implications both good and bad. Success also requires an organization to be comfortable with change to the point where everyone is charged with noticing and commenting about what they see and how it impacts them and what they do. An entire organization attuned to the ebb and flow of internal dynamics and the world around them. An entire organization never satisfied with what is…always looking to stay at the top of their game and be in the forefront of their industry.

Know the territory as well as the map, imagine what can disrupt your business and how you will overcome it, notice when the enemy appears and be flexible and creative as you race past them to victory.