Urgency and economic cycles
It has become trendy to use phrases like “especially in the current economy” for everything from marketing to whitepapers. This baffles me because aren’t we always in a ‘current economy’ of some sort?
What they are most likely trying to do is to highjack some of the inherent urgency that macroeconomic news creates. The ‘bad economy’ boogeyman is one of the best advertised products since the pet rock. It gets a lot of free press.
As a manager and leader through quite a few economic ups and downs I have seen this cycle many times. One of the things I find myself spending energy on is ensuring people that the world is not coming to an end, the sky is not falling and the sun will rise tomorrow.
When the business world gets the ‘bad economy’ flu they become very risk adverse and start make decisions based on the perceived urgency. Some of these decisions are knee jerk reactions to slash costs like laying off employees and slashing inventory. Ironically these are the same decisions they were unable to manage well during the good time. The question becomes how much of the urgency is real and how much is a smoke screen for ineptitude?
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The best companies, like the best people thrive in tough times and good times. This is because they are innately sure of themselves and their mission. They have a cultural, management and leadership bedrock that allows them to shrug off the chirping of the evening news. They don’t lose faith because they are self confident.
This self confidence allows these people and these companies to ignore the ‘fight or flight’ responses and execute with a managed urgency.
And that is my real point. How do you create within yourself and your company a managed urgency; an urgency that is not a desperation imposed by external forces? How do you build a team that brings an internal urgency to work each day because they have the confidence in your leadership, your company, your products and themselves?
You can read all the whitepapers on ‘7 best strategies in a down economy’ but the solution is ultimately within your grasp and independent of macro-economic forces. Urgency is a great change agent but can only be truly and consistently leveraged when baked into the culture of your organization.
As an individual you can’t fix the economy. But you can stay the course, have confidence in yourself and be a leader, because, in my experience, the sun is going to rise tomorrow, and we have work to do.
Chris Russelllives and trains in suburban Massachusetts with his family and Border collie Buddy. Chris is the author of “The Mid-Packer’s Lament”, and “The Mid-Packer’s Guide to the Galaxy”, short stories on running, racing, and the human comedy of the mid-pack. Chris writes the Runnerati Blog at www.runnerati.com. Chris’ Podcast, RunRunLive is available on iTunes and at www.runrunlive.com. Chris also writes for CoolRunning.com (Active.com) and is a member of the Squannacook River Runners and the Goon Squad.
Email me at cyktrussell at Gmail dot com
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