Be Different or be dead

July 29, 2013

3 actions leaders can take when on the brink of a disaster

Source: Unsplash

3 actions leaders can take when on the brink of a disaster.

First what does it mean to be on the brink of disaster?

It’s not an operating margin problem, an inventory turn issue or the need to rationalize your product line.

The end is near when you are no longer relevant to your fans

CEO’s can be good denial artists. They suddenly turn into rationalizing speech makers who explain away the fact that the grim reaper is at their doorway and that they are becoming irrelevant.

Yellow Pages believed they could compete with Google; Blackberry believed they were not in a death spiral yet were never able to respond successfully to Apple and other smart phone suppliers.

Rhetoric rules the airwaves. Intent abounds. Aspirations are plentiful.

But no tangible counter play is offered.

Defensive retreat. Saving face. Appeasing the investment community.

The truth is, leadership does not want to believe they are on a path to irrelevance. That they no longer deliver the value they once did. They want to believe that somehow a miracle will happen and new relevance will be pulled from the hat.

Believing in something is a long way from doing it

Leaders need to recognize when the end is near.

They need to be honest enough to admit that they are going under unless a drastic intervention is done to re-create themselves.

That they need to start a revolution. Cast aside tradition.

It’s not about leveraging current strengths. It’s about building new capabilities that will create new relevance for people.

Create a new game not a new play

3 questions that leaders should ask themselves:

◾️ What would your weirdest fan suggest you do to save your business? Why do all CEO’s believe the big consulting companies know what you should do? They don’t have all the answers.

◾️ What if you went in the opposite direction to your competitors? What would a 180-degree plan look like?

◾️ What desperate things can you do right now? What, you don’t think you are desperate? You’re fooling yourself. Desperate times (like becoming irrelevant) demand desperate measures. And I don’t mean just cost cutting.

Execute 3 desperate acts over the next 24-hours even if you’re not in the middle of a storm.

Urgency is always the right thing to do.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 7.29.13 at 05:41 am by Roy Osing
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