In a few weeks the arrival of 2011 will also mark the end of a tumultuous decade. It’s bittersweet. You and your business have survived, though it wasn’t easy. On the other hand, each new year brings with it opportunity and a fresh start. We all get another chance to find the onramp to any number of virtues associated with being in the coatings business: earning a fair profit; choosing your work; challenge and joy; and long-term job security. Enjoy the moment, but don’t pause too long. Times are different. We’ll need to increase our awareness of things around us and at the same time, assume a whole different outlook.
In my estimation, the last 10 years have brought about more sweeping change in the world than any previous decade before it—and there’s little chance of it slowing down anytime soon. I’m not talking about coating formulation changes, stiffening OSHA or EPA regulations, and other little annoyances that create short-term inconveniences and profit margin squeeze—these may be minor in the scheme of things. These smaller blips are the result of trends and other larger forces that are driving a [constant] shift in the business world. I call them “energies” and they run the gamut from Mother Nature to foreign relations, and from technology to generational and social movements. As Steve Jobs of Apple puts it, “we always connect the dots backwards.” To my point, we still need to process them to connect them.
Still waters
The world has become so complex, so connected, and so fragile. Do you remember learning about tsunami’s in 2004? I had no idea at the time. Connecting the dots backward, the economic meltdown of 2009 was like a tsunami. The tide withdrew and the recession started back in 2007. Metaphorically, I think other tsunamis have occurred in the past 10 years but the waves have yet to reach us. For you and you’re small business, becoming more aware of the waters’ stillness has to be the first step to keeping up, surviving and prospering in the next decade.
“In times of profound change, the learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”
—Eric Hoffer
We ourselves have been changed without being aware. Besides being stretched paper-thin with time eating distractions and minutia, we’ve been slowly conditioned to accept that calamity can happen anytime, anywhere. We’re now convinced there is no real job security, nor is the mainland of this great country exempt from being attacked. Out of the gate in 2001 we watched the collapse of the Twin Towers in NYC and learned of an attack on the Pentagon—the most guarded building in the world. Then in 2009, we heard that General Motors was bankrupt and was begging to be saved from extinction. We’ve lost nearly one-third of all manufacturing jobs since 2000. Sony’s Walkman, cassettes, CDs and the LP; photographic film; landlines, and five automobile brands are all but gone. Change is inevitable, it’s now more frequent, and it when it arrives it may not knock. How do you adapt? Here are the new rules:
- The wake up call is to pay attention, and connect the dots—all of them.
- Notice what is changing, then learn to adapt to the change you see as swiftly as humanly possible, and in small steps.
- Avoid the tendency to get mired in your own beliefs and best practices. Watch for still or receding waters.
- Do not rely on industry partners or peers that you admire to lead by bringing about change.
- Your next biggest competitive threat will likely come from an area not even remotely related to your industry.
- Believe that change in any industry is totally relevant to yours.
INSIGHT:
Rarely are changes thrust upon a business due to changes the industry took upon itself. When we’re successful, or when we become really great at what we do, there’s little motivation to make a change. Ben Franklin had it right, “When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.”
I welcome your comments or more discussion.
Image: Gosu Gamers Caption: “The tsunami that this guy will cause > Volcano” www.gosugamers.net