Albert Einstein is attributed as saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. If this is true, then how can we tell when someone’s sanity is in question or when they are simply deeply committed to the task before them? More specifically, when is it a sound business decision that just needs time and attention; and when is it a bad decision and the time has come to not let our pride get in the way, cut our losses, learn what we can, and move on?
Life is full of great stories of perseverance. You know, the ones of an athlete who sticks with a grueling training program, overcomes all kinds of obstacles, and wins an Olympic gold medal or a championship. Or of a business owner who hangs in there even when everyone else says they should quit, and finally succeeds in accomplishing their dream. We love those stories; they are inspiring. But life is also filled with stories about people who were, well to put it bluntly, simply pig-headed and it led to ruin. Those stories are usually marked by someone who refused to see what was going on around them and, despite warnings, continued down a path that was not going to end well.
When do you stand by your decisions and when do you change? It seems to me that this is a truly important question in a world that at times appears to be rather chaotic and unpredictable. We know change will happen, but how do we manage it well and succeed in the process? I wish I had an easy, one size fits all, answer for you, but I don’t and I am not sure one exists.
What got me thinking about this was Jim Collins’ new book, Great By Choice that he co-authored with Morten Hansen. I read it because just about anything by Collins is worthwhile and because it is a follow up to From Good to Great, which I found very helpful. What is of particular interest with this new book is the context in which it was written. Collins and Hansen specifically set out to address the issue of building a great organization in chaotic and ever changing times, something to which all of us can relate to on some level.
As always, Collins includes many anecdotes to illustrate what he is trying to say and on this theme there are some great stories about Steve Jobs and the resurgence of Apple over the past few years, and of John Wooden and how teaching his players how to tie their shoes properly was a fundamental element to helping UCLA win an unprecedented 10 basketball championships in 12 years during the 1960s and 70s. Here are some quotes from the book that I found particularly interesting and wanted to pass along to you.
“If you really want to become mediocre or get yourself killed in a turbulent environment, you want to be changing, morphing, leaping, and transforming yourself all the time and in reaction to everything that hits you. We’ve found in all our research studies that the signature of mediocrity is not an unwillingness to change; the signature of mediocrity is chronic inconsistency” (pg. 138, emphasis authors).
“It’s just that they [leaders of great organizations] accomplish their huge goals by adhering with great discipline to what they know works while simultaneously worrying – for they always worry – about what might no longer work in a changing environment. When conditions call for a change, they respond by amending the recipe” (pg. 138).
“The amount of change swirling about is both gigantic and, for most people, accelerating. If we tried to react to every single external change, we’d quickly find ourselves incapacitated. Most change is just noise and requires no fundamental change in ourselves. Yet some change is not noise, demanding that we adjust and evolve, else we face demise, catastrophe, or missed opportunities. A great company must evolve its recipe, revising selected elements when conditions merit, while keeping most of its recipe intact” (pg. 139, emphasis authors).
The basic premise is this: great organizations have created, and are committed to, a recipe for success that they know works because they have diligently proven it. And when the environment around them changes, sometimes dramatically, they do not automatically change the recipe but they continually evaluate how their fundamental ingredients interact with what is going on around them.
Commitment matters a great deal. Being firm on the core values while fluid and flexible on the application of those values is an art form that is vital to success.
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Committed or Pig-Headed?
Life is full of great stories of perseverance. You know, the ones of an athlete who sticks with a grueling training program, overcomes all kinds of obstacles, and wins an Olympic gold medal or a championship. Or of a business owner who hangs in there even when everyone else says they should quit, and finally succeeds in accomplishing their dream. We love those stories; they are inspiring. But life is also filled with stories about people who were, well to put it bluntly, simply pig-headed and it led to ruin. Those stories are usually marked by someone who refused to see what was going on around them and, despite warnings, continued down a path that was not going to end well.
When do you stand by your decisions and when do you change? It seems to me that this is a truly important question in a world that at times appears to be rather chaotic and unpredictable. We know change will happen, but how do we manage it well and succeed in the process? I wish I had an easy, one size fits all, answer for you, but I don’t and I am not sure one exists.
What got me thinking about this was Jim Collins’ new book, Great By Choice that he co-authored with Morten Hansen. I read it because just about anything by Collins is worthwhile and because it is a follow up to From Good to Great, which I found very helpful. What is of particular interest with this new book is the context in which it was written. Collins and Hansen specifically set out to address the issue of building a great organization in chaotic and ever changing times, something to which all of us can relate to on some level.
As always, Collins includes many anecdotes to illustrate what he is trying to say and on this theme there are some great stories about Steve Jobs and the resurgence of Apple over the past few years, and of John Wooden and how teaching his players how to tie their shoes properly was a fundamental element to helping UCLA win an unprecedented 10 basketball championships in 12 years during the 1960s and 70s. Here are some quotes from the book that I found particularly interesting and wanted to pass along to you.
“If you really want to become mediocre or get yourself killed in a turbulent environment, you want to be changing, morphing, leaping, and transforming yourself all the time and in reaction to everything that hits you. We’ve found in all our research studies that the signature of mediocrity is not an unwillingness to change; the signature of mediocrity is chronic inconsistency” (pg. 138, emphasis authors).
“It’s just that they [leaders of great organizations] accomplish their huge goals by adhering with great discipline to what they know works while simultaneously worrying – for they always worry – about what might no longer work in a changing environment. When conditions call for a change, they respond by amending the recipe” (pg. 138).
“The amount of change swirling about is both gigantic and, for most people, accelerating. If we tried to react to every single external change, we’d quickly find ourselves incapacitated. Most change is just noise and requires no fundamental change in ourselves. Yet some change is not noise, demanding that we adjust and evolve, else we face demise, catastrophe, or missed opportunities. A great company must evolve its recipe, revising selected elements when conditions merit, while keeping most of its recipe intact” (pg. 139, emphasis authors).
The basic premise is this: great organizations have created, and are committed to, a recipe for success that they know works because they have diligently proven it. And when the environment around them changes, sometimes dramatically, they do not automatically change the recipe but they continually evaluate how their fundamental ingredients interact with what is going on around them.
Commitment matters a great deal. Being firm on the core values while fluid and flexible on the application of those values is an art form that is vital to success.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 24th, 2012 at 1:22 pm and is filed under Comments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.