One day, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson went on a camping trip. They
set up their tent, crawled inside, and quickly fell asleep. A few
hours later, Holmes woke his faithful friend and said: “Watson, look
up at the sky and tell me what you see.”
Watson replied, “I see millions of stars.”
“What does that tell you?”
Watson pondered for a minute and then said: “Astrologically, it tells
me that Saturn is in Leo. Meteorologically, it seems we will have a
beautiful day tomorrow. What does it tell you?”
Holmes was silent for a moment, and then said: “Watson, you idiot,
someone has stolen our tent!”
All humor aside, the story illustrates an important business point:
Often, changes occur so quickly that we, like Watson, fail to come to
grips with the new landscape. Our tent is gone yet no one notices.
We’re left alone in the woods without shelter, and we’re not prepared
for it. That’s why as managers or business leaders, we must be ready
to tackle anything, at any time.
Getting Ready for Anything
Those business professionals who want to be successful and lead a
sane, healthy, and happy life need a new kind of training—one that
business schools don’t provide. To take an analogy from Robert
Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, most of today’s
leaders (not you, of course), like institute-trained mechanics, are
ready for everything—except a new situation.
If you are to be ready for anything, your training must focus more on
the person, not just the business. That means focusing on you and
your personal and professional development rather than focusing on
the situation. It’s about becoming more optimistic and resilient,
more creative and energetic. How do you actually do that?
Get Active! Physically Fitter Equals Mentally Tougher
You need a combination of aerobic workouts, strength training, and
some variety of stretching to maintain the energy and positive
emotions necessary to navigate a new landscape. Elizabeth Curtis, CEO
of Sharp Community Medical Group in San Diego, works out most
mornings and rides her horses most weekends. She does so because her
job demands it: Working with eleven hundred physicians is not easy.
“I don’t know how anyone can find the energy to keep up and to make
crucial decisions without the benefits of exercise and healthy
eating,” she says. “Nothing relieves my stress like an hour at the
fitness center or a 20-minute run.”
So how do you fit exercise into an already busy schedule? That’s
where some creative scheduling comes into play. Chances are if you
really look, you can find 30 minutes of free time in your day.
Perhaps you’ll need to wake a half hour earlier to adequately fit
exercise in. And in fact, that’s the best approach. Because exercise
stimulates the right side of the brain, those who exercise first
thing in the morning tend to get their most creative ideas during
that time. So not only is exercise good for the body, but it’s good
for the mind too!
Tell Yourself A Good Story After Any Defeat
Renowned author Peter Drucker once said, “A leader is a person who
controls his own energy and orchestrates the positive energy of the
people around him.” Realize that everywhere you go, you leave an
“emotional wake.” If it’s negative, your company produces less
quantity and certainly less quality. In any situation, you can be
angry or you can solve problems; rarely can you do both.
Martin Seligman, Ph.D., author of Learned Optimism and Authentic
Happiness, has corralled the best psychologists in America to study
positive emotions. His research proves what a lot of us suspected:
Positive emotions help you become more productive at work, healthier,
longer-lived, and happier.
The results of Seligman’s research give us the answer as to what and
how to change in order to be more consistently positive and
optimistic. For example, consider the following:
- An optimist tells herself a good story, especially after a defeat.
In Seligman’s words, to be more positive, use an “optimistic
explanatory style.” For example, say, “The deal was almost done when
the stock market hit the skids. That’s not our fault. We’ll get them
next time,” versus “I never win the big ones,” or “It’s hopeless
dealing with big committees.”
- Perform a daily act of gratitude. But don’t just send an arbitrary
e-mail to someone. Rather, use handwritten notes, special phone
calls, or surprise cubicle visits. Your team members will love it,
but the real change happens within you.
Change The Company Environment from Hindquarters to Headquarters
Look at the average company (not yours, of course). Most, if not all,
meetings are set up in the left-brained, logical, linear, sequential-
thinking mode. Position titles are left-brained as well: CEO, CFO,
COO, and CIO. We have budget meetings, operational meetings, and
technology meetings. But where’s the committee for creativity and
innovation? Who got rewarded for the most innovative
customer save or creative sale? Perhaps these are topics you can
bring up at your next meeting.
Additionally, from a Feng Shui point of view, most of our offices are
“hindquarters,” designed around where we put our rear ends. What we
need are “headquarters,” places that encourage ideas and visionary
solutions. While day-to-day business operations certainly depend on
logical decisions and structure, we’ve gone overboard. We need to
encourage the creative thinking that anticipates the new environment.
Stake Your Tent…And Your Claim
Those business professionals who pitch their tents in uncharted
territory are the true leaders. Sure, they may be a bit apprehensive
of change initially, but because they’re physically fit,
enthusiastically optimistic, and headquartered in creative thinking,
they embrace the future in the new world of technology,
globalization, and ever-aging employees…and their results are better
for it. So the next time someone moves your tent, admire the new view
and passionately embrace the change.
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