Gold can hide the truth

I had a chance to hear Lee Froschheiser speak this week at an event. I also had an opportunity to watch "Elizabeth, the golden years" now out on DVD. Interestingly but not surprisingly I made an interesting connection between the two - here goes.
Lee spoke about about the misconceptions that "good times" in business can perpetrate. Revenue hides a multitude of sins, but when the revenue stops, the economy changes or some other event acts as a catalyst all of a sudden the ugly and neglected sides of the business appear! Sometimes these problems are now so entrenched they are beyond repair.
In the mid 16th century Spain was the thriving business. Almost unlimited quantities of gold were flowing into the coffers. But coincidentally Spain was dysfunctional: A poor leader in King Phillip, a divided country, the inquisition, poor corporate citizenry as they pillaged and raped the new world and no vision as to where the country was headed.
In contrast England, now under Elizabeth was "up and coming". She was a great leader, the country had been united under her more tolerant approach to freedom of religion, there was an interest in the new world and certainly gold; but that was not their only interest.
After the war climaxed with the English defeating the Spanish Armada - Spain was a bankrupt country and England moved on to become the number one player on the ocean.
Business leaders can learn much from these examples. Any Idiot knows to take a good look at their organization or a department when things are not going well, only the best leaders take time to do that when things seem to be perfect!

Humble Pie

I had a chance to meet with an executive last week and we discussed some ways that we could help him get better results out of his sales people. After the meeting I was reflecting on why the meeting had went so well, why we had made such progress in such a short time, why we had got along so well and the answer to all of these questions has to do with this executive having the oh so rare quality of Humility!
This gentleman was very savy, very smart and obvioulsy had some excellent leadership skills. His business had grown very progressively over the years and yet rather than getting overly confident or even pompus about his success, he still had an "I don't have all the answers" demeanor. Oddly enough those who follow this mantra usually find themselves having all the answers.
One cannot help thinking about how different things might be if more people were like him. The political realm right now is full of people who say they have all the answers and the current President - of course he has all the answers. When people have all the answers they never ask for help, they never consider another opinion and as a result they make more mistakes and end up looking foolish more often.
As bad as current leaders might be I can certainly think of worse.Legend has it that King Canute of England had his throne taken down to the ocean so that he could demonstrate to his subjects that even the sea obeys him - then his subjects would stop questioning him. Guess what happened?

Expecting the Unexpected

Last week on my vacation to St Kitts I had a chance to visit the Brimstone Hill Fortress on the Island. Originally constructed by the British it was intended to protect the island and waterways around it during a very, shall we say competetive time in history. The fortress was believed to be impregnible and then one day in 1782 the fortress fell to of all people - the French!
How did that happen?
This fortress high on a hill, unapproachable from 3 sides, guarded by the best army in the world fell to a nation notorious for the white flag. Well think about it: Overconfidence and Complacency when pitted against Unexpected Creativity won out.
Often in the world of business we see the same thing. An Unexpected and underestimated competitor starts taking market share from you because he is coming from a different direction and exploiting your weaknesses. Sometimes the competitor is inferior but his timing is right and he is able to catch you off your game. Even a competitor that will usually fail in a true head to head confrontation can capture ground by utilizing surprise.
After this the British redesigned the fort and added guns and walls to the weak side and the fort never fell again. Great Business's will similarly make whatever changes are necessary to not only keep up with their challengers but surpass them!