The game has changed.
"Call it the new 'sweet spot.' It's learning to succeed the old-fashioned way. That is, by making it happen in our own unique ways. Henry Ford I didn't follow anyone else's 'must-read' or 'must-do.'"
Forget formulas for success in operating our businesses, nailing down jobs, or securing a promotion. Those 20th-century "oughts" mostly miss the mark in assisting me to obtain my professional goal. I absorbed all those must-reads prior to 2003 and, no surprise, my communications boutique tanked [Download Geezerguts.]
As Henry Cloud explains in his book "Necessary Endings," that bottoming out stopped me dead in seeking answers from outside me and my business. Since then, I rely on my gut, trained by both failure and success, willingness to experiment and actually try out what might be effective, and continuing to try out what might be effective. The new way to earn a good living is totally idiosyncratic.
That starts with me, not "musts" promoted through e-mail subject heads, snail-mail produced on quality stock stationary, and well-meaning mentors, colleagues, and clients. Every morning I get up and look to the marketplace for how what I did yesterday seems to be playing out today. If I could afford it, would a consultant from Bain and Company be able to pitch in and help?
Sure. But, even then, I wouldn't be off the hook from keeping focused on my unique business space. Back in 2005, management consultants W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne coined the term for that "Blue Oean Strategy."
A "Blue Ocean Strategy" means being alert, digging around the marketplace, and connecting the dots in fresh ways. What "must-read" can do all that for me?
Interestingly, the post-recession client knows that. That client comes to me and expects me to ask the right questions about their enterprise, then listen. Next, we plod ahead trying what might work. If I sent out an e-mail screaming "must-read," that client would run like hell.
Comments