What’s Your Strategy?

Posted on by Scott

point-a-to-b2Well, the first quarter is over. Finished. In the books.

How did you do?

Did you make budget? Did you reach your goals? Did you meet the expectations set by your organization, shareholders, customers, and employees?

Did you accomplish the things you set out to achieve? Did the strategies you put in place pan out like you thought they would?

What’s that? You didn’t have any strategies? Oh…

Too many leaders navigate their way through the year without a strategic plan. This is a mistake. You may have goals, but without a strategy, you have no clear path to achieve them. You have no idea how close you are to the finish line. You have no way of knowing whether or not you are headed in the right direction until the final numbers come out. In short, a goal without a plan to achieve it is just a dream.

Perhaps you achieved your goals. If so, congratulations. But how do you what activities resulted in the victory? How do you know you didn’t just get lucky? Operating without a plan is like going on vacation without consulting a map. Having a clearly defined plan for achieving your goals gives you control over your destiny. And which would you rather do … wander around blindly, hoping for the best … or execute a strategy that’s designed to provide the results you want?

That’s what I thought.

How about we approach the second quarter with intention? Let’s put together a set of strategies – a plan – that will get us where we want to be. Here’s how…

1. Clearly define the results you are after. Start with your annual goal. Subtract the gains you’ve made year-to-date (or subtract your losses) to get a true picture of the mountain you have left to climb. Now break that goal into smaller, more manageable chunks. I like to focus on 90 day increments. That’s long enough to implement some fairly detailed tactics, but about as long as you can keep people focused on a specific initiative. And you need your team to stay focused. Plus 90 days will get us to the end of June – a perfect time to regroup and refocus.

2. Develop a set of strategies to address the goal. With your 90 day goal(s) now in mind, it’s time to devise your strategy. Pull your team together and share one of your 90 day goals. Now lead a brainstorming session to generate a list of actions the team will engage in over the next three months. It’s important that everyone participate in this meeting. You want as diverse a group of people as possible. How can you expect to uncover new ideas if you don’t entertain new perspectives? Make sure to use the SMART Goal formula to refine each idea. (I’ll write more about brainstorming and SMART Goals in the near future.)

3. Execute your plan. The best strategies are useless if they aren’t implemented; so get moving. Every day counts and 90 days will be over before you know it. Delegate responsibilities, allocate resources, and provide the necessary motivation/accountability. Don’t assume that communicating the plan once at the beginning of your initiative is good enough. Most people require regular communication to stay engaged. Our tendency is to wander off track, so need something, or someone, to pull us back in line.

4. Lather, Rinse, Repeat. After 90 days of focusing on your strategic plan, it’s time to start over. Assess your progress to determine if your strategies have been successful. With a new goal in hand, reconvene the team to discuss the next 90 days. What strategies have been successful? What can be done to make them even more so? Conversely, what strategies failed? What can be done to salvage or replace them?

We all need goals to help move us forward. A properly designed goal provides a target to work toward and a measuring stick for performance. But unless the goal is accompanied by a well thought out strategic plan, it’s hard to know the way forward. The absence of a plan means you’re left with luck as your strategy. And I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not depend on that.

If all of this sounds intimidating, or you’d like some assistance developing good strategies, give me a call. I’d love to help.

The Art of the Do-Over

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goalsNow that the hustle and bustle of Christmas is over, attention turns to New Years. Across the globe, people are busy deciding where they will be and who they will be with as they count down the final minutes of the year and celebrate the arrival of 2015. For many, this also means making New Year’s resolutions – commitments to changes in behavior that will improve their lives.

According to research conducted by the University of Scranton, the most popular resolutions made for 2014 were:

  1. Lose Weight
  2. Get Organized
  3. Spend Less/Save More

That same study however, also found that only 8% of those who make New Year’s resolutions actually succeed in achieving them. As soon as one week after making their resolution, 25% report they’ve already broken them. Less than half are still on track after six months. That’s an alarming rate of failure. In fact, I know a great many people who have become so frustrated with their inability to achieve their resolutions that they have decided to stop making them.

We all make promises, to others and to ourselves, that we fail to keep. We fail for any number of reasons; lack of time or money, demands placed on us from others, even random and unforeseen circumstances. But one thing that seems to act as a stumbling block for me is self-control. I sometimes find myself struggling between that which I should do and that which I want to do. For instance, I know I should jump on the treadmill in my backroom for twenty minutes but I’d rather spend that time browsing the internet or watching TV. I should buckle down and finish the big report I have due for work, but I’d rather check out what my friends are doing on Facebook. This lack of discipline keeps me from achieving the goals I’ve set for myself and cause me a great deal of frustration.

Is it any wonder then that, every December, so many of us make the same resolutions we did the year before? How can we overcome this natural tendency to lose steam and forgo the needs in pursuit of the wants? Wharton professor Katherine Milkman offers one suggestion in a strategy she calls the “fresh-start effect.”

Milkman feels that, rather than getting frustrated with our inability to stay on track, we embrace it. Knowing that our motivation to perform is strongest in the days and weeks following a milestone, we should use them to initiate a fresh start toward our goals. Here’s how she puts it:

“At the beginning of a new week, the start of a new month, following a birthday, or after a holiday from work, people redouble their efforts to achieve a goal. Why? Because in these fresh-start moments, people feel more distant from their past failures. Those failures are the old you, and this is the new you. The fresh-start effect hinges on the idea that we don’t feel as perfect about our past as we’d like. We’re always striving to be better. And when we can wipe out all those failures and look at a clean slate, it makes us feel more capable and drives us forward.”

As a kid, I loved do-overs. So did my friends. We made a point to allow a certain number of do-overs in any pick-up game we played. It allowed us to focus on being successful rather than on being a failure. I think it’s sad that as grown-ups we seem to have forgotten the art of the do-over. Not that everyone gets an unlimited amount of free passes (even as kids we only allowed one or two per game); but we can all use a fresh start from time to time.

As you look forward to 2015 and make your list of resolutions – or goals, or commitments, or whatever you want to call them – aim for excellence, not perfection. Know that you don’t always have to get it right the first time. Know that if at first you don’t succeed…well, you know the rest.

 

Mission Accomplished: What I Learned From Winning NaNoWriMo

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imageI did it.

Four weeks ago I accepted the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) challenge. The goal was to write a 50,000 word novel during the 30 days of November. I’d heard about it just a couple of days before the month started during an NPR interview with Chris Baty, with the guy who started it in 1999.

I crossed the 50,000 word goal line just before midnight on Saturday, November 29th. I uploaded the text to nanowrimo.org in order to validate my word count and was immediately forwarded to a screen that read CONGRATULATIONS! in giant letters. While it felt good to get that kind of instant feedback from the site, the personal sense of accomplishment feels even better.

Now that November and the challenge are over, I thought I’d share a few personal observations about the process of goal achievement.

  • You have to set a big goal. This may seem counter intuitive. After all, if you set a goal that’s too big it’s easy to get discouraged and assume defeat before you even get started. But I think the bigger danger lies in setting a goal that’s too small. Goals that seem small invite procrastination. It’s easy to put off something that seems easy to accomplish. Knowing that 50,000 words would not be easy meant that I had to start right away. Just getting started is often the hardest part of reaching any goal.
  • You have to make forward progress every day. I knew that if I let just one day go by without working on my novel, I would never finish. Allowing yourself to rest is like giving yourself permission to quit. Newton’s first law of motion applies to goal achievement. A body at rest tends to remain at rest. So I made myself write some every single day. Sometimes it was only a hundred words or so, but moving forward actually keeps you moving forward.
  • Your work isn’t finished when the goal is reached. I achieved the official goal of writing 50,000 words; but my story isn’t finished. I still have a few more scenes to write before I can call my book complete. That means I can’t stop. As long as I have more story to tell, I’ll keep writing. As long as you have more to give, you still have work to do.
  • You learn more about what you still have to learn. I’m a better writer (I think) than I was a month ago; but I know I can get better. There are elements of my story that are rough and characters that need more development. So once I get through the first draft, I have to go back and refine several parts of the narrative. I’ll research the parts that gave me trouble and work on them so I can improve.
  • You start to thrive on the challenge. I have come to relish the sense of accomplishment I feel when reaching a personal milestone. That’s why I keep giving myself goals like this – to see how far I can stretch. It’s been said that the day you stop growing is the day you start dying. After this project is said and done, I’ll be looking for something else to test myself with.

If there’s a goal in front of you that you’re trying to reach, let me encourage you to keep going. If you don’t have one, set one. Make it big and do something to move you forward every day. Otherwise, your story will never be told. And, to paraphrase the NaNoWriMo slogan, the world needs your story.

How to Achieve Your Goal in 30 Days

Posted on by Scott

IMG_1344It’s been a while since I started writing my weekly articles. Each week, I share a personal story or reflect on an event from history and attempt to tie it back to some aspect of sales effectiveness, customer service, or leadership. And each week I am honored to hear from people who say my message resonated with them.

Thank you. Your feedback means the world to me.

I love writing. I love taking abstract concepts that are floating around in my head and making them real. I love the satisfaction that comes from creating something that didn’t exist before. And I love sharing my creation with you.

It’s been said that we all have a book or two inside of us. I believe that. We all have ideas, experiences, and observations that are dying to get out. Words that need to be shared. Dreams that long to be expressed. Each and every one of us could write a multitude of books.

I’ve decided to write one of mine.

November is National Novel Writing Month. According to founder Chris Baty, the goal is to encourage each and every person to get one of their books out of their head and into written form. The challenge is to make this happen during the month of November. The first challenge took place in 1999 and drew 21 participants, each accepting the challenge to create a rough draft of their novel within 30 days.

Writing a book is a daunting challenge. Like so many other meaningful activities (dieting, exercising, and cross-selling are a few that come to mind), it can seem overwhelming. It’s something we want to do, but it seems so difficult that we just keep putting it off.

But Baty says that writing a book doesn’t have to be that hard. During an interview with him I heard on National Public Radio, he provided a handful of tips for making the process more manageable. I think these tips work for any seemingly impossible goal you might be facing.

  • Make a short-tem commitment. Give yourself a short window in which to achieve your goal. The more time you give yourself, the longer you’ll procrastinate. Ever spend the night before you go on vacation madly cleaning the house and tying up loose ends? It’s amazing what you can accomplish with a short deadline. So use this phenomenon to your advantage and give yourself a short leash.
  • Break it down. Writing a 50,000 novel seems unattainable to most people. But breaking that goal down into 30 daily increments (about 1,700 words) makes it seem so much more manageable. My weekly articles tend to run between 500 and 600 words (this one is a little longer), and I can churn them out pretty quickly. So I just need to write the equivalent of three short articles a day.
  • Get started. A lot of people are intimated by writing because they’re worried about the details. Maybe their spelling isn’t the greatest, or they’re afraid they’ll get some facts wrong. These are self-limiting barriers that keep us from attaining our goals. The key is to make the effort. Technique improves with practice; but you can’t get better if you never take the first step.
  • Embrace accountability. If no one knows you’re trying something new, then there’s no downside to giving up. Making your commitment public invites others to check in on your progress. We all need a little help to succeed, whether it’s encouragement, constructive criticism, or a good kick in the pants every now and then. So ask others to help you succeed.
  • Celebrate success. There will be good days and bad days along your route to achieving your goal. Our tendency is to focus on the bad ones. It’s important to stop periodically and recognize the advances you’ve made. The energy you get form seeing your progress will propel you forward. Again, having others invested in your project helps as it allows them to celebrate with you.

I’m both excited and terrified at the prospect of writing a novel. I’m going to try and keep these ideas in mind as I work my way through it. Hopefully 30 days from now I’ll have something to show for the effort. I invite you to choose a goal for yourself and join me for the ride.

Winning From Behind

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Bobby Thomson - 1951 New York GiantsFall is in the air, and that’s good news for baseball fans. It means playoffs are here and the 110th World Series is in sight. Wild Card are tomorrow and the Division series start this week.

Baseball is a classic game and, like many sports, makes for great stories. Some of the best movies revolve around baseball, but some of the best sports history moments come from actual baseball games. I’m not a huge baseball fan (I think I played one season of little league), but I do love a good story.

One of the most interesting to me is the story of the 1951 New York Giants.

The Giants had endured a horrible year. Coming into August, they were 13 ½ games behind the Brooklyn Dodgers, who led the National League. Everyone figured their season was finished. No team could possibly hope to overcome such a deficit.

But then, inexplicably, something changed. The Giants somehow found new life. Teammates challenged each other and each player vowed to give everything they had through the home stretch. They won 16 games in a row. By October, they had managed to tie Brooklyn for the lead, winning 37 out of their last 44 games.

New York and Brooklyn split the first two games of the playoff series – the first ever in National League history. It came down to the third and final game of the series. The winner would become league champions and go on to face the Yankees in the World Series.

That game didn’t unfold as the Giants had hoped. By the ninth inning, they trailed 4-1. Fans began heading for the exits as Brooklyn prepared to pitch for the game. Three outs and it would all be over.

But once again, the Giants rallied. A couple of singles and a double moved the score to 4-2, with runners on second and third base. Outfielder Bobby Thomson, a fairly consistent hitter, came to plate and rookie Willie Mays moved to the on-deck circle. The Dodgers sent in relief pitcher Ralph Branca – presumably to walk Thomson so he could pitch to the rookie.

Somehow, Thomson connected with the second pitch, sending it into the left field stands. It was ‘the shot heard ‘round the world,” and the underdog Giants were now the National League Champions. Fans stormed the field. Radio announcer Russ Hodges screamed “The Giants win the pennant!” He kept screaming it until he lost his voice. The celebration continued for hours.

How does your team react when the odds are against them? We’re about to enter the 4th quarter of 2014 and many who read this are behind on their annual goals. For some, the deficit may seem too huge to overcome. Is it time to cut the losses and hope for a better 2015? Or is it time to refocus and reenergize?

Time and again, history has shown that the greatest champions aren’t those who coast to victory. The real champions are those who overcome the odds – those who find a way to win when the game is on the line. Those are the victories that mean the most.

Up, Up, and Away

Posted on by Scott

Larry Walters, Balloon ManLarry Walters had always wanted to fly.

As a boy, he became fascinated with airplanes and dreamed of soaring among the clouds. Once he reached adulthood, he joined the Air Force – intent on becoming a pilot. However, his poor eyesight disqualified him from his dream job. He served his time and, after his discharge, took a job as a truck driver.

Larry spent evenings in his backyard watching as jets from nearby Los Angelos International Airport flew overhead. He’d spent 20 years wrestling with his dream of flight, and as the days passed, his frustration only grew. If he didn’t do something about it soon, he feared he’d go crazy. As Larry sat and watched the planes and birds pass by, a plan slowly began to form in his head. Then on July 2, 1982, he put his plan into action.

He’d purchased 42 weather balloons a few weeks before. Now, with help from his girlfriend and a couple of others, he filled each one with helium and tied it to an aluminum lawn chair. A tether tied to the bumper of his friend’s car kept the contraption (dubbed Inspiration I) from blowing away while he filled the balloons and gathered the rest of his supplies. Armed with a CB radio, a camera, some sandwiches, and a pellet gun; Larry strapped himself into the chair, said a quick prayer, and cut the tether.

His goal was to float lazily over town for a while, seeing the world as a bird does from 30-40 feet, then shoot a few balloons and descend. If he couldn’t be a pilot, he figured he would at least experience the thrill of flight for a brief time. Maybe then the dreams would stop.

But things didn’t quite go as Larry had planned.

With the tether cut, Inspiration I rocketed into the air – the jolt caused Larry to lose his glasses. He ascended at the rate of around 1,000 per minute, finally leveling off around 16,000 feet. At this altitude, Larry feared shooting a balloon would unbalance the chair and send him tumbling to the ground, so he drifter for several minutes before a TWA pilot passed him and called in a report of a man floating in a Lawn chair.

Larry drifted into controlled airspace over the airport and managed to contact a civilian radio group over his CB. After 45 minutes shivering in the cold, he finally worked up the nerve to shoot a balloon or two and began to descend. His dangling ropes tangled in some electrical lines causing a power outage. Larry climbed down the pole to safety and a $1,500 fine for piloting an unlicensed aircraft.

Have you ever had a dream you just couldn’t shake?

What if you acted on your dream and the reality was much more than you could ever hope for? What if you set a goal, acted on it, and the result made you wonder why you were so limiting in your expectations? What if you are capable of more than you can imagine?

Think of the goals you have for yourself, your family, and your business. How many of those goals remain unrealized because you’ve yet to act on them? The timing and circumstances may never be ideal, but why let that stop you? Why not start right now?

“All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.” T.E. Lawrence

 

What’s Wrong with Your Face?

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Cyclists 1895Writing about the Tour de France last week got me thinking about the history of the bicycle. Here are a few of the facts I found interesting:

* Bicycles were introduced in Europe during the 19th century.

* The modern bicycle design evolved from that of the dandy-horse.

* The first pedaled bicycle was developed in 1839 by Kirkpatrick MacMillan, a Scottish blacksmith. He is also associated with the first recorded bicycle-related traffic offense.

* The most popular model of bicycle in the world (and the most popular vehicle of any kind) is the Chinese Flying Pigeon.

* There are more than twice as many bicycles in the world as there are automobiles.

But by far the most interesting thing I uncovered was a mysterious bicycle-related illness known as “bicycle face.”

It seems that bicycle-riding enjoyed a huge surge during the late 1800’s, around the time chain-driven models were introduced. And as bicycling became more popular, it drew its share of detractors as well. Some didn’t like the congestion on the streets. Some didn’t like the impact bicycling had on fashion (women began to shun long dresses for clothing that allowed greater freedom of movement). Some bemoaned the lost art of one-on-one communication allowed by walking or taking the carriage to your destination. Thanks to a growing number of bicyclists who would opt for a Sunday morning ride over attending church, some even argued that cycling led to spiritual damnation.

Soon doctors were writing to medical journals describing the impact of cycling on one’s physical health. In addition to appendicitis, dysentery, and infertility; excessive riding, they argued, could lead to “bicycle face.” This disease was caused by the constant need to focus on balancing yourself on the bicycle while also scanning your surroundings to avoid collision with something or someone else. The anxiety produced by this level of concentration would lead to bulging eyes, flushed skin, and tense jaws. If not corrected in time, they warned, the effects of bicycle face would become permanent.

Over one hundred years later we can laugh about this obviously fictitious disease. But take a look around. How many people do you know who walk around every day with “bicycle face?”

Employees today are stressed. They’re stressed about the demands on their job. They’re stressed about the future of the company. They’re stressed about the future of the industry. They’re stressed about the next customer interaction. They’re stressed about meeting your expectations. And they’re stressed about balancing all of this with all of the other stuff that stresses them out at home. According to the American Psychological Association, the number one stressor for people 18-33 is work. And twenty percent of this group has been diagnosed with clinical depression. Now before you go thinking “Wow. I’m glad that doesn’t happen here. My employees aren’t stressed,” think again. They are.

It’s up to us as managers to address this problem. It’s up to us to address the issues causing stress amongst our employees. As work-related stress goes up, job satisfaction and productivity obviously go down. In addition, all that stress gets transferred to your customers, leaving a negative impression and impacting future business. Nobody wants to conduct business with a company full of stressed out, anxiety-ridden employees. The only ones who can make an immediate, positive impact on the organization are the leaders – and you are part of that group.

So come on fellow leaders, let’s fix this. Let’s talk to our employees and find out what’s causing all this stress. Then let’s do something about it.

After all, who wants to work all day next to Mr. Bicycle Face?

What it Takes to Win

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Tour de FranceHenri had a problem.

Sales of L’Auto, his daily newspaper devoted to sports, were slow. He’d started the paper in 1900 to compete with France’s largest sports paper, Le Vélo. But after almost three years, circulation hovered around 25,000, far lowered than desired. Henri wanted to not only compete with his rival, but dominate them. So he called an emergency meeting of the paper’s staff. They needed an idea – something big that would cement their legacy as the country’s premier sports authority.

The answer, suggested by a young writer focused on rugby and cycling, was a race. The paper would sponsor a six day, multi-stage bicycle race around France; creating an event grander than anything seen before. The proposal was quickly adopted. As plans for the race progressed, it grew to 19 days. Six just wasn’t enough to attract the kind of attention L’Auto needed. Unfortunately though, this put the race at out of the reach of many would-be participants. By the time it started on July 1, 1903, there were less than 100 registered racers.

However, while the field of competitors was small, the race attracted hoards of avid cycling fans. L’Auto’s circulation immediately jumped to over 65,000. The race became an annual event and circulation continued to grow. By 1923 over 500,000 copies were being sold each day. As luck would have it, the paper was eventually shut down in 1946, having been associated with Nazi influences during the Second World War.

But the race continued.

Today, the Tour de France consists of 21 day-long segments covering approximately 2,200 miles over 23 days. It is generally considered the most prestigious multi-stage bicycle race despite the grueling schedule (there are only two scheduled rest days). While the route changes each year, participants are guaranteed to encounter steep uphill climbs, unpredictable weather and a variety of road hazards. Every day, veterans and rookies compete to be the first overcome the physical demands of the race and don the yellow jersey (a nod to the yellow paper L’Auto was printed on).

Winning the Tour de France is complicated. It’s more like a game of chess than a race. In addition to physical performance and high tech gear, it involves strategy, teamwork and a great deal of patience. There are times when you give it your all and times when you sit back and let others lead. It involves sacrifice for the sake of the team and a steady stream of communication between teammates and even other riders.

In many ways, winning the Tour de France is like winning in business. There are periods of preparation and planning followed by periods of intense activity. There are times when the best strategy is to lay low and times when those who want to win leave everything they have on the road in pursuit of the goal.

Winning is hard. It isn’t for the weak of mind or spirit. It isn’t for those who take the easy way out. Winning is for those who are willing to sacrifice in order to stand on the podium. That’s why so few ever do.

What does it take to win your particular race?

 

The Ten Essentials (Part 2)

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BootsLast week I introduced the idea of “Ten Essentials” for surviving the business world, a modification of the Ten Essentials list used by the Boy Scouts of America and other outdoor adventure groups. As a quick review, the first five items on the list are:

1. Clearly defined goals and a strategy to meet them.
2. Regular education to help you stay sharp.
3. Positive influences.
4. A supportive supervisor.
5. An effective support team.

This week, we conclude the list. Here are items six through ten.

[table caption=”The Ten Essentials” width=”600″ colwidth=”150|225|225″ colalign=”left|left|left”]
,Backcountry Explanation,Business Version
6. Knife/Multi-tool,Useful for tasks as large as building an emergency shelter or as small as repairing a damaged backpack.,Job aids and worksheets – resources that help make the important jobs easier.
7. Sun Protection,Includes items such and sunscreen and a wide-brimmed hat. Used to prevent sunburn and possibly heat exhaustion.,A healthy dose of determination to keep you going when the heat is on.
8. First Aid Kit,A basic first aid kit can help prevent small injuries from becoming large problems and buy time when more advanced treatment is not readily available.,A bag of resources(people and/or procedures) you can call upon to help fix a damaged project or broken customer relationship.
9. Flashlight,Important for finding one’s way at night.,Core values to help you find your way when the decision isn’t easy or the way forward isn’t clear.
10. Fire Starter,Used to light fires for heat or cooking and for signaling purposes.,Something (or someone)to provide a motivational spark when you need it.
[/table].

Many who review the Ten Essentials list quickly conclude it’s incomplete. “What about shelter?” they ask. “Why isn’t a cell phone on the list, or at least a knowledgeable companion?” When reviewing my list of the Ten Essentials for business, you could ascertain that it’s incomplete as well. Training isn’t listed; nor is a valuable product or advanced technological resources.

Keep in mind that neither list is intended to be comprehensive. The Ten Essentials list is meant to serve as a starting point. Using these items, and nothing else, you can survive in the wilderness for a time (ideally until you are rescued or able to navigate back to civilization). The business essentials list is similarly just a starting point. Many working men and women survive each day by relying on the meager resources I’ve laid out.

Sadly, many people today see survival as the end goal. But who wants to simply survive? Survival isn’t fun. It’s hard work, requiring a constant expenditure of energy just to exist. It involves avoiding risk and adventure in favor of (hopefully) protecting what you already have. Survival is a defensive, paranoid way of thinking.

I don’t want to survive. I want to thrive. I want to grow and expand. I want to create an environment that’s comfortable and attractive. I want to build a set of circumstances where the odds are stacked in my favor, not against me. “Thrival,” not survival, is my goal.

But in order to move from survival to thrival, you have to equip yourself with more than the bare minimum. You can’t be satisfied with “good enough” or avoid taking risks. You have to adopt a growth mindset and set your eyes on a better future state. In the world of survival, the Ten Essentials list is all you need. In the world of thrival, it’s just the beginning.

Which world do you want to live in?

 

The Ten Essentials (Part 1)

Posted on by Scott

Scott BackpackFor the past two weeks, while you read about tightrope walkers Jean Francois Blondin and Karl Wallenda, I was backpacking around north central New Mexico with a bunch of Boy Scouts. We were at Philmont Scout Ranch, a high adventure base covering approximately 214 square miles of the Sangre de Cristo range of the Rocky Mountains. We didn’t cover the whole ranch; but we did hike almost 70 miles of the north section, including a grueling ascent of Baldy Mountain.

As part of preparations for our trek, and any outdoor adventure for that matter, we always make sure to carry the “Ten Essentials.” This list of survival items makes up the bare minimum recommended for anyone embarking on a trip into the wild. The list was first put together in the 1930’s by an outdoor recreation group called The Mountaineers. Despite advances in technology the original list has seen relatively few changes, although different groups tend to alter or add to the list to fit their specific needs.

Navigating the business world can be a lot like adventuring into the backcountry. After all, it is a jungle out there. But there are a few things you can arm yourself with in order to increase your odds of surviving – and even thriving – in the wilderness of business. So let’s walk through the Ten Essentials (The Boy Scout Version) and their working world counterparts – items I suggest you carry with you at all times. We’ll start with the first five today and finish up the list next week.

[table caption=”The Ten Essentials” width=”600″ colwidth=”150|225|225″ colalign=”left|left|left”]
,Backcountry Explanation,Business Version
1. Map & Compass,Used to determine one’s location and the best route to reach another location.,Clearly defined goals and a workable strategy to meet them.
2. Trail Food,Good for maintaining your energy.,A steady diet of education to help you stay on top of your game.
3. Water,The human body can only survive for a few days without water. Water filters or purifying tablets can be used to obtain potable water from virtually any source.,A regular stream of positive messages from those around you. Without it even the strongest wither and dry up.
4. Rain Gear,Being wet from rain may result in hypothermia – a potentially fatal condition.,Someone you can turn to who will protect you from the rainy days – ideally your immediate supervisor.
5. Extra Clothing,Multiple layers are superior to a single massive jacket. Layered clothing is adaptable to a wide range of temperatures.,A cross-functional team you can call upon as needed to help you successfully manage the various challenges you face.
[/table].