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Test
Your Decisions Against an Ever Changing Reality
"Unless a company constantly reassesses every decision it makes and every
direction it takes, it will eventually end up as road kill."1
What looks good on paper
doesn't necessarily work in the real world. Especially when the real world
is constantly changing.
Reality never stands still. Time erodes decisions ‒ even the most effective
decisions eventually become obsolete. You must revisit periodically your
decisions to see what works best in the current landscape. The
disruptions of this century marketplace mean that tried and tested
approaches to technology,
business model, processes or market success have a short shelf-life.
As
conditions change, a lot of past
decisions get out of date.
Lessons from Fastest
Companies
Fastest companies credit their firm's ability
to move quickly to their willingness to annually reassess everything they
do, including the business they own, every decision that is made, and the
validity of all
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executive positions.
A
marketing strategy that you tested and proved to work a while ago may be
a complete failure today. The competitive environment, customer
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perceptions, and needs change
very fast today.
So,
question everything, including your recent decisions.
Ask
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Learning SWOT
Questions.
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Don't be
afraid of offending experts – including yourself – by questioning their
logic. The true experts will appreciate your questions.
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Feedback |
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 25
Lessons from Jack Welch
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5 Strategic Questions
Jack Welch,
the legendary former CEO of General Electric (GE), urged his managers to
face the reality of each morning: "Confront what the reality is today.
It may be a competitive reality, or a marketing reality, but each morning is
different. What was important yesterday may no longer be important today. You
might make a completely different decision about a deal you agreed on yesterday
or a program you started, in light of the
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changing environment of the last
twenty-four hours. Start every day as if it were your first day on the job. Make
whatever changes are necessary to improve things. Reexamine your agenda
constantly. Rewrite it, if necessary. In that way, you avoid falling back on old
habit."2...
More
 CimJoy
Charles
Schwab
Charles Schwab journals
their
failures
and lessons they've learned. They maintain also a display of failed
innovations and created a videotape for employee orientation.
Dell
inc.
"It is really dangerous if everyone in a
company starts thinking the same way", says
Michael Dell5,
Founder of
Dell Inc.. "The danger comes when you fall into the trap of approaching
problems too similarly. You can encourage your people to think about your
business, your industry, your customers
innovatively.
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The Jazz of Innovation:
11 Practice Tips
Ask a different question – or word the same question in a
different way. By approaching a
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problem, a response or an opportunity from a
different perspective, you create an opportunity for new understanding and
new learning. By
questioning all the aspects of our business, we continuously inject
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improvement and
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innovation into our
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culture."...
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