From the Peak Your Profits!® newspaper column by:
Jeff Blackman, J.D., CSP, CPAE
Business-Growth Specialist
© Blackman & Associates, LLC
How would you like to predict the future, with the confidence, assurance and knowledge that you’d be right?
Believe it or not, you and I have the ability to do just that. And we need not even be a prognosticator, soothsayer or fortune teller!
How?
Well, it’s really quite easy. Because there’s something that’s going to happen daily. Guaranteed. And when it does, it’ll be relentless. It’ll be rapid. It’ll be revolutionary. And it’ll be reality. It’s truly the only thing you and I can be certain of. What is it? It’s uncertainty or change!
Yet as David Thomas, Dean of Cornell Business School once said, “The number one characteristic of students who later became company leaders is the ability to withstand uncertainty.”
Have you experienced incredible change, especially recently in your life, either professional or personal? I thought so. Get used to it. Because it won’t stop. Yogi Berra, that wise business philosopher once exclaimed, “The future ain’t what it used to be!” Despite the absurdity of Yogi’s thought process, he’s right.
Just think of some of the changes we’ve witnessed; the fall of the Berlin wall, the democratization of Eastern Europe, the demise of the cold war, the collapse of Communism in the Soviet Union, the Chicago Cubs winning a World Series championship! (Oops, that was in 1908!)
Change: The Only Constant!
Change, is our only constant. With genetic animal husbandry, hogs will produce low-cholesterol pork and cows will deliver milk with pharmaceutical properties like insulin, already in place. And if you crave a fast-food burger and fries what do you think will serve it to you? Tha’s right, a robot!
Change is assured. Especially in three areas; computerization, communication and miniaturization. In 1946, ENIAC, the world’s first large-scale multi-purpose computer filled 1,800 square feet and stuffed inside it were 17,468 vacuum tubes.
In 1974, as a University of Illinois freshman, my physics teacher, Steve Selbrede, predicted, “A computer that could fill this massive lecture hall, will one day fit in the palm of your hand and be more powerful!” He was right! Change in technology, life and business is a daily constant.
There appears to be only one thing speculative: whether you and I will have the ability to adapt to the changes within our marketplace and world.
Perry W. Buffington, Ph.D., Professor of Management at Georgia Southern University once said, “The idea of change is one of the few constants in daily living. How we cope with it can spell the difference between successful-and unsuccessful results!” Now if you’re like most people, change doesn’t thrill you. It may even scare you. That’s okay. That’s typical. Yet it’s not change that really frightens us.
Instead, it’s the uncertainty, difficulty or trauma that accompanies the change. For many, their mindset is fixated on doubt and skepticism. They embrace life, personal and professional with a Wizard of Oz philosophy: No heart. No brain. No courage. Forget about the yellow brick road, this is a guaranteed road to ruin!
Remember, if you always do, what you’ve always done, you’ll always get, what you’ve always got. Or less!
Therefore, if you want, need or demand more from your life, business, staff, team, customers, clients or prospects, you may have to change. The old way may no longer be appropriate or even work. Your past achievements may not be an accurate measurement of your future performance or future successes. Your past assures nothing. It’s simply an influencer, not a guarantor. You must not allow your past to block your vision or mission for the future. Clinging to the old way for too long, just because, “it has always been done that way,” may thwart the implementation of new ideas, opportunities and solutions.
As an astute seminar participant once told me, “If you keep doing the same thing over and over, but expect different results each time, that’s called insanity!” Therefore, you may have to ask yourself a series of questions:
- Do you choose to innovate?
- Do you choose to imitate?
- Or do you choose to vegetate?
And if you choose the latter, you might as well do what a client of mine suggests, to simply abdicate!
Profit points:
- You must accept change with the understanding that nothing comes to stay, but only to pass/
- The most effective way to deal with change, is to change.
- The best way to minimize the impact of change, is to make the commitment to planning, on-going knowledge and goal setting.
- Your addiction to the past, sets a trap for your future.
- You must be willing to bust out of your zone of comfort, security and complacency.
MARKETING: A Fish Story! →
Byline: Jeff Blackman
Jeff is a Hall of Fame speaker, best selling author, success coach, broadcaster and lawyer. His clients call him a “business-growth specialist.” If you hire speakers, please contact Sheryl Kantor at: 847.998.0688 or [email protected]. And visit jeffblackman.com to learn more about his other business-growth tools and to subscribe to Jeff’s FREE e-letter, The Results Report. Jeff’s Amazon bestselling books include; Stop Whining! Start Selling!, the 5th edition of Peak Your Profits and the recently published, (December, 2022), BULLSEYE! Hitting Your Targets at Home and at Work, which became a best seller within four days of its release. You can also stay connected with Jeff via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter: @BlackmanResults