“Control your own destiny or someone else will.” This quote from Jack Welch, GE’s famed former CEO, is the inspiration for today’s Lesson Found.
I recently came across an article reconsidering the maxim “The Best Predictor of Future Behavior is … Past Behavior”. While the article’s focus is not business oriented, it does offer lessons on the current business environment. Specifically, the past only predicts the future if there are no significant changes. And recent events ensure our future will be significantly different from the past. Thus, we, as Owners and CEOs, must take control of our own destiny as well as our companies’ destiny by shaping our own future.
Creating our future begins with considering the possibilities. One method to accomplish this is by modeling a wide variety of scenarios. What are the different paths our economy can take under these different scenarios? How do these scenarios affect consumers’ needs, wants and habits? Based on the scenarios, where are the opportunities both within and outside the company’s traditional offerings? Scenario models should include projections of cash flow, revenue and income with a comparison to projections based on your current path.
Working through the scenario models with your team strengthens the models’ validity while also building team cohesion. For example, last week I facilitated a SWOT analysis with a client’s full team. My client received valuable input which he is using to build profitable future scenarios for his company. Equally or more important was the spirit of cooperation the team exhibited throughout the exercise and afterwards.
Soliciting ideas from beyond the company further enhances this modeling process. Outside input expands the horizons of the scenarios by tapping into others’ diverse experiences and creativity. This type of collaborative input requires an exceptional level of trust and understanding. Peer-to-peer teams lend themselves ideally to this process. The peer-to-peer teams’ CEO and Owner members include the breadth of experience as well as the understanding of the challenges and complexities required to develop realistic business scenarios. Equally important, peer-to-peer teams are non-competitive, confidential safe-zones, outside of the organization, where members can speak freely.
Have you considered all the scenarios for your future? Interested in learning more about peer-to-peer teams? Email (mark@strategicbizgroup.com) or call (717-439-6254) to schedule a time for your no-obligation, complimentary consultation.
