Make no mistake, this is a scary time for the American and World economies but this is also a time of opportunity….as long as you have the courage, focus and staying power to recognize the opportunities that have presented themselves in this recession.
No, these opportunities are not easy to spot and even harder to act on, but those that do will be rewarded when the recession turns around.
The quote used in the headline of this post is from one of my favorite basketball coaches and leaders, Rick Pitino (yes, I graduated from the University of Tennessee but I don’t hold his Kentucky allegiances against him!). What he’s trying to say is, DON’T GET COMPLACENT.
When times are good, we all get really proud of ourselves, turnaround slows, we cut corners (whether we mean to or not), take things for granted, ramp up overhead and so on. Basically, we become the type of organization that we started out to compete against by being faster, more creative, more flexible, more customer-centric, etc.
The companies that focus on “continuous improvement” and changing to the environment are the ones that grow year in and year out…recession or not.
View this recession as an opportunity to take stock when you wouldn’t have otherwise. Take a hard look at where you started, where you are, where you wanted to be and why you’re not there. This should be a time deep probing by all members of your company into all phases of your company. Yes it’s reflection but its also an opportunity to right the ship that might not have happened otherwise.
You can be mediocre company and survive a recession but you cannot be a mediocre company and survive competition from great companies that pass you by…the market will simply not allow it.
Now is your opportunity, are you ready to ask the tough questions and make the hard decisions to get back to great?