The Exit Row
I just want legroom, I don’t want to be responsible for evacuating a plane. Do you ever wonder if the people in the exit row paid attention to the instructions; after all those doors don’t open themselves. Why is it that we trust those in charge? Is it a blind trust?
“Crisis Management has no patience for the unprepared or those with delusions regarding the tenure of their temporary comfort.”
Running a business and airline travel have a commonality. They both require someone to take charge and lead the exit when the alarm sounds. Unfortunately, both in the plane and in the business, people are occupying the emergency exit row seats who are not prepared. They never studied the manual, or they are in a dream zone thinking everything will be fine, and some will cower in the corner covering their eyes and ears afraid to even imagine an impending doom. So, I ask, in your business are you prepared? Who will open the emergency exit?
I believe all businesses should have an emergency exit row team. This team unlike those on the plane would be picked based on skill’s, and along with bravery, would have wisdom. This team would understand the importance and value of conflict in leadership, this team would challenge the relevancy of everything thought sacred, and without a doubt, this team could successfully guide the businesses exit off currently onto the temporary safety of what comes next.
Business leaders when was the last time you or your leadership team asked how your business could be defeated? Or when was the last time you discussed your strategy to exit currently? Too many leaders and their subordinates get bogged down in their current comfort of how great everything is. Of course, they seldom pay attention to the meaning of the word currently. They sit around the conference room and talk about how much better they are then their current competition.
Here’s the impending disaster when a business has an arrogance of greatness. Companies stubborn to their greatness don’t know who their competitor is because they refuse to imagine the emergent of the unknown disruptor. They assume their competitor is the same as yesterday, and they refused to challenge themselves or their deliverables current relevance. Unknown competitors come from unexplored places, and they win because the old way has a lack of imagination. So, stop wasting time congratulating yourself on winning against your current known competitor that’s your job. Today leaders must look for the unknown competitor. The competitor who changes the game bringing the new relevance.
“Without the ability to understand how we could be defeated we are at the mercy of those who plan and execute our defeat.”
On the plane, we hope for the best, in business, there is a much greater percentage of impending doom alarms sounding than those on a plane. So, be prepared and have a strategy to exit from irrelevancy to new temporary relevancy your growth will depend on it. In all reality, those who constantly search and understand how they can be defeated will always redefine their growth strategy. A company’s continuous growth is a product of their ability to continuously modify.
“The meetings to cheer our greatness must be balanced with meetings to fear and respond to our possible demise.”
In Closing: Next time you sit in the exit row don’t sit there just for the legroom be prepared to respond when the alarms sound.
R.J. Stasieczko
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Ray Stasieczko
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