THE ENTERPRISE--ON THE IMPORTANCE OF CONFIDENCE & EXPERIENCE--KNOWING WHAT YOU KNOW & HAVING BEEN THERE BEFORE
I’m a big fan of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s brilliant essay “On Self Reliance.” You must find it and read it several times to get the full impact of what Emerson was saying. I’ll let you do that, but for those who want to be led to the conclusions, read on. Believing in yourself is an important realization that can grow with time and experience—as long as you first become convinced that you have “the right stuff” to begin with. There’s no faking it. Once you "get it,” you’ll see that.
I also hope most of you are familiar with the story of the Wizard of Oz. With all the media hype about heroic management, who somehow become less heroic when they must deal with adversity, I am reminded about the Wizard, and the illusion he had created, and the lessons learned by the characters in The Wizard of Oz. The moral of this timeless classic story is worth recalling whenever you (or others) go searching for those critical attributes of character and leadership you fear you might be lacking. Fear not—just look inward—you will be surprised what you’ll discover.
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On Self Reliance and The Wizard Of Oz—Often what we need is already inside us.
© John L. Mariotti 1996, 2001
One of the recurring themes of conversations with consulting clients and the people in those organizations who I am coaching or mentoring led to the title of this column. Ralph Waldo Emerson is considered by many to be the first great philosophic mind created by the American Republic. From his birth in Boston, one of the centers of the new republic, he seemed to strike chords in the hearts and minds of Americans with his writing. One could almost say his ideas were at the root of the principles upon which this great nation was founded.
On the other hand, L. Frank Baum's story "The Wizard of Oz" (actually a series of stories) written in 1900 and made into a movie in 1939, has captivated the hearts and minds of children and adults for almost 60 years. The message of this heart-warming tale is not so different from Emerson's. It is a message that every manager, professional, indeed, every person should take to heart.
Frequently, in the world of business we are like the characters in the Wizard of Oz, searching for the Emerald City and the magical, mystical Wizard who will solve all of our problems and bestow upon us all of the characteristics we fear we are missing. The tin woodsman needed a heart; the scarecrow needed a brain, and the cowardly lion needed courage. No doubt you can think of many companies with people who could use all three of these characteristics. The truth, revealed in the end of the movie (I hope I'm not spoiling it for those who haven't seen it)--is that the journey to find the Wizard and the Emerald City showed each of the characters that what they were seeking was already inside each of them, and simply needed to be recognized, acknowledged and used. Thus it is with all of us.
I could quote much of Emerson's wisdom from Self Reliance, but I have chosen just these four. I think they will give you the essence of his timeless message:
"To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, -- that is genius."
How often have you been guilty of saying (often only to yourself and closest confidants), "I knew that was what should be done," but I lacked the courage to stand up and say so publicly."
"What I must do is all that concerns me, not what people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness."
"We pass for what we are. Character teaches above our wills. Men imagine that they communicate their virtue or vice only by overt actions, and do not see that virtue or vice emit a breath every moment."
A simple phrase I first heard from Stephen Covey and oft-repeated comes to mind here. "Your actions speak so loudly, I cannot hear what your words are saying." What I am saying, as "loudly" as the written word can convey, is this: People will judge you by what you do and believe, not by what you say. The truth will be conveyed by your actions. Great leaders have an innate sense of this; they have an aura about them that others perceive, even though they often cannot identify it in words. Whether it is the brains, the heart, or the courage, you have it inside you, if you will only bring it out to be fully developed, appreciated, and used
"Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles."
My first column this year was on "The Death of Ethics” and brought an encouraging response from readers. Just as Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz only wanted to go home to Kansas, many of you only want to find a place where principles still rule over convenient, dishonest or unethical behavior.
There are always a few people who will take the easy route, and blame their intransigence on others—or on circumstances. Most people want to manage the right way, lead the right way and live by Emerson's "Self-Reliance." You have the brains, the heart, and the courage inside you to make a difference in your place of work and in the world. Go do it. Life is too short to search for your own Wizard of Oz.
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“I’ve been there before, & I know the way out”
© John Mariotti 2001, 2021
I heard a story the other night on the popular TV show “The West Wing”, and it struck me as a good theme for a column. The story goes like this:
“A man was walking along the street and as he passed a construction zone, he fell in a deep hole, and he could not figure out how to get out. He yelled for help and the first passerby was a doctor, who asked if he was injured. After he answered that nothing was broken but he hurt all over, he saw a prescription come floating down into the hole and the doctor was gone. The next passerby was a minister. After the minister asked if the man was alright, a prayer on a piece of paper came floating down into the hole. The third passerby was a friend—and the man in the hole was jubilant—until the friend jumped into the hole with him. The man asked his friend, ‘Why did you do that? Now we’re both in the hole." The friend answered ‘yes, but I’ve been down here before and I know the way out!”
Here we are facing the first big slowdown in the longest economic recovery ever, and the tone in many people’s voices is one of panic. Like the man in the hole, they have never been down here before. I have! And I know the way out! And the next few columns will be all about “the way out” and what to do while we are “down here”.
First let’s consider what happened. The Fed was concerned about the economy and the stock market getting overheated, and triggering a round of serious inflation, so the Fed tightened monetary policy and raised interest rates—not once, but several times. This increased everyone’s cost of money, and cut into earnings.
Next, the administration and leading experts were not paying close attention to oil prices, and they shot up. Fuel costs more. Petroleum byproducts cost more. That made transportation and chemicals both cost a lot more. Another hit to profitability.
There is latent over-capacity on a global basis for nearly all products—especially big-ticket ones like autos—thus prices of autos could not be increased to cover higher costs. The consolidation of retailing made the big retailers very good at resisting price increases, so consumer prices couldn’t be increased either. Mergers have made “mega-buyers” the rulers in most industries—and you guessed it—prices couldn’t be increased much of anywhere. Another hit to profits.
Then there is the strong dollar, which hurt the profits of multi-national companies, and they lost money on exchange rates/currency translations. The baby boomers are retiring, and the ‘baby bust”—a population shortage in the key employment ages of 25-44—is here and will remain for the next 7-8 years. This made employees scarce and more expensive, thus another hit to profits.
Add all of these profit hits, include the collapse of several industrial behemoths—AT&T, Lucent, Xerox, Kodak, etc.—and you get a stock market that finds earnings missing estimates regularly. Now top that off with the fall back to earth of the dot-coms and the irrational valuation of technology stocks, and consumers’ newfound wealth has evaporated. So, consumers stop spending—which ripples through the economy another time.
So here we are, in the hole. What do we do to get out? The answer is not simple, but many of the key elements of it are. I’ll list the ten key elements of what to do here, and then follow up for the next few weeks with more details about how to do those things.
- Don’t panic, you’ll only make it worse.Make your plans before “doing stuff”! Flailing around wastes time, money & energy, and demoralizes the organization.
- Don’t hack and slash blindly trying to prop up the next quarter, because this won’t get fixed in a quarter or two. Look at taking your lumps now, and making things better next year.
- Do study where you have added fat in the good times, and get rid of it. Consolidate jobs, functions, eliminate the “nice but not necessary” things, and use the power of technology to streamline processes—don’t just cut people and expect fewer folks to do all the same work.
- Do understand where you make your profit and where you don’t—and then get rid of the losers—that goes for products AND customers. Consider the long-term competitive implications of these moves too. What you sell, to whom, and how is a critical decision.
- Do know your costs—which are fixed and which are variable—then reduce the fixed costs to get your breakeven down where you can make money even in a down market.
- Do watch your cash flow and your asset utilization. Lack of profits will eventually kill you, but running out of cash kills you right away! (Ask any dot-com.)
- Evaluate people with the thought that fewer, better quality are better than more, lesser quality. Cut fat, not muscle. And don’t just use more early retirement programs. Remember that the older workers are more expensive for good reasons—they know more, have more experience, and are usually more versatile.
- Get closer than ever to your customers (and to your suppliers and employees, too!), because they are essential to getting out of the hole. Get inside the mind of your customer, and serve them superbly.
- Do plan to attack the competition and take share from them while they are in denial, saying “woe is me, the market is down and that’s why my sales are down.” It’s a great time to gain share without giving up profit margin to do it.
- Finally, above all remember the old saying, “united we stand, divided we fall”. Pull together and eliminate any internal competition. Focus on the outside competition and beating them—by serving the customers needs and wants better than ever.
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See, that hole wasn’t so deep after all. It always looks deeper when you are down in it than when you are out of it looking down there. Having been there before and knowing the way out makes all the difference.
NOW, GO OUT THERE AND ACT LIKE YOU “GET THAT."
JOHN
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