A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting in a bar/restaurant on a Saturday evening to watch my son play hockey. When I walked in, I was struck by the fact that there was one bartender, one server and one person in the kitchen and that was two too many people working. The only other patron was a young lady who was there to watch her husband play; he played for the opposition which created great banter back and forth between us. I asked the server: “It’s kind of slow tonight. What’s happened?” Last year this place was packed and to get a seat to watch my son play was a challenge at the best of times. The response from him was quite telling.
He stated: “I have no idea. It’s been like this for awhile.” I was shocked, but asked: “What are the owners doing about it?” If I was shocked before imagine what I felt when he stated: “Nothing.” Unfortunately, the owners were not around as I definitely would have a word with them.
“The future depends on what we do in the present.”
Obviously, something had changed and they were completely unprepared for that change. Business is an evolutionary process and in the days that I started in it, the change would happen every five to seven years. However, with the pace and speed of today, with technological advances and the amount of information available, the change happens almost on a yearly or less basis. If one is unprepared for that change, then what happens is what is happening to this enterprise.
Mahatma Gandhi said: “The future depends on what we do in the present.” In other words, if you don’t prepare today for tomorrow, then tomorrow may be disastrous for you.
As business professionals, we have to actually be ahead of the change. We have to know what is coming before it even gets here. The speed of change does not allow us the luxury of ‘catch up’ because if we do catch up, it’s too late because it has changed again.
“How does one stay ahead?” you may be asking. There are many activities you must be involved in order to make sure you stay current at the very least. Here are only three:
- Get involved with your peers. Collectively, you help each other by discussing challenges that each of you are having and what each of you see as coming up in the future.
- Get business mentors. People that have gone through changes and the evolutionary cycles. They have been there and may be able to help you be prepared for it effectively.
- Get a business coach. These are the people that have to stay ahead of the change in order to help the people that they coach stay effective, efficient and productive.
The future is coming, you can’t stop it, but you can be prepared for it unlike the establishment above.
(In case you were wondering, son’s team won 6-2.)
When the future gets here, will you be ready? Look into The Action Suite. This is where the talking stops and the doing gets done. We work on your challenges, issues and ideas during a two-hour weekly session where we develop the knowledge, tools and know-how to implement immediately the solutions. You will also be part of a private group where you will not only be involved with your peers, but have access to more information, material and techniques. Who knows, there may even be a mentor for you.