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PUBLICATIONS FINANCIAL FIRMS GOVERNMENT/NGO (New This Month) |
AUTOMOTIVE Chrysler Motors MCorp. General Motors Mercedes-Benz NA Mercedes-Benz MUSA Mitsubishi Motor MSales Nissan North MAmerica Volkswagen of MAmerica Harley-Davidson TECHNOLOGY ENTERTAINMENT CONSUMER PRODUCTS
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That was a question somebody put to me the other day. The subject came up because of the tremendous benefit that certain offshore nations and developing economies are realizing in the IT arena. The fact is that these countries are being ramped up by business entities that are not bogged down by legacy infrastructure constrictions or locked-in software constraints. Offshore tech wizards can advantage the latest technology without fear of the rip and replace retaliation that plagues most U.S. based CTOs. This is because there is no IT infrastructure to rip and replace. In effect they have turned a clean slate into a competitive advantage, with huge implications for near-term growth and productivity. So I figured, what if that same principal were to hold for those in the midst of transitional reassessment of their living circumstances, or their career paths, or just their own day-to-day boredom with their current whatever? What if, indeed. Is there any advantage to throwing off everything that's old school and restaging your life with everything that's 2.0? And what about those of us who have been locked into their everyday worlkday with key man insurance and long term employment contracts? The need to reinvent ourselves is even more crucial. Well this here Advertising business is certainly in the throws of a major do-over in pretty much all quarters. So if somebody were to forget all of the tried and true and all of the common wisdom and just wanted to embrace the newest method to get anything pertaining to advertising accomplished, they might well be advised to start from scratch. At least that's how things look like from where I sit. Just look at the changes in the classic business model over the past seven or eight years. Today's ideal business paradigm calls for revenue to be high, cash flow to be high, profits to be high and expenses to be low. Traditional advertising with its average of 12% profit margin hardly qualifies to be the poster child of a modern global business category. And as an industry it's not even trying to get there. Let's look at another metric to measure business efficacy. Time management. To make sense in today's growth obsessed arena of global competitiveness a company should be spending no more than 20% of its time producing what it makes, 20% of its time managing its operations, and a full 60% of its time generating sales. Doesn't sound like a typical day in the office of any agency I know. So what does a guy like me from a business like this do if he finds himself back at square one? Well certainly a good place to start is to look around at the landscape surrounding said square one. WTF am I? What do I need to know about the world around me? What resources are at my command? What obstacles am I faced with from the git go? But most importantly, what are my goals, now that I'm starting out from scratch? That's right. The first thing to do when faced with a blank canvas is to use your head as to where you want to go from here. For the creative person (and that better be all of us in today's world) your greatest asset is stuck on the top of your neck. Your ability to think before you act. The first thing I would start to think about is the degree of mental toughness it will take to get to the next step, once you figure out what that next step is. That means that you have to think about each goal you make as a solemn promise to yourself to make it happen. As opposed to what you do right after New Years when you look at that inner tube those Twinkies left parked around your midsection. You need to give these initial goals some serious consideration and then attach them to your personal integrity as a promise you will not break no matter what. This is the only way you will be able to see some degree of progress on your trek from ground zero. Which leads us to motivation. I am a strong believer in personal motivators. I am motivated by my hope for my daughter's future. That's because I know I won't be around for most of it. Call it boomer angst. I am also motivated by my desire for my partner's success and well-being. She is the hardest working person I know and she deserves to enjoy the fruits of her labors. By personifying the reasons for keeping my promises to myself I take them out of the "elective" column and drop them squarely into the one marked "mandatory." This distinction is important because some of the things we have to do to realize our goals may not make us the most popular kids on the block. So if you have others for whom your promises/goals must be achieved, that opposition may not prove itself to be as much a deterrent or as formidable a distraction. So let's say my goal or promise is to build a successful company. Naaaah, too generic. Successful how? To be achievable your goals need to be as well defined as possible. So you focus in on a definable objective. I PROMISE TO BUILD A COMPANY THAT WILL REALIZE FIVE MILLION DOLLARS IN SALES IN ITS FIRST TWO YEARS OF BUSINESS. NOW THAT'S A GOAL. Of course if money is not your shining star just over the horizon, go for what floats your boat. Writing the Great American Novel. Making your first feature film. Finding tranquility at the foot of the Himalayas as a noviate in a religious order. Buying a new Lexus. Whatever it is, just put your promise to yourself in terms you can quantify. That way you can constantly judge how close (or far) you are from success. All of this takes focus. Knowing where you've been. Knowing where you are. Knowing where you're going. Focus is all about simplification and repetition. Boil your goal down to a single line. Repeat it to yourself ten times every day. Don't keep it to yourself. The more people you tell of your goals, the bigger your commitment to making them happen. This practice also assures that your goals and promises to yourself are within the realm of possibility. The more people you share your goal with the more input you will get as to whether or not it is practical. Not from a "Wow, that's great" or "that really sucks" point of view, but from a "Say, I'd like to help you with that" point of view. If other people understand what your focus is, they may be inclined to join forces with you. So now, even though you may be starting from scratch, you have what you need to begin again. You have a goal. You have potential collaborators. And you have the strength of purpose to carry out the tasks required to get you to the next step. Which means you're no longer at step one. Welcome to the wonderful world of step two. Stay tuned.
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