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Still making goals and resolutions? Why?

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Holy frijoles, 2013 is over! How did you do? How did those resolutions and goals you made at the end of last year work out?

Think about the word resolution – the root word is resolve. What was your 2013 resolve? What got in the way of achievement?

Personally, I am against traditional resolutions and goals.

And if my thinking bugs you, don’t be too concerned, you’ll soon be receiving a barrage of offers from various ‘experts’ encouraging you to achieve goals this year and have your ‘best year ever’ – the very same goals you didn’t achieve last year.

Most resolutions and goals set for the New Year are never achieved. Reason? They’re set emotionally and they’re set without an understanding of the circumstances around the goal. Better stated: Your circumstances.

For your 2014 (and all years to come) I have created an easy-to-understand, ‘achievement opportunity’ formula. Once you read it, and a few of the details, you will at once see where your achievement opportunities are, how they may fit into your life, and how you can use this formula to make this coming year a raging success.

Here’s my formula: Situation + Opportunity + Objective + Why + Plan + Intentions + Responsibility = Favorable Outcome.

STOP BEFORE YOU START: Don’t make any resolutions for the future until you have defined your present situation.

IDENTIFY YOUR BIG PICTURE: What’s going on in your life and your career right now? What’s going on with your family, your money, your health, and your happiness? Will your present situation help you achieve and encourage you to achieve? Or will it be a barrier to achievement? What are you seeking to accomplish in 2014 and what is your real resolve to make it happen?

WHAT CAN BE? Identify, in writing, your opportunities. Think about the opportunities that might change or enhance your present situation. What triggers are you hoping to pull this year? What mountains are you hoping to climb? What hurdles are you looking to leap over (without knocking them down)?

Look for opportunities in places you may not be thinking about:

  • Key relationships
  • New social media strategies
  • Trends in your business
  • Technology shifts
  • Apps
  • Blogging

I think it’s also important to separate family opportunities from business and career opportunities. Make sure you have a list for both.

Once you know where you are (situation), and you have identified how you can get from here to there (opportunity), then I recommend you make a 90-day game plan to achieve at least ONE of your opportunities. Not a goal, an opportunity. January, February, March. Document why you want it, what you have to do to make it happen, and what you’re hoping the outcome of that plan will be.

Here are some details of the achievement plan and process:

  • Describe WHAT the opportunity is, the OBJECTIVE that the opportunity creates, and WHY you want to take advantage of it and/or achieve it.
     
    A NOTE ABOUT YOUR ‘WHY’: All too often ‘why’ you want something is left at a superficial level. ‘To make more money’ or ‘to support my family’ or ‘to grow my career’ – those are ‘surface whys’ and may not provide enough incentive to achieve. Once you identify the surface why, ask yourself why again and again until the real why appears. “Why do I want to make more money?” “Why do I want to support my family?” “Why do I want to grow my career?” Second and third levels of ‘why’ will provide the real incentive to achieve. Try it. You’ll be amazed at your own answers.
  • Write a brief, 90-day plan of action. It can be a few short paragraphs or even bullet points. Writing the plan helps clarify your thinking, and solidify your determination to take action.
  • List and describe your DAILY INTENTIONS. What do you plan to do every day to make this opportunity to achieve a reality? Beyond resolution, it’s your resolve combined with your hard work.
  • Figure out the DAILY DOSE. What do you have to do each day to keep the momentum rolling?
  • Come to the realization that in order to achieve, you must take total RESPONSIBILITY for the actions, the results, and the outcome.
  • Describe the OUTCOME in more detail than you described your 90-day plan. Make sure the ‘after achievement’ is clear.

And then the hard part – do it!

Here’s my formula again – try it, it works: Situation + Opportunity + Objective + Why + Plan + Intentions + Responsibility = Favorable Outcome.

Follow my formula and my concepts, and you’ll take your achievement to a new level – a success level you’ve never attained before. I hope you do.

Happy, healthy, wealthy, fun filled-family holiday season and New Year!

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

The Big Picture of Business – Doing Your Best Work on Deadlines: Mobilizing the Energy for Best Business Success

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We just had the first live TV musical play extravaganza on television after a 50-year hiatus. The production was The Sound of Music, starring Carrie Underwood. This TV special got a lot of attention because it was unique live, just like opening night of the Broadway show on which it was based.

Truth is that throughout the 1950’s (the Golden Age of Television), there were comparable live TV extravaganzas on the air every night of the decade.

Many of them were consistently great. They were live, in real time. They had top talent behind them. They were well rehearsed. They had the adrenaline of “going live,” and they shined with luster.

Among those crown jewel TV moments were:

  • Our Town, starring Frank Sinatra, Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint.
  • Requiem for a Heavyweight, the premiere of Playhouse 90. It was written by Rod Sterling and starred Jack Palance and Ed Wynn.
  • The Petrified Forest, starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall and Henry Fonda. In it, Bogey reprised the 1930’s Broadway hit and movie that launched his career.
  • The Ford 50th Anniversary, a two-hour musical starring Ethel Merman and Mary Martin. This was the first TV special and set the tone for thousands of others since.
  • The first Beatles appearance on the “Ed Sullivan Show,” where the whole world was watching. The Beatles topped that by composing All You Need is Love while they performed it on a global telecast.

I have those any other live TV gems on DVD. I watch them to experience the magical energy of live performances. Many of us remember writing the college theme paper the night before it was due. We recall compiling the case notes or sales projections just before the presentation meeting.

The truth is that we do some of our best work under pressure. We might think that the chaos and delays of life are always with us, but we handle them better when on tight time frames.

Before you know it, you’re on deadline again. Even though the tasks mount up, you have a knack for performing magnificently under deadline, stress and high expectations.

This is not meant to suggest putting off sequential steps and daily tasks. Learn when deadline crunch time is best to accomplish the optimum business objectives. I’m a big advocate of Strategic Planning and Visioning. Every company needs it but rarely conducts the process because they’re knee-deep in daily minutia.

I know from experience that planning while going through the “alligators” is the most effective way to conduct the process. By seeing the daily changes resulting from the planning, companies are poised to rise above the current daily crises. I recommend that diversity audits, quality control reviews, ethics programs and other important regimen be conducted as part of Strategic Planning, rather than as stand-alone, distracting and energy diverting activities.

Those of us who grew up working on typewriters know how to master the medium. You had to get your ideas on paper correctly the first time, without typographical errors and with great clarity. The first time that I worked on a computer was when I was 40 years old. I took that typewriter mentality with me when I had to compose a brochure and do the desktop publishing graphics in the same two-hour window where I was learning how to work on a computer.

There were years where I kept the typewriter on the work station next to the computer. When I had five minutes to write a cohesive memo and fax it off to the client, I wrote it on the typewriter. Though I wrote all my books on computers, I wrote the modern technology chapters on the typewriter, to make points to myself that the readers could never have grasped.

In mounting your next strategic Planning process for your company, go back and analyze what elements from the past can be rejuvenated as your future. That’s a trademarked concept that I call Yesterdayism.

With planning and organizing, you can meet and beat most deadlines without working in a pressure cooker. Don’t work and worry yourself into exhaustion over every detail. Sometimes it makes sense to move the deadline to the 11th hour. Having too much time to get projects accomplished tends to breed procrastination.

Here are my final take-aways on the subject of doing your best work when on last-minute deadlines:

  • Learn what working style goes best with you.
  • Care about deadlines.
  • Prioritize the real deadlines, apart from the artificial or self-imposed ones.
  • Review the work that you’ve done on tight deadlines. Analyze what makes it different.
  • Know your own strengths and limitations.
  • Work on your own timetable.
  • When working with teams, determine the best compromise working tempo.
  • Get Your ‘to do lists’ in order.
  • Evaluate your progress.
  • Remove the distractions to doing your best-focused work.
  • Ready… Set… Be productive.

This article was written in one hour, just before the impending deadline.

About the Author

Power Stars to Light the Business Flame, by Hank Moore, encompasses a full-scope business perspective, invaluable for the corporate and small business markets. It is a compendium book, containing quotes and extrapolations into business culture, arranged in 76 business categories.

Hank’s latest book functions as a ‘PDR of business,’ a view of Big Picture strategies, methodologies and recommendations. This is a creative way of re-treading old knowledge to enable executives to master change rather than feel as they’re victims of it.

Power Stars to Light the Business Flameis now out in all three e-book formats: iTunes, Kindle, and Nook.

The Big Picture of Business – Achieving the Best by Preparing for the Worst: Lessons Learned from High-Profile Crises, part 4 of 4

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Thinking Through the Strategies

Crisis management is so much more than handling of the media. A major oil company had a plant explosion and proceeded to do a good job of communicating afterwards. Unfortunately, the follow-through never transpired after the media coverage died down. Thus, lawsuits flew in the company’s face.

My client (a different chemical company) later had a similar explosion. The chief legal counsel called and stated that we did not want the fallout as from the other company. We therefore mounted a full-scope crisis management initiative that focused heavily on after-the-crisis help for the victims and their families. The goal was to keep litigation from occurring, which was met. At a later news conference, OSHA announced that it was assessing its smallest fine, as a result of the forthright way in which my client had handled the crisis.

Another energy industry client operated coal mines. The irresponsible actions of two employees thrust sludge from the mines and into the Cumberland River, which subsequently contaminated the water supply of three cities. The State of Kentucky filed suit, seeking criminal charges against the company.

Working closely together with legal counsel, our recommended crisis program posed an alternative to a worst-case sentence. The program, approved by the judge, consisted of TV and newspaper apology statements, plus the assurance that safety-environmental training would be provided to employees. An investment of $50,000 effected a reduction of the fine from $2 million to $500,000 and reduction of the charges from criminal to civil. Sustained follow-up communication with employees, customers, the court, regulators and opinion leaders ensued.

Another client was a large urban shopping center. Rapes occurred in the parking lot during the Christmas shopping season. Neighboring offices began e-mailing their friends, concerned that the center was unsafe.

Our strategy to address the crisis was three-fold. We engaged senior citizen volunteer corps and criminal justice students to wear Santa hats and serve as holiday escorts, assuring safety but not appearing as armed guards. Secondly, we initiated safety training that expanded to help home owners avoid accidents. Thirdly, the communications process served to glean research data that we needed to upgrade the center, its tenant mix and security issues. The common denominator was open communications with customers, where other retail centers try to stifle mention of incidents.

The process of strategy development is not esoteric. It is common sense, with an emphasis upon ideas that work and are easy to communicate. You always draw upon successful elements of other client crises. I had a restaurant chain attacked by an auto incident. Its family customer base was uneasy for their safety. We took the shopping center escort idea and translated it to senior citizen door greeters, armed with friendliness and the latest serving suggestions. Coupled with armed guards in parking lots, the approach was to reiterate the friendly, homey atmosphere, in contrast to the stereotype of sterile chain eateries.

There are three aspects to Crisis Management and Preparedness. First, qualified business advisors conduct Crisis Communications Audits. This securing and evaluation of programs needed or in-progress has enabled corporate management to make informed decisions, take swift action and avoid possible litigation.

Next comes Crisis Planning. This becomes a coordinated committee, with multiple departments and professional disciplines represented. What-if scenario planning is similar to the processes utilized in overall company strategic planning and visioning. The crisis plan must be part of the bigger process, not an adjunct or afterthought.

Finally comes Crisis Training. Activities include media-spokesperson training, field and operations staff training, coordination of corporate response and message points, community liaison, collateral materials writing-production, video archiving-production, media relations, monitoring and expert testimony. The crisis teams need to be prepared.

Crisis planning and strategies should be intertwined with security issues, financial goals, workforce empowerment and many other corporate dynamics. Elements which Crisis Management and Preparedness Plans should address, per categories on The Business TreeTM, include:

  1. The business you’re in (core business). Protection of intellectual property, materials, business continuity and core business production information. Prevention of theft, leaks in proprietary information and delays in deliverables.
  2. Running the business. Protection of physical plants, equipment, office files and other supplies. Prevention of unnecessary downtimes, spoilage, stoppage in processes and theft.
  3. Financial. Protection of fiduciary responsibilities and financial assets. Prevention of theft, embezzlement, accounting fraud and overpayments.
  4. People. Protection of human capital, knowledge bases of workers, executives, company safety and the work environment. Prevention of unnecessary employee burnout.
  5. Business development. Protection of company reputation, partnerships and alliances, marketplace intelligence and customer interests and relationships. Prevention of leaks in customer information and losses in company market position.
  6. Body of Knowledge. Protection of status and utilization of organizational working knowledge, management’s activities and relationships with regulators. Prevention of strains in company relationships with others and attacks from outside the organization.
  7. The Big Picture. Protection of the overall organization, compliance standards in the organization. Prevention of loss in quality, purpose or vision.

In times of crisis, take assessment of damages, and investigate the truth. Never exaggerate, speculate, or withhold information. No statements should be “off the record.” Provide complete answers, and respond to media requests for additional information in a timely manner. Failure to return calls implies something to hide. Maintain accurate records of all inquiries and news coverage.

The best way to build bridges is to seek out community opinion leaders and stakeholders before times of crisis. Educate them of your activities. Offer tours or community visitations to facilities. Provide printed information on your business… and a video, if at all affordable.

Test crisis plans during simulated drills, using qualified outside strategic planning consultants to evaluate results. Company officials should take these simulations seriously. The military does, terming them “war games.”

Part of being prepared is being engaged in routine activity. Have a plan in force, and be sure that every employee has a copy. The binder containing the plan should include easy-to-read fact sheets and backgrounders on company operations, current phone numbers, and a delineated line of authority (from company resource people to the spokesperson)

Crises can have many liabilities upon companies, including loss of profits and market share. Inevitable spin-offs include government investigations, public scrutiny, and a tarnished image. This causes loss of employee morale and, as a result, company productivity.

Crisis management and preparedness can minimize negative impacts of any emergency. Going through the planning and implementation is a quality assurance process that strengthens any company. Crisis communications means banking goodwill for those times when the plan is called to the test.

Crises of one sort can and will happen to every company. They can be turned from disasters into opportunities to project corporate strengths. The manner in which a crisis is handled often wins praise for companies whose positions are improved in the public eye. Those who are prepared will survive and thrive.

Defining Moments in the Corporate Culture

Volatile business contractions, uneasy economic climate, plant explosions, health care crises, hostile corporate takeovers, governmental shakeups, and financial failings are crises that upset the routine of business life.

Some jolting incident puts every organization into a reaction mode. The consequences of miscommunication in a crisis can be devastating to all involved. By dealing with the unexpected, preferably before it occurs, companies can bank public goodwill that may be useful later. Playing catch-up means that you have lost the game.

It is the responsibility of corporate management to practice effective Crisis Management and Preparedness. Management must study practical experiences of what can go wrong, put a crisis team into place, understand the workings of news media, identify community opinion leaders, and predict potentially harmful or controversial situations. Learn from those who were successful, those who failed to achieve the desired effects, and those whose corporate credibilities were damaged by inaction or the wrong actions.

Return to part 1 of 4.

About the Author

Power Stars to Light the Business Flame, by Hank Moore, encompasses a full-scope business perspective, invaluable for the corporate and small business markets. It is a compendium book, containing quotes and extrapolations into business culture, arranged in 76 business categories.

Hank’s latest book functions as a ‘PDR of business,’ a view of Big Picture strategies, methodologies and recommendations. This is a creative way of re-treading old knowledge to enable executives to master change rather than feel as they’re victims of it.

Power Stars to Light the Business Flameis now out in all three e-book formats: iTunes, Kindle, and Nook.

The Big Picture of Business – Achieving the Best by Preparing for the Worst: Lessons Learned from High-Profile Crises, part 3 of 4

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Effective Crisis Handling, Case Studies

Crises can and will happen to good organizations. Most often (85% of the time), they can be heeded, planned for averted. There is an art to Crisis Preparedness. It must be included as part of a formal Strategic Planning and Visioning process. So also should diversity, branding, quality, marketing, re-engineering and other important processes. No single facet of planning should be done out of sync with the others.

There will also be those unplanned crises that nobody could have predicted. The same planning process that nurtures Crisis Preparedness can and must also accommodate for Crisis Management. Many of the elements of planning strategies can be taken off the shelf and implemented when extreme danger presents itself.

The City of New York had conducted planning for multiple contingencies. Having done so put the city in the position of responding to the unthinkable on September 11, 2001.
Some of those events that had profound impacts upon us recently are examined in this chapter. In this section are examples of crises that were handled well, thus increasing public trust and respect for their organizations.

Product Recall, Tylenol. Several deaths occurred as a result of tampered Tylenol capsules. The company’s swift recall of product from the shelves and the timely response of the company CEO were part of the crisis plan that was in place well ahead of the tragedy. Johnson & Johnson quickly put its crisis plan into action and subsequently drew good reviews for its open communication with the public.

Tylenol mobilized public support, with the company also positioned as the victim. Seeking to facilitate U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of the tamper-proof caplet, a public awareness campaign was waged. The next phase in restoring public credibility to Tylenol was the reintroduction of new product to the shelves, done in such a way as to restore consumer confidence and increase market share. This is regarded as a premiere textbook case of quality crisis management.

Product Contamination-Damage. Unrelated cases but both well handled involved Perrier Water and the Girl Scouts of America. Ground substances in localized batches of Girl Scout Cookies were contained effectively, thus having no adverse effect on the organization’s fund raising activities. Contaminated quantities of liquid resulted in a worldwide recall of product. Activities included crisis communications, grassroots lobbying, dealer relations, issues management, and the recently-completed successful market reintroduction of the product. Perrier utilized media opportunities to advocate for environmental protection and sought to educate consumers about product purification processes.

Reclaim Company’s Good Name, Chrysler bankruptcy. Going to the government and asking for bailout loans is quite chancy, as the airlines have learned recently. Automaker Chrysler was at an impasse in the late 1970s, facing competition and marketplace dominance from imported autos. From top to bottom, the corporate culture was overhauled. Fresh approaches were taken to getting out of the hole, putting emphasis upon quality in workmanship and moving the company forward. When so many companies today put forward a “branding campaign” and call it a change in focus, I laugh. Chrysler was one of the few to totally rethink and retool. Their success should be a beacon to companies striving to make the long way back.

Rebuilding Through Stakeholder Coalitions

Saccharine. In 1977, the federal government banned saccharine, claiming that it caused cancer. Producers of the product teamed together to form the non-partisan Calorie Control Council of America. Its members included physicians, researchers, diabetes support groups and nutritionists. The coalition fostered healthy lifestyles, rather than attack the government bad directly. The national credibility restoration campaign included crisis management, re-educating the public on the need for artificial sweeteners as part of healthy diets and government relations activity. By organizing business groups with citizens into CCC, this effort coalesced grassroots support, which caused Congress to overturn a U.S. Food and Drug Administration ban on saccharine, thus restoring the product to the market. Research denying its link to cancer and other promotional health aspects of the campaign served to return saccharine to credible common usage and create a wider market share for its uses as artificial sweeteners.

Maquiladoras. In the early 1980s, Laredo, Texas, was faced with a 28% unemployment rate. Devaluation of the Mexican peso and slumps in energy and ranching economies had taken tolls on a city whose population was losing faith. The decision was made to unify the community and actively go after manufacturers to relocate to the area.

Maquiladora is a Spanish word which means “made by hand.” The program offered tax advantages to assembly line manufacturers who either left northern factories or added additional installations on the Mexican border.

This unified business community effort, in response to a dire economic crisis, resulted in 63 major factories being built in Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, occupied by General Motors, Ford, Sony, Hitachi, JVC, 3-M, Stokeley Foods and others. The Maquiladora program lowered the unemployment rate from 28% to 13%. This industrial development program carried the theme, “You Can Believe/Puede Creer.”

Columbine. Following shootings at Columbine High School, the City of Littleton, Colorado, was in the media spotlight. Still a relatively new community, its right hand and left hand still were not fully acquainted. Uniting to bravely face the tragedy, the community found inner strengths and mounted a visioning program. Infrastructures were put in place. Quality of life issues were addressed. Economic development and community stewardship programs emerged. Out of the ashes of a school massacre came a community that created and nurtured strategies for the future.

Anti-Defamation League. Following shootings at a Jewish community center in Los Angeles, California, the Anti-Defamation League of America came together and launched positive community educational initiatives. Random acts of violence are certainly threats to all, and the ADL built broad coalitions in order to sensitize, educate and further bond communities. Inspirational forces like that built by ADL and other groups are most effective when they add constituencies outside their normal scope, building consensus of opinion and the strength of wider resources.

Continue to part 4 of 4.

Return to part 2 of 4.

About the Author

Power Stars to Light the Business Flame, by Hank Moore, encompasses a full-scope business perspective, invaluable for the corporate and small business markets. It is a compendium book, containing quotes and extrapolations into business culture, arranged in 76 business categories.

Hank’s latest book functions as a ‘PDR of business,’ a view of Big Picture strategies, methodologies and recommendations. This is a creative way of re-treading old knowledge to enable executives to master change rather than feel as they’re victims of it.

Power Stars to Light the Business Flameis now out in all three e-book formats: iTunes, Kindle, and Nook.

The Big Picture of Business – Achieving the Best by Preparing for the Worst: Lessons Learned from High-Profile Crises, part 2 of 4

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Wrong Actions, Mis-Actions

Ford Motor Company and the Firestone Tire Company had partnered and collaborated for almost 100 years, stemming from ties of their founders. In the 1980s, Bridgestone Tire Company purchased Firestone.

In the 1990s, another international conglomerate purchased Bridgestone-Firestone. Business shift from the retail dealer customer service mentality of Firestone shifted to a high-production tire operation. Not only was this a shift in company focus and customer orientation, but it put high-volume tire production and sales as the only priorities. Along the way, many defective tires hit the market, subsequently causing SUV rollovers, damage and, in some cases, deaths.

Rather than stick together in crisis situations and collectively investigate the problems, both Ford and Firestone distanced themselves from each. Ford blamed Firestone for tires that would not hold up. Firestone blamed Ford for unsafe vehicles. Each blamed the other for losses in quality control. The media circus jumped on all facets of the conflicts, as well as lawsuits filed. Both Ford and Firestone turned the tragedies into shouting matches. This sad chapter is a tarnish on the legacies of two longstanding corporate families. Current management of both companies were ill-advised on handling the crises.

K-Mart closed 617 of its under-performing department stores and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in 2002. K-Mart, long the dominant discount chain had gotten comfortable with its leads over competitors. During the years while K-Mart did not plan for change, Target and Wal-Mart did plan, change and established defined marketplace niches.

K-Mart had become the odd retailer out but still kept 1,500 stores for its reorganization. Inevitably, when retailers contract, they blame poor performance upon bad locations.

Sadly, the criteria for retail stores opening is the availability of property, not marketplace studies and strategies. That’s why so many chains rapidly expand and subsequently contract so frequently. Real estate consultants are not business strategists, but the retail system gives them the say-so in establishing community presence. This is yet another example of niche consultants skewing the client in the wrong directions. Similarly, it is poor business to suddenly wake up one day and wonder why the marketplace passed you by. Retail stores are about more than just storefront locations.

In 1999, the U.S. economy spent one trillion dollars fixing and treating the so-called Y2K Bug, which we now know was a manufactured “crisis” by technology consulting companies. Certainly, aspects of the bug were treated successfully, and troubles were averted because of professional actions. Overwhelming public hype contributed to a “sky is falling” mentality that made computer consultants rich.

As was discussed in Chapter 8, technology constitutes one tenth of 1% of any organization’s overall Big Picture. Computer activity constitutes less than 1% of the technology picture. Thus, efforts to treat a fraction of one percent took resources away from addressing the other 99.999% of companies’ full-scope planning, training and marketplace development. Money was diverted from most other aspects of organizational wellness toward treating one symptom of one disease.

Among the lessons which we learned from the Y2K Bug exercise were:

  • When they want to do so, company leadership will provide sufficient resources to plan for the future, including crisis management and preparedness (of which computer glitches are one set of “what ifs.”)
  • When they are compelled to do so, company leadership will provide leadership for change management and re-engineering…two of the many worthwhile concepts that should be advocated every business day.
  • People are the company’s most valuable resource, representing 28% of the Big Picture. Today’s work force will need three times the amount of training that it presently gets in order for the organization to be competitive in the millennium.
  • Change is good. If you like change, then don’t fear it. Change is 90% positive. Without always noticing it, individuals and organizations change 71% per year. The secret is to benefit from change, rather than become a victim of it.
  • Pro-active change involves the entire organization. When all departments are consulted and participate in the decisions, then the company is empowered.
  • Fear and failure are beneficial too. One learns three times more from failure than from success. Failures propel us toward our greatest future successes.
  • When we work with other companies and the public sector, we collaborate better. All benefit, learn from each other and prepare collectively for the future.
  • In the future and in order to successfully take advantage of the future, make planning a priority…not a knee-jerk reaction.

What Causes Crises

Crises can have many liabilities upon companies, including loss of profits and market share. Inevitable spin-offs include government investigations, public scrutiny, and a tarnished image. This causes loss of employee morale and, as a result, company productivity.

Based upon research and experience with hundreds of client situations, I have found that seven types of crises exist:

  1. Those Resulting from Doing Nothing. The biggest problem with business, in a one-sentence capsule: People exhibit misplaced priorities and impatience…seeking profit and power, possessing unrealistic views of life, and not fully willing to do the things necessary to sustain orderly growth and long-term success.
  2. Doing Things as We Always Have. Resulting from inflexible conditions, obsolete policies-procedures, procrastination, attitude, resistance to innovation, failure to change.
  3. Those We Bring Upon Ourselves. Don’t have sufficient management skills or resources to do something well. Ignore small problems when they occur. Won’t listen to advice.
  4. Circumstances Beyond Our Control. Miscalculations, manmade disasters, natural disasters, shifting resources, changing marketplaces, regulations, bureaucracies.
  5. Bad Work, Poor Planning. Damage control for what someone else did wrong, sub-standard, behind schedule, in poor taste, without regard for quality or ill-prepared.
  6. Averted. 85% of the time, planning and forethought will avert the crisis. So, why don’t organizations and individuals remediate trouble by planning on the front end?
  7. Intervention. Getting past the current crisis does no good unless you take steps to assure that it does not recur. Planning is necessary to remediate current and future problems.

Crisis management and preparedness can minimize negative impacts of any emergency. Going through the planning and implementation is a quality assurance process that strengthens any company. Crisis communications means banking goodwill for those times when the plan is called to the test.

Continue to part 3 of 4.

Return to part 1 of 4.

About the Author

Power Stars to Light the Business Flame, by Hank Moore, encompasses a full-scope business perspective, invaluable for the corporate and small business markets. It is a compendium book, containing quotes and extrapolations into business culture, arranged in 76 business categories.

Hank’s latest book functions as a ‘PDR of business,’ a view of Big Picture strategies, methodologies and recommendations. This is a creative way of re-treading old knowledge to enable executives to master change rather than feel as they’re victims of it.

Power Stars to Light the Business Flameis now out in all three e-book formats: iTunes, Kindle, and Nook.