What now? "Wow!"

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The economic news is in full tailspin mode. Cash is tight. It’s harder to find a job than it was, although employers are still hiring. Retirement savings are shrinking, spoiling the plans many had for their use. The pundits are even starting to utter the "D" word. Politicians and the media are telling us it's terrible, and it's going to get worse.

What now?

Now it gets really, really fascinating.

I read a story recently in one of the email newsletters I subscribe to, about the difference between frustration and fascination. The story centered around a little girl, whose heart-shaped balloon got away from her. Instead of being frustrated as the balloon went up in to the wild blue yonder, her reaction was "Wow!" She was fascinated. The author of the story went on to say:

Later that day, I received a phone call from a person with news of an unexpected problem. I felt like responding with, "Oh no, that is terrible." But remembering that little girl, and I found myself saying, "Wow, that is interesting! How can I help?"

This is the essence of what is being asked of us now. I think we must all take a new approach to doing business, where every problem is seen as an opportunity to help. This has always been the case, but it is going to be more important than ever to your survival as we go forward - it's the only approach that is consistently reliable.

We are going to be pulled out of our comfort zones. We are going to be asked to make things work, even though we have never encountered that situation before, even though we can't imagine ourselves succeeding given the circumstances, even though we never imagined we would be offering those kinds of services or products. Let's take these one at a time.

1) Wow - we've never seen this before.

I think the business climate may change rather dramatically. I can't say how or when or why. I just know, talking to customers and their buyers, that we are not talking about "business as usual," because everything is changing already. Everyone is rethinking, changing their work life and their personal life.

Many consumers and employees are not sure what they want to do next, and are putting off major purchases as a result. So many business owners are concerned about the state of the economy and our future, that they are frozen in place. The change has happened, but they're not reacting. They're hoping things will get better or go back to being the way they were.

But it's too late - the cat is out of the bag, so to speak. The changes are already occurring.

We must accept that things are different, and it's time to change what we are doing as a result.

2) Wow - how is this going to work?

Once we've accepted that things are different now, we have to figure out how to make things work in the new circumstances. This is particularly difficult when you are managing others. They also hear the news, and they are afraid. They are distracted; distraction is the number one enemy of revenue generation. Anyone - employee or employer - who is not focused on their work task is not making money.

Two words come to mind. One is "deliberate," and the other is "deeper." There is a certain kind of deliberate action that results in successful outcomes. I have seen it recently in someone who owns a company that moves large objects with huge, truck-based cranes. The intensity of his actions when the large objects are being moved has been interesting to watch. He is constantly looking around, constantly checking. Nothing escapes his notice. How are the straps doing? Where are they located? What's underneath? What's on top? What's in the way?

I don't see enough deliberation in management. I see a lot of determination - charging full speed ahead without thinking things through. I see a lot of distraction - letting the little, unimportant things take over at the expense of the big and important things. I see a lot of dallying - acting busy even though the important things are not getting done.

The deliberate manager is constantly on the lookout for problems that must be solved. He doesn't avoid them; he seeks them out. The deliberate manager investigates until he understands the whole picture, and then thinks it through before taking action. It doesn't take long to think it through once you've got the picture, and it takes a lot less time, overall, to do something right once than to deal with the consequences of doing it wrong the first time.

Whatever is coming next is going to test us. We will have to dig deeper into our reserves, we will have to go further and be more willing to change than ever before. Whatever we are doing now, we will have to do with more intensity.

3) Wow - I guess I could do that.

It's not enough to face it and think it through. You also have to be willing to do it. Why wouldn't you be? Just wait. One day someone is going to say, "Could you do this? This is what I really need." And your immediate reaction will be frustration, not fascination. You will think, "But that's not what I want to do - I want to do this other thing, this thing I've been doing for a long time, this thing that I like doing. Why did you come to me for something else? Why do you think I would even want to do what you are suggesting?"

Early in my career, I was employed as a copywriter in a marketing firm (one of many jobs in marketing and sales). I was thinking about starting my own business, but was struggling to figure out how to make it happen. I went to lunch with a client, and she said to me, "If you go out on your own, I want to come with you." I put my fork down, looked her in the eye, and said, "I'm going out on my own." That was the first time a client asked me to do something I hadn't expected to do, and I said yes without hesitating.

There have been countless times since that a client has come to me and said, "I think you can do this," even though I had never done it before. Unless someone is asking me to do something unethical, I always say "yes." If they think I can do it, I believe I can do it. And, I do. And it works. I'm just very thorough and deliberate about it. I just go deeper. And yes, there are times when it is a struggle, because there are new things to learn and no model to follow. But those are only parts of the puzzle. The other parts are the known parts - the solid project management practices, discipline, deliberation, double-checking everything, asking questions if you don't know, paying attention to the details while keeping an eye on the overriding goal, etc.

What now? Wow - that's a great question. The answer is "make it fascinating," and you will avoid the despair and frustration that the media are so determined to pour all over you. You will find the money, and you will prosper.