“… a place between two stands of trees where the grass grows uphill
and the old revolutionary road breaks off into shadows … “
Lookahead planning is an often overlooked phase in project/program management. Many times Family businesses do little look-ahead planning. Lookahead Planning establishes a way forward, a schedule, based on input from the stakeholders, that creates realistic guidelines to meet the objectives of the project.
Evolution is a relentless process that seems to keep going and going, even when the environment is stable and unchanging. We often think of evolution as a means that responds to changes.
The recording industry missed the trend and threat of .mp3 files to CDs and their business model; the newspaper business couldn’t counter the disruption from free classified ads by Craigslist and other forces. Evolution is the change in the inherited characteristics over successive generations – slow, gradual change. Evolution is a minimum requirement for family businesses to survive. Are you ready for evolution, or more aggressive threats, like an all-out business disruption?
Your business must continue to evolve so it doesn’t stagnate.
If it isn’t broke don’t fix it! Is the wrong way to think about opportunity, metrics and process improvement? There’s an evolutionary fable about how some dinosaurs changed and adjusted to the changes in their environment. Evolution is relentless process that seems to keep going and going, even when creatures live in a stable, unchanging world.
The phrase, “If it isn’t broke don’t fix it.” Is most often attributed to Bert Lance. Thomas Bertram Lance was the Director of the Office of Management and Budget in Jimmy Carter’s 1977 administration. He was quoted in the newsletter of the US Chamber of Commerce, Nation’s Business, May 1977. Like many other phrases, quotes it an incomplete sound bite. Lance’s quote is “That’s the trouble with government: Fixing things that aren’t broken and not fixing things that are broken.”
Nido Qubein, President of High Point University says, “success comes to most truly successful people as a series of little successes, rather than as one big break.”
In small businesses, Family Businesses we need to evolve. We need to get fitter. Nido Quebin is the President of High Point University in North Carolina. Qubein has written 11 books, including titles like How To Communicate Like A Pro and Stairway to Success: The Complete Blueprint for Personal and Professional Achievement.
The September 2012 issue of Success magazine featured Nido Qubein discussing his role as president of High Point University. The story chronicles Qubein’s leadership of the school since taking the helm in 2005. One of his quotes is “Success comes to most truly successful people as a series of little successes, rather than as one big break”
Family Businesses like construction project managers need to look ahead. The project managers look ahead, they consider crew, size, skills, materials and equipment. They create mental pictures of task completion and what’s next. Incremental improvements require we look ahead. Incremental improvements require us to be the Greater Fool.
“The greater fool is actually an economic term. It’s a patsy. For the rest of us to profit, we need a greater fool— someone who will buy long and sell short. Most people spend their life trying not to be the greater fool; we toss him the hot potato, we dive for his seat when the music stops. The greater fool is someone with the perfect blend of self-delusion and ego to think that he can succeed where others have failed. This whole country was made by greater fools.” Family businesses are a place where “between two stands of trees where the grass grows uphill and the old revolutionary road breaks off into shadows.”
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