E Mail Management Tip No 229

How is your vision for the future?

Everything is changing at the speed of light. New products are introduced while their replacements are on the drawing board. New services are being replaced with more creative and sophisticated solutions before the previous or existing service can be tested for their value, results and consumer interest. Competitors are cropping up in every corner of the world. Employees are jumping from ship to ship before you can even earn back your investment in their initial training and development. Federal, state and local governments who want your business to succeed only so they can support their spending whims and fantasies and administrative overhead. Sound like a difficult set of circumstances to have to face every day as a manager? Well this is my version of reality TV.

Although I must admit I have yet to watch one of these reality shows, I can guarantee you that corporate America is facing a lot bigger and more dramatic challenges than any television survivor.

What is a manager or executive to do to stay ahead of the competition and the wants and needs as well as the expectations and often fickle nature of today’s customers and tomorrow’s buyers? It is called vision and it is the ability to blend this vision for the future with the staples and fundamental human needs and wants that never change.

Yes, the world is changing and yes it is getting more complicated and moving faster, but people – customers and employees still want the same things they have for years:

- Respect
- Kindness
- Courtesy
- Caring
- Attention
- Appreciation
- Recognition

If your vision for the future doesn’t include all of the above you could be one of the fastest growing organizations in your industry, but with fewer and fewer customers. Sound like a paradox? Well, what isn’t today?

Is it possible to integrate the rapid pace of change in the world with new products, new services, faster and more intelligent equipment and computers with the human needs that each of us want and need satisfied? The answer is yes. However, it takes:

- A willingness to always put the customer first. (Both internal as well as external customers.)
- Patience and perseverance.
- The ability to blend innovation and change with the fundamentals and basics of human behavior.
- Creativity when dealing with the many challenges you face daily.
- The willingness to keep your ego in check.
- A business philosophy that is driven by making the pie bigger not just getting a bigger piece of the current pie.
- The courage to take calculated risks without all of the knowledge and experience behind your decisions.
- The ability to admit to failure, poor judgment and mistakes and then moving on, taking the lessons from these and not the fears or frustrations from their outcomes into the future with you.

To be a visionary is one thing. To act on your vision is something entirely different. Tomorrow’s winners will have the vision, the courage to act on their vision and the willingness to learn from their mistakes as they move toward their vision in a rapidly changing world.