Imagine this day:
Your interactions with employees and peers are all positive. Your team’s latest results are solid. The performance indicators are all pointing in the right direction, foreshadowing more great results in the near-term.
Heck, you even talked with a happy customer who reached out just to tell you how pleased she was with your team’s performance in support of her business.
Those days send a chill up and down my spine. They lure one into a false sense of mastery right before delivering a big, fat reality check upside the head.
On those days, I walk around with a smile on my face for the benefit of my team, but my senses are on hyper-alert looking for the first signs of the next ambush. I know it’s out there somewhere. It’s just a matter of time before I feel the cold tentacles of the reality check ripping at my gut.
Nothing has changed.
The universe has not suddenly bowed to your leadership whims.
The laws of physics and economics have not been suspended.
Your competitors truly want to eat your lunch. Grow a little complacent and they will pounce.
We all know “things happen.” Most of those things are not good.
3 Questions that Serve as My Reality Check:
I operate constantly with three questions echoing in my mind:
What can or will go wrong that I’m not prepared for? (Where are the bogeymen?)
What can I do to put more distance between our business/my team and the risks that will change everything? (Where are we leaving opportunity on the table?)
What am I not thinking of? (What trigger events am I missing in the outside world that might change everything?)
Some might advise me to chill a bit and revel in the great moments. I do…for about a nanosecond. My teams should relish their great outcomes and I am happy to facilitate and support the celebrations.
Just don’t ask me to quit searching for the risks or opportunities we are missing.
The Bottom-Line for Now:
One thing I am certain of: I am accountable for my team and firm, and as a leader, it is my job to vigilant for opportunities and risks. Same goes for you. Consider this your reality check.
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