Challenging the Status Quo – Part 2
The concept of status quo is misleading, because in reality nothing ever stays the same. Everything today is temporary; it is just a matter of degree. Markets, clients and competitors will eventually outgrow and outpace a company if they are unable to change and evolve. Although it may feel comfortable, it is a slow moving business killer. More businesses will disappear in the next year due to a belief in the status quo than for any other reason. To be successful you must learn to think different.
Whether you are conscious of it or not, odds are that you and your team embrace the status quo in a variety of areas. A customer of ours – the president of a large manufacturing company kept a key executive sales position open for over a year because he could not find the right full time person to fill the position while watching his revenues decline. Another retained a poor performing executive far longer than he should have because of his fear of having to go to the expense and time of replacing him. A third customer delayed much-needed marketing expertise while watching leads decline and their salespeople underperform. And a fourth company, decided to use his existing executive team to make an important acquisition and ended up with two dysfunctional companies that continue to work independently rather than as one successfully integrated company.
Don’t be another statistic of today’s failing companies. Be creative with your human capital options and embrace the use of an interim executive who can provide the leadership on-demand needed to create a sustainable, competitive and growing company.
