July 26, 2021
Good morning! Early Saturday morning we received about 3/8″ of rain in our yard; as they say, a little is better than none. Last Monday morning these Musings reportedly resulted in emotional depression for at least one person… we don’t want that. Sometimes, in an attempt at cleverness, one steps over a line and that is never my intent.
What’s the Biggest Mistake We All Make?
- We’ve reviewed this before, but it’s so important: What is the biggest mistake we all make, especially as leaders?
- Failing to ask for help.
- Humility is such a demanding creature — and so fickle.
- Ask for help during the good times so as to avoid as many inevitable bad times as possible.
- Also, remember to surround yourself with people who will challenge your assumptions; create and sustain a healthy environment for differences of opinion.
- You’re still the boss, relax… you get to make the final decision, but encourage different points of view as part of your disciplined operational default.
Change Happens All Around Us. Constantly.
- I rarely consume pop (soda/ coke), no offense to my friends in the business, but it just doesn’t appeal to me like it once did.
- The other day we were expecting guests and so, conscious of the duties of a good host, I thought I should have some pop on hand.
- I went to the grocery store and searched for the long aisle dedicated to dozens of different brands of soda.
- Much to my surprise the aisle didn’t exist; where had it gone?!
- I went through the entire store one more time thinking I had lost my powers of observation.
- Nope; the extensive inventory of pop (soda/ coke) no longer existed, at least not in this particular large, mainstream grocery store.
- Replacing the pop aisle was what I suppose is now called a beverage aisle.
- There were dozens and dozens and dozens of beverages in all kinds of different containers, none of which I knew anything about.
- I hadn’t been paying attention to the transformational change in the consumer beverage market (White Claw anyone — or Mr. Bubly?).
- It was a great wake-up call and the perfect metaphor for change itself… it happens all around us all the time and we rarely are prepared for it — and rarely perceive it.
- Oh, I did finally find a tiny little section of pop — and our guests drank none of it.
Post-Pandemic Predictions
- Back in January 2021 Sneader and Singhal made a number of post-plague predictions and we covered them here.
- Now, six months later — nearly seven — we update those predictions to see how accurate they might have been — and it’s still too soon to declare victory, but…
- For the entire in depth story, click here: TRENDS: Sneader and Singhal, 2021
- The return of confidence unleashes a consumer rebound;
- Leisure travel bounces back, but business travel lags behind;
- The crisis sparks a wave of innovation and launches a generation of entrepreneurs;
- Digitally enabled productivity gains accelerate the fourth industrial revolution;
- Pandemic-induced changes in shopping behaviour permanently alter consumer businesses;
- Supply chains rebalance and shift;
- The future of work arrives ahead of schedule.
- A contrarian point of view: “I wish I would have spent more time at work.” (Geena Davis)
- The thing about nurturing a grudge is it never gets better.
Photo courtesy of my daughter as I confess my envy — and my happiness for her.
