Sitting in the lounge waiting to board yet another plane, it’s fascinating how many people are busy. Laptops open everywhere, conversations on smartphones everywhere (at various levels of discretion). No-one wants to miss a minute. And yet today Borders tanked, and local book chain Whitcoulls announced it’s in schtum …
I wonder how many of their senior people are at work right now still believing that hard work alone will get them through …
Albert Einstein once defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting things to change. Somehow, we’ve allowed ourselves to be lulled into the false security of doing. Things will just be fine if we work hard, advertise hard, sell hard. But while all this is happening – while everyone is working hard out – it’s easy to forget the real things that actually put distance between you and circumstances.
1. Look hard – at what’s really happening and ask the hard questions about what that might mean
2. Brand hard – so that you continue to mean something exciting rather than just selling things
3. Finance hard – so that you have debt structures that are at least viable
4. React hard – read what’s happening and make the difficult decisions
I call them the four hard yards, because if they were easy everyone would be doing them.
