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You Choose To Be Affected By Outside Circumstances

Written by: Bill Gschwind

Article Overview: Change is happening all around us all the time. The way in which we respond to change determines whether we succeed or fail. Business leaders during challenging times must remain focused on success, not just survival. Engaging the assistance of a business coach will cure the myopic view that prevents changing tactics and causes owners to ride their company all the way to bankruptcy.

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You Choose To Be Affected By Outside Circumstances

You’re situation is not dictated by external circumstances. You are where you are because of your reaction to external circumstances.

For most of you, this is where you trash this article, or me. At the very least, you are putting it aside and looking for any one of the thousands of articles that let you off the hook by blaming outside circumstances for your difficult times.

For the couple of you brave enough to read on, let me explain. Change is a constant. Change is good. We hear it all the time, and we prove to others how enlightened we are by repeating it at every opportunity. But when the rubber hits the road, most of us say, “Change is good. You go first!”

Successful people operate in parallel universes. There is the universe as we would like it to be, and the universe that is. Leaders are charged with seeing a potential future and influencing others to follow the yellow brick road to success. But leaders also know how to achieve results, when to forge ahead, and when to change tactics.

Forty years ago, the Swiss had the corner on the watch making. Along came the quartz movement watch and overnight their dominant position disappeared. Did you know it was the Swiss who developed the quartz movement? The manufacturers of Swiss watches could not adopt the innovation they developed because “it was not the way watches were always made.” Japanese and U.S. watchmakers acquired the technology from the Swiss developers and dominant position of the Swiss dissolved overnight.

We may be going through a time that is no less revolutionary. A political battle is taking place in the U.S. You may be engaged in it to one degree or another. The result is unknown and the effects, at this point, are not positive. I encourage you to engage that battle and fight for your principles which ever side you take. But for your business, you must be able to switch your tactics while remaining focused on your vision.

One of your universes can be the political or economic environment you believe is the “right” one. Your other universe should be the circumstances you are dealt and developing tactics that maximize your opportunities. I’m not suggesting that you sell out your principles to the almighty dollar. Quite the opposite. Fighting the good fight requires that you live to fight another day. You may loose the occasional battle, but you must stay focused on living another day to win the war.

This is where an outside advisor can be vital. A business coach may not have the specific answers to your challenges, but he is not invested in your particular circumstances. A good coach will challenge your thinking and help you to let go of “the way you’ve always done it.” Your coach will help you develop another tactic to respond to external circumstances. It is your choice to swim upstream and succeed when all around you are being dragged down by the current.

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Home > Small-Business-Consulting > Bill Gschwind > You Choose To Be Affected By Outside Circumstances
Article Tags: developers, difficult times, dominant position, external circumstances, forty years, hook, influencing others, innovation, parallel universes, quartz movement, rubber hits the road, swiss watches, universe, watchmakers, yellow brick road
Referred by: http://www.processspecialist.com/

About the Author: Bill Gschwind
RSS for Bill's articles - Visit Bill's website

Bill Gschwind, JD, MBA has over 25 years experience in successful business management and sales. For the past 16 years, he has owned franchised and independent retail and business service organizations. Mr. Gschwind is a business attorney with an MBA in Business Management which makes him uniquely qualified to advise owner-operators on all matters relevant to operating a successful business. Contact him for questions or assistance in your organization with human resource development, leadership, and business planning services.
http://www.inPursuitConsulting.com


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