Surviving and Excelling in the Whirlwind
This is a time of significant change, not only at Sun but also in the whole market place. A few days ago when I was reading Proverbs chapter 10, I read this verse: “When the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more, but the righteous has an everlasting foundation.” Proverbs 10:25 (NASB).
I thought the whirlwind metaphor described what we are going through perfectly. The world economy is all over the map. Governments are passing unprecedented spending packages to stimulate the economy. The US business landscape is impossible to read or predict. Customers' buying habits are conservative to the extreme. Sun, like many companies, has gone through a major reduction in force and reorganization. Our jobs as sales professionals are in the process of changing to a new model unlike anything we have seen before. Change is in the wind... a great understatement.
What is there to hold on to? Is there anything that is not changing?
There are a few things that we can definitely bank on that are not changing, and these are the things that enable us to stand and not be swept away during the whirlwind.
Character. That is the first thing I believe that remains constant through the storm. My perspective on the Proverbs 10:25 verse is that the storm is what proves or demonstrates character. Whether you were affected by a RIF or stayed on and suddenly found yourself managing twice the territory is not a measure of your character. We lost good people in the recent restructuring. Your character will remain what it is throughout the great changes we are living through. The measure of character will be proved by how we manage the winds of change. Rudyard Kipling caught the essence of standing in the storm when he wrote, “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs...” The way we respond to the whirlwind can provide a great opportunity to strengthen our character as individuals and as a community.
Opportunity. In every circumstance there is opportunity. We have so much opportunity before us now in every direction we look. One of the first opportunities we have is to create something new, a new way of growing our business. I see this as an opportunity like a new startup. We just started a new business here in the southeast, and the great thing about this new business is that we have an existing install base! There is an opportunity to be the one to come up with new ways of doing business, leveraging resources we have not leveraged in the past. We have the opportunity to be innovators, to be leaders. The opportunities we have inspire me to think and to imagine what we might build. There is also a tremendous new opportunity to develop new relationships.
Community. The communities that we build are like the icing on the cake. We have a great opportunity both within Sun and out to reinvest in the things that will last – these are the relationships built around the communities we work and live in. Belonging to a community is one of the things that makes a reduction in force so difficult, but the great thing about strong friendships is that they don't begin and end at the corporate city limit. These relationships that we build throughout our careers provide an opportunity to cultivate a community that lasts through the winds of change.
The bottom line. Going through significant changes provides great opportunities. It proves and develops our character. It helps us develop strong communities. And if we keep our heads and open our eyes, we'll find and develop a thriving business and make some money as we go along!
Posted at 07:53AM Apr 14, 2009 by George Miller in Personal | Comments[0]