Message of the Day - Being Bold is Never Old

Good Morning,

 

Another bit of wisdom I gleaned from ‘Theodore Roosevelt on Leadership’ by James M. Strock, is this: “When leaders and enterprises cease to take bold actions as a matter of course, they may have become dangerously comfortable or more attuned to their own concerns than the needs of those they would serve”.

 

But wait, this is a tough economy; we must all be like turtles and shrink into our shells and not spend another penny for five years or take any chances whatsoever. Or at least that seems to be the messages we hear on the TV, Radio and internet these days.

 

Bold actions still apply in tough economies. I am not talking about reckless, but strong, well planned and intelligent actions.

 

You know why it is good to be bold? Because it is often the bold actions of leaders DURING these tough times often determine whose company survives and whose organization thrives. Those who hole up and wait for the crisis to pass tend to miss out on the opportunities which present themselves during rough times. How is that helping their teams and organizations?

 

And remember, in rough times, there are ALWAYS opportunities. No matter how bad something is, there is usually someone or group who is benefitting from it. On some levels that is sad or morbid, and on others, it is people who are being bold and making decisions to capitalize on the bad situation rather than crawl up into a fetal position and expect the worst that end up in the best shape after the smoke clears.

 

Sure it is rough out there and there are people losing jobs and the economy is doing poorly and all of these things are true. But it is also true that America has had nearly a dozen spells with the economy in the tank and each time has pulled out of it. We may only remember the Great Depression, but there were numerous other times where the economy was bad.

 

How did we get out of those periods? Faith and perseverance was one way we recovered. Another was bold actions. Companies like Nordstrom’s, IBM, General Electric have all weathered rough economic times, and have continued to survive. Sure, some of these companies may falter going forward, but that is not the point.

 

The point is that they continue and those that make bold moves keep themselves alive. Does that mean that everyone who makes bold moves will succeed? Unfortunately no.

 

Those who hunker down and take care of their own needs rather than lead with bold moves are more at risk, though will most certainly find themselves behind those who dare to be bold.

 

So, get those thinking caps on and dare to be bold.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

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