Thanksgiving
At this time of year, when our inboxes are stuffed with messages about the latest Black Friday deals and 4th quarter productivity targets loom large, it’s easy to lose sight of the central idea of the Thanksgiving holiday: to carve out a quiet place amid the hustle and bustle of life to reflect on the many blessings and good things in our life and to be grateful. To the extent that we do think about giving thanks, we are primed to think about thankfulness and generosity in financial terms. However, I hope that each of us is open to a deeper interpretation than that.
By every measure, 2020 has been a difficult year for most businesses. Revenue is down and supply chains are disrupted. Leadership teams and employees alike are struggling to cope with the challenge of working from home. For parents of school aged children especially, it has been hard to balance remote learning logistics from the kitchen table while telecommuting to work at the same time. For businesses that can’t use remote work, they’ve had to reconfigure their place of business to maintain social distance from customers and colleagues.
It is easy to make a case for 2020 being “the worst.” A quick Google search for “2020 in pictures” will return thousands of negative images featuring things on fire and people expressing anxiety, uncertainty, and pain. But what if the worst is really the best? What if we looked at the trials of 2020 as something to be thankful for? What would that look like?
Business leaders have many things to be thankful for this year:
Do you have a deeper understanding of your business model than you did at this time last year?
What about demand for the various products and services in your company? Do you have a better understanding of what drives demand for each one?
How about operations? I am willing to bet that you have a much better understanding now than you did 12 months ago of where communication breaks down and where you have supply chain vulnerabilities.
What technology do you know about now that may not have even been on your radar in 2019?
How about your customers? What have you learned about them in this turbulent time?
For clients that have left, have you identified what made your product or service optional?
For clients that stayed, do you know why you are indispensable to them? What will that knowledge do for your ability to build the business?
In their book, The Adversity Advantage, Stoltz and Weihenmayer examine the idea that overcoming struggle is instrumental to the process of building a better business. It is not a sign of failure, but rather a confirmation that you are tackling meaningful challenges on the pathway to growth. Knowledge like the points above does not come easily, even when times are good, but it provides critical data points that should guide your decision-making for decades to come. As we reflect on this year, I hope that you will embrace the idea that you have gained valuable insight that will be instrumental to your future success.
Business leaders make things happen. We take knowledge and insights and combine them with raw materials and talent to create products and services that solve problems. We add value and we produce. We are at our best when our customers’ challenges and problems are clear. So whatever you produce, I hope you are thankful that your value proposition is clear. I hope that you are willing to learn today so you can leverage the adversity advantage going forward. I wish you calm and peaceful moments of reflection and gratitude this holiday weekend. Enjoy your rest, be thankful, read a book, and get in a good nap if you can.
Recharge your batteries this weekend. Come back Monday and let’s get to work!
