People who feel helpless often react that way because they cannot locate any acceptable alternatives in their own minds. A good way to circumvent that problem is to find others who have had similar problems, and ask them what they would do in your situation. Undoubtedly, you'll get some ideas, and then you can test the more plausible ones on a limited basis to find out which ones actually...
Like Captain Kirk on the Starship Enterprise in the Star Trek television series, movies and books, you should spurn helplessness and believe that there is always a positive way out of a difficult or unexpected situation. Your job is to find and take that way out.
As a cadet at Starfleet Academy, the fictional James Tiberius Kirk was once faced with a problem to solve for which there was...
The Helplessness Stall often follows the Wishful Thinking Stall. Here's an example of how that can occur. Sales and earnings at a large retail chain had been declining for years.
The chain's executives were continually forecasting a turnaround that never came -- that's the wishful thinking beginning of this painful example. After a decade of steadily sinking performance and continuing...
"The only limit [to] our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today." --Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Being buffeted by strong and conflicting irresistible forces can be a little bit like being the proverbial little Dutch boy who notices that the dike is leaking. The child can staunch the leak or go for help. Which should be done first? In the story, he stops the leak with his finger...
That hot-footed cat is ready to jump as soon as its paws get too hot. You should be too. The best ways to be able to move away from a mistake about an irresistible force are to keep your commitments as low as possible for as long as possible and to have contingency plans in place.
How can your commitment to pursuing benefits from the irresistible force be kept low, without harming...
How well does your vision match the irresistible forces and values of those who work in your organization? That's a critical question you need to answer if you are to have a successful strategy. Let me explain why.
In the early days of the cable television industry, technology limitations meant that cable operators could supply their customers with very few channels. Home Box Office (HBO),...
What does your work week look like? If you are like most people, you have a demanding job that takes more than 40 hours before counting your commuting time.
How do you spend the rest of your time? Chances are you are more than a little tired when you get home. If you are a parent, your children need lots of attention and support before they go to bed.
How much waking time do you spend...
"We're lost. But we're making good time."
-- Yogi Berra
Encountering an irresistible force (such as a better way of operating, a new type of competitor, or changed customer needs) can be a great benefit to an enterprise. The shock can help everyone realize that the enterprise's purpose needs to be defined or redefined and then supported by appropriate values and plans.
Traditional...
Most organizations have only one person in them who knows how to create breakthrough solutions. Why? These individuals have usually learned about and created breakthrough solutions on their own, away from the spotlight that normally surrounds major new initiatives. Such breakthrough solutions are what I like to call "stealth" initiatives, which talented organization members are using to create...
By only considering their own perspective, newsprint companies fundamentally misunderstood the irresistible force of supply and demand during a time of high prices in the newsprint market. They kept increasing prices while newspapers struggled desperately to reduce their need for newsprint on a permanent basis. With more moderate price increases, the long-term demand and price for newsprint...
