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Survival or Strategy - is it a choice?
Many businessmen of my acquaintance refer to this being ‘interesting’ or ‘unprecedented’ times, both understatements of a catastrophic global economic crisis. However, as quickly as we appear to be plunging into a recession we will start to turn the corner and those who are ready will reap the rewards. Or rather, those of the survivors will.
Many companies though are prioritising survival over and above everything – this is well understood, however, to do so exclusively, at the expense of the long term plan seems to be not only a very passive response, but also sending out the wrong signals and underlining the wrong organisational motivations.
Fighting the nearest or brightest fire is perhaps seeking to preserve that which should not be preserved, while neglecting that which is most precious. This is not to say that some short term response is necessary, or even vital, but that the overall goal should remain as the main guide for our actions. This debate seems to be topical throughout – to governments, political parties, economies, companies, and other organisations – the worrying side effects of knee-jerk decisions (or a total absence of decision-making) is already being felt across the world … and there is plenty more of this recession to come.
For me, I would settle for leaders who are able to fight fires but are not distracted from the main goal – we will see how short the supply of those there is.
Useful reading
CEO Briefing 2009 - Norton Rose
Many companies though are prioritising survival over and above everything – this is well understood, however, to do so exclusively, at the expense of the long term plan seems to be not only a very passive response, but also sending out the wrong signals and underlining the wrong organisational motivations.
Fighting the nearest or brightest fire is perhaps seeking to preserve that which should not be preserved, while neglecting that which is most precious. This is not to say that some short term response is necessary, or even vital, but that the overall goal should remain as the main guide for our actions. This debate seems to be topical throughout – to governments, political parties, economies, companies, and other organisations – the worrying side effects of knee-jerk decisions (or a total absence of decision-making) is already being felt across the world … and there is plenty more of this recession to come.
For me, I would settle for leaders who are able to fight fires but are not distracted from the main goal – we will see how short the supply of those there is.
Useful reading
CEO Briefing 2009 - Norton Rose
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