The past can come back to haunt you in all parts of your life.
Leaders are always having to fix things now that were caused by past decisions. Even when decisions seemed wise and sound in the past, circumstances can change . . . and we have to change what once seemed like a great idea.
This happens, of course, because we really cannot see the future. Who could have seen 9/11 coming? Some say the government could or should have seen it coming, but they are human too . . . and the world is full of surprises and complications. All of us are guilty of not seeing something right in front of us. Hindsight is a terrific teacher.
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Who could have imagined 15 to 20 years ago that health-care costs would skyrocket the way they have?
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Who would have imagined that most meals would be eaten out and would cause such severe obesity and health problems for people?
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Who could have imagined that we would be hit with four hurricanes in a month in 2004? And they are lining up in the Atlantic again today.
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Who could ever have imagined that that little baby of yours would grow up and make some really bad decision in life that you would have to help that child with?
A quote from The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker is a good one for the times we are living in right now:
“Yesterday’s actions and decisions, no matter how courageous or wise they may have been, inevitably become today’s problem, crises, and stupidities.”
Therefore, it is the executives’ and other leaders’ job to commit today’s resources to the future.
Drucker goes on to point out that to be an effective leader one has to say that every executive forever has to spend time, energy, and ingenuity on patching up or bailing out the actions and decisions of yesterday, whether his own . . . or those of his predecessors . . . or just that circumstances in the world have changed dramatically, like the coming of age of the Internet. Who would have thought in 1980 how powerful this new technology would be and how it would impact our business models?
One of the hardest things to do—but one that must be done—is for leaders to have the fortitude to eliminate things that no longer work or ones that do not deliver the value for the resources spent on them.
We all fall in love with certain things in our lives, including things we do at work that include products, services, organizational structures, etc., and find it very hard to give up some things or to make significant changes required by a range of circumstances.
Things that are supposed to work but don’t are another area that require great strength to get rid of . . . they should not become an ego trip or something sacred to a leader.
Drucker says that unless these ideas that don’t work anymore or ones that never worked in the first place are pruned and pruned ruthlessly, they drain the lifeblood from an organization.
The bottom line is that we must continually take a hard look at everything we do and every penny we spend to make sure that it is producing the right results for our customers, our associates, and our business results.
One question that Drucker proposes leaders should use is: “If we did not already do this, would we go into it now?” Unless the answer is an unconditional “YES,” then drop the activity or curtail it sharply and put your human capital and your financial capital to work on things that will make a big difference to your business going forward.
The past is the past, and there is nothing we can do about it . . . but the future is waiting for us to make corrections to the past that will be better. This is an ongoing—forever—process that will always be the way that we spend the majority of our time. Enjoy it, and don’t fight it. It is like Mother Nature. You cannot control or stop Mother Nature . . . but you can prepare for her and survive! . . . Lee