Drifting into March…
Nothing Changes if Nothing Changes and it is a maxim I like. It always reminds me that we have to make change when we think that all is in fact okay, and it is not okay. The maxim sits comfortably with understanding that it is all too easy to keep following the same path expecting different results (also known as the insanity quote and oft wrongly attributed to Einstein.)* Human beings are creates of habits, or routines akin to a computer. Have a read of Atomic Habits by James Clear. It is good to learn that it can be near impossible for the conscious to overcome deep routed subconscious routines. But if we know of the routines running beneath the subconscious we can tackle them and make change.
The above relates to a live specimen, but what of a company, a partnership, a sole trader and so on? These are made up and run by people, and so we can apply the concept of change to overcome business insanity.
Any business continuing on and on does run the risk of getting the exact same results again and again, when it wants and needs change, and this is business insanity. But does a business that gets the same results do no wrong? In fact why fix something that is not broken? Is there a huge flaw in my reasoning.
Soooo… how do I know if my business is INSANE?
Remember the insanity of doing the same thing, and expecting different results. Or the danger of not changing and being satisfied with with a status quo.
What can I do?
So we have established the business ain’t changing, it’s still doing the same thing, yup it’s making money, but it could be on a precipice, or in decline, or maintaining a status quo and not growing. But it could be growing and doing well. Thing is do we need to do something? All depends on the research phase and what we want to do.
* Civil rights campaigner and feminist writer Rita Mae Brown is the real author of the phrase. In her 1983 book Sudden Death, Brown attributes the quote to a fictional ‘Jane Fulton’. However, the idea of a link between repetition and insanity can be traced back to the 19th century.
Mission control this morning.