The key to business growth is rarely found in finding the “right” answer. Answers change as the business environment changes. Therefore, a good idea 5 years ago could be a bad idea today. And a fantastic idea today could be a terrible idea tomorrow. Look no further than how you could have made millions between 1996 and 2000 by waking up every morning and buying every “dotcom” listed on the stock market. Like all ideas, that was a great idea until the dotcom crash. What caused it to go from a great idea to a horrible idea was a change in the environment.
Albert Einstein gave his students the exact same final exam questions every year for 20 years. After a couple of years, his students worked this out and so did his fellow professors. One of his peers asked him why he kept giving the exact same questions to his students? He replied “Because the answers are always changing.”
So here are some questions you should be asking yourself on a regular basis:
- Where are you hanging on to answers which were great answers in a different business environment?
- Which part of your organisation needs to adapt to the realities of today’s business environment?
- What employees were great 5-10 years ago, but are simply not up to the job today?
- Which strategies got you here but are no longer the difference that makes the difference?
- Where are you obsolete or irrelevant?
- What question do you need to ask to rekindle the growth and profitability of your business?
