The head is in the sand

I’ve always wondered what an ostrich sees when its head is in the sand.

Compare the list of the top 25 companies in the Fortune 500 in the year 2000 and in the year 2010. You’ll find something shocking: 16 of the top 25 companies in 2000 fell off their lofty perches in the span of only 10 years! That’s almost two-thirds of the top companies! Dig a little deeper, and you’ll find that since the Fortune 500 List was first published in 1955, more than 90 percent of the companies on it have been mopped up by smaller rivals or have gone bankrupt, or have shrunk so small that they’ve become inconsequential or have simply closed their doors.

No doubt that when the thriving organizations were at the top of their game, they had the financial and intellectual resources to ensure their continued success. So what caused their demise?

They failed to evolve and change. They failed to reinvent themselves and were eventually eased out of the game.

Look at our current situation. There’s the stagnant Western markets, third-world nations embracing technology and developing themselves to become manufacturing powerhouses, technology that makes everything increasingly transparent, and empowered customers who believe that they can get exactly what they want, when they want it, at a price they’re willing to pay.

All these add up to a game-changing business environment. And anyone who thinks that he’ll get a free pass and that he doesn’t have to constantly reinvent his business is an ostrich with its head in the sand.

Growth isn’t common, and profitable growth is even rarer.

Business leaders need to constantly grow. Good people and talents who want to seek better pay and benefits, sales people who want to earn more, and share holders who want to receive more profit will leave if the organization isn’t growing.

Attracting and retaining new customers is similarly challenging because the needs and wants of customers keep on changing too.

In the field of training, there used to be a clamor on Time Management; then came Work-Life Balance, and then Quality and Excellence. Now it’s Leadership and Values, and Creativity and Innovation. Even in my own career as an entrepreneur, author, keynote speaker and trainer, I need to grow to be able to effectively respond to the changing needs of my clients.

Buried in the hopes of workers are two realities with huge consequences for the owners and leaders of businesses of every size, and that speak directly about the need for constant radical change and reinvention:

• If a business isn’t growing, the people who want to make more money and have more responsibilities won’t get what they want when they want it, and they’ll find a reason to leave and pursue better opportunities elsewhere.

• Unless a business is constantly undergoing radical change, it’ll never be able to stay ahead of its customers’ constantly-changing wants and needs, and its growth will falter and then completely stop.

Two of the primary responsibilities of a business leader are to keep a highly motivated team of people together, and to make certain the team stays ahead of a growing base of customers who have constantly-changing wants and needs. Everything else can be managed.

There’s never been a business that has reached a desired level of revenue or profit and then remained static for any significant length of time. Every business must be constantly and quickly changing, growing and moving forward, or they’ll eventually find themselves in a downward spiral that will ultimately result in their demise.

Is your business growing? Is your business changing?

As a business leader, are you growing yourself, and are you growing your people as well? Your business will never grow unless you and your people grow first. This is just the way it is.

Growth and change – they’re part of the life system. No growth, no change – no life.

This is what the ostrich will never see.

(Let’s stay connected! Click on to www.franciskong.com or “Like” my page at www.facebook.com/franciskong2. You can also listen to my radio program “Business Matters” aired at 8:00 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. during weekdays over “The Master’s Touch” 98.7 dzFE-FM, the classical music station.)