One of my all time favorite books is “Strategy and The Fat Smoker” by David Maister. David is a business advisor whose clients are primarily law firms. However, I find most of his advice to be applicable to just about any business type. Dave believes that instead of asking “What do I need or want to do to improve my business?” you should be asking “What I am willing to do to improve my business?”
We all must analyze our strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats but we can’t stop there. If we aren’t willing to do what we need to do; to get where we want to go then we won’t get there. We must change either the goal or the will. The title of Dave’s book speaks to this very conundrum.
How many times have you heard from someone that they won’t quit smoking because they are afraid they might gain weight? In order for this logic to be true there shouldn’t be any “Fat Smokers”. Yet obviously there is plenty of empirical data that proves just the opposite. In fact, there is no direct correlation between weight gain and not smoking.
The truth is the smokers are not willing to commit to the behavioral changes that will be required in order for them to be successful at quitting. So the weight argument becomes the excuse they use to avoid the lack of will. If they dealt with the lack of will instead; they might actual find a path to success.
I see this played out all the time in business. The business owner will spend all their time focused on the strategy of the goal and spend no time on the behavioral changes that are required to carry out the objectives to achieve the goal. Then when one of those changes is something they aren’t willing to carry out; they fail.
Had they been realistic in the beginning and focused on the potential obstacles presented by the behavioral changes and lack of will they could have planned another course of action and increased their chances of success. Maybe outsourced some of the things that they could not bring themselves to do or that they lacked the expertise to carry out.
However, in business when a commitment is left to die it can actually be quite harmful to the overall health of a company. If you have made a promise to yourself and your employees in the form of a strategic goal (i.e. increase in sales volume) and you lack the will to do the things that you will need to do (networking, cold calls, etc.) then you are actually worse off for having made the commitment.
Not having the fortitude to do what was necessary has sent a demoralizing message to yourself and your employees. It has also sent a message loud and clear that you can’t be trusted to follow through on your promises. It makes it tougher to get anything done down the road because your employees will be less likely to buy in to your vision and follow you.
So in summary, choose your strategic goals wisely. Make sure you have completely considered everything that will be required to achieve that goal before you commit to it. Remember the experts say goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time bound. I would add to that list “something you are willing to commit to” and then go for it.
