Have you ever had the “opportunity” to be driving on a country road and seeing a car’s headlights seemingly aimed directly at you… Yes, the drunk is using your lights as a beacon. What do you do?  Turn off your head lights? Slam on your brakes and pull off the side of the road?  Or switch to the opposing lane of traffic (hoping no one is behind him)?

Or, imagine you were on the Deepwater Horizon.  The rig is ablaze.  It is some 100+ feet to the ocean surface- which seems to be aflame as well.  What do you do?  Do you jump and hope you can swim away and float long enough to be rescued?  Or, stay on board expecting a rescue? Obviously, there is no right answer to these questions.

Another story.  A devout man (who prays thrice daily, gives charity, helps his neighbors, etc.) gets a knock on the door from the police,  advising him a flood is coming and he should leave his home immediately.  He responds that GØd will take care of him.  An hour or two later, as the water now covers the street, a fireman on a boat calls to him, saying he should escape with the boat.  “No,” he says,” GØd will help me, I’ll wait”.  Now, the water is littering his floor and a helicopter, hovering overhead, announces via the loudspeaker, that he should grab onto the rope before the house is completely inundated.  He demurs, with the same reply as before.  In heaven, after drowning, he confronts GØd, asking why he was not saved, given his wonderful life.   GØd looks at him and declaims… “Let me get this straight.  I sent you a policeman, a fireman, a helicopter…”

Don’t wait that long to solve your problems.   And, use an advisory board, a coach, a board of directors (or all) to insure that you are not missing any signs of opportunity or disaster in your business.

And, when a problem arises,  solve it by involving all the resources you need.  If you don’t have a coach or advisory board, you will have to develop one- NOW!  Write down the names of people who can help you create the best possible solution.  Call them to a meeting, but prior to that meeting, provide them with resources to help define the situation, to insure everyone is starting with the proper context.

During the meeting, insure that everyone speaks their piece.  (Remember, you chose THEM as your best resources, use them!)  Listen to them- you want their opinions, not yours.  (If you had a solution, this meeting would not be occurring!)   List the solutions on a blackboard or multiple easels.  (Do NOT use multiple pages on a single easel, since you want all the solutions to be visible.)  Once everyone has spoken their piece, the next job is to have them write down what they think the ONE thing is you need to do.  Have everyone to read their recommendations- but no responses are allowed.  Make sure you know what each person recommended, so that you can have further discussions with them, should you need.  Thank them and adjourn the meeting.

If you notice, you are now left to choose among these suggestions.  You know they have come from people whose opinion you respect (since YOU invited them).  But, the next step(s) are yours.  Use your intuition and knowledge of the situation to choose the best scenario and plan your resolution.

Get going!

(By the way- those folks on the list… Ask them to serve on your advisory board, right now.  I am sure many of them will do it for the price of a good meal and very nominal compensation.  It’s great insurance.)

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