Many of us were taught that there is one right answer to any decision we might have to make.
That’s a big-time Gravity belief. It leads to black-and-white thinking, missed opportunities and limited potential.
The reality is that for any decision there are always a multitude of options. The best decision usually isn’t a single option – but rather a blending of multiple potentials. The straight lines of cause and effect, the black and white of positive and negative choices that we enjoyed in our history no longer exist.
Today’s decisions require that we all move into shades of gray – blending facets from the black and white extremes to take a multi-faceted approach to future success.
For example:
- If you’re identifying a target audience for your offering, choosing the immediate “low hanging fruit” isn’t the best solution. Instead, creating a leveraged strategy that focuses upon one short term choices – while also testing the waters on other targets for future expansion – is your best bet if you want to grow.
- If you’re trying to decide where to invest for the future – a single short-term focused strategy is not your best choice. The old all or nothing approaches threaten your business success. We do want to focus on short-term opportunities. But with so many moving parts in our markets, we we also need to focus on near and longer term opportunities in preparation for our future success.
- Another one my favorite black-and-white decisions comes in the form of profitability. We’re having a hard time in our business, profits are decreasing. What’s our first reaction? Cut expenses, reduce headcount, constrict. While we do want to manage our costs – constricting may be the worst possible move we can make. For example, shrinking costs by off-shoring or reducing customer service may be just the thing that sends our business into a decline. Similarly, reducing our sales force is the equivalent of reducing our ability to generate revenue. Not the smartest moves for growth, now are they?
So the next time you need to make a business decision – instead of asking yourself to define a single black and white answer – look to the grey zone. Move beyond the obvious either/or – into the world of “and” and multiple solutions.
That’s where you’ll find the leverage to grow.
