Has the word “option” been on your radar lately? It has been for me.
The GameStop kerfuffle saw short-sellers lose $19b in just days. Many watching the roller coaster of stock were saying, “Options seem risky.”
Then there are the daily options we’re all confronted with from continued pandemic uncertainty: Do we send our child back to school? Full time or part-time? Do we postpone the wedding again this spring or hold it? Outside or inside?
Too many options can make things harder.
Researcher Barry Schwarz’s experiment offered buyers many choices of jam. His famous study found that there is a paradox of choice: if you have too many choices, it can actually freeze you from making a decision, for fear of choosing the wrong option.
Yet, if you are leading an organization today, you may find yourself feeling like you don’t have ANY options. Having NO options can feel risky too.
Lately, I’ve been talking to many CEOs and board members struggling to figure out how to simply make things work. With revenues falling off, continued operational complexities due to the pandemic, sudden changes in regulation disrupting business models — they feel backed into a corner.
A scarcity mindset can take over, which can lead to hunkering down, and a fear of failure.
But what if you are solving for the wrong problem?
When you’re in a corner, it’s easy to conflate HOW and WHY.
It may be that you need to focus on WHY first. And then, explore completely new ways to achieve HOW by looking with fresh eyes at your assets.
Take the travel industry, which has certainly been slammed.
Yet, airlines like British Airways, Lufthansa, Emirates and others realized they had aircraft assets they could repurpose, and started driving new revenues from cargo-only flights, in many cases for the first time in their companies’ history.
Red Roof Inn, the hotel chain, realized their real estate assets weren’t just hotel rooms – they were quiet, comfortable workspaces with great Wi-Fi! They launched “Work Under Our Roof” for people working at home who needed relief from noisy house-share situations.
What assets do YOU have that you could use in new ways?
If you and your team are feeling backed into a corner right now, here’s a quick exercise:
Step back and breathe. Give your mind space to think. Then ask yourself three questions.
1. WHY: Why do we exist? Is our mission still valid? What about the problem we solve has changed?
2. HOW: What ASSETS (talent, programs, intellectual property, real estate, tools, machinery, learnings, etc.) can we use in a new way?
3. WHO: Who could we partner with to achieve our mission that we hadn’t considered before?
Yes, there are going to be risks of something not going well if you take a new direction. But there’s also a risk you’ll miss new opportunities if you don’t act.
Scarcity leads to feeling trapped and fearful. But we were made to live life abundantly, gifted with assets we can use in new ways. Leading others more confidently.
And isn’t that a great option?:)
–Susan
P.S. If you’re a leader of an organization interested in ways to de-risk your strategy, learn more about the Changemakers’ De-Risk System for Impact. It can prompt some good dialogue with your team. And let me know if you’d like to chat about your own situation!
Susan Schramm, Founder and Principal, Go to Market Impact LLC
+1(847)778-0123 susan.schramm@gotomarketimpact.com
