2. Every time someone raises a new idea, someone lists three reasons it won’t work.
Of course, the reason you have the same conversation again and again is because every time you raise a new approach, someone lists three reasons it won’t work.
You know what won’t work for you long term? Coming up with reasons why it won’t work. There are a thousand reasons innovations won’t work. Until they work. In 1876, cash-strapped Alexander Bell offered to sell his new invention, the telephone, to Western Union for $100,000. They rejected it. This, by all accounts, was their report:
We do not see that this device will be ever capable of sending recognizable speech over a distance of several miles. Hubbard and Bell want to install one of their telephone devices in every city. The idea is idiotic on the face of it. Furthermore, why would any person want to use this ungainly and impractical device when he can send a messenger to the telegraph office and have a clear written message sent to any large city in the United States? Ignoring the obvious limitations of his device, which is hardly more than a toy. This device is inherently of no use to us. We do not recommend its purchase.
Take that to your next board meeting.
3. Fondness for the past exceeds passion for the future.
A sure sign that people will never change is a deep love for the past that eclipses any enthusiasm for the future.
How do you know this might be you?
It’s simple: Monitor your language. When most of your stories (and even your verb tenses) are in the past tense, it’s a sign you’re looking backward, not forward.
If all of your cultural references (songs, movies, shows) are rooted decades in the past, it’s a sign you’ve lost touch with the present and the future.
When your fondness for what you used to do is greater than your passion for what you’re going to do, you’re in trouble.
Bottom line? When all of your excitement is about the past, you haven’t got much of a future.
4. Small things always become big things.
As a leader, you’d love to solve some big issues.
But the challenge when you lead a group that won’t change is that you never reach any big things because the small things always become big things.
You know what I’m talking about.
The debate on whether you should have carpet or hardwood lasted six months. And then they decided on carpet. Which itself then became the two-month discussion on what color the carpet should be. Which then became the four-month debate on who should install it.
You know what you should do when you face a leadership stalemate like that?
Break in one night and install it yourself.
I’m kind of only half kidding.
Or call an audible and say something as direct as, “Hey, we’ve been talking about this for FOUR months. We have to stop and move on to make progress. Why are we stuck like this?”
When small things always become big things, you’ll never tackle any truly big issues.
