Sunday, October 19, 2008

Change is Opportunity - Be Adaptable

I am at Blue Mountain at a SYNNEX sales retreat. It has been an awesome high energy event. I really like the quality of the people we have. Our results so far this year have been outstanding so it is too bad the economy has taken such a dive as that adds a somber note to it all.

I am taking time off the morning activity to get caught up on email and get a few things done. Travel tends to put me behind.

I am thinking a lot about the turbulence in markets and the impact it will have on business. There are major opportunities for strong companies like SYNNEX. At the same time, it is always tougher to hit sales goals in softer economies.

In my opinion, this downturn is unlike any other that has occurred in the past 50 years. It will be deeper and involve more change than any previous recession.

One thing that is certain is there will be major change. Change is opportunity.

In change, it is not always the strong who thrive, it is the adaptable. Smaller companies tend to be more adaptable and can change more easily than large ones. The key has always been for SYNNEX, which is fairly large, to act smaller than we are. To keep our velocity and fight the paralysis that often accompanies turbulent times.

I believe adaptability can be learned. I believe people and companies can consciously decide to adapt. Part of that is accepting that it is necessary. Part of that is fighting fear and stepping up to change. For me, a large part of that will include study (one of my ways of figuring things out is always to study).

It will be interesting times for the next few years. Times like these are when great leaders can shine.

Quote for the day:

Fortune does not change people, it unmasks them.

Susan Necker 1739-1794

5 Comments:

At 10:08 AM, Blogger Jeff said...

Great post. It is indeed a time of opportunity. I think many smart organizations will be taking out their five year strategic plans and taking another look to see if their strategy still fits with all the economic changes. Not that the downturn is a reason to shift strategy but it certainly is a time to be sure the the direction you're moving is relevant.

 
At 2:19 PM, Blogger Adaptable Leadership - Building Leaders for Changing Times said...

Great comments for this unstable economic time. I agree that change is a great friend of opportunity. Adaptable people can survive and thrive on the battlefields of business when change happens. However, it is not just enough to tell people to be adaptable. Being adaptable is much harder than just making a decision to do so. For example, only 14% of businesses surveyed by IBM said that they were very prepared to adapt to change. Also, of the Forbes 100 list from 1917 only 13 businesses have survived in their present form. Only one of those 13 has financially performed well. Saying that people should adapt to the tremendous change happening before us and having them actually adapt are two very different things. Just my thoughts...

 
At 6:38 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Exactly. Every change is an opportunity and ability to change is not a function of size but that of adaptability.

So it will be interesting to see shift in strategic outlook across the industry.

 
At 6:58 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Change is indeed a time of opportunity. Our current model is unsustainable, and the corporate culture and branding that has permeated our existence has to change from monopolistic mega institutions to local models.

 
At 5:15 PM, Blogger George Torok said...

Your post is both disturbing and enlightening. I suppose that the same can be said of any crisis. Clearly we are facing a crisis.

George Torok

 

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