Take Stock of Yourself
Lyman Henderson, consultant and founder of the print firm Davis Henderson, advises printers to have the guts to make an honest assessment of their managerial aptitude in the new business environment. In a recent column in Second Impressions, he wrote:
"Be prepared! Maybe the problem is you. Face it. Business history repeats itself and tells the same story over and over. No one leader is the right person all the time. The hardest thing for a manager to recognize is when his/her time has come. Maybe you were a whiz when selling print was the name of the game. Maybe you just can’t see that the new game is recognizing that printing is only a small part of the communication industry. Perhaps you were comfortable where you were rather than being on the hot seat where you now are. There’s nothing to be ashamed of if that is the case. You gave it your all in your day, now there’s a need for other talents that you don’t have.
"You have three alternatives: take the ship down with the captain, reinvent yourself or find a new captain. Management’s job is to tackle the difficult questions."
Just Cowboy Up
Steve Johnson, President and CEO of PrintImage International, stresses the need for printers to be resilient and maintain a positive outlook in spite of a tough 2003. In his preface to PrintImage’s February Annual Conference, he wrote:
"Let’s face it, this has been a challenging year. Now more than ever, quick and small printers are forced to use every resource at their disposal to maintain their success. The print industry is at a crossroads. Important decisions await all of us – decisions that will have ramifications that extend far down the road. Sounds ominous, doesn’t it?
"For many, the printing business probably seems like an uphill climb, and that’s okay. What intrigues me most about professional sports is the amazing ability of players to make dreadful mistakes and then get back in the game as if nothing ever happened. We can learn something from the behavior of professional athletes.
"The rallying cry of the Boston Red Sox this year was "cowboy up," an old expression from the world of rodeo. Whenever a seasoned rider is thrown from his horse or bucking bronco, he gets back up. It’s a way of saying "toughen up." It refers to the professional rider’s ability to forego pain and disappointment in order to get up and ride again.
"You can see an example of this behavior in virtually every sport – the closer in baseball, the defensive back in the NFL, a good shooter in the NBA. On any given night, even the greatest athlete can fail but what sets them apart is their ability to get back up and do what they do best – succeed. Performing under the most pressure-packed situations imaginable, these athletes block out recent failures as if they never occurred. They focus on the task at hand in order to achieve positive results.
"Great athletes are aware of their mistakes and there are certainly times when they feel the pain of failure. But the remarkable thing is they don’t let those failures enter their minds when they take to the field on the next play, or in the next game, or the next time they get on a horse. No, they proceed as if they’ve always been successful and they know they will be again.
"So what’s in it for us? Go ahead and realize that you may have made a mistake. Maybe it was a tough year. Take a 30-second timeout and admit it. But then, emulate the successful athlete. Cowboy up! This time you’re going to be successful because you’re a professional."
With such inspired leadership, may your business surge ahead bigger and stronger in 2004.