Life Lesson

Scenario planning is often used as a crisis management tool.

Say road construction happens on your business’s street, do you have funds to make it through? What do you do?

If you’re a bar and get a shipment of beer that’s spoiled and you have nothing to serve for the next 24 hours, what’s your course of action?

You need a crisis management plan. We can agree on that. But what if you spun scenario planning on its head and applied it to the values you think you stand for?

When Google says you’re open on a Sunday and someone wants to rent out your venue on Sunday, do you agree even though you’d be lying to everyone who Googles you on Sunday to see if you’re open?

Or, say, you’re an airline with an overbooked flight. Do the actionable responses you have to choose from align with your values?

For most brands, they’re stuck in survival/crisis management mode and blind/ignorant to the fact they’re not upholding their values.

 

Stay Positive & Start Planning Now

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…are curious enough to where you hear them say “I learn something new everyday,” everyday.

…care about their tribe, deeply and empathetically.

…see themselves doing what they are doing for a long time.

…learn more than those who job hop.

…find a way to connect with others beyond work.

 

Stay Positive & You Can Be That Person (If You Choose)

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Starting right now, what can you give?

Set aside your big idea you want to launch a year from now and stop hording your skill, your knowledge, your stuff.

The problem with most startups is they are more like buildups; they focus on holding onto everything and creating a big launch.

If you have something people want, why wait to give it?

Also consider this a subtle reminder that you do have something to give right now.

You’ve got passion. You’ve got knowledge. You’ve got time.

Unsurprisingly, that’s the stuff people really want.

 

Stay Positive & Start Now

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Appeals to a category, not a single person.

Remains distinctive first, differentiated second.

Stays consistent when everyone says to “rebrand.”

 

Stay Positive & You Know What Worse Marketing Is Now, Too

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But it’s not boring to the customer that’s there for the first time.

It’s not boring to the person who stopped by four months ago and wanted to see if you were doing what you said you were going to do.

It’s not boring to the investors who bought into the idea that you’d do one thing and you’d do it remarkably day after day.

Nor is it boring to those in your industry who see your competitors pivot every quarter, who don’t live up to their values every day and who go back on their promises when the going gets rough.

 

Stay Positive & Consistency Is Vital

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The edge of exceptions is where heroes are made… and where businesses go to fail.

It’s a risky space with an upward tick and a downward spiral.

It’s where you’ve got to make decisions that the manual doesn’t advise you on. It’s where you either uphold your values or set them aside. It’s where you go the extra mile or you cut a corner.

 

Stay Positive & What’ll It Be? What Will You Decide?

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Relying on data to make your next move is the lazy way of decision-making.

It plays to the short run, the immediate gratification of having a form of assurance around your next step.

Data, the way it’s often used, gets you to conform at the same time that it stops you from seeing why you started something in the first place (to make a human impact).

Long form data, though, the kind you can’t measure on a weekly basis–that’s important data. It’s the type of data that you can look at and feel what’s working and what’s not; There’s no need for a spreadsheet formula.

Data that’s even more important? Words. The ones your target uses online and off, what they say to their parents and to their friends considering a similar investment. Those words are much more insightful than whether or not the logo works better in the top left corner or bottom right.

What I’m getting at is that if you’re in something for the long haul, to have a real impact, to change the status quo, then you better be measuring for that.

 

Stay Positive & The Rest Is Just Distraction

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