Donald Mitchell

To React Is Human, to React Positively Is Divine

Confronting hostile irresistible forces can be frustrating. Control your emotions to get the best results.

Irresistible forces drive enterprises in directions that are usually unanticipated and unplanned for, which means that the organization can become disoriented, as sometimes happened to sailing ships rounding Cape Horn during monster electrical storms with gale winds and towering seas. Shock, amazement, curiosity, smugness, groundless optimism, defensiveness, distrust, reckless risk-taking, and confusion are among the reactions that can result in the face of such forces.

However, positive reactions can turn the power of irresistible forces to your advantage, like building a wind farm with pivoting propellers to generate electricity in unpredictably windy areas. Confronting your very human (and usually inappropriate reactions) to irresistible forces is the beginning of helping your enterprise to use irresistible forces in a more deliberate way to create beneficial results.

Dealing with irresistible forces can be very time consuming and emotionally demanding. Those strong emotions can easily distract you from acting in the ways necessary to turn the irresistible forces into your favor. When the emotions divert you from pursuing your own or your organization's best interests, you have just experienced a stall (a bad thinking habit that delays improvements).

Psychologically, irresistible forces tend to take us back to our childhood, when almost every aspect of our lives seemed to be controlled by someone or something other than ourselves. Resisting that temptation to become an enraged two-year-old shouting "No!" to an apparently hostile universe is important for organizational progress.

While automatic habits of any kind can delay organizational progress, these behaviors become much more harmful when they arise because of strong emotions. The magnitude of irresistible forces will often cloud clear thinking with negative emotional reactions that are experienced by those who have to lead and manage. And the danger is increased by the tendency of the individual or organization to be immobilized by the magnitude of the power involved when first perceiving the irresistible force, a little like the victim who stared entranced by a cobra and failed to retreat to safety.

In addition, enterprises often view irresistible forces as temporary aberrations that must simply be "overcome" for the time being. The most common approach is to work longer and harder, and to cut costs to overcome the effects of the trend on the business involved. This approach is like trying to keep the Titanic afloat by bailing water by hand.

Appreciating that irresistible forces must be dealt with from a long-term viewpoint, being aware of the dangers, and recognizing the stalls that are likely to result in response to irresistible forces are the foundations for irresistible growth breakthroughs.

Copyright 2008 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved

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