Champions Adjust

No business survives if it doesn't evolve. Every factor that affects our businesses keeps changing over time including the economy, technology, law, best practices, natural and human resources, etc. Change is not a dirty word even though it has a bad reputation with those who refuse to accept it. Change presents tremendous opportunities to those of us who embrace it and adjust our business accordingly.

I analyze different types of businesses every day. Some are enormous, some are quite small, and many are somewhere in between. The different ways in which these businesses create value from opportunity continue to amaze me. I'm saddened when I see good businesses run by good people that didn't adjust to their changing business climate. A recent example is one that battled through the recession beautifully thanks to their one big client that kept them in the black. Then that one big client sold out and this company saw a good portion of their revenue evaporate almost overnight.

Losing big clients like this happens often, and it's never ideal, but the reason this company may not survive the loss is because they didn't adjust their operations. They continued operating as if that revenue was still coming in. They continued giving everyone raises, continued spending money on projects that neither increased revenue nor reduced overall expenditures, and continued paying 100% of their employees' healthcare costs. Nothing changed. You know how this ends: They have completely eroded their value over the past few years and are faced with some very tough decisions that might include layoffs, cutting benefits, and possibly even shutting down. Perhaps the worst part is that their employees have no clue that anything is wrong.

We're all dealt with some difficult circumstances in our business, but champions adjust. They put the brightest minds around the table and craft a strategy that will help them emerge stronger and better than before. Sticking your head in the sand is never the right answer.