In Vistage groups, we often warn each other that the second worst thing that can happen to a company is success. The reason? Bill Gates once said, “Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.”
When what made a business successful no longer works, it’s time for a turnaround, but like everything else, there’s a right and wrong way to do it.
Dan Health, co- author of “Switch: How to Change Things when Change is Hard” looks at turnarounds in a variety of industries “How are such turnarounds done? Mr. Heath builds his answer around the simple analogy that “many business problems are like boulders blocking your path: Pushing harder won’t work on its own—you need to first identify points of leverage, and then ‘ restack’ resources there.”
In particular Mr. Heath warns that sometimes the trouble often lies in not understanding what we really ought to be striving toward, what he calls “the goal of the goal.” Mr Heath’s new book, “Reset: How to Change What’s Not Working” may be a handy guide to coping with successful strategies and business models that no longer work.
This short review may help you think about your business before it becomes a turnaround.
