Change and Survival

I have been reading your newsletters with interest and my employees are pushing me to “make change.”  But we are a 15 year old manufacturing company and we gross about 8 ½ million, year in and year out and we are profitable.  Why would I want to consider making changes?   L.M.., a CEO in Kansas City, MO

First off if your revenues have been the same year in and year out, your growth is not only flat but most analysis would agree that you are going backwards by not going forward!  Allow me to share a true story with you about the Golden Eagle and maybe this will help make some sense of “why change.”

 The Eagle has the longest life span of its species.  It can live up to 70 Years

But to reach this age, the eagle must make several very hard decisions.

In its 40’s its long and flexible talons can no longer grab prey which serves as food.

It’s long and sharp beak becomes bent and difficult to use.

Its’ old-aged and heavy wings, due to their thick feathers, become stuck to its’ chest and make it difficult to fly.

Then, the eagle is left with only two options:  DIE or go through a painful process of CHANGE which lasts 150 DAYS!

The process requires that the eagle fly to a mountain top and sit on its nest.

 There the eagle knocks its beak against a rock until it plucks it out.

After plucking out its beak, the eagle will wait for a new beak to grow back and then it will pluck out its talons.

When its new talons grow back, the eagle starts plucking its old-aged feathers.

And after FIVE PAINFUL AND UNCERTAIN MONTHS, the eagle takes its’ famous flight of REBIRTH and lives for 30 MORE YEARS!

Why is changed needed you ask?

Many times, in order to survive we have to start a change process.

We sometimes need to get rid of old memories, habits and other past traditions.

Only freed from past burdens, can we take advantage of the present!

Rebirthing or reinventing yourself and your organization has never arrived at a more critical time.

The Eagle is a wise, powerful and magnificent bird of prey.  Truly an imposing force to be dealt with in the wild.

Perhaps a lesson from the Eagle is a great lesson to be learned about change in 2008!  What option would you choose?

 I get many Emails every week when one of our readers truly identifies with the message.  You are welcome to utilize our newsletter as a tool.  Forward it with a personal message and say you thought they might enjoy this newsletter as well and that signing up is easy.  All they have to do is go to our Home page and on the left side put in their first name and Email address.  If you’d like me to address an issue or question, please Email me at George@ClientGrowthConsultants.com .

Regards,

George F. Mancuso
Client Growth Consultants, Inc.