While he was, indeed, caught in a predicament, the USA, which he helped invent through the Declaration of Independence, had not yet been born. Dr. Franklin continued thinking and writing to address the grievances of his American homeland. The dilemma of his loyalties was only to be resolved over a period of many years and the continued intractable repressive policies of Britain toward the American colonies that finally pushed him to be firmly established as an American citizen.
When the George Washington Bridge was first built, there were many head-on traffic accidents. The emergency crews trained and planned and grew better in their response time to reach the accident victims and remove them from the bridge to get hospital care. Through years of practice, they increased their rescue efficiency. The problem was that many accidents still occurred. By using systems thinking and taking a larger framework approach to the situation, they were able to resolve the predicament. Someone emerged with the idea to erect a barrier divider between the lanes of opposing traffic. Accidents were thus dramatically reduced.
These tough recessionary times may force creative if not obvious solutions to cost-cutting and marketing strategy. Are you facing problems which are things going wrong defined by mistakes or defects, or a predicament that may be comprised of inescapable dilemmas?
If it’s a problem of economics and serious cost-cutting is required, you can reexamine each line item cost on your budget and question the necessity of the expenditure. You can do this yourself with your staff or hire an objective consultant. But if you have been operating your business in a certain way for a long period of time, changes may be required that are not so obvious.
Inertia is a very strong influence making one impervious to even vital changes. Accept this but move on. Severe negative economic conditions force change that may be the solution to future profitable growth. Try to go with the flow instead of resisting natural forces. Reevaluate which are your profitable business units or niches. Can these be expanded? Can you collaborate with vendors to offer new technology to the market or efficiencies that will reduce costs to your clients? What are your clients demanding now and how can you provide for those requests? Ask them for their opinions and how you can help. Instead of wasting time on previous mistakes, focus your energy on endeavors that will make your organization profitable today and into the future. Spend no more time on past failures than is necessary to learn enough not to make the same mistakes again.
Foolishness is paying the same price twice. Learning, changing and moving onward may require acceptance of a predicament that could not be resolved, understood or explained. Invest your attention, resources and powers of positive thinking to accommodate the demands of your new successful future.
