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I sent out an email to many of my friends and colleagues the other day sharing the news that while I am still recovering from my cancer treatment, I am now cancer free. As you can imagine I have received a variety of responses. Many people celebrating with me, some expressing dismay that they never knew I was sick and making it very clear I had some explaining to do for not having kept them in the loop, but the most intriguing response came from a long time friend and colleague, market research guru, Jack Yager. 
After expressing his happiness and chit chatting for a while Jack asked, “Well, what are the three things you’ve learned from this?”
Now, let’s start with the fact that I’m generally the guy asking this kind of question. Second, I’ve been so busy dealing with the day to day that I haven’t paused to give much thought to what I’ve learned. I thought about it for a moment and I said, “Jack, I don’t know about three things, but the first that popped into my mind was to be myself.”
By that I mean I’ve gotten through the treatments and the pain and the drugs by engaging versus retreating.
My nature is to find conflict and engage it.
When things are not progressing, my first instinct is to acknowledge and discuss the situation. Get it out in the open. In the case of my treatment I saw myself as the head of a team that included my physicians, nurses, technicians, caregivers, family and friends. I engaged as many people as I could to gather information and to discern questions I should ask. I distributed the material to as many people as I deemed necessary and after processing their input I repeated the process over and over again. Once a course of action (the strategy) was settled upon I then did my best to get out of the way of the people to whom I’d delegated my care.
I was pretty much drugged out of my mind for a while there anyway, so that was probably an effective decision. None the less, my partners, Tom and Melissa, said I was extremely polite even when I was hallucinating. You can credit my mother for my manners. But as I listened to them recounting talking to me when I was hospitalized I’d like to think that even drugged I was myself.
Why should you care about any of this?
We are currently in a global economic crisis. I encourage you to engage it. Ask yourself, “What information do I need to grow my business during this period of turmoil?” Ask, “With whom do I need to talk to find out what I want to know?” I’ll tell you right now your customers and employees ought to be on that list. Listen for the opportunities. Listen for the threats and ideas on how to neutralize them. Then be yourself and make what you believe are the right decisions. Share your thoughts with your people, listen to their response, then make up your mind and employ your people to execute the necessary tactics to realize your strategy. Remember as the boss your job is to decide ‘what to do’ (the strategy) and then get out of your employees’ way while they work out ‘how to do it’ (the tactics).
I’m sure as time goes by more “lessons” will present themselves to me, but for now I am reminded of Polonius’ advice to his son, Laertes in Shakespeare’s Hamlet:
To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.
So, go forth and be yourself. It’s working for me.
Now, let’s start with the fact that I’m generally the guy asking this kind of question. Second, I’ve been so busy dealing with the day to day that I haven’t paused to give much thought to what I’ve learned. I thought about it for a moment and I said, “Jack, I don’t know about three things, but the first that popped into my mind was to be myself.”
By that I mean I’ve gotten through the treatments and the pain and the drugs by engaging versus retreating.
My nature is to find conflict and engage it.
When things are not progressing, my first instinct is to acknowledge and discuss the situation. Get it out in the open. In the case of my treatment I saw myself as the head of a team that included my physicians, nurses, technicians, caregivers, family and friends. I engaged as many people as I could to gather information and to discern questions I should ask. I distributed the material to as many people as I deemed necessary and after processing their input I repeated the process over and over again. Once a course of action (the strategy) was settled upon I then did my best to get out of the way of the people to whom I’d delegated my care.
I was pretty much drugged out of my mind for a while there anyway, so that was probably an effective decision. None the less, my partners, Tom and Melissa, said I was extremely polite even when I was hallucinating. You can credit my mother for my manners. But as I listened to them recounting talking to me when I was hospitalized I’d like to think that even drugged I was myself.
Why should you care about any of this?
We are currently in a global economic crisis. I encourage you to engage it. Ask yourself, “What information do I need to grow my business during this period of turmoil?” Ask, “With whom do I need to talk to find out what I want to know?” I’ll tell you right now your customers and employees ought to be on that list. Listen for the opportunities. Listen for the threats and ideas on how to neutralize them. Then be yourself and make what you believe are the right decisions. Share your thoughts with your people, listen to their response, then make up your mind and employ your people to execute the necessary tactics to realize your strategy. Remember as the boss your job is to decide ‘what to do’ (the strategy) and then get out of your employees’ way while they work out ‘how to do it’ (the tactics).
I’m sure as time goes by more “lessons” will present themselves to me, but for now I am reminded of Polonius’ advice to his son, Laertes in Shakespeare’s Hamlet:
To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.
So, go forth and be yourself. It’s working for me.
