People aren’t the only thing that matters in this Reboot the Flathead process.
The structure of the process itself is critical. Get off on the wrong foot in that department and it may not matter which people are involved.
A big challenge to that is the Lens of Now.
The “Lens of Now” means looking at the future as if our current skills, resources, workforce and ideas are all we have to work with or worse, all we’ll really need.
Einstein addressed this when he said “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
It’s easy to think something like “These are the assets we need to put back to work right away so it’s clear that they are the ones we *must* fit into our long-term future – and in their current form.”
If only the global economy were so understanding.
If the work you or your staff does can be done by a mom or dad in a third world country who is thrilled to make three bucks a day so they can feed their family, it’s way past time to re-examine your future (or your business).
Adaptability and resilience are assets the Flathead can also take advantage of.
Begin with the End
Author Stephen Covey had it right when he said “Begin with the end in mind.”
Yet some “community redesign / redevelopment / reboot” projects seem start out with “Begin with the status quo in mind”.
Assuming nothing must change does us no favors, even though it might seem to.
Our existing major industries may have to reshape themselves (perhaps regularly) to profit in the world of the not-too-distant future and beyond. The biomass project is a fine example of this…as long as we’re careful not to get into another Smurfit situation.
It’s a situation where the economy of the entire valley is tightly linked to one company. We’ve talked about the risk of having one customer, vendor or employee that dominates our ability to thrive, much less to survive.
Smurfit proved it. CFAC danced with that devil for years. Have we learned the lesson that commodities are a great business only if you’re China (for now) or Wal-Mart?
Thriving, not just surviving
If the goal is “to create a sustainable, thriving economy”, what’s that mean?
“Sustainable” means an economy that isn’t heavily dependent on the whims of a commodity markets much less of a Federal District judge.
“Thriving” means an economy that isn’t focused on survival as the ideal result. Why design that on purpose?
The tough job is to design what Flathead should look like economically in 10, 20 or 30 years and then work backwards from there – to “Begin with the End in mind”.
Most complex processes work this way. Why not economies? If you have to rebuild an economy, why not *design* it first?
Now, work back from there. Do it step by step.
Where are global markets going? How do our existing products fit them? If they don’t, what else can we do, create, export, import and add value to?
A few weeks back, a comment author (Geezer) hit the nail on the head when they noted that we aren’t adding enough value to what we ship out of the valley.
If you don’t add value that others cannot easily add, you leave yourself wide open to competition from some company hiring expendable, strong backs for three bucks a day.
Not so good if you’re trying to make payments on the F-350 and have a kid (or three) in college.
Once you think you’re “done”, continue the process and be *constantly* vigilant to keep the discussion going.
Things change. You keep up, get ahead or get run over. Waiting until you’re roadkill is no time to politely raise your hand and ask “What if?”
The thing to dare having the gall to ask is “Why not?”
Want to learn more about Mark or ask him to write about a business, operations or marketing problem? See Mark’s site or contact him via email at mriffey at flatheadbeacon.com.