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How Staying Positive Is Good for Business

Geoff Ramsey—CEO, Co-Founder, eMarketer

We’re bombarded by it every day of the week. The news media is shoveling a constant stream of bad news to us in the form of economic reports, surveys of plummeting consumer confidence levels, company layoffs, negative earnings announcements and decimated marketing budgets.

This drip, drip, drip creates a tremendous imbalance in our perspective. And since the news is fueled by a very real economic crisis, many of us are prone to see the glass as not just half empty, but 98% empty. But that’s not a recipe for success, or even survival.

The answer lies in seeking a balance—anchoring yourself to reality while focusing on every glimmer of hope and opportunity you can find.

Here are few practical things you can do to achieve this balance, for your sanity and your business.

1. Understand Your Locus of Control

To paraphrase feel-good guru Dr. Wayne Dyer:

“There’s no sense worrying about the things you can’t control, because you can’t control them. There’s also no sense worrying about the things you can control, because you can control them.”You could put the economy in the first bucket. Very few of us can do anything to directly remedy the global downturn. As for the second bucket—the things that fall directly under your control—realize that worrying about them won’t actually make things any better. In fact, worrying will likely keep you immobilized. Instead, just get on with what needs doing. Eyes on the task.

2. Tighten the Spigot

To alleviate the imbalance, make a practice of limiting your reading of business and economic news, particularly the negative kind, to only that which promises to edify, inspire or instruct you in ways that can enhance your business, or at least keep you in a positive, forward-moving frame of mind. Does it really help your situation to dwell on the detailed misfortunes of other companies or leaders, whether in your industry or not? Choose to read the article about Amazon’s remarkable 18% rise in revenues during the past quarter, and how they did it. Skip the one about Home Depot laying off thousands (unless you’re Lowe’s).

3. Focus on the Opportunities

Use all that time you’ve freed up by not reading doomsday articles to explore opportunities amid the obvious problems. In fact, for every challenge you’re facing, there is probably a corresponding opportunity or two lurking beneath the surface.

If your marketing budget is slashed, for example, how can you use this as an opportunity to eliminate or reduce programs, vendors or even people, a move that in flusher times would be harder to justify? Now is the time to eradicate the marginal and double-down on the core. It’s time to answer the question, “Which are my best bets for sustaining revenues and achieving return on investment?”

OfficeMax’s holiday season Elf Yourself campaign came from the need to creatively promote the business supply store, when Bob Thacker, SVP of advertising and marketing, knew he couldn’t match the spending of bigger rivals Staples and Office Depot. Now among the most famous viral campaigns, Elf Yourself was one of a dozen quirky experimental Websites Mr. Thacker set up to engage consumers. The sites cost about the same as producing one 30-second TV spot. And Elf Yourself is such a hit that for three years running, millions of Americans have been putting their face on an animated elf’s body and creating a viral sensation.

The campaign was inspired by research showing that consumers saw the business supply category as “lifeless” and undifferentiated. Mr. Thacker sought to differentiate his business in ways that engaged consumers in an intimate and fun experience.

4. Leverage Data to Construct Opportunistic Experiments

You can generate more opportunities for your business by immersing yourself in data. Relentlessly mining data nuggets can lead to powerful insights, and eventually (if acted upon) successful programs.

Direct your staff to pore through primary internal research, especially customer and Web analytics data, as well as secondary market research and trend data, with the goal of identifying potential opportunities, both large and small. Use the data to build hypotheses that can be tested inexpensively, often online. Through relentless iteration, and of course careful measurement, you will discover new ways to move the needle.

Interestingly, 39% of marketing professionals in a Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG) survey in January 2009 expected to increase their use of market research this year. The same number expected to hold market research steady, and 22% were looking at cuts.

In a separate study, by Booz Allen Hamilton and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), only 24% of marketers defined their firms as digitally savvy.

Tellingly, the No. 1 reason given for being behind the digital eight ball was lack of experience, cited by 59% of respondents. But we all know the best way to gain experience is to go out there and do something.

5. Invest in the Future

The tendency in crisis times like these is to hunker down and focus all attention on the here and now. Prudence, however, would suggest spending a little time each week planning for the future—for when the economy picks up (and yes, it will, eventually).

There are two benefits to this tactic. First, it will help keep you focused on the positive, even if it’s in anticipation of future success. Second, you and your company will be in a much stronger position to take action at the first signs of an uptick. While others, including your competitors, are scrambling, you will be two steps ahead and ready to take advantage as the economic momentum shifts.

The five steps above can help you stay balanced, positive and open to opportunities as they arise. Don’t let yourself succumb to the pervasive negativity, which can easily become a self-fulfilling prophecy. In this economy, your business’s or brand’s market share may—or may not—go up. But you will assure yourself of the latter result if you do nothing but wallow in the mire of ugly headlines.

“I don’t care how hard this period is. You have to have the combination of believing that you will prevail, that you will get out of this, but also not be the Pollyanna who ignores the brutal facts. You have to say that we will be in this for a long time and we will turn it into a defining event, a big catalyst to make ourselves a much stronger enterprise.”
—Jim Collins, management guru, as quoted in Fortune, February 2, 2009

Marathon runners and Tour de France racers know it is on the steepest hill, when the challenge is most difficult, that leadership changes hands. Such is our opportunity now.

Geoff Ramsey is CEO and co-founder of eMarketer. He will next be speaking at the iMedia Brand Summit taking place February 8–11 in Coconut Point, Fla.

I’ll never forget those words, barked at me by the Captain evaluating me on a dusty, hot morning at Fort Knox, Kentucky, early in my officer training.  I was leading a six-man team of fellow officers through a series of Leadership Simulation Exercises — the Army’s version of leadership training scenarios like you might encounter in an Outward Bound-type setting.  We had a problem, in this case, getting our entire team to the other side of a “room” laced with tripwires and “explosives,” that we had to solve in a limited amount of time.  Rapid-fire assessment, delegation, direction-setting, monitoring and action were demanded in a pressure-filled, time-limited environment.  The grade would be either Mission Accomplished or Mission Failure — no in-between.

Sound like one of your days at the office?

I recall teetering at a weird angle on one foot trying to avoid a tripwire when our evaluator simulated my death.  At that moment, most of the rest of my teammates were standing behind me, where they had been offering ideas and waiting for direction.  As the remaining minutes ticked down, the “survivors” struggled in confusion to reorganize, designate a new Leader and make a fresh attempt at crossing the room.  They failed to complete the mission.  I failed as a leader.

I learned an important lesson that morning, a lesson that resonates today as I work with Leaders trying to survive and thrive amidst the chaos and challenge of our current business environment.  I was out front, trying to solve the problem myself.  I was caught up in the doing.  I was not leading.  You might say I was managing.  It’s a lesson I refer to as “Understanding The Leader’s Place”  — knowing the place that only the Leader can stand in.

In this Place, the Leader has a unique perspective on the challenges at hand.  The Leader is able to see what others cannot; able to deploy the best talent instead of being the best talent; able to think about what’s next instead of being consumed with what’s present.  He or she is in the fight but not necessarily at the front of it.

So here is the great temptation that tugs at Leaders everywhere right now.  Sales are down.  Renewals are struggling.  Old ways of doing things are not working.  Customers are demanding new service and product offerings . . . at lower prices.  The temptation is for Leaders to vacate their leadership place and step into the thick of things as a manager.  CEOs who came up through the sales ranks return to being the company’s lead salesman, instead of leading the whole company.  CEOs who created the company’s core technology return to tinkering with the technology, at the expense of leading the company.  Leaders revert to being great managers instead of . . . leading the company.

Much has been written over the years about the distinction between leaders and managers*.  But let me borrow from a list developed by Warren Bennis in his leadership classic, On Becoming a Leader, to provide you a checklist for assessing which place you stand in today.  CAUTION: some of these require more than a moment of thought . . .

The manager administers; the Leader innovates.

The manager is a copy; the Leader is an original.

The manager maintains; the Leader develops.

The manager focuses on systems and structure; the Leader focuses on people.

The manager relies on control; the Leader inspires trust.

The manager has a short-term view; the Leader has a long-range perspective.

The manager asks how and when; the Leader asks what and why.

The manager has his eye always on the bottom line; the Leader has his eye on the horizon.

The manager imitates; the Leader originates.

The manager accepts the status quo; the Leader challenges it.

The manager is a classic good soldier; the Leader is his own person.

The manager does things right; the Leader does the right things.

Have you done more managing or leading today?  If the answer is “managing,” then who’s in the Leader’s Place?  What steps do you need to take to spend more time in The Leader’s Place?

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I’d be interested to hear your observations on leading and managing;  leave your Comments on the blog for others to learn here.  And if you think this could be helpful . . .

Forward this to a Leader.

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* ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:  One of my earliest readings that continues to be relevant was John Kotter’s HBR Classic: “Managers and Leaders: Are They Different?“  Though geared toward entrepreneurs, Michael Gerber’s The E-Myth Revisited captures this distinction in story form.  More recently, The Leader Within, co-authored by Ken Blanchard and three others, devotes a section (see Chart 6.1 on page 172) that synthesizes the past two to three decades of literature on this topic.  It is a helpful summary and one Leaders should be familiar with as they lead themselves and their managers. Let’s be clear, an organization needs both Leaders AND managers!

CEO, CFO review fine print in company’s debt covenants — “No Blindsides.” This is a fast-growing company that risked getting derailed by it’s lenders if certain debt requirements are not met.  The minimum ratios seemed almost inconsequential when they were agreed to a year ago, but have taken on new significance in the current credit market.  This Leader is taking some dramatic steps NOW to insure the company avoids any pitfalls associated with its working capital.

President manages wind-down of real estate firm; begins planning “NewCo.” This industry veteran of past housing cycles recognizes he needs to be poised when the market regains its footing and plans to be at the forefront of the recovery.  In building “New Company,” he draws from the best practices of his old firm and uses this re-creation opportunity to innovate and make it even better.

Technology CEO reassures employees with company-wide e-mail. “So, what about money?” he queries in a Friday afternoon message.  “We have improved our own cash position over the last 90 days . . . We have no debt, and we still have a line of credit. We are keeping communication lines open with our bank, our CPA, and our attorney. We have managed expenses, while investing in new business development.”  Now there’s a way to intercept those whispered questions and rumors at the water cooler.

Ad Company CEO spearheads industry-wide message of opportunity amidst doom and gloom. Recognizing companies will be spending less on advertising, but they will not stop spending altogether, this Leader is joining with other marketing industry heavyweights to begin changing the conversation about the bleak ad outlook.  In a collaborative white paper to be presented at a major industry conference next month, he writes that clients still need to spend on advertising, but those dollars need to be more efficient than ever.  This CEO’s actions have energized his employees and given them a renewed sense of purpose amidst the economic downturn.

CEO goes on the road to build business. This CEO, who has a gift for selling, recognized the need to get out from behind his desk and in front of potential clients.  Following targeted investment in public relations and social networking which generated new leads, he is knocking on more doors and getting audiences with new prospective clients around the country.  He’s bullish about his company’s future.

President shakes up purchasing. This retail president, recognizing that centralized purchasing at corporate had led to excess or irrelevant inventory in his stores, convened a task force of store managers to re-invent the purchasing process.  The new system should lead to higher quality, more timely inventory in stores, reducing wasteful markdowns.  The store managers, who know their local markets better than anyone at headquarters, now have a voice in choosing the products they are charged with selling.  They are more motivated to sell than ever.

Leader doesn’t wait for response, develops Plan B. The Founder of a successful Florida service company has been waiting to hear back from potential investors in a new company that will be an extension of his existing enterprise.  With the markets leading many investors to sit on the sidelines, this entrepreneur is developing a significantly scaled back Plan B that will require less capital, but still enable him to expand his enterprise.  Instead of wasting several months hoping to hear a “Yes” on Plan A, he’s moving now to develop an alternative that will be more feasible to fund.

Are these Leaders affected by the same news you and I are reading?  Of course.  But what are they doing to create their own headlines?

They’re refusing to stand still and wait to see what will happen.  Instead, they have decided to make things happen — to act, instead of being acted upon.

They are innovating.

They know where they are at risk, and they are managing that risk.

They are keeping their employees informed.

Where necessary, they are quickly moving through the grief associated with unwanted change and taking the next step towards something new.

Make your own headlines here . . . . Leave a Comment on what you’re doing to Lead amidst this ailing economy.

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I have suspended my Wall Street Journal subscription.  This isn’t a permanent move — just two weeks.  I really enjoy the Journal.  But after scanning the headlines in the left column yesterday morning and finding these words . . .

declining

worst

worrying

weakest

fall

massive . . . losses

fall

defaults

largest . . . outflows

slowdown

cautious

. . . I realized my mind needed some new thoughts. 

If I am to innovate and adapt in my study and speaking and writing and coaching on leadership, I’ve got to feed my brain with different, stimulating inputs.

So I’ll use the 30-45 minutes I invest daily in reading yesterday’s bad news for some new books that have been resting on the mantle in my office, waiting to be explored.

What are you feeding your mind?

Leave a comment here.

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– from The Century Magazine, Harvard University, 1904

It’s been a while since we’ve seen the emotion “fear” written about so extensively.  Word count in The New York Times over the past seven days for “fear:” 109.

How many times has Fear appeared in conversations at your company in the past week?

Fear is a legitimate, useful emotion.  But Fear is dangerous when:

• It paralyzes leaders. They become so overwhelmed with the big picture of what could go wrong that they fail to act.

• It is ignored by leaders. Fear is a “warning” emotion.  It suggests that something threatening could happen or is happening.  Leaders who repress it may miss legitimate warning signals.

• It panics leaders. Leaders who respond with 100% emotion but 0% reasoning risk leading their company “off the cliff” with the panicked herds.

Wise, grounded Leaders choose their response to fear.  They manage it, instead of letting it control them.

Some thoughts on how to respond to fears you face as a Leader right now:

• Talk about your fears. This is not a time for a Leader to be on an island.  Expressing your fears with a confidant reduces the pressure that grows when they are simply “bottled up.”
• Name them. Despite the rhetoric of the media or politicians, we are NOT a universal herd with an identical list of dangers to be afraid of.  Instead of taking on the fears of the world (or the nation, or the markets, or your industry) identify what specifically threatens you and the people you lead.
• Get the facts. The power of fear grows in proportion to the unknown.  So reduce the unknown by getting the best handle you can on exactly where your company is at risk.
• Do the next thing. Rarely can we make the entire problem go away in a master stroke.  But solving incremental smaller problems, one step at a time, moves us towards daylight.
• Be open to opportunity. Acknowledge the changes you must make and move on.  I’ve had conversations with two CEOs in the past 24 hours who face direct, substantial, negative consequences from bank and capital market failures making headlines this week.  Each shared with me new opportunities they are pursuing in light of their current (unpleasant) realities.
• Model the way. Fear is contagious.  If you’re always hunkered down in your office behind closed doors during scary times, guess what those who follow you are doing.  Use the list above as a checklist for steps you can take to guide others in the face of fear.

I like this quote, attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt, whose husband led our country through some fearful times:

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.

The contours of our character are chiseled in times of crisis.  How does your response to fear right now reflect your Leadership character?

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For additional thoughts, you may want to re-read this post here.

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on a summer day listening to the murmur of water,

or watching the clouds float across the sky,

is hardly a waste of time.

~John Lubbock

A new leadership tool is at hand this week. It’s summertime.

Despite the on-going demands of this challenging economy, things are just different. There’s less traffic on the road in the mornings. Less people in the office because of vacations. Everyone knows you have to get major deals closed by mid-July because key decision-makers will be hard to assemble until after Labor Day. Inevitably there’s more recreation and leisure in your schedule.

All this presents Leaders with opportunities to “shift with the season” — to experiment, create, learn, reboot. And when Labor Day gets here (80 days and counting), you can decide to stop or continue. Will you take advantage of it?

What a great time to try out something you’ve been wanting to get to but haven’t allowed yourself.

Where to start? Think about something in one of these areas that affect your leadership:

Intellectual. It’s an established fact that the best business ideas are hatched somewhere other than where the business is. Get outside the four walls, literally or figuratively. Read a book you’ve heard about. Try out some new magazines. Have lunch with someone who is brilliant in a field other than yours. Go outside, sit in a quiet place and see how long it takes for your mind to come to rest.

Emotional. Life is about more than bright ideas leading your company. Pick someone close to you, a child, a spouse, a friend and invest some intentional time with them. Have an authentic conversation with a trusted friend. Spend some time listing all the things you’re thankful for. Write down one word describing your dominant emotion each day.

Physical. Your physical state has a tremendous impact on your presence as a Leader. Play more of a sport you love. Try out a new form of recreation. Change your workout routine. Find a peaceful place to walk for an hour. Eliminate one bad food for a month.

You’re the best one to figure out how you want to grow or replenish as a Leader this season.

Let’s inventory a list of reasons to ignore this summertime. Which ones apply to you?

• “Our company is struggling so much in this tough economy, I can’t leave.”
• “I need to keep setting the example — first in, last to go home.”
• “All my directs are taking vacations, I need to stay and hold down the fort.”

Really?

Stay stuck in the same old ways of doing things and your results will do likewise.

Three final thoughts to help you launch . . .

1. Give yourself permission. Leaders can get stuck in the guilt-inducing should’s and ought-to’s. You’re calling the shots. Lead yourself. This is part of replenishing and growing to lead at your best.
2. Be intentional. Get it on your calendar. Tell someone else you’re doing it.
3. Keep it fun. If it’s not fun, don’t do it. This is about play, not work.

You have 80 days left.

I’m interested to hear what you’re going to do.

• New Fears Jolt Credit Markets (March 6)

• Housing, Bank Troubles Deepen (March 7)

• Jobs Data Suggest U.S. Is in Recession (March

• Grim Reaper of Jobs Stalks the Street (March 11)

How do these affect your thinking first thing in the morning . . . as you head in to lead your company?

“As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” — Jewish Proverb

Leaders must be intentional about their thought life. Everything they DO is traceable to how they THINK.

Here’s the thinking path: THOUGHTS >> FEELINGS >> ACTIONS >> RESULTS

Our thoughts affect how we feel. How we feel shows up in our actions. Out of our actions come results.

Where are your thoughts right now? Do they tilt positive or negative?

I like the term used by Loehr and Schwartz in The Power of Full Engagement. They advocate “realistic optimism — a paradoxical notion that implies seeing the world as it is, but always working positively toward a desired outcome or solution.”

Let’s consider for a moment the three types of thinking a Leader engages in throughout the day.

• Automatic Thinking – Acting automatically, with little thought. This is the processing of data, continuously. In. Out. Yes. No. Got it.

• Rational Thinking – Evaluating, judging and acting according to what you know to be true. This is decision-making, problem-solving. Still, a daily activity.

• Reflective Thinking – Questioning long-held assumptions, being curious and open to new perspectives that could lead to new approaches and actions.

When Leaders tell me, and I hear this often, that they have “no time to think,” they are speaking of this third, deepest level of Reflection. It indeed requires the most time. But it is also the most necessary for fresh insight, creativity, paradigm shifting and vision.

Michael Gelb, in How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci, writes of the thought-provoking question he asked thousands of people –

“Where are you when you get your BEST ideas?”

The top responses included, “in the shower . . . resting in bed . . .walking in nature . . . listening to music.” “Almost no one,” writes Gelb, “claims to get their best ideas at work.”

So, four closing thoughts as you lead during these tumultuous times . . .

• Guard your mind. Be careful what you feed it.

• Back-track from results to thoughts. Are you getting the results you want? If not, examine the actions – feelings – thinking behind them.

• Block out reflection time in your calendar. Schedule it, now. Start your thinking session with a question such as “what would it take for us to ______?”

• Share these “thoughts” with your team.

I’d be interested to know what you’re thinking in this area.