What a great vacation and what a great summer, the sun is shining, the water is warm, great food, nice friends, kids visiting, what else can you ask for?
If any of you remember Sören Kirkegaard, who was a danish philosopher, he definitely did not believe in God. He had an analogy about a man in a boat praying for better weather, and for winds to bring him to port.
Mr Kirkegaard said that he preferred to be the man that steers the boat and to use the wind to carry him to his port, no matter the weather, he believed more in managing his own life than handing it over to God.
I use to add that it does not hurt to pray a little for some fair winds and calm seas, and to combine your skills to maneuver yourself to wherever you are going.
My grandmother use to say “God does not help the lazy ones”, you have to make some effort yourself.
No matter what we think about God, religion and changes that occur around us, both locally and globally, we all have to manage our own situation and get on with it.
We can either be active or reactive to the changes in world markets and politics, but it is becoming more of a rollercoaster to try and manage and plan ahead, due to everything that is constantly occurring around us.
One manager said once to me that “you can’t conduct your business by trying to save the falling knife all the time, you have to become more proactive if you want to be successful.
Another manager taught me to focus on what is most important, and what has the biggest impact on the results, with a minimum of effort or cost
If you are saying that you are too busy right now, and you have been saying that for the past 3 years , then it’s time to take a break.
We all have that period in life when we rush from one thing to another, and in som cases try to raise a family and take care of our relationships and careers all at the same time.
What a great recipe for disaster, if you ask me, be aware of that if you keep on trying to catch the falling knife, you will never be able to catch up.
50 years ago we went to the moon, we also managed to land, walk around, and safely return to earth, what an amazing accomplishment.
These space trips were absolutely an incredible achievement, even today it would be, but after a while it was business as usual, to the extent that people around the world rather watched the world football series rather than following another moon landing.
You have to give Nasa credit for all the time they trained the astronauts in simulating different disaster scenarios and how to solve new problem and situations.
I think they killed the astronauts at least a 1000 times so they all new how to react to different situations and how to suport them to make everything easier in anyway the could.
But I am quite sure Nasa didn’t see the trouble coming when it came to Apollo 13, that’s how it is, trouble can occur in ways we never could anticipate.
Most of us remember Apollo 13, the trip that Tom Hanks made famous by doing a movie about, if you haven’t seen it, I recommend you do, its all about management, testing scenarios, training and to work the problem.
One moment that says it all was when Houston realizes that the astronauts do not have enough oxygen or all of the other stuff to get back home again, and they have to solve the problem with what they got out there in space.
I use to joke that if I or my wife would build a nuclear plant or a rocket, I would only trust to start or fly the one my wife has built, the reason is, she is much more structured than I am.
It is not enough with just good intentions, you have to have a structure, no matter what you are doing, if you are just reacting and improvising, try to take time off and to be more proactive and get ahead of problems, do not just try to fix them as they occur.
Atumn is closing in soon, bad weather and hurricanes is an every year occurring phenomenon around the world, “winter is coming” is another way to announce it.
If you are trying to build a stormproof house it will look as a bunker. If you build it too simple, the house may look great, but you have to build a new one every time there’s been a hurricane.
Maybe it’s better to build it so you have a basic structure that always survives, in some cases, it will only cost you a new roof, as long as the walls keep standing.
The world is much more complicated than ever, in USA you have ” He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named” In EU and UK new leaders. In Iran people are focusing on Oil tankers.
Focus is no longer on China, US and Huawei as before, but even though matters seem to be more at ease now, things are slowly building up to a “perfect storm” if we are not careful.
Still two weeks of vacation, what can go wrong? I am focusing on, how do we make our business even greater for our selves and for our clients, come rain or come shine.
Best regards
Christopher Bell Blomquist.
Managing Director
Lead Negotiator Consultant
Scotwork Sweden.
