"The number of excuses you make should never exceed the solutions you find." - Futurist Jim Carroll
Why might your excuses kill your future?
That was a thought that crossed my mind and that I gave a shoutout to while on stage in Florida yesterday. I wanted to get across to the audience that the vast scope of change in the manufacturing world means they need to get involved with tomorrow, today. They can't just put some barriers in place and hope that the future goes away.
With that in mind, are you guilty of the same thing?
Stop for a moment. Look at your last team meeting. Look at your inbox. Look in the mirror.
What’s the ratio of excuses to solutions?
We live in an era of acceleration. I’ve been saying it on stage for years: Fast beats slow. Bold beats old. But you can't be fast if you are weighed down by the heavy anchor of "why we can't." That's one of the key excuses to be found on my innovation killers list.
When on stage, I often talk about "organizational sclerosis." That's the deadly, creeping disease where a company’s arteries get clogged up with process, bureaucracy, and fear - and excuses. It’s what happens when the "Innovation Killers" take over the culture.
You know the phrases. I’ve cataloged them. They are the soundtrack of aggressive indecision:
- "The boss won't go for it."
- "We don't have the budget right now."
- "It's too risky."
- "We've always done it this way."
Every single one of those statements is an excuse. Every single on is a surrender to the status quo. Every single one is a decision to let the future happen to you, rather than creating it yourself.
That's why you need to think about whether the excuses you make outweigh the solutions you find. For every excuse that pops into your head (or out of your mouth), you need to force yourself to generate at least one viable solution.
Excuse: "We don't have the budget."
Solution: "Then let's find a way to pilot this for zero cost to prove the concept."
Excuse: "It's never been done before."
Solution: "Great. That means we have the chance to be the first to define how it works."
Excuse: "We don't have the time."
Solution: "Then we need to stop doing the useless things that don't matter so we can focus on the one thing that does."
If your excuses outnumber your solutions, you aren't managing risks.
You are manufacturing failure.
You are building yourself a monument to mediocrity.
Make the shift.
Today.
When you catch yourself explaining inaction, stop. When you find yourself making an excuse, rethink it. When you start to list the reasons 'why not,' shift to why!
Flip the script. Don't come with a reason as to why it won't work. Come up with a list of how you are going to make it work despite the reasons it shouldn't.
The future belongs to those who are fast. Excuses are slow. Solutions are speed.
Which one are you choosing today?
Futurist Jim Carroll shared with his audience yesterday a massive overview of the future of manufacturing - and made them aware that there is no time left for excuses in the context of the speed of those trends.