Ole Carlson

Incumbency is a bad strategy with your customers in today’s world markets.
Relying upon what worked for you yesterday with your customers, employees, service providers, suppliers and others may not serve you well today or in the near future. Conditions can change overnight dramatically. Just because you were favored yesterday by someone does not guarantee that you will be today. It’s fickle out there. Be aware!
You must be willing to deconstruct and reconstruct continually and consistently what you are doing in the organization, even your leadership style. Examine what you are doing, why you are doing it and ask yourself is it still working according to expectations. Most organizations engage in those investigative activities when they discover there is an internal (slow receivables) or external (worst recession in eighty years) problem. That approach is often too late and too little. Head off the disaster before the storm hits stressing the organization into terminal paralysis. The last nine words of any decaying organization is, “this is the way we have always done it.” Do not fall in love with yourself!
It is best to audit the organization in times of strength not when you are wounded and have a shifting landscape beneath your feet. Success often hides weaknesses and as soon as the organization experiences explicit pain the weaknesses become obvious and difficult to overcome. Habitually deconstruct and reconstruct all elements of the organization and you will head off balance sheet threatening difficulties.