Changing the Game

In college I was privileged to know many memorable people – one of them a good friend from Thailand named Jerm. We often discussed different parts of our respective cultures, and one day when we were talking about food, Jerm told me about a delicious Thai dish made from duck anus. “But, if you don’t cook it right,” he cautioned in his thick accent (and now he spoke slowly for emphasis) “you will never want to eat it again.” He was half right.

The leap from that story to running our business is not as great as you might think. Some may believe our job is to make the best of a situation, but really it’s to create the situation we want and then work within it for outstanding results. Long-time readers may be aware I’m no fan of the concept of continuous improvement, and this is one of the reasons: Some things simply do not merit the effort to improve them – it takes resources away from what you really should be doing, which is changing the situation. In other words, changing the game.

This idea spans more than just birds and business. It’s not hard to find people in every aspect of life working hard and getting unpalatable results who are trying to make the best of a bad situation. In the face of that you’ll usually see them do one of two things: either work even harder (most often ending in more of the same results but becoming tired and disillusioned as a special bonus) or just giving in and going with the flow until the bitter end comes. But what we need to realize is there’s almost always another option – the option to reject our situation and change it by questioning the premises we’re operating under. Most often you will find constraints exist only in your mind; you are free to reject the “choices” set before you and choose something else. Foresight and leadership are required to choose this other option. Foresight to look up from the hypnotic myopia of what is right in front of us and envisage what could and should be, and leadership to take us there. 

In our work we can never just mechanically accept choosing the best of bad options. It’s not my job nor is it yours to simply field the balls hit to us – it’s to take the initiative and dictate the game. And if the game doesn’t suit us, even if it means throwing away something we’ve invested significant time, money and energy in and starting new, that’s what we need to do. 

Because as I learned from Jerm, once you’ve resigned yourself to eating duck anus, the only choice you have then is how to cook it.