In the past couple of years, we’ve heard many company leaders lament that what business hates more than anything else is uncertainty.
At some point, however, that sentiment becomes a convenient, but self-defeating crutch, an excuse for inaction.
In 2013, we now have much of that uncertainty behind us:
We know that Wisconsin Scott Walker has survived the recall election and enters the year with Republican majorities in both chambers of the state legislature to support his agenda.
We know that Democratic President Barack Obama has won another term, and his Affordable Care Act has survived a Supreme Court challenge and is being enacted.
We know that the dreaded national fiscal cliff has been avoided.
So, paralysis by analysis could be a lethal business plan for 2013.
The bottom line for the New Year is slow to moderate growth in gross domestic product and a continued gradual reduction in the unemployment rate. BizTimes research finds mostly optimistic forecasts for 2013 by members of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce and the Council of Small Business Executives and the readers at BizTimes.com.
In 2013, the show must go on, and it will…with or without your company.
Harry’s prescription
For inspiration and perspective, we turned this year to BizTimes resident business sage and columnist Harry Dennis III, owner of TEC Wisconsin and Michigan. Here’s what Harry has to say about doing business in 2013:
“Someone said the Mayan calendar predicted that the world was going to fall into ‘hell and a hand-basket’ on Dec. 21, 2012. Well, we all know what happened….NOTHING. Many so-called experts are predicting ‘doom and gloom’ for 2013. Some management consultants can’t wait for their phones to start ringing off the hooks.
“If our 800 TEC members in Wisconsin and Michigan are any ‘clue’ of what 2013 holds for us, then disregard every single word in the last paragraph. Will 2013 be tough? Yes. Was 2012 tough? Yes. When do you remember it not being tough in the world of business? I don’t.
“Since 1973, I’ve witnessed at least nine different recessions, each one with different names and presumed causes. In more recent times, even the horrible word ‘depression’ has been used. But you know what? Over all these years, small business has found a way to survive and grow for another tomorrow. Obamacare and tax hikes will not change that in 2013. The will, the way, the experience and the knowledge of small business people, will demonstrate that we will make it, just as we have in the past, in spite of the pundits.
“Come on. New year, new challenges and new opportunities. Be bold, be brave, be strong and move forward! I hope that all of us will show the leadership to take our companies to new highs, and at the end of the year to be proud of our achievements.
“By the way, all of TEC’s economic gurus say that while the GDP as a whole will be frail in 2013, it will still be uphill, thanks largely to the work of 80 percent of our economy. Who? Us, small business. Have a super 2013.”
Psychological affirmation
Rick Bauman, Ph.D., business and organizational psychologist at Humber, Mundie & McClary LLP in Milwaukee, concurs with Harry Dennis. According to Bauman, responding to change and uncertainly is not optional. It is unavoidable.
“Our ability to adapt to the stressors of each day depends on three critical factors. Actually, it is our ability to balance these stressors that makes or breaks us as effective people, in business and in our home lives. Those factors include our genetic predisposition to stress, our current load of problems as viewed from our perspective and our capacity to anticipate change/surprise.
“There is little question that the rate of change has continued to increase over time. One has only to go back to ‘Future Shock’ by Alvin Toffler (1970) to find that we are living in exactly the conditions he clarified over 40 years ago. From his point of view, ‘future shock’ was a psychological condition existing within individuals and even within whole societies. Essentially, the concept describes a condition in which there is more change occurring in a given period of time than that with which we are comfortable. Certainly this may apply to the business setting of today, across many/most/all industries and occupations.
“Business leaders today find themselves in a maelstrom of issues, not only of high intensity and high frequency, but also of rapidly changing priorities. This is not a menu of activities either, from which we are able to choose each time, but rather too often an apparent ‘perfect storm’ from which we struggle to emerge alive and, hopefully, successful. Today’s leaders and managers who plan for the future think as much strategically as tactically, and prepare themselves by continuing their education, both practical and theoretical, are far better equipped to deal with ongoing change. Such change is to be expected. It is not short-term. It will ebb and flow, varying in intensity, but it will be there and at ever-increasing rates.
“The good news is we can build the figurative ‘retaining walls’ over change for ourselves on a day-to-day basis. We can get ahead of the game, obtain a jumpstart and be ready for the days ahead. This we do by investing in ourselves…Who can say we didn’t warn you?”
