Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

Thinking, writing, business ideas … You’re only a stranger once.

February 12, 2007

Business Rule 6: Who Dropped the Paddle?

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 11:06 am

Can This Canoe Be Saved?

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The scene is an executive meeting. The characters sitting around the table are the best team of people I’ve ever worked with –- they have the highest core competencies and know the business we are in, which unfortunately, is darned unusual. I “sat” on the table inside the black telephone that looked like a spaceship, patched in from Califormia. I had already learned the OZ-like power of the black box by then.

As a company we were fighting the uphill battle of trying to reverse a decline. We were determined not only to show a profit in six months, but to buy our way out of the bank covenants that were tying our hands.

The company ran on a direct mail model much like Lands’ End. The market was schools and educational institutions. The question on the table that day was whether to make one huge catalog drop for the most important fall release or to hold back some money and do a second release in January. Some of us suspected that if fall didn’t work, there wouldn’t be a January. The owners were looking for progress.

I was new to direct mail and in the spaceship on the table, so I walked around my backyard listening in. The longer I walked, the more the conversation went deeper into what had gone wrong in the past. The history was informative as background for the decision. But an hour later, the discussion was still on the history.

I was in California. I had run out of backyard to explore.

“Excuse me,” I said. They had forgotten about me in the spaceship again. I measured my words and spoke with some urgency. “When you’re in a canoe and about to go over a waterfall, NOW is NOT the time to discuss WHO DROPPED THE PADDLE.”

I still smile to think of the Director who answered with a laugh, “Is it a BIG waterfall?”

“YES, . . . and there are LIONS and TIGERS below it, WAITING at the bottom.”

That meeting became known in company folklore as “The Famous Canoe Analogy.”

The President called me an hour later to say thank you for stopping the history telling. The story still comes up when we get together.

Sometimes the obvious is the hardest thing to see, especially when we are a part of it. In this case they had forgotten Basic Business Rule # 6:

Focusing on the past can’t fix the future. Focusing on the future might.

We had decided to put all of our strength into that fall catalogue. We made that decision in 10 minutes flat. The decision paid off. We won the bet. We finished the year with 3% growth in an industry that was showing 3% growth, after our own company had suffered three years of 10% decline.

That was also the day that my favorite CFO decided that I talk best in stories and sound bytes. He still doesn’t know I write much better than I talk. (A girl has to have some secrets from a CFO.)

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Check out the Perfect Virtual Manager on the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

Related
Business Rule 5: Never Underestimate the Power of a Voice on the Telephone
Business Rule 4: You Know Your Truth — Listen to Yourself
Business Rule 3: In PRM, the First Test Always Outweighs the Final





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8 Comments to “Business Rule 6: Who Dropped the Paddle?”

  1. February 13th, 2007 at 8:00 am
    Brooke said

    Hello!

    I have been reading your blog since the beginning of this year and I have to say it is one of the best. Your stories really ring true, they are inspirational and they make me think.

    Thank you for everythinng you do and say!

    Brooke

  2. February 13th, 2007 at 8:04 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Brooke!
    Welcome !!!
    Thank you for introducing yourself. :)

    The strories ring true because they all really happened. Lucky for me I was a really shy kid who paid attention and remembered everything. Now I have lots of stories to tell. :)

    I hope you’ll comment a lot, and come tonight or some other Tuesday to meet everybody.

    Your not a stranger anymore. You’re a friend. :)

    PS You’re welcome!

  3. February 13th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
    Glenn (Customer Service Experience) Ross said

    Great story, I don’t care what you say, I’m linking to it:-)

    Glenn

  4. February 13th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Glenn,
    Thank you ! I don’t care what you say. You’re a great guy!

  5. February 19th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
    Business Rule 7: Sound Bytes, Stories, and Analogies - Liz Strauss at Successful Blog - Thinking, writing, business ideas . . . You’re only a stranger once. said

    [...] Sound bytes, metaphors, and analogies offer quick information firmly packed. I can get a point across more quickly and more powerfully. On the day of the Famous Canoe Analogy had I said, “It’s time to stop talking about the past.” The words would have sounded an impatient opinion. Fewer words, some humor, and a shocking mental image was what got attention. [...]

  6. March 1st, 2007 at 3:58 pm
    Bussiness Rule 8: What Are Your Square Periods - Liz Strauss at Successful Blog - Thinking, writing, business ideas . . . You’re only a stranger once. said

    [...] Business Rule 7: Sound Bytes, Stories, and Analogies Business Rule 6: Who Dropped the Paddle? Business Rule 5: Never Underestimate the Power of a Voice on the Telephone [...]

  7. May 8th, 2007 at 10:31 am
    Business Rule 11: Apples and Oranges - Liz Strauss at Successful Blog - Thinking, writing, business ideas . . . You’re only a stranger once. said

    [...] Related Business Rule 10: Is Their Urgency Real? Business Rule 9: What’s the Value of Money? Business Rule 8: What Are Your Square Periods? Business Rule 7: Sound Bytes, Stories, and Analogies Business Rule 6: Who Dropped the Paddle? [...]

  8. May 30th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
    Business Rule 9: What’s the Value of Money? - Liz Strauss at Successful Blog - Thinking, writing, business ideas … You’re only a stranger once. said

    [...] Rule 8: What Are Your Square Periods? Business Rule 7: Sound Bytes, Stories, and Analogies Business Rule 6: Who Dropped the Paddle? Business Rule 5: Never Underestimate the Power of a Voice on the [...]

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