Chloe's Chronicles Volume III, Number 7

Chloe’s Chronicles:Views from the Management Muse 

Hey friends—Chloe here.  I love the dog days of summer!  I spend hours each day lying in the grass, tummy in the air, working on my tan. I get to walk down to the river a couple times each day and take a big gulp of that cold water, retrieve a tennis ball, chase some ducks or just paddle around to cool off.

 

I noticed something rather interesting about the river that I want to tell you.  Even when I go to the same spot on the riverbank and step in over the very same rocks, I am in a different river every time.   The current is different, the water temperature slightly warmer, the people floating by on their rafts different from the day before.  I heard Marti say once, “You can never step in the same river twice.”  Well, duh, girlfriend!

 

What puzzles me is how many people don’t seem to get that.  (I guess that’s why Marti felt the need to say it.)  They approach the river, just as they do other things, thinking that they know what it will be. I think it’s impossible that anything is ever exactly as it was before—am I crazy or just more observant than most?

 

I see some people come to the park as though it were a chore, something they have to do before they get on with their day.  They would have more fun and probably a better day, if they noticed how the park and the river look today, how today’s sun sparkles on the water and how joyful their dog is to be right there at right that moment. 

 

I think managers would be more successful if they noticed what was different today from yesterday or last week:  different customer needs, different employee needs, different opportunities and different risks.  The alternative—thinking that you can step in the same river everyday—sounds pretty boring and likely to fail.  What do you think?

 

 

Please click on the comments section below and tell me what you think about noticing differences and how you manage differently when you do.  Join in the discussion, offer your thoughts and observations and let me know how you are using my Management Musings.