Ride the wave, swim or drown

Once upon a time, the music business had a license to print money.
Radio promoted their music free. Competition was limited.
Production costs were high. Profit margins were higher.
The LP couldn’t be copied. Record clubs thrived.
Owning a record label gave you the Midas touch.
Then technology came along and changed everything.
Seth Godin tells this story in his book, "Tribes".
Technology changed my industry, newspaper publishing, too.
The suburbs made cheap child delivery impractical.
The price of paper went up. News was free on the Internet.
Advertisers found multiple ways to advertise.
Publishing companies borrowed their way into bankruptcy.
Change will drown you. Your options: Ride the wave or swim.
If you decide to float, you'll starve to death.
What’s going on in your industry? I’ll bet it’s changing fast.
Look at health care, a recession-resistant industry.
Are you practicing the way you did five years ago? Not hardly.
A medical degree once gave you a license to print money.
No longer. Many doctors don’t even own their own practices now.
Here’s some homework: Make a list of the changes in your industry.
Write out all of your options. Do a Ben Franklin analysis.
Which options have more benefits than costs?
Bring your team together and decide what all of you must do.
You won’t be able to do this over the weekend.
This is an annual planning event. Start your planning . . NOW.
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For more on succeeding in business and in life, click here.
P.S. A big book sale is coming up. Details next week.

The critical nature of faith

Welcome to a challenge in today’s Business Blog.
Here’s something to stir you and get you to thinking:
Without faith, there can be no leadership. No love. No passion.
I found this challenging thought in Seth Godin’s book, "Tribes".
It’s no surprise to think that leaders must have faith.
Faith in themselves, their mission and their great purpose.
A challenging thought: Leaders must have faith to overcome fear.
Faith that they can successfully challenge the status quo.
Faith that they can bring needed change.
Jesus didn’t try to create a new religion but reform an old one.
Martin Luther only sought to reform a church in trouble.
Godin draws a line between faith and religion.
Faith produces hope. Faith overcomes fear. Faith brings courage.
Faith is critical to change, innovation and creativity.
Religion codifies conduct. It imposes rules. It sets limits.
Religion at its best reminds us of where we are going.
Religion at its worst puts a fence around our minds and hearts.
It leads to corruption, religious wars and other atrocities.
You must believe that whatever happens you will succeed.
What has that got to do with overcoming business challenges?
Everything. Think about that. Your faith is the only hope you have.
Without faith that you will succeed, you have no hope of success.
Faith builds hope, trust, a can-do attitude. It’s all about faith.
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For more on succeeding in business and in life, click here.