after the events have occurred

TOY STORY OF TERROR - ABC has set an airdate for Disney•Pixar's first special for television, "Toy Story OF TERROR!," a spooky new tale featuring all of your favorite characters from the "Toy Story" films, airing WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16 (8:00-8:30 p.m., ET). What starts out as a fun road trip for the "Toy Story" gang takes an unexpected turn for the worse when the trip detours to a roadside motel. After one of the toys goes missing, the others find themselves caught up in a mysterious sequence of events that must be solved before they all suffer the same fate in this "Toy Story OF TERROR!" (Disney/Pixar 2013) JESSIE, BUZZ LIGHTYEAR, WOODY

 

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“Things are seen plainer after the events have occurred.”

 

Ulysses S. Grant

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“If opposition movements are to do more than burn bright and then burn out, they will need a comprehensive vision for what should emerge in the place of our failing system, as well as serious political strategies for how to achieve those goals.”

 

—-

 

Naomi Klein

 

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Whew.

 

weird al-bonnaroo-2013If there is one thing I believe every one of us has faced it is a “20/20 hindsight” discussion.

 

Especially in business.

 

 

Why?

 

Well.

Because it is easy.

 

Nothing makes you seem smarter, look smarter and … well … is easier to look brighter, shinier and valuable to senior leadership than to represent an ’opposition movement’ to past events.

 

 

What’s another easy thing?

 

Opposing what is being done now.

 

Nothing makes you seem smarter, look smarter and … well … is easier to look brighter, shinier and valuable to senior leadership than to represents an ‘opposition movement’ to what currently exists.

 

But looking smarter and actually BEING smarter are two very very different things.

 

Ah … being smarter.

 

You need a comprehensive vision for what should emerge in the place of our failing system <or the current system>.

 

You need ‘serious strategies for how to achieve those goals.’

 

Note.

 

Not serious tactics … serious strategies which can accommodate smart tactics.

 

That is hard shit.legacy great shit notice

 

That is difficult shit.

 

That is the kind of shit not many people can do.

 

This is the kind of shit of leaders and visionaries and the ones who are willing to put their as on the line <versus the ones who discuss past events or offer ‘only ‘opposition movements.’

 

It is both easier and more difficult to be that type of visionary in today’s world than it has been in the past.

 

Today’s business world has become significantly more forgiving to visionaries … well … okay … a certain type of visionary.

 

In the good old days <when there used to be typewriters on people’s desks> a visionary placed a big thumbtack on some wall chart to say “here is where we need to go” and a business gathered up all their shit and started heading out for that thumbtack. It was kind of like building the transcontinental railroad … you just blasted your way thru whatever may be impeding your progress. Not exactly the most efficient method but as long as you kept heading toward that thumbtack on the map … by golly, by gee … you were attaining your vision.

 

That type of visionary isn’t so successful these days.

 

In the good ole new days <where there is lots of data and you can track things in real time> a visionary can place a big post-it note on some wall chart and say “here is where I think the people will want to go” and a business starts simultaneously building shit and adapting it as the people start moving westward <watching if they avoid insurmountable mountains and flow naturally like water does as it is poured>.

 

Today’s successful visionary is more adaptable, less adamant in a specific destination and more responsive to feedback.

 

The business world will always, let me repeat … always … have a huge population of people who are quite happy discussing the ‘plain things after the event has occurred.’

 

maybe we have no ideaIt is a crowded room.

 

It is a noisy room.

 

And it is most often a room with things being discussed that are … well … useless.

Ok. Maybe less than useful.

 

After events occur I want, shit, we want someone who can offer a comprehensive vision for what to do next and where to go next.

 

We may like to listen to someone who talks about past events because … well … it is easy. It is always easier to edit than to create. And it is always easier to listen about the past than something yet to be <because it is less tangible>.

 

I will suggest that many 50something & 60something leaders struggle in today’s business world because business looks more amorphous and more amoeba-like than anything they have ever experienced in their ‘past event’ experience.

It can be, feel, appear more uncomfortable & risky than their experience suggests business should be. And their natural instinct is to do what is easiest <hindsight crap> because the alternative isn’t just harder … it is harder to NOT put a big thumbtack on some map and still tell people you know where you are going.

 

I am NOT suggesting that younger people are better visionaries simply that start over suess get goingthey are often better at accepting more amorphous visions.

Most younger people’s vision, because they are based on less experience, are a little less well thought out and a little less ‘market ready’ from a practical standpoint.

 

But there is a happy medium. There is a happy place in business. it is when you combine the two. As a 50something myself I cannot envision anything more powerful in today’s business than to have a viable vision and empowering younger people to “go get it” without dictating the specific paths they need to trod.

I am no visionary. But that business vision seems fucking powerful.

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Written by Bruce