Zebras, 8-Balls and the Ides of VUCA
December At C-Level
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Finally – FINALLY – 2020 comes to an end. Let’s be real, however; as trying as some of the year was, we learned and grew in some ways we never expected. That can’t be all bad, can it?

So again, start getting ready for 2021 -- set goals… make plans… execute!  See the video here on Functional planning, goal-setting, and generally getting your head out.

The December edition of At C-Level.

  1. Simplicity: Thy Name is Decision Making -- Keep it simple, stupid.
  2. On Your Marks, Go!… Get Set – 2021 is off and running

We live in interesting times. Let us know if we can help in any way – we’re here for you.
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Simplicity: Thy Name Is Decision Making
-- Keep it simple, stupid.

By D. Kevin Berchelmann

Okay, okay. I'm not calling anyone stupid, per se.

I just want us all to remember that usually the simplest course is the best course to take. Certainly, it is usually the quickest and most efficient, and it prevents slow-downs in decision making that irritate our staffs and cost us in lost opportunity.

Occam's Razor is the word child of a Franciscan Friar, William of Occam (does that make me Kevin of Spring or Kevin of Berchelmann?) Paraphrased, he said that all things being equal, the simplest solution tends to be the best. Fewer assumptions, fewer hypotheticals, fewer "meteor strike" what-ifs?

Yes, we do need a model for decision making. Something replicable, that can withstand pressures. Some form of consistent methodology to determine criteria or theories for making decisions. Why not choose the simplest? After all, it is the decision and the execution that hold real complexity. Must we also make the act of deciding complicated as well?
On Your Marks, Go!... Get Set
-- 2021 is off and running

By Kevin Ross

Kinda like Kevin Berchelmann described a business decision-making style in June's At C-Level as "Ready, Fire, Aim!," "On your marks, go, get set... " is a planning style often used when preparing for the new year just after the nick of time. In past years, that style put us behind the eight ball initially, but we could recover with hard work and good leadership.

Guess what? 2021 won't be like past years because the 2020 eight ball never stopped rolling. How we start the year depends mostly on our attitude: Is January 1, 2021 the 307th day of March 2020 (feels like that sometimes, doesn’t it?), or are there only 358 shopping days left until Christmas 2021?

Good leaders know that no new year will be like last year - or the year before that or the years before that - and are prepared to deal with the unexpected. An easy measure of that in 2020 is how our long organizations took to go from meetings around the conference room table to virtually in front of a computer screen.

If ever a year was going to start with VUCA, 2021 is it.
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