Do You Need A “Fishing Buddy” To Get Your Business Back on Track?

Ken; Dinner and Advice

I was working with a OEM manufacturing client, “Jerry” (changed to protect his identity), last week who is so frustrated at his company’s performance this last year he said “I just want to scream at all the things that used to work but don’t anymore.” Jerry went on to say he is losing all confidence with his engineers at coming up with new ideas or products. Jerry admitted to me he doesn’t know how to get the company back on top of his industry.

Jerry, like many CEOs today, has no life! He is 24/7 busy talking shop with all his key folks and connections inside his company. I admitted to him I also can remember many times I’ve also hit a wall and didn’t know what to do. Jerry and I went out to dinner that night and he asked, “What do you do when you get this locked up?” My answer was “Jerry, I go visit my “Fishing Buddy” Ken.” 

Ken is my private go to life long mentor/friend whom I’ve known most of my adult years.  He is a successful business person in his own right but is not involved in my day to day business. Ken is beyond a great friend, and a brilliant soothsayer in business, he has the demonstrated ability to get my mind “unscrewed” and back on track many times through fishing.

 

He did this once while catching a personal record 63 ocean stripers between the two of us one fine day on the Atlantic shelf (Albeit, we had to throw all but two back due to the legal limits of only taking two, still a fun day).

This leads me to my “out of the box” pragmatic advice to you and your business in these difficult times if you are “locked up”:

*Look outside your usual experts,   Find your own “fishing buddy” (i.e. or friend with a hobby you can share and talk with confiendtially) that has a lot in common with you, but is not in your business.  Even a dinner will do, for starters to seek this outsider's perspective; the times call for new and fresh ideas. 

*You got here by coming up through the ranks meeting and talking with people you like and trust, who later became your friends.  Reconnect with them, they know you better than anyone and you trust their common sense. 

*Sometimes it’s better to step out of your day to day world to clear your head and regroup.  

*Even in the new world of the Internet and Social Media, leaders need to remember it’s all about great people.  A healthy command of the  “low tech” world of face to face communication, an important  business touch point,  has never disappeared.

Good luck, difficult business times require different methods.  You may even like yourself a bit better as you company gets to be fun again with your new "advisers". JMHO