Recently I received some great business advice from my mom. Please understand that my mom is retired from over 40 years of work in the business world, but she is usually not the first person I would think of for business advice. I mean, she is smart, no doubt about that, but she is my mom. I go to Warren Buffett for business advice. I go to my mom when I cannot find my recipe for cornbread. (She makes some killer cornbread by the way.)
A friend of ours, however, has been concerned about losing his job. My mom told me what she has been telling him. He is a salesperson for a company that is experiencing a considerable decline in sales. He claims that if the production people could make it faster, he could sell more products. My mom told him to leave his comfortable desk and chair, show an interest in the production people, and, if necessary, learn to help make the product. Her quote, “You need to make yourself indispensable to the company right now, because desperate times call for desperate measures.”
You know, my mom is right. Too many times when our organization is suffering we cast blame rather than rally the team. We throw in the towel rather than work for a solution. We give up rather than create energy around us. It is easier to quit sometimes than to weather through the rough periods, but the greatest and sweetest victories come to those who stick it out through the hard times and make it to the other side.
Are you discovering tough times? Learn a lesson from my mom. Desperate times call for desperate measures!
