Mike Tyson once said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” That’s not only sports, in a nutshell, it’s business.
If we’re lucky, the plans we spend so much time drafting and refining tend to morph with continuous contact with the air outside our offices. If we’re not lucky, those plans wither and die, unfit for the real world.
The only characteristic of business that stays the same is its unpredictability. And I’m not only talking about conditions outside the office. There is no more challenging environment for business than HR. For dynamic and innovative organizations, the question becomes: “How can we foster an atmosphere of innovation and change while maintaining consistently high quality and stellar results?”
I began zeroing in on the answer this past Monday night, when Coach K won Duke’s 5th men’s basketball national championship. Consider who now sits atop our country’s major sports:
| Men’s college basketball | Mike Krzyzewski | 5 national championships |
| Women’s college basketball | Geno Auriemma | 10 national championships |
| Professional football | Bill Belichick | 4 Super Bowl victories |
| Professional basketball | Gregg Popovich | 5 NBA championships |
| Major League Baseball | Bruce Bochy | 3 world championships in 5 years |
| College football | Urban Meyer | 3 national championships |
Not a rookie among them, yet no one could argue that the landscape of each sport hasn’t changed dramatically in their time. What is it that keeps each of these leaders achieving at such a consistently high level despite the chaos surrounding them?
There is no one right answer, but there is one answer that each has in common: System.
Each coach has developed a system that’s not only open to change but also fosters and nurtures innovation. It’s one thing to bow to the inevitability of change, but it’s quite another to open oneself up to it and actively seek new perspectives. The best leaders do the latter.
Recently, The Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, and Forbes all ran articles on the value of changing perspective by playing games in business. Each column, in its own way, cited the boost in productivity, morale and problem solving skills that accompanied a game-playing culture.
I found these articles so interesting, that I decided to bring someone in to teach them.
Later this month, on April 23rd, at our upcoming Drink ‘n Think, David Lunkin will be presenting Tackling Challenges using Design Thinking and Lego®.
I’m not sure how Legos fit in with business, but I’m excited to learn.
There are only a few seats left, so if you’re interested in attending, please register now. I hope you’ll join us.
Drink ‘N Think: Tackling Challenges using Design Thinking and LEGO®