I got to the office this morning, it was raining and cloudy; I was reminded of a song sung many years ago by the Carpenters. I think it was written by Roger Nichols and Paul Williams and the words go like this:
“Talk to myself and feel old,
Sometimes I would like to quit, nothing seems to fit.
Circling; nothing to do but frown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down. “
“What I have they used to call blues,
Nothing is really wrong, feeling like I don’t belong.
Walking, kind of a lonely clown.
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down. “
I remembered that song and thought: – Sometimes our days and our lives become like this. Things can become gloomy, they can become routine, the same day after day, a monotonous kind of existence. Everything is predictable, devoid of excitement, enthusiasm, vigor, or any of those things that can really motivate us.
When we are in that type of zone, we often go into a ‘maintenance mode’. We just do the things that have to be done, that have to be done, and then we are done. That can happen in our workplaces. We got there and we know that from this point to this point, I just need to do the things I need to do and when it’s done, I’m out of here. And the same thing happens the next day and the next: we are in maintenance mode. What do we do in “maintenance mode”?
Jim Collins wrote an article titled “The Wizard, King, and Hobbit of Business.” Basically when he coined the title, he was looking for some kind of business trilogy, after Tolkien’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy, and he found it in these three books:
1. ‘The rebel and his machine’ by Kevin Maney
2. ‘Father, Son and Company’ by Thomas J. Watson Jr. and Peter Petre
3. “Who says elephants can’t dance?” by Louis Gerstner.
In this article, you are basically looking at IBM; how IBM started, how it rose, how it maintained growth and even fueled further growth, when at one point it was losing about $ 100 million a week. He talks about the genesis of IBM, how Thomas J. Watson Sr., shortly after his 38th birthday, faced a crisis: he woke up to find that the Federal Grand Jury had indicted him along with other people. He lost his job and actually started from absolute zero or less than zero, if possible. Then he founded IBM.
Sometimes that’s what we need in our lives, isn’t it a calamity, a crisis, an emergency, something that comes and pulls the rug out from under us and makes us think, see and reach for things that are beyond us?
Watson built IBM from scratch and made it a hugely successful company, but the second book tells of the reluctant son, reluctant to take over the kidneys. Jim Collins writes it very well. It says: “The king had a prince who did not want to be king.” Interestingly, Watson Jr. is talking to his commander (he worked for Air Corps Major General Follett Bradley) and he said, “After the war, I plan to become an airline pilot.” Bradley replied, “Really? I always thought you’d go back and run the IBM Company.” Watson Jr. was stunned and after a long pause finally asked the question he never dared to ask. “General Bradley, do you think you could run IBM?” and Bradley spoke two words that would change the course of Tom’s life and the trajectory of industrial history, as Jim Collins said. “Of course!”
Sometimes we run our life in a kind of “nobody” way. I was talking to a group of young people a couple of weeks ago and I was reading a book called ‘The Dream Giver’ by David Wilkinson. Talk about this no man’s land, and everyone is happy doing nothing. Then the Dream Giver gives a dream to one of the nobody and invites him to be someone. Leaving this No Man’s Land was so difficult for this nobody who was trying to be someone. The book tells us how he manages to go out and follow his dream. Two words transformed Watson Jr. from a nobody to a someone, as he took IBM to tremendous heights: “Of course!”
And then he talks about Louis Gerstner, who took over the moment IBM had started to collapse. Gerstner was not interested in the job. Jim Collins says it took Jim Burke, former CEO of Johnson & Johnson, to convince him that IBM wasn’t just a company; It was a national treasure and this was something he had to do. Gerstner accepted the position and switched to IBM and is said to have “become a leader with ambition first and foremost for the cause and the company, far beyond himself.”
Sometimes that’s the motivation we need. Sometimes it’s not just about “me,” about “myself,” or the things that “I” need to do. Sometimes there is a greater cause that calls us, that calls us and tells us: “Get out of the comfort zone. Here is an opportunity to bring a change that will be powerful”, and that is the call that asks for an answer.
Rainy days and Mondays always make me blue. But within that is the land of opportunity. Something may have happened in your life; maybe you’re just wallowing in self-pity right now. Use it as a springboard to get up and move around. Or maybe you’re just wandering around a bunch of nobody. Become someone today; start making clues, think far beyond yourself, for the sake of the cause or to make a great company.
There is a word BHAG (pronounced BEE-hag) that actually means ‘Big Bold and Hairy Goal’, which was coined by James Collins and Jerry Porras in their 1996 article titled ‘Building Your Company Vision’. Basically, BHAG encourages companies to define visionary goals that are more strategic and emotionally compelling. They say that BHAG is a bold 10 to 30 year goal to move towards an envisioned future. It is a clear line, so you will know when the goal has been achieved and has been reached.
What is your BHAG my friends? Do you have one or do you need to get one? Throughout history, there have been BHAGs.
• Amazon had a BHAG that said “All printed books, in any language, all available in less than 60 seconds.”
• Also, the world’s most customer-centric company, Boeing, their BHAG was ‘Bet the boat on the B-17, the 707 and the 747’.
• Disney: ‘Build Disneyland and make it in our image rather than industry standards to be the best company in the world in all fields of family entertainment.’
• Ford: ‘Democratize the automobile’.
• Microsoft: ‘A computer on every desk and in every home’
• Sony: “Change the world image of Japanese products as poor quality.”
• Twitter: ‘Becoming the pulse of the planet’
Everyone has had BHAG and they see where it has gotten them. Maybe this morning you need a big, hairy bold goal for the job you have. Perhaps you are in a position to change the course of your company or your scope of work, or perhaps it is a personal goal or something to do with your family. Whatever it is, think about BHAG today – a big, hairy, bold target. It’s time to get out of the cocoon and fly; it’s time to leave the harbor and sail, maintenance mode is over, it’s time to fly, with a big bold and furry aim.
Post Script: The sun shines right outside my window reminding me that rainy days and Mondays change to sunny days and Tuesdays and Wednesdays and Thursdays and opportunity days. Maybe today is your day. If you don’t have a BHAG, ask the Dream Giver; ask him to give it to you. The Almighty will make it be born in you and I hope it happens today.
God bless you all.