In 2014, Ben Horowritz wrote an excellent book titled, the Hard Thing About Hard Things, Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers. Of course, this book was not as relevant at that moment in time because the economy had fully recovered from the Great Recession by June 2009 according to the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research. Now, it is more relevant than ever.
“But in this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” – Benjamin Franklin
Tax Day Stimulus?
April 15th is normally tax day. Personal tax returns are usually due today, but not this year. They are due July 15th due to COVID-19. This year IS so different.
Instead, April 15th is a COVID-19 stimulus day for many qualified recipients as the payments have been received by many people in their bank accounts today! Twenty days after the bill was signed into law.
Navigating The Hard Thing About Hard Things
In 2014, Ben Horowritz wrote an excellent book titled, the Hard Thing About Hard Things, Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers. Of course, this book was not as relevant at that moment in time because the economy had fully recovered from the Great Recession by June 2009 according to the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research. Now, it is more relevant than ever.
I came across this book in my failed pursuit to complete 100 books in a year. This was one of my favorite books because it SAYS THE HARD THINGS THAT NO ONE WANTS TO ADMIT. I have recommended this to many CEO’s and all of them could relate to this. After a coaching chat and reading this book, many leaders have made the hard decisions they should have made years ago.
History Repeats Itself
The problem stems from us as a society and individuals wanting to forget because everything seems too painful. We forget how hard it is to lay people off. We forget that we have to be thoughtful about crisis management. I enjoyed reading this book because it was more than just a Pollyannaish approach to viewing difficulties. You should read the book (or listen to Audible) and remember that it is going to be OK. (Here’s my review back in 2017.) You can overcome these challenges and realize that you are not alone.
For leaders of companies, entrepreneurs and those who have hired people, many of you have already made the tough decision to lay off people. For many, you had no choice because your doors were closed due to the “Stay at Home” orders leading us all into quarantine. For others, a 20% to 50% drop in business was way below your profit margin and we did not have the proper amount of cash to withstand this challenge. I’ve been in this uncomfortable position twice before in the dot.com bubble of 2000 and after the 2008 recession.
So this message today is not about blowing sunshine…but to acknowledge the fact that you are not alone. The weekly records of unemployment numbers make this very clear.
Making the Hard Decisions to Thrive
The easy decision is just to go back and do everything like you did before. Hire everybody back and just do the same thing and go try to go back to status quo. Until the next recession. And the next one may not wait for 13 years.
But many of you know going back to the status quo is probably NOT the right decision. When times are good, we have a tendency to be lazy with our decisions. We hired people to chase down pet projects and hired loads of contractors to do the little things. I am guilty as charged. So as you start to look up to the new future, are you going to have the courage to move ahead and make the hard decisions when returning to the new normal?
We are working with organizations to help them make those hard decisions. These are the ones who are going to thrive in the future. Not the ones who attempt to go back to status quo.
We are focused on three things:
1) A 90 Day Plan to create momentum
2) Scenario Planning to evaluate options
3) Key Targets to finish 2020
Here is my Calendar Link for a 20 Minute Strategy Chat to evaluate your situation.
Ways to Connect and Learn More:
April 22, 2010, 1 PM ET, 10 AM PT, Sign-up Here
Crisis Strategy: Successfully Pivoting Your Personal Strategy in Times of Change, with Mark A Pfister, Author of Across the Board
April 23, 2010, 2:30 PM ET, 11:30 AM PT, Sign-up Here
Vacilitation: Managing Your Team Strategically in a Virtual World, with Technology Association of Oregon
Links to Top Articles / Ideas / Websites –
Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracking
725,000 Paycheck Loans have been approved and counting, Inc by Cameron Albert-Deitch
7 Steps to Nail a Remote Strategy Offsite, by Sabina Nawaz, Forbes Contributor
Recommendation – For a future article, I reached out to multiple bankers for their opinion on approaches to manage bank financing with the COVID stimulus package. The best answer and most willing to talk with you was Brad Buchholz, VP, Relationship Manager for Commercial Banking at Banner Bank. His contact information is direct line, 503-684-2339, email bbuchholz@bannerbank.com and direct for email financing to BannerSBACares@bannerbank.com.
Order these books to learn more:
The Hard Thing About Hard Things, Ben Horowitz
What You Do Is Who You Are, Ben Horowitz
On March 19th, 2020 with the Technology Association of Oregon, I had the opportunity to lead their first virtual webinar on Managing Strategic Plan in Crisis.
Give this a few weeks to blend into your weekly routine. If you like it, copy the article link and share it on your social sites. Send me your comments, thoughts and suggestions to improve this to catch@40strategy.com. Sign-up here!
PS – If you did not get the pre-blog email, here is the Saddle Up beginning.
Volume 2020:4
