Open Doors to Rooms Full of Unlimited, Continuing Growth with the Keys to Eliminating Bad Habits

To gain virtually unlimited growth, you need to understand three key concepts: irresistible growth, stalls, and stallbusting.

The term "irresistible force" conjures up ideas of overwhelming power, like the jet stream, a tornado or an earthquake, that often suggest conflict or annihilation. But "irresistible" can also mean something that is so alluring that we are drawn to it despite our will. In the Odyssey, for example, Odysseus had to be bound to the mast of his ship so that he could resist the songs of sirens as he sailed past their island.

An irresistible force can have either attribute. It can be so strong that it overwhelms you physically, as in a force of nature, or it can be so attractive that it is hard to resist psychologically, as in a temporarily low interest rate, which leads you to borrow excessively.

In business, irresistible forces are powerful trends that can significantly affect the direction of your enterprise. Such forces abound. Customer needs and the influences that create those needs, costs that are hard to control, government regulation, taxes, trends in the development of technology, globalization, the weather, physical limits, and human behavior are some examples.

An irresistible force is simply any influence that is mostly beyond the control of you and your organization in influencing your business. Unless your enterprise is a virtual monopoly, you have to take into account the whims of the powerful customer before deciding where you will sit.

As an example, consider a company that provides accessories for sport utility vehicles (SUVs). When the demand for SUVs is high, the accessory manufacturer is kept busy trying to make enough products to keep up with the demand. As newer and better models of SUV come out, the demand for accessories shifts in new and unpredictable ways.

Similarly, when SUVs lose their popularity -- because of higher insurance premiums, revelations of overhyped safety or capability for driving in snow, decreased family size, or objections to airborne emissions -- the accessory maker has a hard time selling accessories even if they are vastly improved and offered at a low price. Therefor, the accessory business can be buffeted by irresistible forces in different directions and in unpredictable ways, going rapidly from enormous growth to potential free-fall.

What is an irresistible force? The customer's CEO sits wherever he or she likes.

All enterprises are subject to many and potentially changeable forces. Unfortunately, the leaders of many organizations convince themselves that the status quo will remain in place forever. They create a business model that keeps them focused on fine tuning their current way of doing business. All well and good, until the irresistible forces shift in such a way that they encourage your customer to sit instead with your toughest competitor.

Such a change is inevitable in most businesses if for no other reason than demographics. People change their consumption patterns and the numbers of people in various age groups changes as well. Such changes have meant, for example, that the latest needs of baby boomers have driven the U.S. economy in fundamental ways since the 1950s and will continue to do so for quite some time.

Remember the diaper services that did so well in the late 1940s? Freshly laundered cloth diapers were delivered to the home and soiled diapers were sent out to be washed. That business was eventually subjected to many irresistible forces that changed its profitability.

As women began to work outside the home in increasing numbers and better birth control allowed for increased family planning, births declined and fewer diapers were needed. By the time the first baby boomers were having children, disposable diapers became the rage.

Diaper services saw their business disposed of into the sewers and landfills of America. They became victims of a "stall," a self-satisfied attitude and way of thinking resulting in bad organizational habits that impede progress and the achievement of an enterprise's full success potential.

Suppose the owner of a diaper service recognized the irresistible forces of the changing demographics and the disposable diaper? She or he could capitalize on the disposable diaper trend by providing the convenience of both disposing of and delivering the bulky items. And if he or she touted ecologically appropriate disposal, wouldn't this service appeal to even those consumers inclined to buy and dispose of the diapers themselves who care about conservation? For the enterprise to achieve irresistible growth it is necessary that it recognize and overcome the stalls that delay positive action in dealing with irresistible forces.

What is a stall? If it was good enough for Grandma, let's not leave well enough alone.

Before Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Clay) entered the boxing ring, heavyweight fighting was usually a brawl involving two fighters unmercifully pounding each other until one fell bloodied, bruised, and battered to the canvas for the ten count. But Ali, realizing that getting near a hard-hitting heavyweight fighter in the ring is a dangerous thing to do, changed the sport forever.

He got into top shape and danced all around his opponents. He could quickly reach in and flick a punch, and then retreat before the other fighter could react. In fact, a late counterpunch that caught only air helped Ali by tiring out his opponent. Ali's motto was: "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee."

With his strategy of being outside the range of the irresistible force of the other fighter's fists, Ali is a classic example of taking a stallbusting approach: using conscious thought to challenge old habits. He realized that getting hit didn't make you a successful boxer, that success could be achieved by being constantly on the move to be where you could hit but not be hit.

Similarly, consider the prospects for a Spanish poor artist at the beginning of the twentieth century. Avant garde styles were changing from Impressionism to Expressionism, while traditional collectors ignored both in favor of polished realism. Clearly, tastes would range from the classic to the most avant garde in the rest of the century. How could an unknown succeed?

Viewed in this light, the career of Pablo Picasso shows that he was a champion stallbuster, as well as one of the 20th century's great artists. He was a master who easily succeeded with any style he chose, producing works in virtually every type of style in almost every major medium.

Consequently, there was always a type of Picasso to appeal to almost everyone, and his lifetime income was many times larger than those of his contemporaries were. By using a stallbusting approach to the changing art milieu, he found a breakthrough solution to being an outstanding artist who was well appreciated and well paid during his lifetime.

What is stallbusting? Find your tail wind and learn how to ride it.

Copyright 2008 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved