I remember when I did recruiting and there was a man in my office who specialized in locating Lotus Notes professionals for firms. He did well for a while but choose to miss the inflection point in the market where firms moved away from Notes to another platform.
Microsoft famously missed the Internet but woke up one day to realize how important it was, describing it as an Internet tidal wave in a memo Bill Gates wrote to the executive team. Google tried not to missed social media. Politicians sometimes miss inflection points, too. Many misunderstood the meaning of Barack Obama and many have missed the meaning of changes in how we obtain and consume fuel.
Sometimes inflection points appear before us in our work. The tendency is to dismiss them as being irrelevant. The experts often are hundred percent correct about the past but know nothing about the future. They assume that just because it happened one way once it will happen that way in the future.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
It’s like a pitcher who struck out a batter by throwing fastballs, trying to do it again, only for the batter to adjust get a base hit. Circumstances allow for adjustment and sometimes we forget that change is occurring right before our eyes.
Sometimes, the same thing repeats itself but the circumstances surrounding the event change and so does the outcome. Enough momentum has built up for the inflection point to carry through.
Pay attention to changing circumstances and conditions and be prepared for more inflection points. Even if your company doesn’t want to adapt, it may be forced to, but too late for the survival or health.
If there’s anything the 2008 for session should have taught us it’s that just because a company is more than 100 years old, it doesn’t mean its survival is guaranteed. Just because a startup is 20 years old, it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t miss an inflection point.
And just because you’re smart doesn’t mean you will make a mistake and allow your arrogance to outwit you.
Ⓒ The Big Game Hunter, Inc., Asheville, NC 2019
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a career and leadership coach who worked as a recruiter for more than 40 years. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with more than 1600 episodes and his newest show, “No BS Coaching Advice” and is a member of The Forbes Coaches Council.
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