Dinosaurs

We don't always have awesome discussions at our team meetings, but when we do, it is because we talked about dinosaurs.

Today we had quite a few things to discuss.  After we finished all of our procedural and training items, we had a discussion about having a dinosaur mentality. 

Having a dinosaur mentality leads us to the same fate as the dinosaurs--extinction.

We posed the question this morning, "What can we start doing today to make our organization viable 5 years from now?"

We could, in all reality, sit back and rest and keep doing what we've been doing and be in good shape for the short term.  However, we realize that for every second we're sitting idle, we're getting lapped by technology and culture.  What we're doing today can't be good enough 5 years from now. 

Here's some qualities of dinosaur thinking that could potentially kill your organization:

1.  Dinosaurs say, "This is how we've always done it."  That's just foolish.  I certainly don't advocate changing just for change sake but thinking that there is safety in history is flawed logic. 

2.  Dinosaurs shake their fists and tell the kids to "Get off my lawn!"  Dinosaurs don't embrace advances in technology and communication and marketing strategies.  They ignore the value of Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn because they don't understand it. Instead, you have to communicate in ways and in places that your audience can hear you.  My name is Adam and I get all my news from my Twitter feed and Facebook.  I follow news channels, government officials and news personalities and organizations via my preferred social media outlets.  If you want to convey a message to me or market a product or service to me, your high priced newspaper ad or your expensive radio spot isn't going to catch me.  I will see you in my Twitter feed though.  That doesn't cost a dime.  We HAVE to embrace advances in technology and communication and marketing strategies.

3.  Dinosaurs don't like it when you say that they have ugly kids.  Okay, no one likes that.  What I mean is that leaders put years of expertise and experience into building an organization, product line, etc.  What they don't like is when someone comes in, looks at what they've built and says, "I think we can do this better."  The dinosaur takes that statement way too personally.  The dinosaur hears the person say, "you've got an ugly kid."  Instead, we've got to acknowledge that as a leader, sometimes we can't see the forest for all the trees because we're too close and too emotionally invested in the project or organization.  It is helpful to have someone come in and help you get refocused and suggest ways to improve what you've built.  I know it's difficult, but don't take it personally.  See it for what it is--an opinion. 

Dinosaurs go extinct.  As leaders we can't become dinosaurs and we can't be okay with thinking like dinosaurs. 

How have you caught yourself having a dinosaur mentality?