5.1.1. Exit

One of Murphy’s Laws (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_A._Murphy,_Jr.)  states “No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy” and it is true, but how then to prepare for success?

The key is to make multiple plans and determine your course of action based on the info you get as you go along. In decision theory this is known as a decision tree. Although you cannot know what the future holds for you, you can think about alternative futures. Once you know what the alternatives are, you can determine what your course of action would be in any and all of them. This way you don’t have single, but multiple plans and if your preparation has been good and you have defined exhaustively the scenario’s you are certainly be better prepared than if you hadn’t.

Off course even then it is still possible that something happens (LUCK) the can disturb your plans in the good or the bad sense and there will be times in which you will have to improvise. However, I have learned that the better you plan, the more time you brain has to be creative on the actions that require it.  Full freedom is as restrictive to creativity as full restraint, but finding the optimal structure boosts your creativity.

Anyway, the reason of this intro was to talk about a specific personal experience that supports this. In 2010 I was working for a large Business-to-business Travel Agency. During the previous years 2008-2009 we had gone through a major restructuring after the financial crisis impacted the global economy.

During the budget process for 2011 I had analyzed the different scenario’s and had come to the conclusion that there were to many responsibles in my function for my region. Thinking about my role and future roles within the company and the options for the company within the budgetI had figured out that of 3 board members had to move to another function.

At that time I had itemized 6 scenario’s 4 in which I took over a part of the region, 1 in which I moved to another role within the company and 1 in which I was going to be asked to leave. At this stage the two latter options seemed little realistic, but I took them into consideration anyway.

During my PREPARATION I had defined what I was going to do for each scenario. The first four included different territorial splits and responsibilities within the region. The 5^th one allowed me to look out for alternative roles and urged me to proactively seek contact with one of the key stakeholders for which I wanted to work in the future. Finally the 6^th option allowed me to chart 2 sub-strategies, one in which I would work for another company made me contact several head)hunters and one in which I was going to start up my own company again made me focus more of my spare time in browsing the environment and thinking about some of the ideas I had had in the past.

Although scenario 6 was the least likely it allowed me to have a higher sense of security in the planning and in the period in between the start and end of the budget round. The first 4 scenario’s, although likely at the time, were my least preferred. However because I had made the analysis I could clearly identify the tasks at hand and prepare for those. And as the 5^th was my most wanted at that time, I could clearly take a proactive attitude towards seeking the success and making my desired future come true. During the process I had been working on some business ideas and it became clear that more and more however I was leaning towards starting my own company again.

Ultimately, the first 4 options were closed because I myself had stated not to be interested in a long future within this role and option 5 had been  closed due to the lack of resources within the company to start the function I was aiming for which didn’t exist before. So it was decided that I was going to be let go. Now, what for most would be devastating news was for me merely a branch of my preparatory decision tree. And as I already knew what I was going to do in that case, I could immediately engage to execute on that plan.

3. Action

The final factor in the multiplication formula is Action. Critical to our success is to take all our assets from the past (Preparation), our goals for the future (Vision) and close the gap between the two (Action) in the now.

The summation in the formula underlines to the repetitive factor required for success. As our past and future are constantly changing relative to the now, it is clear that we are in constant flux. Success therefore is a perpetually moving target and it is the people that constantly achieve their goals that are considered successful, not the one-hit wonders. In the words of Aristotle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle) “We are what we repeatedly do, excellence therefore is not an act but a habit.”

The factor Action is probably the element that is most naturally to me. I have been called more than once the “action-man”, the guy that could fix every problem, could resolve every situation in the now.

However, although Action is very important, I have learned from experience that to manage through Action alone is not enough. Over the years I have realized that short-term action is very applicable in crisis situations but to be successful you need Preparation and Vision.

Action without Vision is but random uncoordinated movement. Imagine a soccer game without a goal, a basketball game without a basket, a marathon without a finish. There would be a lot of action, but never success. So it is important to determine where you are running towards before you start. Especially within larger companies it is very difficult to achieve aligned action as it is very difficult to achieve an aligned view of the vision. Within your personal life and as a small entrepreneur it is within your reach to set clear goals and work in a coordinated way towards them. Within larger organizations it is essential to have a well communicated, commonly understood and mutually supported Vision in order to maximize the result of the combined action of empowered employees. However be careful not to empower the wrong things. Stay in control of the goal setting and release your control of the road and means to reach them.

Similarly Action without Preparation is bound to fail. Imagine the same soccer game but played by the basketball phenomenon Shaquille O’Neal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaquille_O%27Neal) and Kobe Briant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe_Bryant) or the marathon ran by Usain Bolt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usain_Bolt), Jamaica’s 100m sprint wonder. All in itself the best sportsmen in their field of expertise, but with the wrong or lacking preparation needed for the task at hand, the probability of success is significantly reduced. Therefore make sure that whatever goals you set for yourself they are in line with your Preparation and if you don’t have the required Preparation surround you with people that do. This is specifically important for managers and entrepreneurs. However be vigilant to remain wise about your core. You can use the expertise of your employees, but you should always remain wise about your business: “We can be knowledgeable with other men’s knowledge, but we cannot be wise with other men’s wisdom.”, Montaigne (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montaigne).

It is also important to note an important lesson: “No Action can be undone”. I learned this lesson personally during the Leicester Conference at the Tavistock Institute in 2003. During the opening plenary session there was a spiraled chair setting. After entering and a 2 minute opening by the Chairman Many Sher (http://www.tavinstitute.org/people/consultants/msher.php) , the group was left in silence. After almost 60 minutes of silence 1 person commented that the chair next to her was empty and that she felt as if the spiral was interrupted, broken, and therefore the group was divided. After 15 minutes of psychological interventions I decided  to take the empty chair and put outside of the spiral. By putting the other chairs closer together, the empty seat was gone and the spiral was “unified”. Regretfully, this resulted in yet another problem because now other people thought we had illuminated the missing’s persons place in the group and again 30 minutes of psychological discussions. Ultimately, so overwhelmed by the uproar of comments, I decided to put the seat back in the spiral. You can guess, this didn’t solve the problem. As I couldn’t undo my action, the impact of my intervention was felt throughout the entire 2-week conference. Only in very few occasions in my life had a lesson been so impactful!

2. Vision

As mentioned earlier Vision, like Preparation and Action, is a required but not sufficient element for success. That is why we used a multiplication in the formula. Although this sounds very theoretical, we all know and recognize people that have just a part of these elements in our inner circle, we just didn’t think about what it is that makes them stand out.

We all know the “Dreamers” in our social network, people that have create ideas, visions of a brighter future but whose ideas are unfounded and lack a sense of realism. Think about whom in your life have had these ideas of which you knew they were so far out of their own comfort zone that it wasn’t going to happen. Even if this Vision was acted upon, the chances of reaching those unattainable goals were slim to none. It is not that these people can’t be successful, but maybe they aren’t really thinking about it in the right way. If these Dreamers would understand what they are good at, realize where their current value lies and how this could be important to be successful, they might focus their vision on the goals within reach. And if they aspire to a long term goal out of their current field of expertise, they might want to think about intermediate goals and a preparation path towards each of them. As mentioned in the formula, success is a process, a sum of small steps. If you can think about it this way, you can reach goals beyond your current scope, but this requires a long term Vision and a great plan.

Further, certainly you also know people that have great visions which are built upon sound logic and are argumented based on their vast experience but lack the motivation to act upon it. I call this type the “Futurologist”. I have met many people who were better trained, skilled and prepared than me with sounds vision and strategy but without the attitude to act upon it they remain ideas. Confusius (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confusius) clearly valued the action oriented approach: “The superior man is modest in his speech but exceeds in his actions.” And as Ernest Miller Hemingway (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway) used to say: “Never mistake motion for action.” For people that find themselves using the words “if only I had” more than once, I would advise to notice the next time they speak about a new idea they have and ask what would be needed to actually do it. This simple step to make action tangible can help you achieve and realize those ideas.

Finally, we have the hard working “Expert”. Some people have this definition of success and I believe them really to be so, however more people are stuck in that role unwillingly and lack the Vision to get out of it. They are stuck in the trenches dreaming of more. They are so focused on the details of the day-to-day job that there is no time left to think ahead or to think outside off the box. We all know somebody of whom we all believe that they have more potential. It is often thanks to the Expert, that others become successful. I’m sure everybody knows the story about how Bill Gates (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_gates) had the vision and acted upon the work of an Expert programmer who really invented DOS. For those that recognize themselves in this Expert role I would firmly advise some time for reflection. It doesn’t have to be a long consecutive period, actually rather not. Try to take small periods regularly to stand still with your current situation and envision where you would like to see yourself.  Take 15 minutes a week. Block your agenda to think about where you are. Where you want to see yourself in the future? Whether you are still on track? And if not, what it is you need to do tomorrow to get back on it? That visualization of success actually leads to a better and more focused performance, but also allows you to keep yourself mentally aligned with your success goals. In line with Edmund Burke (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Burke) who claims that “Reading without reflecting is like eating without digesting” I claim that living without reflection, reduces your chances for success.

However beware, although planning is needed, don’t overdo it. As one of Murphy’s Laws (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy%27s_Law) – extensions of Edward Murphy’s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_A._Murphy,_Jr.) “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong” – rightly states: “A plan never survives contact with the enemy”, hereby referring to the need of flexibility and agility in the real world. If you plan too much you might become mentally paralyzed as soon as you come into a situation that wasn’t foreseen and that in its turn will reduce your ability to act. I like the quote of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_de_Saint-Exup%C3%A9ry) to that effect: “You know when you have reached perfection in design, not when you have nothing more to add, but when you have nothing more to take away.” Only plan the bigger framework, the direction and critical milestones, don’t get stuck in the details, because chances are it’s not going to happen exactly as planned anyway.

A nice book to read is “Who moved my cheese” by Spencer Johnson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_Johnson_(writer), the story of two mice and two men. Both pairs are confronted with the fact that what they long for is taken from them, their cheese. When you see the cheese as a metaphor for your success indeed in many cases the situation might change in which you will have to adapt your goals or the road towards it. In the book, the men are mentally stuck with their loss and refrain from action, don’t even have the vision to escape from this impasse. The mice are skillfully prepared to look for cheese. They are visionary enough to see that they have to go out and look for it instead of accepting the loss as this won’t resolve their problem. And they also take action and go out and actually do it. I wonder which one of the two you think is more successful and how you see yourself respond if things don’t go as planned.

Conclusion, define your cheese, reflect on how to get it and get moving. Success is around the corner, closer than you think.

1. Preparation II

Besides learning from others it is obviously also important to learn from yourself. Trial-and-error is the hardest way to learn, but surely also the most impactful. However, the effectiveness of this method is subject to a few key elements.

First, you need enough trial and therefore accept enough error. In order to learn a lot and fast, it is important to embrace and cherish failure AND learn why you failed and how you can adapt your behavior to overcome failure and be successful in the future. Regretfully, it seems that humans are very reluctant to take up that responsibility: “While success has many fathers, failure is an orphan.” And this is certainly a major drawback to success or in the words of the American poet Thomas John Carlisle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_John_Carlisle) “The greatest of all faults, is to be conscious of none.”

The cultural differences towards the acceptance of failure have proven to be quite impactful. The Dutch organizational sociologist Geert Hendrik Hofstede (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofstede) determined that the factor “uncertainty avoidance”, was one of 4 national cultural differentiating drivers of behavior. That key difference between the US and most European countries is a known driver for the acceptance of failure.

Secondly, you need to try and learn from your mistakes. Always ask yourself what you can do differently to change the outcome of your failure or how your behavior enforced the failure.  Don’t always look for the flaws of others first. As Dr. Robert Anthony Beddard (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Beddard) states “When you blame others, you give up the power of change” or as Socrates (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates) teaches “Let him that would move the world first move himself.” By losing the power to learn you limit your future success potential.

However, what isn’t easy, isn’t impossible. People are remarkably innovative and robust. Voltaire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltaire) was convinced “No problem can stand the assault of sustained thinking.” Ask yourself every day “What did I learn today from my boss, colleague, employee, my kids, the news, ….?” Take 5 minutes every day before you go to bed. It shouldn’t be groundbreaking, but take many small steps. A Chinese proverb quotes “Be not afraid of growing slowly, be only afraid of standing still.”

For instance: I already learned that running spurs my creativity. It gives me energy, higher oxygen levels, empties my mind of everyday worries and clears it to be able to mentally freewheel. Today I learned that mowing the lawn works just as fine as running and that next time I mow the lawn, I need a pen and a notebook in my pocket. Today, every time I had to empty the lawn mower bag I had 1-2-3 new ideas to write down. The disadvantage was that it took me 2hs to finish instead of 1.

Also here there is well-documented research that confirms cultural differences. Amongst others the “Attributions of Success and Failure – Comparison of Cultural Differences between Asian and Caucasian Children” (http://jcc.sagepub.com/content/11/3/343.abstract) by P.S. Fry from the University of Calgary and R. Ghosh from McGill University. The difference in the attribution of success and failure between Canadian Caucasian and Asian Indian was defined as: “Caucasian subjects took greater personal credit for success and attributed failure to luck, but Asian subjects assumed more personal responsibility for failure and attributed success to luck.”

In Conclusion I’d like to end with a quote of a famous French philosopher, mathematician, physicist and writer: René Descartes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descartes), a lesson to us all “It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.”

1. Preparation

Preparation is the first pillar upon which this success formula is built. As with the two other pillars, vision and action, the formula equates to zero if you don’t have it. Preparation can be as broad or narrow as you want it to be, depending what your life goals are. If you want to be successful as a subject matter expert, it will be important to dig deep into the topic and know all the facets of it. Alternatively if you are seeing success more broadly, you may want to focus on diversifying your experiences to establish a wider scope.

If you consider that success is built over time (small steps of success built upon one another), it dissolves the stress of achieving perfection quickly while forcing us to consider that we are in constant preparation for it. The road to success is continuous; meaning that we constantly need to prepare for the next crucial step in which our vision and action will require a new element. On a positive note, this means we can always get better; we can always improve our chances for success, it is never over because regardless of how old we are, there will always be chances to be successful. Therefore we should always be open to learn, experience and build character. The nicest way I have heard it say is by singer Melody Gardot (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melody_gardot) in her song “Our love is easy”: “the poisoned vine, breeds a finer wine” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BNcTGU02FU). Another quote that represents this is George Bernard Shaw’s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw) quote: “Men are wise in proportion, not to their experience, but to their capacity for experience.”  Here he clearly focuses on the process, the road ahead, the “to be” versus the status quo, the “is”.

However, learning doesn’t seem to be the easiest for us humans. Although we are all capable of learning from experience, we seem to be reluctant to learn from others’ experiences. Obviously, our education system is built upon the process of learning from others, but this is a system pushed upon the pupil. According to Plato (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato) however, this doesn’t seem to be the best way “Bodily exercise, when compulsory, does no harm to the body; but knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.” The conclusion is indeed that part of the preparation of successful people is that they have an unbelievable eagerness to learn. The attitude of successful people is defined as a critical driver. And it is author Douglas Adams (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_adams) who sarcastically points out that this ability to learn is not a general trait of mankind “Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from experience of others, are remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.”

It is in quotes that I personally find the most valuable insights. A quote is usually a single sentence which has captured the essence of a lesson learned over time, tested by millions, recognized and valued by enough people who’ve shared it over decades and centuries and still stands the test of time. That to me is the definition of a lesson learned! Building on the foundation of the experiences of others allows successful people to focus on trying to break new ground, be innovative and creative and travel into uncharted territories.

The Start

Starting a blog is quite a step and certainly with a title as the Formula 4 Success.

The goal of this blog is to share experiences as to what people have identified as success and its basic building blocks. According to Aristotle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle)  “We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act but a habit” and Deepak Chopra (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepak_Chopra) rephrases as  “Success is a journey, not a destination”. This repetition should allow us to recognize the patterns of success over time and to dig deeper in those elements that emerge on the surface.

Also, we should try to make it tangible. Too many success gurus are vague and surf the wave of self-fulfilling prophecy, even Julius Caesar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_caesar) knew it “What we wish, we readily believe, and what we ourselves think, we imagine others think also.” Therefore this blog and comments shall be filled with examples and cases to support the input therein.

The core of the formula is based on the fact that Success is a continuous function of Preparation, Vision, Action and Luck. Indeed, all the successful people I have talked to have admitted that luck played a part; but it is my assessment that the more prepared, visionary and action-oriented these people are, the less luck they needed. However, without these three, I found that people can still be successful on luck alone, but is less likely and uncontrolled. The fact that we consider success to be a continuous effort the formula reads:

Success = Sum {(Preparation x Vision x Action) + Luck}

Preparation includes education, upbringing, experience, attitude, character, motivation, etc… Vision is related to the eagerness to learn and a keen awareness as to what is going on around you. And finally, Action is needed to turn an idea into a tangible success, otherwise it remains just a visionary idea. The key to the formula is multiplication. IF any of the three factors is missing, the formula equates to zero. If you lack preparation, whatever you see and dare will be limited by your own capabilities. If you are well-trained, but not paying attention nor actively looking for opportunities, your internal potential may never be exposed as you will never see what to do with it. Opportunities occur every day. We just need to look and be open to them. Finally, if you are well-prepared and also looking, you will still need to act. A lot of people have great ideas, see opportunities but hesitate to act. James C. Collins (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_C._Collins) refers in “Good to Great” to the inertion of companies that are afraid to act, for fear of losing their GOOD status and therefore, never reaching their success potential- GREAT. I believe the same is true for individuals.

The goal is to find cases and/or successful entrepreneurs and test this formula on them. We hope to gain deeper insight into the primary drivers of success to understand how we can be successful ourselves.