Fortune Favors a Prepared Mind

usinesses thrive in a stable environment. But disruption and change are inevitable. And in today’s world, that disruption is often complex. And the change it compels is scary and difficult. How can you cultivate the resilience to rebound from disruption, and the flexibility and innovation to adapt to a new and different environment?

You can—paradoxically—with preparation. Instinctively we lean away from change and fall back on the familiar. Fortunately, we can learn, and the conscious, deliberate preparation for disruption and change is what sets homo sapiens apart.

Think about athletes training for a competition. First, they command the basics: strength, endurance, flexibility. Then, through hundreds if not thousands of repetitions, they refine the specifics and perfect the techniques. Next, they explore, learn and master the strategies. And finally, they subject themselves to the most realistic, often the most uncomfortable environments—environments purposefully designed to expose any weakness or oversight in preparation. Resilient, masterful, agile, adaptable, tested. In a word, prepared. All this preparation enables the athlete to confront the unknowns of competition, respond to disruption and adapt to a fluid, ever changing environment—often in the blink of an eye.

Athletic competition differs from business in the quick, decisive outcome. The scoreboard tells the tale; you won or you lost. With business, things may take longer, and the results may not be binary, but the same principles apply. Firms need the financial strength and endurance to handle market disruption. And as business is a team effort, the team must cultivate a high level of professionalism and trust, the mental agility to experiment, the courage to fail and take strenuous critique and the creativity to innovate. That’s preparation.

And work. Let’s not forget the work. No part of this preparation is easy. Approach it deliberately with the intent to progress and grow and the willingness to do what’s necessary to make it happen.

And as fortune favors the prepared mind, it will favor you.

In this issue, we’ve written a little bit about preparation. Drop us a line and let us know what you think.