Why is the top of the hill so important?

From Steve Bird GBG Head of Facilitation Corporate Battlefields
Why is the top of the Hill so important?

Martin Scheepbouwer and his OLX team – Waterloo 2017

I have no idea what 2019 holds for business! The future is never easy to predict. If it were, experts would get it right more often. And next year is even harder to predict than usual, isn’t it? The ‘B’ word; global warming; plastics; terrorism; nuclear weapons……. Global leaders more unpredictable, crippled by declining support or utterly unprincipled (you supply the names). Global stock markets faltering. The only thing to be sure of is that there will be winners and there will be losers. So the real question is ‘how do I/we become winners in a game we don’t yet understand?’
Think of your business as a group of soldiers at the bottom of a hill. You are pretty sure that the opposition – let’s call it 2019 – also want that hill. You’ll only see over that hill when you take the top. And the opposition might beat you to it! What can you do now to get there first and be able to beat whatever is thrown at you?

What about you?

Are you the best you can be?

Are you healthy?

Eating and drinking properly?

Getting enough sleep?

Have you thought through a range of scenarios? What will you do if you’re amazingly successful? What if you fail disastrously?

Now what about the people you need to help you succeed? Can you give those people the belief and abilities to get themselves up that hill and beat whatever they meet at the top? Have you done all you can to equip them – whether that means briefings, training, tools, whatever – or will they stop, not know what to do or turn back down the hill? What other preparation can you do now?

We can’t know what the future will bring but we can do a lot more to be ready for it.