At the World Economic Forum in January 2009, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered this advice to the assembled CEOs: “Never waste a good crisis.”
In other words, a crisis is an opportunity to rethink your business, your products and services, and the ways in which you deliver value to your customers. It is much harder to make changes when the economy is strong and a company’s position is solid, because leaders become complacent and even the most innovative thinkers are discouraged from tinkering with a formula that is working.
1) What conversations is your organization engaging in about the future? Make them positive, hopeful and focused on being relevant.
2) What is relevant for those you serve or your customers these days? If you’re not sure, ask them what it’s like in their organization these days, what’s on their minds, what people are saying and use this to make yourself and your services relevant to them.
