Nick Powills: Every Now and Then, We Have to Accept Our Circumstances and Adapt Accordingly

I was watching a great movie, “Hearts Beat Loud,” on a plane when I heard the saying, “Every now and then, we have to accept our circumstances and adapt accordingly.” The power of that statement resonated with me. It made me think about business and the strength of understanding the time to adapt.

Far too often, we don’t accept our circumstances. We fight them.

Why? We as people love control, and when we are forced into the corner, we start wailing. That’s because we don’t recognize the opportunity in the threat. The best leaders find a way to problem solve when forced into a corner. They realize that while they couldn’t control the original situation, they can adapt and create a solution to the circumstance.

They pause, accept their circumstances and adapt accordingly. They do so with poise, calmness and belief.

Brands and leaders that accept great adaptation and apply it to both consumers and to B-to-B activities are the once who thrive.

With consumers, our circumstances are changing every second of every day. New technology, new cooking methodologies, new processes – lots of new – hit us all the time. As marketing/branding/executive leaders, it’s hard to keep up with the Joneses – especially when budgets are not unlimited and created equally. The key to winning change is being nimble – coming to conclusions in a timely, but respectful, way. And above that is figuring out a way to have a true pulse on your brand and what your customers are saying.

Listening, in today’s world, is fairly easy with social media and review sites.

Are your customers saying you need to pay closer attention to food safety? Are they saying your service is poor? Are they saying your prices are too high?

It’s easy to be stuborn and not change. But remember, you, as a leader do not own the customer experience – they do. So, listen up and be willing to adapt.

With B-to-B, we typically stay the course too long. We don’t listen to the indicators – both good and bad. This is because we don’t always know how to listen, we don’t have the right budgets allocated to our activities and we don’t control the entirety of the environment (operations, validation, brand marketing). But, just because we don’t control it, doesn’t mean we can’t figure out how to work within it.

Personally, accepting our circumstances and adapting accordingly is necessary, too. In fact, we as humans are better at doing this than we probably give ourselves credit for. We start gaining weight, we change our diets. Our financial situation changes, we adjust our spending. Our tire is flat, we change it.

If we applied that same mentality to business with the same optimism that tomorrow is a new day, we may find even more success in our careers and business lives.

As you think about 2019 and whatever resolutions you may or may not be participating in; think about adaption. Just because you get slightly derailed doesn’t mean you can’t get back on the boat. Confidence and optimism will guide you to fix what isn’t working as you take another step toward accomplishing your dreams next year.