How's Your Bounce

I remember growing up playing with a Super Ball. I could bounce this ball from shoulder height on the driveway and have it bounce higher than the rooftop on my two-story house! People and companies need to have that type of bounce ability when facing tough times.

We are well versed in people and companies who struggle in bad times. It’s almost become sport in this county to see who falls on their face next. The falls make the headlines but what about the rest of the story after the fall? Those stories rarely make the headlines and that is actually where the greatest lessons exist in how well people and companies recover from their falls. Whether it’s personal or corporate there is going to be adversity in our journeys and how we respond and how quickly we respond demonstrated out bounce. You have options in your bounce ability.

What about the people who fall, fail or flounder only to bounce back stronger than ever? Robert Downey Jr. has good bounce. Vanessa Williams has good bounce. Starbucks has good bounce. How about you?

The Deflated Basketball Bounce

For some people and companies they get hit with adversity and it knocks them down and their response is that of a deflated basketball – no bounce at all. You know these people and companies. They get hit with tough times and they turn bitter and angry and collapse under the weight of the world. These people and corporations are waiting for someone else to bail them out and set them back up because they feel unable to on their own. When in fact, they are only being propped up for another fall they’ve never learned to recover from. Boomerang children, government bailouts, and dependent employees are the result of a lack of ability to bounce.

The Super Ball Bounce

Most highly successful entrepreneurs have gone through at least one previous company failure. Many successful leaders have had to overcome adversity that was either physical, financial or occupational. In fact, success is more predicated on your bounce ability than in your raw intelligence and skills. Persistence through challenges, focus through distractions and confidence in your ability to overcome adversity are the core foundation to success! As I’ve heard it said many times before, failure is only failure if you stop at that point and stay defeated. Without bounce we’d have no innovation, we’d have no experience (since we gain that from our failures) and we’d have no joy. Our greatest joy comes when we’ve accomplished a task that was in overcoming on obstacle. It’s why we love to see the underdog win! We love that they can overcome the odds and bounce back from a defeat and are spectacular.