Time to Amp Up

I hear people still talking about dreading Mondays and pining away for the weekends. These are the lazy attitudes that the swollen economic times of the 90's infected executives with. Even with a lazy start to the week on Mondays and an early tail out to the week on Fridays companies still made profits and executives and sales people still made good bonuses and commissions.

Those times are gone, and the attitudes bred during those "easy" times need to be gone with them. If you are an executive and dread Mondays and likes to kick back on Fridays, you have three choices in front of you.


1. Stay in the same groove.

What was once a groove in great economic times is not a rut. While businesses are fighting for every ounce of sales they can get, the slide in and slide out attitude at work will only put those organizations led by this attitude further behind the competition and further away from recovery. Many businesses that are closing or going bankrupt are suffering under the weight of such malaise and using the excuse of "the economy." Ever wonder why some business in an industry are going under while others in the industry are doing just fine in the same economy? It's not the economy; it's the difference between who is in the rut of lazy attitudes and who is working harder than ever before.

2. Bail out

The bailout I mean here is not a stimulus package, it's leaving and bailing on the organization. Before anyone reading this feels executives abandoning a company during these challenging times is a wimp, it can be the best thing a person can do for the survival of the entity. In some cases, it's a retirement that should've happened years ago. I see this to be the case in many family-owned businesses. The vigor to grow the business left over a decade ago but it was easy to coast and enjoy the fruits of prior hard work. But now, the energy and the passion just isn't as intense as it was when they first started the business, so now it's time to turn it over to the next generation of family members who have the energy and the passion to fight the good fight.

In some cases, yes, executives are taking their golden parachute and heading off to retirement land. Bully for them and don't let the door hit ya where the Good Lord split ya. You don't need them anymore and you want them gone; as that person has gone from the ship's captain to the dragging anchor.

3. Reinvigorate for the battle

Once upon a time NFL training camp and Major League Baseball spring training were designed to knock off the rust of players who had been sitting around for months off season. These pre-season times were designed to get players back in shape ready to play when it counts. In today's high priced, high profile games athletes know they will lose their positions and therefore millions of dollars if they are not focused on their conditioning 12 months a year. That is how the game has shifted and that is how business is shifting. No longer are their low key days of the week. No longer is there a seasonal best effort.

To stay competitive means full bore effort and attitude every day of the work week, including Monday and Friday. I've started the terminology as a reminder to myself to make Mondays -- Make Money Monday, and Fridays are now Kick Ass Fridays. Because the team that quits in the closing minutes of a close game always loses. Be a winner!