Tough Times, Tougher People

#58: Tough Times, Tougher People [Apr 2009]

“When the going gets tough, the tough gets going” – an adage that befits organizations that not only takes recession in its stride but uses the recession as an opportunity.

Few questions would arise in your minds when you read the sentence above.

Are we tough enough to survive?
Is each of our team tough enough?
What core factors that would ensure that we survive?
What opportunities that one can foresee?

Survival depends upon two sides of the coin; on one side we have individuals and the other side the organization. Let me discuss, roadmap for success at Individual level.

I recall a quote; “Great people are ordinary people with extraordinary amounts of will power”. The will to survive, the will to overcome an obstacle, the will to win, the will to learn from anyone & everyone, the will to change, the will to challenge and get challenged – is one of the fundamental characteristic that one should build in order to be tough.


Once the “Will Power” is in place, the attitude of “Yes – We can do it” falls into place automatically.

There are four pillars of strength to build on top of the foundation called “Will Power”. They are a. Learnability, b. Efficiency, c. Agility and d. Attitude.

We are in the knowledge era. The world is constantly changing with time. If we do not build the ability and willingness to learn, we are sure losers. So, Learn. Learn to learn what to learn. Learning unwanted things would yield undesired results.

To be competitive one need to be efficient which in turn reduces the cost and to be extremely agile else you are too late. Efficiency is build by changing or adopting processes, by adopting technologies, by innovative thoughts and the will to change. You can’t build efficiency if you do not measure the level of your efficiency. So, measure efficiency, change and re-measure to verify whether you have met a desired efficiency level.

Change is one thing and changing fast is altogether another thing. If one has to win a 100 meters Olympic race, changing the physique is critical but within the time before the Olympics qualification round starts. Hence, agility is a key factor.

The last but not the least is attitude of every person for the deliveries to be successful. Attitude to share and grow, attitude to learn new things, attitude research, attitude to create bond between people, attitude to empathize and help others, attitude towards commitment, etc would make an individual to mature as a person as well as a professional.

I am sure we will survive any business or market change if we adhere to these basics.

I will cover the drivers that would make an organization to be successful in the next issue.