Be Ready

Be ready, so you don't have to get ready. How do we prepare to grab opportunities when presented. You can't be preparing for the opportunity when it arrives. Anticipate movement. Anticipate. Be quick, but not in a hurry. Eric Boles lays out a game plan to keep your team prepared to take advantage of the right opportunities. 

Transcript

Dale:
be ready. So you don't have to get ready to unleash your best in life and work. Welcome to the game changers podcast. I'm your host Dale Dixon. I help leaders be their best on stage and in front of the camera. And I'm the chief innovation officer for a better Business Bureau Eric Bowles coaches trains and inspires leaders to unleash their potential and the potential of those around them. Eric, great to be with you again. Listeners have noticed the podcast has missed a few it. The airports know us well.

Eric Boles:
They sure do my friend. They sure

Dale:
First name

Eric Boles:
do.

Dale:
basis

Eric Boles:
Yeah.

Dale:
with TSA.

Eric Boles:
The mighty TSA. I gotta tell you man, we have, me and you have been crossing paths, waving to each other in the air. You know, these last two weeks it's been a tremendous amount of travel. But I've met some unbelievable people though. So it's been a, it's definitely been a reward. price. Definitely at a price.

Dale:
Too true. So, you know, our topic today, this this idea, you just said it, be ready, so you don't have to get ready. And I would call this acting at the speed of business, on what we're seeing today, and how do we really get our businesses ready to grab a hold of opportunities when they come up? Because if we don't grab them in the moment, if we don't know them, grab them, somebody else is waiting in the wings to do it.

Eric Boles:
Man, that is, it is a quote I used to hear during my playing days. You hear it around now, it's kind of a catchphrase, but where it originated, Dale, especially when coaches would speak to it, they would say how important it is to be ready so you don't have to get ready. Meaning, the opportunity that comes to you during a game, you have to be ready for it. arrives, because once it arrives, it can already be gone. And that one opportunity could change the whole momentum of a game. I am seeing that in many of the organizations right now, not only just around pace, because when people hear be ready so you don't have to get ready and move at the right speed, speed doesn't mean out of control. What we're saying is, you gotta be ready. You gotta be moving at a pace, anticipating movement, when it comes so you can be quick. Or as John wouldn't say, you can be quick, but not in a hurry, but you can be quick. And when you're ready, when your feet are ready, when you're ready to move, more importantly, not only if you're ready, but you're getting your team and your people around you to be ready. You know, I used to always mistakenly believe, okay, I gotta get myself ready to really take advantage of this opportunity. There's some truth in that. But the reality is, A whole set of eyes that are ready and this whole set of hands that are ready is more important than just one set of eyes and one set of hands. So how do we prepare our teams to also be ready to take advantage of opportunities? I think that's what's essential.

Dale:
say tell us some stories. You're you've been out on the road, you're seeing a number of businesses, you work in a variety of industries, obviously,

Eric Boles:
to be

Dale:
protect

Eric Boles:
protected.

Dale:
the protect the names of the innocent

Eric Boles:
I think

Dale:
and maybe the guilty

Eric Boles:
it is

Dale:
as well.

Eric Boles:
something that we can't see as well.

Dale:
But

Eric Boles:
Yeah.

Dale:
share a few stories on what you're seeing and what you're hearing.

Eric Boles:
Well, the main thing is it's easy to confuse being ahead on the scoreboard with actually having momentum. Because like I said before, the scoreboard is a lagging indicator. We may have a lead, but many times that's unfortunately fool's gold because we're going to have to shift because the variables that are taking place on the field or more importantly place or shifting so quickly that if you can't shift with it, you miss the opportunity. So in one particular organization right now that I'm working with, it was great. We had these wonderful conversations that not only did I learn a ton from, but listening to a group about in some cases being ready so they don't have to get ready. Here's a great way of describing it. A devil's advocate, even with good ideas, right? Like taking the other side, challenging, making the practice or the meetings themselves, like here's an idea and if everybody's with it, somebody has to agree to challenge it. We gotta put it through the wringer. The way we get ready or be ready is by being prepared. In the word prepare, the pre, ahead of time, pairing, that has to do with cutting. We have to cut these ideas. We have to cut these things about really slicing and dicing them and make sure they can be vetted, that they can go through the process. Because once the game starts, once it's now time for the marketplace, we shouldn't be finding out whether or not our idea or this plan is a good one or a bad one once it's in front of our actual client, once it's in front of the customer, or we're trying to figure out in front of the customer. During our playing days, we say this often, the more challenging we can make practice, the game becomes easy. And so what I've been recognizing and asking, even if leaders, especially in the speed of change that we're having now, man, make your meetings harder. And harder doesn't mean disruptive or bad. It just means we're going to, ahead of time, agree we are going to really ensure we're prepared. We're going to challenge each other. We're going to challenge the ideas. Sometimes even when you're the one with the great idea, if everybody's agreeing with you, flip it and have a different or diverse perspective about it to really challenge it. This is preparing you. Like so this is making you ready. So then when something does shift on the in the marketplace you don't have to try to get ready to make that adjustment. You're challenging it right from the beginning. It is not always a popular thing and what I'm emphasizing right now. That's announce ahead of time this is what you're doing. Even in a meeting with a team, there's this belief we all have, as long as we're getting along, we're going along. As long as we're going along, we're getting along. No, that's not necessarily a good thing, right? I think there's a biblical passage that says, as iron sharpen as iron, so does another sharpen the countenance of a brother. And in essence, iron sharpener, that means sparks fly sometimes. Where should the

Dale:
Thanks for watching!

Eric Boles:
sparks fly? In the meeting. practice and we agreed to it ahead of time that we're going to make this a sparring session a safe one but a challenging one making sure the equipment we're using the the skill we're developing the knowledge we're sharpening can endure the real effort that happens when we're in the market

Dale:
talk about some of the outside forces that lead to susceptibility to get comfortable with the status quo. And I'm thinking about two specific examples. So I go back to my television news days, I was television anchor, I had the opportunity to work at a deep number three, scrappy in a scrappy newsroom. And I also worked at a massively dominant number one. And I found that the dominant number one, the attitude we are the 100 pound gorilla in the room, nobody's gonna mess with us. The funny things were press conferences, they would actually wait for the TV station, this TV station to arrive, you know, and we would purposefully show up late. And there was this, that's embarrassing to say. But that was the attitude, you know, nobody's gonna mess with us. And that world has completely changed.

Eric Boles:
Thanks

Dale:
So

Eric Boles:
for watching!

Dale:
there's there's that one situation, I think about where you get just use that word lazy.

Eric Boles:
on.

Dale:
And, and the competition is going to eat you at some very near point in the future. Then on the flip side, today, I was in a, you know, having a conversation with a group of technology people. And he made a statement that just really woke me up. He said, you know, if you know anybody who is if you know any students who are in college right now, you need and say take a look at what chat GPT is doing in the world right now and ask yourself if your college degree if what you're studying right now is actually going to be a marketable

Eric Boles:
Ugh.

Dale:
skill or is it something that chat GPT is going to do within four years when you get out of school. So this concept of being ready, instead of getting ready

Eric Boles:
Thank you. Thank

Dale:
is

Eric Boles:
you.

Dale:
really ringing true in those So I've given you a few, a few external forces at play to play around with on this and I'll let you riff for a while on those those areas from a business perspective.

Eric Boles:
Well, for the first example you gave, it reminds me of the statement, nothing fails quite like success.

Dale:
Mmm.

Eric Boles:
And that's usually because we grow complacent. And it's, many times in complacent, it isn't just because we're comfortable, it's just because we don't have enough challenges, right? And so when you talked about when you have been winning on the scoreboard, or you happen to be the big boy, worked in your favor. Again, that whole example I gave about playing the other side, like making sure your practices are harder than they've ever been before. Like how we compete. And this is where hopefully this principle works. The word competition comes from the word competere. And you know, in the actual Latin meaning of the word, it's where we get the word competition from. It doesn't mean to strive against. It means to strive with. And so one of the best ways to increase our preparation is how we compete with each other. I mean we're challenging in our sessions, in our practices, in our meetings, in our everything. And the reason we do that so aggressively is it allows us to be able to be agile and respond properly when an opportunity shows up. The problem sometimes with winning, especially when you're winning and it's not necessarily you're winning and you're playing your best. Sometimes we can win

Dale:
you

Eric Boles:
and we haven't been at our best. And when that happens, the level of preparation will decrease. Happens every single time. And so one of the things that I encourage leaders to do is, you know, the same way that we have, you know, when we talk about how a tree grows and, you know, talk about how strong the tree's roots are. The only reason those roots are is because they call it stress wood for a reason. It's getting enough resistance to ensure those roots get strong. We have to do the same thing with our teams. And so when you emphasize being the big one and the strong one, and I just believe this right now, I believe we're living at a time right now where it's not the big eating the small, it's the fast eating the slow. And the definition of fast today in business is your ability to pivot, to change direction. When I was a wide receiver, fast, full speed, but unfortunately the game is played by individuals who can change direction. And the faster you can change direction in balance, the longer, the more successful you're going to have as a career. And so I would tell you right now, like that's a big deal. Like being able to adapt, adjust, change direction, agility is a big deal. Being big is not as invaluable as being That's a big one. On that second example you gave,

Dale:
you

Eric Boles:
part of being prepared is having a good outlook on the horizon, looking out over what. So this gentleman talking directly to these college students and they're talking about that AI function. I mean, I watched it the other day. I watched a student literally give three words and then say, can you put out this summary one-year-old male junior in college and it came in the language.

Dale:
you

Eric Boles:
I mean, it was unbelievable how what it delivered and I read that and I went, oh wow, right, like we're going to a place we haven't been. Well, in being prepared, it's actually looking out far enough in the horizon and seeing what's coming. I mean, so many people are going to wait till it actually arrives and it This is true for business as well. I always

Dale:
Mm-hmm.

Eric Boles:
ask leaders, have you looked out into the horizon? Are you paying attention? Are you looking at things that may not have an immediate consequence on you? But second, third, fourth level consequence, further down the road, how does it touch you? How does it impact you? And this is information we can have access to. This is what we can go looking for. But my personal opinion is, we can get so consumed by what's happening right now leaders aren't looking far enough ahead. And you know I said this before I really mean I think it was a I forget who actually quoted I don't know if it was your former Muhammad Ali it might have been Muhammad Ali who said the punch that knocks you out is seldom the hard one it's the one you didn't see coming and this is why it's so important to work on being prepared.

Dale:
Hmm. So number one, we're working on making those meetings that we're having the conversations we're having inside of our organizations tough to have to really dig down cut deep in the best way possible to figure out where are we? What do we need to be doing right now and be prepared for the future? Number two, the leaders need to be looking out into the future the action points from this conversation. What about the sudden nature of what we're seeing and

Eric Boles:
Yeah.

Dale:
how fast things are moving?

Eric Boles:
And this is why this is so important when we talk about be prepared, be ready so you don't have to get ready. And that is by doing these things we're talking about, it doesn't prevent suddenness or change of directions from happening to you, right? It's going to take place. But your ability to respond to it is what speeds up. Your ability to react properly to it is why we work so hard on preparation. now you can get out there we're gonna do all we're gonna practice we're gonna go through the bar many people think the work I'm talking about a vetting it in in your meetings and in the the grind that we want to make stuff over the grind we want to go through in our meetings or in practice and in the example I gave it's not necessarily about just the outcome you get from doing that right like now we're prepared for this specific scenario no we're just to whatever comes up. That's what we're sharpening. Preparation is how we sharpen our whole being. That, hey, look, we might be surprised, but we're not startled. It might have caught off our guard, but our response is what's sped up. We're reacting, we're responding to it. So our preparation doesn't mean, a mile away. What would have knocked us out is now it's just a hard blow. Or what would have taken us out is now a glancing blow because how quickly we came back on the other side. What usually is happening right now is people are spending a whole bunch of meetings talking about being prepared versus actually working on being prepared. Like I sit in enough meeting for groups to hear them talk about what they're talking about, right? Like let's talk about what what we're gonna do like look this is what we're gonna do let's go about that no we have spent a whole meeting talking about what we need to meet about versus talking about it right like getting to it get the scenario get the situation let's go this is what's going on this is the action this is what can happen now let's vet this before we leave we all agree but we almost all agree too soon so if we all agree too soon what aren't we seeing what are we missing how can we have a better outlook what can we see when I told leader about out into the horizon? I say that for a reason. If everybody's living in the same moment, what's the point of the leader? Like, we're all looking at the same stuff. That's way too much energy. Somebody has to be sitting a little higher. If this was football, there's a reason all the coaches and all the players aren't all on the sideline. Somebody has to be in the press box. Somebody has to be in the coaches box higher up so they can see further out than where everybody else can see on the field. Then we communicate to the field. All of a That's why they sit up there, not just because it's comfortable and you can't hear, they want a better view on the horizon of what's company. Now we can prepare. But if we're all suddenly getting hit with it at the same time, then we're all in a mess. It's simple, not easy, but it is simple. What we're describing here is, and be prepared so you don't have to get prepared. Be ready so you don't have to get ready.

Dale:
Is it playing more offense than defense if you're if we're going to continue the analogy out what's

Eric Boles:
To be honest, it works both directions, right? So

Dale:
Okay.

Eric Boles:
on offense, we're anticipating, we're looking ahead, we're realizing that, you know, hey, offensively, because what people always get, if you're watching a football game from the stands, and you're like, man, why does the quarterback not throw the ball? The guy was wide open. Well, at the time he should have released the ball, he wasn't, okay? Or if there's an interception. Oh man, the quarterback's terrible. He threw it right to the defense. Not really. When he let the ball go, the defense hadn't broke on the ball yet. Then the guy did, right? Like, good offense is more about anticipation than anything. If you're waiting till the guy's open, it's too late. And so the way we are ready so we don't have to get ready is that way. Now on defense, how do they ensure? Well on defense, one of the ways that, it's the same thing, the same principle. How do we be ready? going on. But the other way that we're ready is we're always hustling. If you're like, okay, so how does that make sense? Well, in football, especially defensively, almost every turnover that happens is not because you called to play perfectly on defense. It's because somebody on defense gave extra effort. Every turnover is almost a result of something that you don't... you didn't have to be talented. You just had to have a will to run that hard to get there. from a business standpoint, we want to prepare with anticipation, budgeting, all the stuff that we look. On defense, we anticipate the problems that can come, and what are the efforts and things we got to put in to make sure we're equipped there. So on one end, we're raising the ceiling of our performance, but on the other end, we're also raising the floor. So we are actually strengthening on both sides, and the leader is ensuring both of those things are happening. And this is, just like if something bad happened, we all agree, oh here's the problem, all right. But what good can come out of it? Like, what kind of question is that? Well, Here's the question. If something good comes out of this problem and we're not prepared to take advantage of the good, we just missed an opportunity. So it works in both directions and it's all between the ears. It's just we got to be intentional with it.

Dale:
intentional. Any final words as we wrap up?

Eric Boles:
Well, no final words. I was about to say no and then start talking.

Dale:
Yeah

Eric Boles:
Right?

Dale:
I

Eric Boles:
No,

Dale:
almost

Eric Boles:
it's

Dale:
gotcha.

Eric Boles:
just, you almost got me. It's this. This isn't a phase. This isn't a, you know, just a season we're going through. This is the pace of business now. Like it really is. This is where we're at. Like our ability to adjust. Our ability to adapt. you know, our ability to have the right mindset. We hear so much about growth mindset, but it really is that. Like, it's not being aware of what a growth mindset is. It's the actual practice of it. Like, how do we grow from each one of these experiences? And the best way to grow from is to use them. Like, make being ready a priority. Be ready for whatever comes. So then we don't have to get ready when that thing actually comes, right? We know how to take advantage of it, bounce back from it, one or the other.

Dale:
I just had this picture come into my mind of, you know, kids running fire drills in schools.

Eric Boles:
Yep.

Dale:
And I'm wondering and thinking about the types of drills that we can be running with our teams to be prepared so that when these things come down, they're not a shock, they're not a surprise, and we're ready to deal with the blows as they happen because they will be coming in business.

Eric Boles:
Dale, you just said it. I say, I really sincerely feel this way. And when we would have, and it's true for business, but I'm just, of course, as simple, using football as an example. What we call it on Thursdays, Thursdays before game day, we went through almost every scenario that can be imagined. Why? Because there's so many variables that you can't prepare for. I'm sorry if people can hear my dog in the background. He's just upset that he's stuck in this podcast with me. But one of the things that was also essential, right, one of the things essential is we can call all the best plays in the world. We can do our very best to have everything in place, but at some point you're going to have to be an athlete. There's things on the field that we just couldn't anticipate. So the question is, are you equipped, built to respond properly? This is why the off season matters. This is why preparation during the week matters. This is why you have the outcome you really want to go after that matters, knowing that I'm gonna have to make all kinds of adjustments to get to that outcome. That's being prepared. Being prepared isn't it works exactly right. Being prepared is knowing that there's gonna be a lot of margin in there, where we're gonna have to adapt to get it there. If everything has to be perfect for us to win or get to win, that's already a problem. The reality is there's gonna have to be room for margin. So we're gonna have to adapt, adjust, be an athlete, make some decisions. That's preparation. That's what you want. You want people who are agile. You want your people to think. And agility has more to do with mindset than anything. Like why are you shocked that it didn't work perfectly the first time? Look, if it first doesn't succeed, look, join the crowd. That's not new information. But when our people are equipped to understand that and recognize that, now you're Thank you. Thank you.

Dale:
Absolutely. All right, Eric Bowles, thank you so much. We will encourage our listeners to subscribe to this podcast if you have not done so already. Go to your favorite podcast playing app. You'll find us in so many of them out there and subscribe that way as we release new episodes. You will be aware first and foremost, then rate and review the podcast while you're in your player. We would definitely appreciate that. The time to write a few sentences in reviews, the easier it is for this podcast to be found. And then we would love to have you connect with us. Eric is active in social media, you can find him on LinkedIn, Facebook, I'm on LinkedIn. You can also find us. Eric is at the game changers inc.com I'm at Dale Dixon media.com we would love to hear from you if you've got a question you want Eric to tackle as part of the podcast, definitely send it our way. Feel the different ways you can connect with us. So Eric, fantastic spending the last few minutes with you. Thank you so much

Eric Boles:
Thank you, my

Dale:
Be

Eric Boles:
friend.

Dale:
ready. We're gonna be ready so we don't have to get ready

Eric Boles:
Let's go.