What signs of imminent trouble are you ignoring?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7685540.stm

Bob Dylan’s lyrics are as pertinent now as when he first sang them in 1964 – only more so in the global economy that we live in.  The business environment can change dramatically and overnight (witness the impact of the US government’s bail-out of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on 7 September).  In our conversations with them, business leaders are recognising that they need to be both agile and far-sighted enough to adapt and flex themselves and their organisations at the drop of a hat.  They need to let go of the plan they had yesterday and be ready with today’s plan, fast.  In a context where the pressure on numbers is becoming ever more insistent, they need to constantly (and courageously) review their organisation’s strategic focus and resist getting sucked into sweating the small stuff.  They need to manage themselves so that they have, and convey, a clear and confident focus, and lead (rather than get distracted by) the people around them feeling demoralised or insecure.  As the tyranny of the numbers takes hold, they need to become more aware of the value they’re adding and – counter-intuitively for some – pay more attention, not less, to the people side of their organisations (including the leader’s own development): success can be sustainable and exponential when people deliver the best they can, and keep improving.  Without that development success can be elusive.  It’s intriguing to see what happens when businesses leverage the resources they already have by knowing that investing in making the most of their people could be the very thing that changes their bottom line.

For all of us involved in communication this is a striking illustration of the power of a shift in perspective. It’s certainly worth the 6 minutes to view it:

http://en.zappinternet.com/video/nilSqaMboM/HISTORIA-DE-UN-LETRERO