Direction vs. Strategy Part 3

Last week I wrote about a client who bravely voiced an idea for a completely new direction for her company.

And when she did, she came alive.

Seriously, you could see her energy shift and her eyes light up.

And what happened next was completely predictable. I’ve seen it happen many times, including within my own business.

“How would I do it?” she asked.

How is a question about strategy.

Earlier in my career, I would have laid out a strategy. See, here’s how to do it.

But as you’ll see, it is not the real question. The real question isn’t even about desire, although that often is a factor. Steve Chandler brilliantly teaches the distinction of the how to vs. the want to. Don’t focus on the how, focus on increasing your desire.

I tried to tell her that strategy isn’t really the issue. Yet she resisted. “Seriously, how would I do it?”

Alright, let’s play hypothetically for few minutes. As a starting point for conversation, here are three different ways that I see to get you to your goal, heading in this new direction.

Hmmm….interesting.

Then here energy shifted — in a depressing way.

But what about…

Walking away from the existing business?

What will happen?

What will people think?

Changing direction isn’t really about strategy, it’s about identity.

And your subconscious concocts these all-or-nothing scenarios to keep you playing safe on the current path.

And that is deadly. Deadly to your spirit — and eventually to your business.

Who do you really want to be?

Are you willing to let go of the story of who you’ve been up until now?

Most entrepreneurs I know are driven by a fundamental desire for freedom.

Yet if you can’t choose to go in a different direction because of what other people think or what you think about yourself, you aren’t really free, are you?

P.S. If you do want to go in a different direction, then part of the strategy is a succession or transition plan for your existing business. Takes some work, but generally it is pretty straightforward once you are clear.

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