No More Excuses

<p>Even the best of us can benefit from cold water to the face occasionally. </p><p>In mid-2022 I finally quit making excuses and enjoyed a 3-week trip to Greece, Türkiye, Montenegro, Croatia, Italy and Slovenia. What shook me out of my "I don't want to contract Covid" inaction was a friend's story that he had recently returned from the Polish-Ukranian border assisting refugees.</p><p>Fully vaccinated and masked, why was I sitting on my hands? If I drive a car, walk across the street, and eat indoors at restaurants, what was my excuse for not “risking” travel? My colleague’s matter-of-fact response to my “done anything interesting lately?” query was cold water in my face. </p><p>I have since taken several trips and enjoyed each. Thank goodness for that cold water in my face. </p><p>It is easy to become complacent, over-estimate our current mastery, or let the potential downside of an action corner us into inaction. Those are rarely the mark of leadership we want to follow.</p><p>Your supply chain was never a fully visualized well-oiled machine. </p><p>Pre-Covid, you struggled to attract the workforce you want and need. </p><p>Customer expectations were never stagnant. </p><p>Investing in building muscle is an ages old demand. Details may be different now but taking decisive action to make giant leaps forward is an ongoing requirement of any business.</p><p>Consider these questions:</p><p>Supply Chain – What specific steps have you taken:</p><ul><li>to simplify?</li><li>to increase responsiveness and resilience?</li><li>to rationalize products, parts, and suppliers?</li><li>to enhance multi-level visibility?</li></ul><br/><p>People – What specific steps have you taken</p><ul><li>to remove toxic employees, regardless of their skillsets?</li><li>to capture and teach knowledge of departing workers?</li><li>to respect employees as individuals with individual needs and goals?</li><li>to emphasize characteristics rather than years of experience in new hires?</li><li>to speed the effective onboarding to the company and