ComplacencyDisease

I had a phone conversation with a colleague this week and the topic of complacency came up.  Reminded me of a post I made back in 2013.  Here 'tis:

Friday, September 6, 2013

Enemies and Diseases

What causes organizations to begin to flounder?

Enemies like complacency, distraction, mission creep, bureaucratization, and protectionism.  Diseases like overconfidence, too-big-for-your-britches-ness, loss of customer focus, de-energizing processes, prioritizing profit over quality (whether in products or services). 

These things act in two ways to bring us down. 

As enemies do, they behave as committed antagonists bent on our demise, sometimes very overtly, sometimes clandestinely.  By acting as diseases, they slowly drain our energy, our defenses, our immunities, while we’re not even aware of it until it’s too late (thus, mitigating our performance). 

Our remedies for both?

Diligence

     Astuteness

          Preparedness

               Fitness

                    Renewal, Renewal, Renewal

(All of those remedies, by the way, are completely within our control.  And, all have much to do with self-awareness and self-directed growth).