Guest Author: Deb Miller
Global 360 Inc.

What if you could apply life lessons to improve your business performance? For this final entry of my 6-part series on process-enabling SharePoint, I consider that question and share the lessons I learned from an inspiring “rock climber” and a group of “rock star” supply chain execs.

A few years ago I had the privilege to hear an incredible keynote speaker Erik Weihenmayer who lost his sight at age 13 and went on to be the first blind person to summit Mt. Everest. As an author, speaker, world-class athlete, and educator, Erik is an inspiration on many levels.

And his attitude, sense of humor and wit are truly remarkable.

As Erik tells his story, including tales of particularly tough mountain assaults, he punctuates the narrative with examples of what he calls “positive pessimism.” Two of my favorites are: “You may be blind, but you sure are slow!” and “It may be cold, but at least it’s windy!” These somewhat dark statements curiously make me smile (along with the rest of the audience) and also somehow make me believe that Erik and his team will overcome any obstacle in their path. As his story progresses, I go on the journey with them and share their summit. 

Get an attitude.

Since that conference keynote, I’ve often reflected about the intriguing power of positive pessimism.  Why I wonder does it evoke such strong feelings, and how might this compelling concept be applied to my business world?  Then earlier this year I happened to read a great interview with Erik that helped crystallize my thoughts; in his own words Erik explains that:

“Positive pessimism is sort of a bit of a dark way of laughing at yourself and saying, ‘Hey, we may be facing a tough time right now, and it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but we’ll get through this together.’… And there are big overwhelming challenges right now that we’re facing, but if you can make a joke about it, it’s sort of like you’ve pulled it into your control a little bit more than before…  we’re in a challenging time right now, but when people are facing a challenge that’s their greatest time of growth. So this is the time to really be making ground, rather than just kind of digging in and holding ground and trying not to retreat. When adversity strikes, it’s a very pivotal moment where you can make really great progress in your life.”

As I read Erik’s interview response I realize… positive pessimism provides extreme coping skills.  Now there’s a life lesson – sort of an ‘oh yeah, well take that world!’ attitude – that I can definitely apply to business.

Et voilà, here’s my first positive pessimism:

“You may be stressed, but at least everything’s getting more complex!”

If you’re not feeling the stress of daily business life and especially the added stress of the current economic crisis, then I seriously question if you have a pulse. Learning to operate in today’s pressured market and then in the “new normal,” as McKinsey has dubbed the post-recession environment, is a highly challenging shared experience across almost every industry in every geographic region, for both public and private sector alike.

So, my question is:  what can you do when adversity strikes in the business world, especially in today’s economy?  My answer: get an attitude … and use technology to “cope” and you just might outperform the market.

Outperform the market.

I work with companies who are looking for ways to improve performance, leveraging technology  like business process management (BPM) and SharePoint, to outperform their competition. That’s exactly what some leading supply chain executives are doing, with a combination of outstanding people, process and technology. In a recent AMR Research First Thing Monday post, Gartner’s Kevin O’Marah commented on the current state of the supply chain executive and the technology that is driving their ascendance:

“Today, the head of supply chain, at most major manufacturers and retailers, is influencing margins, time to market and customer retention, with strategic capabilities that matter to investors.  This should come as no surprise. Technology has broken the link between location and communication and allowed manufacturing, assembly, promotion and service to draw on players around the world and around the clock.”

Supply chain execs are becoming their companies’ “rock stars” with an ever expanding span of control and an increasing impact on business results.  When it comes to dealing with stress and complexity, I am consistently impressed by the “coping skills” of these supply chain leaders who have to deal with issues of increasingly volatile, global supply chains, as well as perennial requests to take cost out, do more with less and better leverage capital.  Now with the recession, they face heightened pressures.  Yet at this year’s DBMA Supply Chain Leaders in Action business forum I heard success story after success story from companies who are using the current conditions as an opportunity to excel.

Here’s what these supply chain leaders do to cope:

1. They collaborate, focusing on their customer – and their customer’s customer – to prioritize where resources should be applied and ensure smooth communications.
2. They use “fit to purpose” methodologies and technologies like Lean Six Sigma and BPM to streamline their supply chain processes.
3. They make decisions based on data in context using technologies like SharePoint and adaptive case management to organize information, deal with exceptions, break bottlenecks and balance risks along the supply chain.
4. They practice continuous process improvement using modeling and analytic tools to gain better visibility along their end-to-end supply chain and simulation to understand the impact of changes.

Throughout it all, they are relentlessly focused on winning.  And they use process and technology thoughtfully to accomplish their goals – both as an integral part of their strategy and a critical element of their tactical programs to deliver improved performance results for their companies. 

So what do you think about the power of positive pessimism; how might extreme coping skills; help your company outperform?  I’d be interested in hearing examples of how you’ve used life lessons at work and for those creative souls out there, how about sharing a “positive pessimism” of your own to inspire us!    

Guest Author: Deb Miller
Global 360 Inc.

Deb Miller is Director of Market Development for Global 360. Her work focuses on industry strategies for business process improvement. You can read more of Deb’s writings at http://DebsG360.wordpress.com/ and at @DebsG360 on Twitter.