|
Peel Your Way to Solving Problems
by Jim Blasingame, creator and host of "The Small Business Advocate," a weekday Radio/Internet talk show
I like bananas any way you want to fix them: banana splits, banana sandwiches, bananas on my cereal, and of course, a banana by itself. Once I even ate a banana dipped in chocolate. Mmm! Mmm!
But before I can eat a banana, I have some business to take care of—I have to lose the peel. A banana peel is actually a double problem: it tastes bad, and if you step on it, you will slip and fall. Everybody knows that. The banana peel has become our metaphor for danger underfoot.
So with two of the three things I know about bananas being bad, when I see a banana why do I first think about how good it will taste? Why don't I dwell on the two negatives instead of the one positive? It is because I know that if I handle the banana correctly by removing the peel (including the strings, I hate those), and properly dispose of it, I will have a pleasing and healthy result.
What if we looked at problems the way we look at bananas: A pleasing and healthy result wrapped in a distasteful and possibly dangerous peel? I call this the Blasingame Banana Perspective (BBP). I've been in the marketplace long enough to feel qualified to say that many of the problems you and I face in our small businesses won't have any worse odds than a banana: 2:1, negative to positive.
So how do you assume the BBP?
When presented with a problem, instead of dwelling on the consequences, imagine the possibilities. However, just imagining won't get the job done. Just like with a banana, you must first deal with the problem's outer peel.
Road test the BBP this week. Work on becoming an expert at properly disposing the problem's peel so you can get to the good stuff. If you can make the BBP your default approach to problems, your world will change.
By the way, I like my banana sandwiches plain, please—no mayonnaise or peanut butter.
(The above article is excerpted from Small Business Is Like a Bunch of Bananas. For more information on "The Small Business Advocate," go to http://www.smallbusinessadvocate.com, a leading-edge resource featuring the live show, an on-demand replay, and hundreds of searchable audio archives and print articles. It is a community where hundreds of small business experts, including BNI president, Ivan Misner, share valuable information, real-world perspectives, and tips on how to be more successful.)
|
|
