Choose Your Outcome

A few life outcomes are determined by chance, but most are determined by choice.

D. Brown Management Profile Picture
Share

It may be more comfortable to view situations as beyond your control, determined by either chance or the actions of others beyond your control.  

Leadership Tools: A few life outcomes are determined by chance. Most life outcomes are determined by choice.

The truth is that a greater degree of true joy comes from accepting that you are in control of much more than you think, and then using that control to change your outcomes.  

  • Accept where you are currently and be content about it, there is nothing you can do about it.

  • Visualize where you want to be in the future but don’t worry about how far you have to go or everything that could go wrong on your way there.
     
  • Focus on what you can do right now that will move you one step closer to your goal and attack that aggressively. Do what is uncomfortable. Don’t put it off until tomorrow. Don’t worry about the step after that. Just focus 100% of your energy on what is right in front of you.  

“If you are depressed, you are living in the past.  If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present.”

Lao Tzu




Thriving with a Difficult Manager
In the ideal situation, everyone would have a great manager - both internally and externally. In the real world, we will all have to work for someone we consider a difficult manager. Learn to thrive in these situations.
Strategic Market Experiments
A growing contractor must systematically allocate 10-20% of their resources, including talent and capital to Strategic Market Experiments that have a probability of growing into a major market and becoming a "Strategic Choice."
Governance Structures Enabling Ownership Transitions
Governance structures including the board of directors, policies, information flow, operating rhythm, and decision rights must continually evolve through each stage of growth and ownership transition. The first board is typically driven by a transition.