2009: The Year of Paralysis - How Business is Like Surfing

Now that we've turned the corner and closed the last chapter on the year 2009, I'm seeing many posts, tweets and status updates about people ready to say goodbye to the year that was. I will agree that 2009 certainly wasn't the best year for many (in the way we all usually measure success). For some businesses, though, 2009 was a critical and pivotal year for business.

For starters, most trials of any type usually produce something positive. The old adage, "what doesn't kill you will only make you stronger" tends to be true most of the time. Considering the trial by fire that 2009 was for many individuals and businesses, the tough times do serve to burn away the dead brush and make way for healthy growth to come. And, in some cases, the fire got so hot under some businesses that much of what was built (or, really, the unnecessary bloat that was piled on over the years) was burned away so completely that refinement took place; not unlike the way that impurities are scoured from gold to create a more pure and valuable form.

I was recently reflecting with my business partner on what this past year has brought (and what it hasn't).  We discussed how interesting it was that the year started with so much activity. Smaller, more nimble businesses were among our new clients as their CFOs and CEOs were about cutting costs and managing indirect spend categories in an effort to thoroughly ensure the careful stewardship of their organizations and to go about the hard tasks of making difficult decisions designed to weather this storm and ensure that the value of what they serve their market would survive when their market returned. Thinking about a matrix for a second, I'll put these leaders and their businesses in the lower, left quadrant -- SMB market leaders at the early part of the year that took advantage of cost reduction, spend management and looked after the health of their organizations.

At the other end of matrix -- larger companies and later in the year -- we found that most of them couldn't get out of their own way to make a decision. Was it the confusing signals coming from employment numbers, the stock market, the media? A number of false starts and no real turnaround to the economy? I think that's part of it.

Another part of it that we found so very interesting was how organizations make decisions. I'm not talking about the obvious differences between the bureaucracy of large organizations versus the lack thereof in smaller ones. This is something much more subtle; almost like the big (leveraged) organizations were so close to the edge that any decisions -- good or bad -- were not being made. Not unlike the avalanche survivor that can see a pinhole of sunshine as they're buried under the snow, yet so afraid to make a move toward it for survival in fear of the rest of what's around them caving in and taking their life.

And, so, we scratched our heads throughout the last quarter of 2009. Never in the nearly 20-year history of PA & Associates did we have a year in which we spoke with more prospects and issue more service agreements for review. Never, or at least as far back as my now 44-year old memory will allow, can I remember a time when CFOs and others considering our services were more enthusiastic about our approach, our references and our results. Yet, many of these same organizations never figured out how to push past whatever was holding them back; likely the fear of making any decision...good or bad. The paralysis had taken hold.

In my younger years I did a fair bit of surfing and windsurfing. Anyone that's spent any amount of time in the ocean with waves knows that swells come in sets; increasing in size and strength. Good surfers understand where to be at all times. This not only allows for them to catch the best waves, but also provides safety. As waves increase in size and power, they can also break further from shore. This requires paddling TOWARD a wave...and not away from it. Counterintuitive, until you've been caught in the impact zone and you get pounded. That's a feeling you never forget and are not keen on reliving soon.

A long way around to get you back to the point...2009 (and 2010 -- a New Year's celebration doesn't mean this is over) saw some organizations paddling to stay out of the impact zone. It expended energy, but their still alive to catch the next great wave. Others were paralyzed -- caught like a deer in the headlights as the monster waves mounted one after another and pounded them.These were the organizations that needed to paddle the hardest and many of them had the resources to do so. They froze in fear. Shaking their head from the last beating and coming up in the white water, they're big enough to weather another set. They're also over-analytical and fearful of making any decision, good or bad. The sets don't seem to be letting up any time soon. I wonder how many will paddle toward the waves and how many will wash up on the shore licking their wounds from the safety of the beach.

As always, your comments are welcome.