March 2008
LESSONS FROM THE TEPUIS OF BRAZIL AND VENEZUELA
By Tony Mulkern
Ever feel like you have reached a plateau in your business, your energy, or your creativity? For the driven entrepreneur accustomed to constant accomplishment and upward movement, this is a very uncomfortable yet almost inevitable event sooner or later.
Plateaus are usually associated with stagnation, stalled growth, and danger of decline. The word calls to mind those barren mesas of the southwest, stripped of vegetation and nurturing soil by the erosion of wind, sun and rain. Sometimes this state of mind accompanies an actual economic slowdown.
But what if plateaus were actually a source of renewal and unforeseen possibilities?
In Brazil and Venezuela are found the most exotic plateaus on earth, some containing 400 square miles of relatively flat surface. Called tepuis, they support rich, virtually independent ecosystems cut off from the ecosystems below by cliffs of up to 3000 feet. Shrouded in fog most of the time due to their elevation of 6000 feet or more above sea level, they contain deep caves and waterfalls, as well as flora and fauna found nowhere else. They remain to this day among the most unexplored parts of the earth’s surface. These virtual Galapagos Islands in the sky, provided the inspiration for Conan Doyle’s classic fantasy The Lost World, which he imagined to be inhabited by dinosaurs and other species long thought extinct.
Fortunately, unlike literal, geographical plateaus, the inner and even economic plateaus we encounter become what we make of them. What can you do to make your period of stalled energy or growth a time of exploration and discovery?
PLATEAU TACTICS—TEPUI INSTEAD OF DESERT
- First, accept where you are—plateaus are a normal and valuable part of all individual and organizational development. They allow for assessment of progress thus far and careful planning for the future. Stop doubting yourself and trying too hard and too quickly to “get back to your old self.”
- Explore the terrain, which is probably rich with a variety of feelings and emotions. If you feel bored, ask what talents you have that remain unused. Are you spending time trying to improve your weaknesses instead of utilizing your strengths? If so, take a look at Marcus Buckingham’s Now, Discover Your Strengths. If you feel frustrated, have you become worn down by poor performers? Is accountability lacking in your organization or are you avoiding tough decisions? The latter will wear anyone down. Either face them now or have them perpetually nag you till you face them later.
- If you find yourself engaged in self-blame for failed ventures, accept your mistakes—in fact congratulate yourself for taking risks. Use them as valuable material from which to learn and convey lessons. As others have said, the difference between those who are successful and those who are “losers” is that the successful people fail more often! They venture, fail, learn, then venture again, over and over if need be, instead of accepting defeat.
- Take in the view from a height and scan the horizon. What do you see when taking a stance of the distant observer? How long has it been since you saw the business as only one small part of the book of your life and of the book of the lives of those who work for you? What do you think about how it is being written? Does it reflect your core values and what you want most to be remembered for?
- Take a vacation, if you need to, for rest and fun, but do not expect it to give you genuine renewal. This is more likely to come from a time of “retreat,” a time of quiet reflection and meditation. The Los Angeles area is full of “retreat centers” where without any particular denominational commitment you can spend unstructured time of your own or benefit from a provided structure.
- What are you doing that once worked but you are continuing to do only because of inertia or because you are afraid to stop? Networking groups, professional and civic organizations, even mentors and coaches, need periodic reevaluation if you are to get the most benefit possible.
- Who in your industry is excited? Find out why and what they see or do that you do not. Do not rely exclusively on industry journals—they too often contain some of the most boring journalism ever conceived. In fact, reading too many will put anyone in a funk. What future trends are indicated by developments in politics, science, technology, international affairs, and culture?
- Read something challenging that is entirely outside your field. Biographies of great leaders from all walks of life can be especially inspiring.
- Occasionally, do the original work—get your hands dirty again. For Ray Kroc of MacDonald’s, visits to his restaurants to check their quality and cleanliness was an important part of his regular schedule up to the end of his career. Get out on “the street,” listen and observe. Be careful not to go out to “show how it is done.” Chances are that has changed a lot since you did it. Learn from those who do the work now, so that as a leader you can give them what they need to best serve the customer now, not what they needed 10 years ago.
Alfred North Whitehead, mathematician and philosopher, once said that all significant accomplishment is marked by two stages, romance and discipline. The fact that you may be no longer as enamored as you once were does not mean it is time to abandon the undertaking. It may mean it is time to stop and fully appreciate what you have built, renew and deepen your commitment, and redouble your efforts to make the very most of what you have created. In the process, you will likely find some of the old romance is resparked.
Once the tepuis of South America are fully explored, who knows what cures for devastating diseases may be found in their exotic flora, or new genetic material to continue amazing advances in crop productivity that can extinguish hunger worldwide? How can your plateau enrich your business, your life, your community?
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Copyright, Mulkern Associates, 2008
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