Once again, that Snake Guy advises
While helping a client quantify the financial rewards of social
media I received a call from the reader many of my readers referred to as “that
snake guy”. This stemmed from his response to a question I asked him back in the
toughish times of 2003. I had asked him how someone should behave during an economic
downturn. His answer was simple: They should “act like a…snake.” This caused a lot
of comments from my readers, many using very colorful and pointed language.
Since he was now on the phone, and the country was involved in
yet another downturn, this one nasty, I couldn’t help but ask him how he would approach
things if he were not retired. Below is the brief but useful conversation. Clearly,
his tendency toward boisterous, strong opinions has not faded with his fame.
"Well, come on Tal, read your own stuff! An enemy in chaos
is prone to remarkable stupidity. Look around. A lot of management can't think on
their feet anymore under the best of circumstances and many of the guys that still
can are freaked out right now. They're managerially paralyzed, worried about how
the board and equity holders will react to good old fashioned decisive CEO behavior.
So they’re just focused on keeping the ship steady. No unnecessary rocking, thank
you very much."
"So, what would you do?"
"Me? Simple. I'd double down. Just double down on where
I wanted the company to be."
"You mean as in gambling?"
"That's right. 21."
"But what about pulling in and retrenching?"
"That's for idiots," he said laughing. I could easily
picture his self-assured smile. "Look around. Now is a great time to be daring
or even audacious. You're always talking about the competition being The Enemy,
well, now is the time to figure out what your competition's got that you want and
go for it! Just DO IT! Don't act for today. Act for tomorrow. Don't worry about
pissing people off because they're gonna be pissed off no matter what you do. Hey,
change is gonna happen anyway. You might as well make it in the direction where
you want it to go, right?"
"So you would be on the offensive?"
"Damn straight. I'm buying."
"Buying? Now?" This struck me as contrarian but shouldn't
have, given the source.
"Sure, nobody is going to be making much money for a while
anyway. So making a little less because you bought some assets, well, so f’n what?
Just make sure they're the sort of things that help you down the road." He
paused then added, "Plus, it shows you're confident."
"Well, brave anyway."
"Of course. But that's a given. You have to be brave. But
then good senior managers, hell ALL good managers, have to be. Show me a senior
manager that isn't brave and I'll show you a problem."
"A problem to who?"
"Himself. Because if he worked for me he would be looking
for a new job."
With that, the conversation moved onto (in approximate order):
my daughter in Boulder ("You're kidding! She's now in college? Didn't we advise
her on how to grow a babysitting business?"), Gene and Georgetti's steakhouse
in Chicago ("I wouldn't say THE best, Tal. But damn close."), Emirates
airlines First Class to Dubai ("Actually I've heard there's not much privacy
in those new suites but with the right companion it would be fun [to try some funny
business], Dubai's Sheikh Rashid Al Maktoum ("What's with all those islands?")
and, of course, president elect Obama ("Well, I'm hoping...").
So, it was an interesting conversation. Take a moment and consider—maybe
this is the time to "double down" not hunker down. But you will have to
be brave.
Think about it…
