A strategy for coping with the changes that enter our reality.
“You absolutely cannot make a series of good decisions without first confronting the brutal facts.” So wrote Jim Collins in chapter four of Good to Great, which is one of those rare books that absolutely everyone should read.
He was elaborating on a principle he developed called the Stockdale Paradox, which he articulated after meeting Admiral Jim Stockdale who was held prisoner for eight years and tortured numerous times during the Vietnam War.
The Stockdale Paradox goes like this: “Retain absolute faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties AND at the same time confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”
This, Stockdale told Collins, was how he survived imprisonment and torture, while “the optimists” who couldn’t face their reality succumbed to despair and death.
The fact that facing our own reality within the direct selling channel does not involve torture of any kind should make the whole process a cake walk, right? Nevertheless, facing the brutal facts of our own realities is often a difficult thing to do, especially when it stirs up fear and uncertainty.
I mean, after all, our model has been successful for over 100 years and has withstood media scrutiny, lawsuits, regulatory challenges and the changing times. Who am I to say differently?
It’s hard to go against tradition, especially when that tradition has worked so well for so long across the entire globe. But it’s also unwise to ignore the conditions swirling around us.
Face the brutal facts of your reality, whatever they may be, in order to effect productive change, urges Jim Collins. This is the ultimate goal of Social Selling News, and the foundational reason behind our topic selections. How will we implement Collins’ good advice? Through conversation. Dialogue. Interaction. Feedback. More conversation. Then we’ll do it all over again. That’s what we’re about here.
Let’s face the brutal facts of our reality together, always retaining the absolute faith that we will prevail against the challenges. After all, what’s at stake is enormously important: change, for the millions of people who choose your business opportunities to create better lives for themselves and their families.