Chasing Your Tail
Have you ever watched a dog chasing his tail? What a comical sight! The dog runs in circles, never getting what he’s after. He eventually wears out and gives up. In my travels, I find a surprising number of business managers chasing their tails. They’re easy to recognize. They spend their time living in the present, constantly putting out fires.
There’s no time to think about the future when you’re overwhelmed by the present.
Chasing your tail in a business is not so comical. You may survive but you’ll rarely prosper. Does this describe anyone you know?
Stop and ask yourself:
Am I …
a) A firefighter?
b) An arsonist?
c) Both of the above?
d) An effective leader?
To help distinguish between the pursuit of survival and pursuit of prosperity, let’s define the terms and conditions.
| Term | Condition | Activities |
| Survival Mode | Working IN the business. | Producing and managing |
| Prosperity (or Growth) Mode | Working ON the business. | Planning and leading others |
If you never find enough time for working on your business, can you ever achieve prosperity? How do you stop chasing your own tail?
Let’s define another term:
| Organizational Insanity: | Trying to improve results with the same behaviors. |
The same behaviors will produce the same results. | |
Help is available for changing unproductive habits of business tail chasers and arsonists. But, those who need help typically don’t know what they don’t know about the cost of their conduct. They must first discover the cost of the potentially prosperous opportunities they unknowingly squander for the sake of survival.
Pogo’s cartoonist, Walt Kelly, may have said it best:
We have met the enemy and he is us.
