Ways to distinguish yourself #125: Periodically re-visit your Plan B
By Rajesh Setty on Thu 04 May 2006, 6:03 PM - 1 Comment
The credit for this post should go to Bill Wiles. Thanks Bill.
Bill recollected his days at SGI where he used to head International Business Development. One of the requirements for his direct reports was that twice a year, they had to come back to Bill with a “Plan B” – what would they do if their job disappeared tomorrow. While his direct reports were not warming up to the idea initially all of them enthusiastically participated in the program. Over the years, almost everyone appreciated the value of having a “Plan B.” Bill mentioned to me that many of them (who are in leadership positions) practice this in their own firms.
Before I make my point, let me share another concept. My friend Naveen Lakkur says that there are two kinds of unknowns:
b. Unknown unknown – You don’t know what they are. One example is what happened to Naveen when he almost lost his eyesight for a few months. It’s hard to deal with them.
Now, making my point:
Having a plan and being ready for it is not the same as executing on it. Just thinking through options and planning will help you in times of (negative) surprises
- “25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself” released at ChangeThis.com
- 25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself in Spanish – Translated by Carlos Padilla
- Ways to distinguish yourself – #12 Be a reader
- Ways to distinguish yourself #196 – Be aware of your circle of awareness
Posted in the Distinguish yourself, Main Page category.
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Anonymous on May 7th, 2006
Hello Rajesh,
Great blog! BTW your enumeration of the kind of unknowns reminded me of the famous Rumsfeld briefing where he covered the same material and which the comedians frequently refer to in talking about his sometimes cryptic and bizarre talking style.
Check out http://www.slate.com/id/2081042/ for instance.
Suresh