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The concept of survival has long captivated our culture, with references to it in iconic films like Survivor, LOST, The Poseidon Adventure, Castaway, The Blue Lagoon, Swiss Family Robinson, and Gilligan’s Island. This enduring fascination with survival extends from weathering catastrophic physical events to enduring the horrors of war. We are intrigued by the resilience of individuals who cling to life despite their circumstances. Al Siebert, renowned for his study of survivor traits, outlined nine enduring attributes prevalent in those who triumph over life’s most harrowing ordeals. If you look closely at these traits, you will see a remarkable resemblance to the qualities of successful business owners – many of whom have faced and emerged from their own trials. These attributes are so significant that we will explore them in a comprehensive three-part series. In this initial segment, we delve into the first three attributes.
Trait #1 – Acquiring Wisdom from Experience
The capacity to glean wisdom from experience is the equivalent of possessing “street smarts.” It is the ability to extract vital lessons from challenging circumstances and apply them to future endeavors. Naturally, it necessitates a willingness to experiment and take risks to accumulate these experiences. In his book On Your Own – A Guide to Working Happily, Productively, and Successfully from Home, Lionel L. Fisher emphasizes that those who display this trait harbour a childlike curiosity, continually questioning, trusting their instincts, and fearlessly experimenting with life’s facets, even embracing errors as long as they learn from them. This ongoing understanding of the world allows them to refine their adaptability and talents. Business survival demands a substantial manifestation of this trait.
Operating a business is frequently a process of trial and error. Are you open to innovation? Are you prepared to make mistakes? Do you actively seek insights and experiment? Are you willing to transcend your present comfort zone? When confronted with setbacks or failures, do you shrug it off, soldier on, and suppress the experience, or do you dissect the situation to glean insights that can be applied moving forward? Nurturing this skill is pivotal for attaining business success.
Trait #2 – Cognitive and Emotional Flexibility
According to Fisher, these individuals exhibit strong emotional intelligence encompassing optimism and pessimism, self-critique and self-assurance, certainty and doubt, trust and suspicion, selfishness and selflessness – often concurrently. Cognitive and emotional flexibility is demonstrated by the capacity to select the appropriate response based on context. Survival on a deserted island would be implausible without this trait. If the initial bamboo and straw hut you build fails to keep you dry, you can’t give up and become desolate. A survivor evaluates available resources and employs ingenuity to conquer the challenge.
In your business dealings, do you command cognitive and emotional mastery? When adversity arises, when obstacles materialize, do you throw up your hands, vent your frustration on the world, or berate your loved ones? Or do you take a different course? Survivors recognize when caution or boldness is the best course of action. They defy circumstances by responding with constructive choices.
Trait #3 – Empathy
Why is empathy crucial for survival? Joan Chun’s story, recounted in Fisher’s book, sheds light on this aspect. Joan, renowned for her impeccable gift-giving acumen, parlayed this skill into a thriving personal shopping venture. Her success hinged on her innate capacity to grasp the preferences of others. Joan’s success underscores a pivotal truth: if a business is to flourish, its owner and staff must be able to discern its clientele's thoughts and emotions.
Superficial observation is not enough; one must penetrate beneath the surface and identify genuine needs. Waiting for customers to tell you what they need or want is a fool’s errand – and often leads to inconclusive outcomes. Empathy lets you understand others’ emotions, even if you feel differently.
Can you decipher your customers’ wants and desires? Can you intuit unspoken concerns as adeptly as voiced ones? Can you anticipate their requirements? This also holds true for your staff – can you detect when things aren’t going well or team members underperform and intuit the underlying causes? While empathy might not conventionally feature as a corporate virtue, business proprietors who embrace it wholeheartedly will tell you it is a vital corporate trait.
In the second installment of this exposition, we will delve into the attributes of a constructive outlook, a results-driven orientation and self-assurance and examine their pivotal roles in the survival of small businesses. |
