Proprioception and Why Your Business Unit Is Not Going To Fail

As I watch CBS Market Watch track in near real-time the downward plunge of key stock market indices I can’t help but think of proprioception.

Proprioception is the sense of where your own limbs are in space relative to the rest of the body. And it has significance for your business as well as your body.

It’s the sense that allows you to touch your nose with your eyes closed or, if you’ve been drinking, fail the sobriety test. It’s why when you wake up in the morning you don’t scream “Oh my God they’ve stolen my legs!” simply because you can’t see them under the covers.

Scientists will tell you that this ability is not reliant upon one organ but rather the sum total of the entire nervous system, constantly taking in new information and synthesizing spatial location. Working with clients on 100 Day Plans we often find an initial distortion of business or project proprioception.  For example:

• “We have to do something right away or the sky will fall.”
• “We don’t have enough options and what we do have to chose from is terrible.”
• “What we want to do can never be done. The objective is too great.”

With probing we discover that there is often more time than perceived, more options than initially identified and goals more attainable than originally conceived.  So what’s the deal?  Use all the information you can get and synthesize.  Is your business unit in danger of imminent failure? Are you sure? What are you basing this on?

I am not being naive here.  Fear short circuits the nervous system and distorts both logic and common sense. My business unit - Group 8020 - is not going to fail.  We are not a luxury item. We are a must have during recessions.  Looking at your own business ask yourself similar questions about your own value proposition.

So with all due respect I ask the fear-mongers “down the hall”  a simple question: Can you walk in the dark from your bed to your bathroom in the middle of the night without killing yourself?  How is this possible?  So how sure are you that business is going to fail? That you’re going to lose your customers?

Use all your senses and synthesize.  And turn the volume down on the TV it’s just going to make you crazy.