Issue link: http://palletcentral.uberflip.com/i/666889
20 PalletCentral • March-April 2016 palletcentral.com BUSINESS Are changes likely in your marketplace? What would the disruptors be? What would you do if you lost a large, trusted account? Are there successes that have become "possible but unlikely" blind spots in your organization? Blind Spot #4: Something doesn't feel right. Intuition can help you uncover problems that you otherwise can't see. Your intuition is the wisdom you have derived from the sum total of your experience. It is important to bring this "inner voice" to the fore when looking for blind spots and making business decisions. Used along with traditional problem-solving skills, that "inner voice" can validate the strategic direction that you set for your firm. It can also help you find quality, sustainable business partners and new employees. It allows you to know that your decision making is correct as you negotiate your way through both the present and future. Here are a few examples: You are about to make a hire for your "C"-level team. All signs seem to be pointing to one candidate: your interview with him went well; he has a great resume; you got great feedback from other members of the team who interviewed him. But there is a little nagging voice telling you that the "chemistry" between you and him is off. This is a signal that there's some blind spot regarding the hiring of this candidate. Whether you decide to investigate further or go with your gut, the important point is that the sum total of your experience has signaled that something is amiss. A second example involves the decision-making process about the company's role in the marketplace. A product manager is making a new product-concept pitch to your "C" team. The tenor of the majority response is that the idea has no place in the company's product portfolio. However, your gut instinct is telling you that the proposal might be a good idea. This reaction comes from your experience over the years dealing with your customers. You are sensing the company's blind spot to an opportunity. Based on your instincts and the company's decision-making culture, you decide that the development of the new product can continue. Checking your blind spots enables you to avoid the pitfalls of ignoring a potential disaster; to negotiate the ethical minefields of today's business practices; to identify possible sacred cows; and to let your instincts be part of the decision-making process. Uncovering potential blind spots in the four categories above will allow your company to survive and thrive well into the future. You and your management team have a lot to talk about. What one issue can you test drive this process on today? PC Growth and fiscal leadership expert and board member, Gary W. Patterson, the FiscalDoctor® (www.FiscalDoctor.com), author of Million Dollar Blind Spots: 20/20 Vision for Financial Growth, helps leaders find the business Million $ Blind Spot© before it finds you, and enables growth through leverage you did not know you had. You may contact him at 678-319-4739 or gary@FiscalDoctor.com. Checking your blind spots enables you to avoid the pitfalls of ignoring a potential disaster; to negotiate the ethical minefields of today's business practices; to identify possible sacred cows; and to let your instincts be part of the decision-making process.