The Boy Scouts motto is “Be Prepared” and certainly we are always being encouraged to to ensure that we are ready for the various things Life and business can throw at us.  However, as this year has shown my family so well, you can’t prepare for every eventuality.

I’m sitting here, housebound once more, looking out at the November snow that is causing chaos here, after the coldest November weather for decades.  Despite a serious dose of snow in January it seems that we are no better off this time round.  Many people are complaining about the poor preparation and they may well be right, but I wonder if there isn’t a different question.  Preparation is a good tool for staying in control, but unpopular as it maybe, the truth is that we can never control everything so we need to be able to accept that which we can not control.  Sometimes you need to be able to stay home and just accept that you can not get where you wanted to go.  The ability to adapt to what is happening and modify your plans and make that work for you is one key to successful Change.  We have to be able to adapt our plans and sometimes adjust our targets too.  It is unfashionable to say this, but it is just as important to be able to adapt to circumstances as it is to hit our targets.   Staying fixed on the wrong target is just as bad as not having one.

The prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr works as well for Corporate leaders as it does for those of us whose plans have been hit by this weather or perhaps worse things….

“God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.”