“If you have everything under control, you’re not moving fast enough.” – Mario Andretti

Today, we are moving at the speed of digital.  The pace of change is breathtaking, and the magnitude of transformation is overwhelming.

Settling into a comfort zone and wishing away the accelerating pace of change is not going to work. The false sense of security that comes with all things being in control is nothing but.

Move Faster than your false sense of control demands:

Take for instance your company. It has been in business for 40-years and through more than a few business cycles. The revenue growth has been slightly better by historical standards. The profit margins are good. The dividends are steady.  Management is stable. Customers are by and large happy.  Things are under control. Life is good.

Well, that false sense of security and being in control has proven to be the death knell of many companies. A new digital upstart, dismissed by the corporate honchos as a fad and will die in a flash like a firefly has turned into an 800-pound gorilla eating your market share, diminishing your pricing power and compressing your profits.  All this in a matter of a few years.

Or for that matter, take the case of an individual who seems to have it all and in control. A decent education. A well-paying job. A loving family. A house in the suburbs and two cars in the driveway. But the person missed the ominous trends of an industry in turmoil and relocation of most jobs to a lower cost offshore destination. The false sense of security and the inability to adjust fast to the changing trends can change the dream into a nightmare.

As Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel, puts it, “Only the paranoid survive.” Of course, you don’t need to be paranoid, but in life and business, it helps to move faster than what your sense of control demands just to keep pace. Imagine, if you need to overtake and win the race?

To move faster and get ahead, companies and individuals must let go of being in the comfort zone and feeling in control and instead step on the accelerator.  And find the sweet spot where you are moving faster than your instinct to feel in control but not at a maniacal speed where a crash is all but inevitable.

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