What would happen to your business tomorrow if you weren’t there anymore to run it?
If you haven’t at least thought about the future of your company once you were gone, consider this your not-so-gentle reminder to start doing it right after you finish reading this column.
As much as you think you have charted a course for success for your company, things can change in business in a heartbeat. So, you have to be ready for just about anything.
While these two pieces of advice may seem oxymoronic, they really work hand-in-hand.
I certainly never sat down and envisioned life at Commercial Integrator without Tom LeBlanc. After all, he’d hired me to join the team as the new brand was launching in January 2011.
He had become the primary contact for readers, advertisers, manufacturers and integrators who had something to say about how we were doing, including a surprisingly high ratio of compliments along with plenty of complaints that he deftly handled to the satisfaction of most of those who reached out.
Once I got over the initial shock of Tom telling me he was leaving CI in early August (not exactly the birthday present I was hoping for), I realized Tom’s departure would mean new opportunities for me to have a stronger voice in how things were done in print and online than I had in the past.
That’s not to say Tom stifled me, my opinions or my creativity. It’s more a function of the fact he’d have to answer for anything I did, said or wrote that reflected poorly on the brand, even though it was me who did, said or wrote whatever offended someone for whatever reason it offended them.
Ready for What’s Next
In my new role as executive editor—now I no longer have to try to figure out exactly what an editor-at-large is or does, but I can no longer say my title is a veiled reference to my weight—I’ve got more of a say into what you see in the pages of the monthly magazine and I’ve more responsibility than ever to pump out content for our site every week.
While Tom’s departure was definitely a surprise to me and to others in the building and across the industry, I now realize he was subtly giving me more responsibility as time went on, in part because he knew I could handle it and in part to probably take some things off his ever-more-crowded plate.
It wasn’t a formal mentoring program by any means and I don’t think Tom knew two years ago when we started splitting the Editor’s Note duties that he was planning to leave, but it’s a good thing he did it because it helped me to be ready to take on more responsibility now that he’s gone.
You’ll see some new things and new ways of doing things on CI—in fact, you might have already noticed some of them in the past few weeks—but there are plenty of things we’ve done since we launched almost nine years ago we know you like and we shouldn’t touch.
By the way, if you think my new executive editor title is impressive [and my 10-year-old daughter does, even though she can’t quite pronounce it correctly], I was even more surprised when I earned a third-place finish in a strongman contest during a family vacation at an all-inclusive beach resort in August.
It was especially impressive given the amount of time I spent that week at the swim-up bar enjoying Cuba Libres.
Being named CI executive editor was probably only my second-most impressive achievement this summer.
For those who are wondering if I’m embarking on a new career as a result of this prestigious award, don’t worry [or sorry to disappoint you]: I’m planning to be here for a while longer. Plus, I’m not sure how successful I’d be on the strongman circuit since I don’t look great covered in oil or in a Speedo.
That achievement, as hilarious as it is for a man of my physical stature, represented the culmination of a couple of years or preparation—not for holding a gallon of water in front of myself for as long as I could, but for getting in better physical condition as I get older [thanks to a tongue-lashing by my doctor].
That all comes back to preparing for the long term but being able to adjust on the fly as necessary to what happens in the present. If you’re not doing both with your business, you may be costing yourself both today and tomorrow.
