“If something’s not working, shine a light on it.” – Anonymous

When I tell audiences the Team Up story, some listeners are incredulous. They ask, “You just put your personal shortcomings right out there in the open? Aren’t there some things better left alone or kept private?” Perhaps, but my experience has always favored tackling them head on. Avoidance usually amplifies the yuck associated with a bad situation.

When I avoid a problem, I turn one problem (a bad situation) into two problems (a bad situation AND anxious uncertainty as to just how bad it is). It’s usually better to stare directly into the eyes of the beast, which often ends up looking more like a gerbil. I’ll provide three quick illustrations to back this up.

1. Extreme credit card debt

Famed internet marketer John Reese shares a powerful story in an interview with Tony Robbins. John simultaneously acquired 13 credit cards to finance his direct mail businesses. Using these cards, he racked up massive debt in a hurry. Feeling the weight of this debt provoked extreme anxiety in John, bringing him near the brink of suicide. He shoved all his credit card bills in a box, hidden under his bed. The debt compounded by uncertainty took its toll. John reflects, “I let that debt and fear control me for about two years.” One night John declared, “Let me laugh and see how pathetic my life really is…I’m going to calculate to the penny how much in debt I am.” Once he arrived at the whopping total of $107,910, he actually felt a sense of liberation. John wrote that number on a giant piece of paper he could see daily. Facing it every day, he designed and executed a plan to reduce his debt.

The rest is history. John erased his debt and became the first internet marketer to generate $1,000,000 in revenue in a 24-hour period. His debt experience gave rise to one of his mantras, “In order to change your reality, you must face your reality.”

2. The movie Signs

Everyone I’ve spoken to who has seen the movie Signs reports the same experience. At first, they feel a growing panic as the looming threat of spooky alien invaders presses closer and closer. They’re surrounding the humans, oh no! But once we finally get a glimpse of these alien critters—and discover their lame weakness—it feels like, “That’s it?! THAT’s what was freaking us out the whole time?” I often feel similarly about whatever I’ve been avoiding for long stretches. When I buckle down to tackle the beast I’ve been avoiding, I’m surprised by how tame that beast really is.

3. Call center attrition

One of my first Bain clients was a call center organization within an insurance company. These call centers were losing employees at a rapid pace—roughly twice as fast as industry benchmarks. However, because their data systems reported misleading information, their leadership never fully appreciated the gravity of the problem. When our consulting team implemented a new process that unambiguously quantified the situation, things changed in a hurry.

Suddenly the VP was able to call people out and say, “Tina, why is your attrition twice as high as Fred’s?” With real data in place, Tina was no longer able to hide behind the old smokescreen. Suddenly, she had full accountability for her results. By golly, she kicked things into high gear and asked Fred for some tips. Within three months, the client had reduced attrition by 40%.

Reflection

When uncertainty exists, we can clamp up and make sub-optimal blanket judgments. They might sound like:

• “We’re running a deficit right now; we’re not paying for anything else.”
• “I’m totally swamped; I have no time to take on anything new.”
• “We’re behind schedule; bring in all available resources from everywhere.”

But these all-or-nothing declarations rarely represent ideal solutions. The best course of action tends to require a sober reflection on the situation at hand—and produces a more nuanced solution. For example, the right answer to being swamped may sound more like, “This is really a priority, but how can I possibly fit it in? Well, looking at my list…I should delegate that, work late on Thursday, postpone that, get a temp for this, etc.”).

Whether the issue is business or personal, shining a light on it usually helps. Like the aliens in Signs, things usually aren’t as spooky when you finally stare them down.