If you accept that anything mechanical or dependent on technology can fail at any time, then you can open the door to increased productivity and success. If you prepare for failure, then you can walk through that door. Consider these examples:
Martin’s Method
As a salesperson, Martin relies on his car to take him to business appointments. His first stop is usually a breakfast meeting with a CEO. Martin understands that these busy leaders have zero tolerance for lateness.
That?s why when Martin wakes up, he goes outside to check his car. He walks around it and studies it.
If his car developed a flat tire overnight, he wants to be able to fix it while he still has time and before he?s showered and dressed in a suit.
If bird droppings have appeared on his car, he wants to remove them before any executive could judge him based on the car?s appearance.
Martin spends about five minutes a day on this inspection. For him, it?s a form of insurance. Rarely has a problem required him to take action but he?s been prepared, so if something goes wrong, it will not affect his ability to make a good impression at a meeting. During the sessions, his focus is on execution and not early morning distractions.
Julia’s Baby Bag
Julia jokingly tells people that her laptop is her third child. Like a new mother, she carries a baby bag. But her bag isn?t full of diapers. Inside it you?ll find a small electronics store.
Julia?s job requires her to share presentations with groups. While she provides her slides ahead of time, she realizes one technical glitch can spoil her talk.
She always brings her laptop, which is loaded with her presentation. It?s also contained on a flash drive and available for downloading from the cloud. Inside Julia?s bag you?ll also find a small power strip and the various cords needed to connect her laptop to a projector.
While Julia?s preparedness has produced some raised eyebrows, the effort has paid off because technology has a habit of failing at the worst times.
Julia has not only been the one who can provide a solution, when something goes wrong with her presentation, she?s also saved others who found themselves in need of tech support. Is there value in being a resource who can fix problems when things go wrong?
Why It Matters
For Martin, the investment of a few minutes ensures a prompt arrival and a good impression. For Julia, redundancy removes the opportunity for a technical glitch to get the best of her.
Would you want to hire Martin or Julia? Perhaps, you?d like to work for them. Both understand that you?ll get sympathy for having a problem. You may get another chance to make a second impression but that is not guaranteed.
You will get admiration when you?re prepared, with a solution, for the problem that no one else expected.
