The constant appeal to flexibility, turned into a race to nowhere, entails a risk because change for change, without limits and without objectives, denotes a lack of clear vision and can seriously affect the results.
13 mar 2022 . Updated at 05:00.
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Within our business reality There are many myths and therefore it is important to be able to identify them as such. and recognize that little, or even nothing, has to do with the stubborn reality; the myth (following the RAE dictionary) is a fictitious story, a wonderful narrative, but if it is taken for granted in the daily management of the company, it can lead us to adopt an erroneous approach and achieve an outcome that is not very mythological and on the contrary very mundane, palpable: poor management or direction mixed with poor results.
It is not always an easy task to discern what is true from what is imaginary, what is objective from urban legend, and some business management gurus have contributed to this, knowing nothing of what is hidden behind it, dedicating themselves to preaching to a choir of proselytes a series of ideas that one does not quite understand how they have overcome and convinced. In short, thing to be of mrketing. We are people prone to being easily offended, but I don’t mean it: there are numerous experts in business management (management, if you prefer) in whose ideas, which I have seen successfully applied on several occasions, I firmly believe. I do not dedicate these lines to Covey, nor to Drucker, nor to our other professors with enviable talent and business acumen such as Fernndez Aguado or Abel Mnguez Lopez, but to others who, having read little and even less experience, have been emboldened by proclaiming to the four winds slogans at least questionable. In these seconds I encourage you to reflect on some of the myths that they refer to and that although they sound good as a fable, as a reality they are lame.
First: flexibility. Who has not heard that you have to be flexible because in the business world we live in, the objectives (and the strategies to achieve them) change permanently, cast the first stone. Obviously, almost indisputable, a good dose of flexibility in any vital area seems recommendable: in the face of a conflict, when facing a problem whose solution seems difficult, in friendships, family relationships, etc. The business myth is to stretch that vaunted flexibility into a race to nowhere., in a flight forward, in a continuous and unlimited change of goals and paths. It is true that in general terms and without particularizing by sector, it can be said that we are immersed in a dynamic business environment, which requires a waist to adapt; perfect, nothing to object to, nothing as long as this does not result in priorities changing every day, in which today the essential is this and the day after tomorrow (well, rather tomorrow) that; in which the directors and non-managerial personnel of the company come to work every day thinking about what will happen today. Flexibility lacks infinite elasticity and cannot hide the absence of a clear mission or vision; without these, no matter how ductile we may be, we will achieve little despite the effort. Others have expressed it with brilliant simplicity, saying more or less that there is no favorable wind for those who do not know to which port they have to arrive.
