The Importance of Snow

Greetings.  Many of us are now settling into winter and the cold weather, snow, and challenges that it brings.  There will be driveways to shovel, slush to navigate, car batteries to jumpstart or replace due to the freezing cold, and furnaces that are likely to give out at the least opportune time.  And there will be the added hassles and delays of traveling almost anywhere by car, air, or rail.  It's just the nature of things.  But that's only one side of the picture, because winter and snow are also amazing gifts that can help us to understand our real potential as individuals and organizations.  To do this, however, we will have to go back to the time when we were kids…  

Try to remember the very first time you saw snowflakes coming down, a rainbow stretching across the sky, a hummingbird hovering in flight, a brightly-colored flower, an airplane, a puppy, the circus, or someone selling cotton candy.  They were, no doubt, moments filled with wonder.  In fact, almost every new experience we had as small children (at least, the positive ones) was an incredible event, and each day brought further proof that anything was possible.  So when the first snow came each year we raced to put on our warmest clothes and keenest imaginations, then headed out to make the perfect snowman or snowwoman.  And as our work started to take shape we might have exclaimed to a parent, grandparent, or sibling that: "This is the best snow in history!" or "Snow is my favorite thing in the whole world!"  We might have also tried to catch the biggest snowflakes in our mouths, build a fort or igloo to protect us, stockpile a zillion perfect snowballs, make body angels in the soft new snow, or grab our sleds for a race down the biggest hill in the neighborhood.  All because, as children, we had a powerful sense of wonder and a natural talent for seeing the magic and possibilities in everything.  How could anyone think that snow was a bother?

Unless they were an adult–whose life suddenly became more complicated as soon as the weatherman suggested that snow was even a remote possibility.  Because even though weatherpeople are wrong quite often, grownups have to prepare for the worst.  Organizing essential supplies and our worst fears, and forgetting that something remarkable was about to take place.  And that's exactly what most of us do in business too!  At the slightest threat of a storm, or a new competitor, or an economic downturn, we tend to circle the wagons (or sleds) and revert to old and incremental thinking.  We cut costs, stop new initiatives, and make contingency plans.  And, worst of all, we stop wondering.  At the very moment when new ideas and new ways of looking at our world are most needed.  

Cheers!