ISSUE NINE: The Courage to Be Impractical
It’s time for us to embrace transformation and perhaps get radical.
I’ve been watching along these past few years (i.e. the brutal pandemia we all dealt with, ruthless wars began, bananas ass administration’s making even crazier economic decisions) keen to see how my professional peer group, and client base manage themselves during the new normal — sustained, continuously volatile uncertainty. And well… unsurprisingly, it's been all over the place decision-making wise. From ‘business as usual’ to adverse risk taking, how we lean into, or out of circumstances we find ourselves has been a figurative obstacle course with no end in sight.
There's a particular smugness that comes with giving "practical" business advice, not something I'm unfamiliar with. Lol But I do my damndest to walk the tight rope of help to set "realistic expectations" for my clients, while simultaneously encouraging them to reject "proven strategies." My job is to both embrace your mentioning your wild idea, while gently redirecting you toward something more "sensible” and at the same time encourage you to disrupt your own way of thinking/ideas as to whats possible.
Why? Because practicality can be the enemy of breakthrough.
In this wild ass time we are living in, especially as business owners, we need more new ideas (not exclusively new products, services, offerings) that help us shape shift our way into the new world we are all clearly moving towards. Like it or not.
I know I know, I’m sure this seems both obvious and also nothing you want to think about. Survival mode is fatiguing us all, and innovation (no not technological advancements, but to effect change) takes more effort. That said, I'm not talking about reckless abandon or delusional thinking. I'm talking about the courage to pursue ideas that make seasoned businesses uncomfortable—ideas that can't be easily categorized, benchmarked, or plugged into existing frameworks or industry standards. Ideas that sound completely impractical until they change everything.
The Tyranny of Practicality
Unfortunately, in my not-so-humble opinion, we've created an [independent] business culture rather dependent upon replication. Copy that #fillintheblank’s product, newsletter style, social media strategy, etc. and you’ll be just fine, maybe even ‘kill it.’ Some of that relates to the unavoidable impact the shared economy manifested, but it also relates to a lack of curiosity, creativity and willingness to ‘do it your own way.’ If I’m being honest, sometimes I feel like I'm watching small, nimble businesses replicate models that don’t drive them because…they lack creativity, courage, conviction and a willingness to do anything different. It’s burdensome, and expensive, to authentically run one’s own business these days.
Unfortunately, in a globalized and digital marketplace, we have to be experts in every department, even if we don’t actually have big enough businesses to have said departments if you will. Which is one hell of a lift for small businesses. And… it’s feeling rather boring these days out there. Things that used to land are feeling flat, don’t resonate anymore and dare I say — might be killing our businesses. Less and less is feeling exciting or fresh even though the world is saturated—oversaturated even—with every kind of everything. And I am unsubscribing, just as folk are unsubscribing from yours truly. Collectively we are tuning out, purchasing less and directing our attention (and dollars) elsewhere.
If… every decision must be justified with market research or established norms. If every move we make must have precedent to make us feel comfortable… Then when and where do we have the gall to rock the boat?
I say all this to say — The problem with practical thinking is that it assumes the current landscape is permanent. Optimizing for today's constraints rather than tomorrow's possibilities is how paralysis can set in. I swear it’s time to stop asking "How can we do this better?" And instead start exploring "What if we did this completely differently?" To be honest, I don’t think there’s ever been a better time to embrace changing things up.
What Impractical Really Means
READ THIS AS THOUGH I AM SCREAMING FROM THE TOP OF A MOUNTAIN - Being impractical doesn't mean being illogical, nor irrational. It means being willing to pursue logic that others can't see yet. It means building for a world (or business, or new initiative/direction) that doesn't quite exist yet — but will. It means being courageous… and ain't that what creativity is all about!?
Impractical ideas succeed because they address needs that practical thinking overlooks or dismisses.
Here's the uncomfortable truth about being practical: it can make one a follower, after all…It's easier to replicate what you think works, rather than figuring out what works for oneself/ones business. Pursuing "proven" strategies can in fact optimize what’s freshly developed, but I don’t think right now is a time for perfecting what’s already been built. The ground is literally (ok, ok - figuratively) shifting beneath our feet.
Entire industries—maybe all industries—are recalibrating, supply chains are being disrupted, sales and marketing strategies are no longer converting as they once did, etc. etc. etc. We are in a moment of profound change, let’s let that excite us! Being content with building a slightly better version of what already exists rather than creating what should exist, what we need to exist, might actually be a losing proposition right now. I believe it is time for new ideas that meet this new moment, ones that can solve today's problems… And any indulgent or discretionary products and services (as my client base squarely sits at) being sold have to do more than stand out now.
Pursuing impractical ideas requires a specific type of courage.
I’m not talking about bravado or risk-taking for risk taking’s sake, but the quiet confidence to withstand challenging markets and the willingness to dare to try something[s] new. If you're curious enough to take risk in your business, where I think practical thinking should come in. The grit we need is in tapping into the desire to make sure that our risk taking is calculated, prepared for and executed with precision.
Building for the Future, Not the Present
Impractical businesses succeed because they're built for tomorrow's world, not yesterday’s. My spouse has started referring to the ‘oughts’ as the ‘1900’s’ in his client meetings (he’s a business strategist too) as a way to shake talking heads out of their old-world mindsets. And I think we as established entrepreneurs, likely mid career and middle aged, need to be saying that to ourselves too! We need to make our bets on the changing consumer behavior, emerging technologies, and the shifting cultural values that practical thinkers can't see or won't acknowledge. The time is now folks, we have to embrace the change we can see as creatives, and use our gift of vision to develop new modes of operating!
My point is, it’s time to stop responding to existing—or dwindling—demand and get creative about anticipating cultural shifts toward ??? whatever. Your industry expertise needs you to reignite your imagination right now I swear it! What we need right now is a different kind of effort: instead of asking what people want now, we need to explore what they might need or want next, including how we deliver that. Instead of optimizing for current constraints, we need to design for future possibilities.
The Practical Path to Impractical Success
As I wrap this longwinded newsletter up, I’ll be so bold here as to call out that our dependency upon platforms (google, meta, etc) once worked well for us, and the barriers to entry that were lowered 15+ years ago have once again risen. It’s time to embrace a deeper interest in building new kinds of operational excellence, so that our companies run well not just now, but in the future. We need to embrace new kinds of discipline,so that we can keenly discern what, when and where to invest our time, money and attention into. And we need to hone our strategic thinking skills, precisely because we can't rely on existing frameworks anymore.
Ironically, successfully executing upon all the impractical ideas I’m wishing us to call forth requires extraordinary practical skills huh?!
The courage to be impractical isn't about abandoning sound judgment—it's about expanding your definition of what's possible. It's about recognizing that in a rapidly changing world, yesterday's practical wisdom often becomes tomorrow's limiting belief.
The businesses that change everything always look impossible until they're inevitable. Creativity is uniquely equipped to meet this moment, so I think our creative businesses can too no? The question isn't whether our ideas are practical—it's whether we have the courage to pursue them anyway.
Get with it.
gJ
